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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 ...
Hales, A G
(1860-1936) Australian journalist and author, best known for a non-fantastic novel, Black Prince Peter: The Romantic Career of Peter Jackson (1928), and for the McGlusky tales from 1902, also non-fantastic. Of sf interest is The Glorious Trek (1927), a Lost Race tale. [JC]
Favole, Robert J
(1950- ) US author of two connected Time Travel tales for the Young Adult market, Through the Wormhole (2001) and Monday Redux (2003), each involving its young protagonist in a trip back through time to save friends and relatives from danger. [JC]
Worlds of Fear
US Comic (1952-1953). 9 issues (numbered #2-#10). Fawcett Publications Inc. Artists include Bob McCarthy, Sheldon Moldoff and Bob Powell. Harry Harrison drew at least one story, whilst Otto Binder (as Eando Binder) wrote the text story for #5 (neither were sf). 36 pages: #2-#8 had three strips, #9 and #10 four: all had a short text story. #10 also had a one-page non-fiction piece recounting ...
Byrd, Bob
(? - ) US author of a Tarzan pastiche, Ka-Zar, King of Fang and Claw (October 1936 Ka-Zar as "King of Fang and Claw"; 1937), in which young David Rand, orphaned after a plane crash in Africa, becomes the lord of the jungle, calling himself Ka-Zar. Two sequels followed, "Roar of the Jungle" (January 1937 Ka-Zar) and "The Lost Empire" (June 1937 ...
Clute, John
(1940- ) Canadian critic, editor and author, in the UK from 1969; married to Judith Clute from 1964, partner of Elizabeth Hand since 1996. He began to publish work of genre interest with an sf-tinged poem "Carcajou Lament" in Triquarterly for Winter 1960 [ie Autumn 1959]; he began consistently publishing sf reviews in his "New Fiction" column for the Toronto Star (1966-1967), and later in ...