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Wednesday 22 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 20 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 ...
Rosny jeune, J-H
Pseudonym of Belgian author Séraphin Justin François Boëx (1859-1948); in the form "J-H Rosny" this pseudonym was initially used by his elder brother, Joseph-Henri-Honoré Boëx (see J-H Rosny aîné), and was subsequently shared by both brothers 1893-1907: only after that date did Joseph-Henri-Honoré Boëx use the form J-H Rosny jeune. His interest in sf was very much less intense than his older brother's, ...
Space Pirate Captain Harlock
Japanese animated tv series (1978-1979). Original title Uchū Kaizoku Kyaputen Hārokku. Based on the Manga by Leiji Matsumoto. Toei Animation. Directed by Rintaro. Written by Shozo Uehara and Haruya Yamazaki. Voice cast includes Makio Inoue, Chiyoko Kawashima, Haruko Kitahama, Noriko Ohara, Hiroshi Ōtake and Keaton Yamada. Forty-two 25 minute ...
Scarborough, Dorothy
(1878-1935) Working name of Emily Dorothy Scarborough, US author best known for her novels about the contemporary American southwest, most notably The Wind (1925), a hauntingly surreal portrait of a woman maddened by listening to the Texas winds. While she edited two volumes of ghost stories (see Eschatology; Supernatural Creatures), Famous Modern Ghost Stories (1921) and ...
Sivell, Steven
(? - ) UK author of Cloud Cuckoo Land (2007), set in a surreally bureaucratic unnamed country indistinguishable from England just before a great meteorite hits the planet; the protagonist seeks to board a "vessel" which will survive the Disaster, allowing its passengers to reinhabit a shattered world. In The Godsend (2014 ebook) another pilgrim-like protagonist sets out eastward from ...
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 ...