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Wednesday 18 February 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 16 February 2026
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Litmus
UK space-rock band, whose only release to date, You Are Here (2004) styles its title and cover-art in homage to Douglas Adams's Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Musically the band is very reminiscent of Hawkwind's expansive and more cosmically evocative style. [AR]
Anderson, A J
(1863-1927) UK author on various subjects; his sf novel, Professor Aylmer's Experiment (1922), uneasily marries occultism and experimental science as its eponymous protagonist attempts to create artificial life (see Invention; Mad Scientist). The Soul-Sifters: A Novel of Psycho-Analysis (1923), about a case of Amnesia caused by experiences in ...
Mullin, Chris
Working name of UK politician (Labour member of Parliament for Sunderland South, 1987-2010) and author Christopher John Mullin (1947- ), whose loose Harry Perkins series begins with A Very British Coup (1982), a tale of justified Paranoia which depicts with fixated clarity the ultimately successful Near-Future US efforts to subvert a potential change for the better in the UK Government (see ...
Chalmers, Garet
Pseudonym of UK author Margaret Simpson Chalmers (1939- ), whose two sf novels for Robert Hale Limited are A Legend in His Own Deathtime (1978), set in a Far-Future City deeply sunk in Decadence, and Homo-Hetero (1980), portraying the dilemma of two lovers of opposite gender in a ...
Irvine, Alexander C
(1969- ) US author who often writes as Alex Irvine; he began to publish work of genre interest with "Rossetti Song" in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction for March 2000, assembling this and other short work of interest in Rossetti Song: Four Stories (coll 2002 chap), Unintended Consequences (coll 2003) and Pictures from an Expedition (coll 2006). Irvine's main impact in the fields of the ...
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 ...