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Tuesday 14 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 ...
Keshishian, John M
(1923-2021) Greek-born surgeon, academic, archaeologist and author, in US from 1931, whose Near Future sf novel, with Jacob Hay (whom see for details), is Autopsy for a Cosmonaut (1969; vt Death of a Cosmonaut 1970). The Mayan Shard Caper (2006) focuses on the speculative assumption that there may have been a second Mayan race, perhaps distinct in some ways from Homo sapiens. [JC]
Mekton
Role Playing Game (1984). R Talsorian Games (RTG). Designed by Michael Pondsmith. / Mekton is a game designed to simulate a very specific form of fiction, that of Anime series focusing on giant Robots, or Mecha. Prominent examples of the genre include Bubblegum Crisis (1987-1991), ...
Calmadenker, A
Pseudonym of Dutch-born author, born Jacobus Calisch (1863-1926), a resident in the USA apparently from early adulthood; he changed his name to James Howard Calish in 1906. In his The Mania of the Nations on the Planet Mars, and its Terrific Consequences: A Combination of Fun and Wisdom (1915 chap), tantalizingly, the history of Mars – here narrated at length via an access platform sited at the South Pole (see ...
Smith, D Alexander
(1953- ) US investment banker and author who served as Treasurer of Science Fiction Writers of America 1987-1990 and has written several articles on Wargame strategy. The Marathon sequence comprising Marathon (1982), Rendezvous (1988) and Homecoming (1990) analyses in some depth a First Contact event, depicting with very considerable ...
Nicholls, Peter
(1939-2018) Australian editor and author, primarily a critic and historian of sf through his creation and editing of The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction [see below]; resident in the UK 1970-1988, in Australia from 1988; worked as an academic in English literature (1962-1968, 1971-1977), scripted television documentaries, was a Harkness Fellow in Film-making (1968-1970) in the USA, worked as a publisher's editor (1982-1983), often broadcast film and book reviews on BBC Radio from 1974 and ...