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Wednesday 15 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 ...
Stevenson, Robert Louis
(1850-1894) Scottish author, step-father of Lloyd Osbourne, who changed his second given name from Lewis to Louis at the age of eighteen; best known for works outside the sf field like Treasure Island (1 October 1881-28 January 1882 Young Folks; 1883), transposed into space as the films Treasure Planet (1982) directed by Rumen Petkov and Treasure Planet ...
Scalzi, John
(1969- ) US author and journalist. Born in California, he studied at the University of Chicago (briefly under Saul Bellow) before taking on a career in journalism. He began publishing work of genre interest with "Alien Animal Encounters" in Strange Horizons for 15 October 2001, and soon published his first novel, the Military SF Old Man's War (2005), which ...
Anderson, William C
(1920-2003) USAF pilot who served in World War Two, and author in various genres who published his first sf, The Valley of the Gods (1957) as by Andy Anderson. Like his Pandemonium on the Potomac (1966), it features a father and daughter: in the former book they philosophize about the extinction of mankind; in the latter they act on their anxiety about Man's imminent self-destruction, becoming involved in what turns out to be a British plot to enforce world peace by ...
Garver, Ronald G
(1938- ) US author known only for one, slightly inflamed, but otherwise unremarkable sf novel featuring UFOs: The Saucer People (1957). [JC]
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 ...