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Saturday 18 April 2026
Welcome to the Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, Fourth Edition. Some sample entries appear below. Click here for the Introduction; here for what we mean by Science Fiction; here for the masthead; here for some Statistics; here for the Acknowledgments; here for the FAQ; here for advice on citations. Find entries via the search box above (more details here) or browse the menu categories in the grey bar at the top of this page.
Site updated on 14 April 2026
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Watson, Ian
(1943-2026) UK teacher and author who lectured in English in Tanzania (1965-1967) and Tokyo (1967-1970) before beginning to publish sf with "Roof Garden Under Saturn" for New Worlds in 1969; he then taught Future Studies for six years at Birmingham Polytechnic, taking there one of the first academic courses in sf in the UK; he became a full-time writer in 1976, publishing around 200 short stories since 1969 at a gradually increasing tempo and with visibly ...
Hogan, Lee
Pseudonym of US author Emily P Devenport (1959- ), married to Ernest Hogan, who also published one novel as by Maggy Thomas; it was as Emily Hogan that she appeared as guest of honour of a 2008 US Convention. She began publishing work of genre interest with "Shade and the Elephant Man" for Aboriginal, May/June 1987, as Emily Devenport. Her novels under this name, beginning ...
Parody
Parody is both a form of Satire and a form of literary criticism; there has not been a great deal in sf. The best parodies of sf writers and their personal Clichés are probably those by John Sladek in The Steam-Driven Boy (coll 1973), where the voices of J G Ballard and Philip K Dick are captured with particular ...
Swigart, Rob
Working name of US author and academic Eugene Robison Swigart (1941- ), whose novels, from Little America (1977) on, have been Fabulations composed in a flamboyantly brisk gonzo style through which, like Kurt Vonnegut, comprise a series of deadpan riffs on the extremities of America. Though not making up a series, his first four novels – Little America (1977), ...
MacClure, Victor
(1887-1963) Scottish artist and author, born either Victor Thom MacWalter MacClure or simply Thom MacWalter; in active service during World War One; he specialized in detective novels and contemporary thrillers, and also published as by Peter Craig. Of sf interest is a Scientific Romance, The Ark of the Covenant: A Romance of the Air and of Science (1924; vt Ultimatum: A Romance of the Air 1924 ...
Langford, David
(1953- ) UK author, critic, editor, publisher and sf fan, in the latter capacity recipient of 21 Hugo awards for fan writing – some of the best of his several hundred pieces are assembled as Let's Hear It for the Deaf Man (coll 1992 chap US; much exp vt The Silence of the Langford 1996; exp 2015 ebook) as Dave Langford, edited by Ben Yalow – plus five Best Fanzine Hugos ...