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Monday 20 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 ...
Raabe, H E
(1858-? ) US ship captain and author, who in his former role as captain was advised by a crew member (Jack London) to take up writing; his Krakatoa, Hand of the Gods (1930), hints of the involvement of a Lost Race in the apocalyptic volcanic eruption of Krakatoa in 1888. Raabe had himself traded in the South Seas. [JC]
Chen Jiatong
(1987- ) Chinese author, a master's graduate from the Beijing University of Astronautics and Aeronautics whose success was greatly augmented after his debut novel Bai Hu Dila yu Yueliang Shi ["Dilah and the Moonstone"] (2014; trans Jennifer Feeley as White Fox 2019) was recommended by the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television as one of "100 Excellent Books" for young readers in 2015, ...
Ross, Malcolm
(1895-1965) US author and reporter, the protagonist of whose Time in Reverse sf novel, The Man Who Lived Backward (1950), lives from 1940 to 1865, dying just after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, which he is therefore unable to prevent. [JC]
Wheeler, Lorraine
(1932- ) Australian author whose fiction has been directly primarily towards younger readers; Pretend It's Christmas (1984) is a Young Adult tale about the Near Future Invasion of a peaceful enclave. [JC]
Robinson, Roger
(1943- ) UK computer programmer, bibliographer and publisher, active in UK Fandom for many years. The Writings of Henry Kenneth Bulmer (1983 chap; rev 1984 chap) is an exhaustive Bibliography of one of the most prolific sf writers, Kenneth Bulmer, and Who's Hugh?: An SF Reader's Guide to Pseudonyms (1987) is similarly exhaustive in its ...