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Thursday 16 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 ...
Ubukata Tow
(1977- ) Pen-name of a Japanese author and scriptwriter who often writes the prose and Anime or Manga versions of his stories, and who maintains strong connections to the world of computer games. Raised largely in Singapore and Nepal, Ubukata returned to his native Japan to complete his education in his teens. He dropped out of Waseda University's department of literature shortly after winning ...
Wilkins, Lura M
(1879-1963) US author whose awkwardly mixed-genre "Over There": Chronicles of an English Engineer "Gone West" (1935) is presented as its author's stenographic recording of reminiscences of the horrors of World War One on the part of a British engineer. His narrative also describes his discovery of an Underground Utopia, whose entrance is on the dark side of the ...
Butler, Blake
(1979- ) US editor and author, much of whose work might be approachable in horror frames (see Horror in SF), though it is frequently buttressed by sf agencies (see Fantastika). What may be his earliest work, not always traceable in its original published form, was assembled in Scorch Atlas: A Belated Primer (coll of linked stories 2009) as a series of interlinked visions of the possible ...
Davies, Gordon C
(1923-1994) UK illustrator and author, most of his sf-related work being covers for the UK publisher Curtis Warren, which issued mostly bottom-of-the-market paperback originals in early 1950s; Steve Holland estimates that he executed at least forty covers for the firm. He also painted several 1952 covers for Authentic Science Fiction. A complete catalogue of his work is not ...
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 ...