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Friday 17 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.
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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 ...
Rogow, Roberta
(1942- ) US librarian and author, contributor to Fanzines and Filk activities from around 1978. Her Saga of Halvar the Hireling sequence beginning with Murders in Manatas (coll of linked stories 2013), though couched in historical fantasy terms, is of some sf interest as an Alternate History narrative set in a version of Manhattan (see ...
Smith, D R
Working name of Donald Raymond Smith (1917-1999), UK author, editor and fan who along with J Michael Rosenblum was instrumental in maintaining lines of communication within UK Fandom during World War Two, in particular editing the British Fantasy Society Bulletin (1942-1946). He was an often controversial columnist in Britain's first ...
Serial Films
In the early days of Cinema there was a considerable vogue for serial films divided into chapters or episodes intended for separate screening in weekly instalments, a famous nonfantastic example being the 20-part General Film Company/Eclectic Film Company melodrama The Perils of Pauline (1914), directed by Louis J Gasnier and Donald MacKenzie with the much-menaced Pearl White in the title role. Later serials introduced the tradition of breaking off at ...
Rice, Elmer
First the pseudonym, then the legal name of US playwright and author born Elmer Leopold Reizenstein (1892-1967), active from around 1914. Of his plays, the closest to untrammelled sf may be The Adding Machine: A Play in Seven Scenes (performed 1923; 1923): this follows its protagonist, Mr Zero, from Suicide into heaven – which he despises because it is full of indecent creatures like Rabelais and Jonathan ...
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 ...