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Tuesday 14 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 ...
Calverton, V F
Pseudonym of US author George Goetz (1900-1940), who also signed himself more fully Victor Francis Calverton, and who was, as an interbellum American radical and founder of the Modern Quarterly in 1923, a significant contributor to debates on sex, literature and politics; he was notorious for espousing bohemian values; alcoholism killed him young. Among his voluminous writings is an sf novel, ...
Chong, Vincent
(1981- ) UK illustrator known primarily for his striking illustration of urban Fantasy, dark Fantasy and horror subjects, but who has also illustrated sf – for example, John Scalzi's FTL starship-set novella The God Engines (2009). Chong received his formal art education at Manchester Metropolitan University and at Northumbria University, emerging from the latter ...
Mandino, Og
Working name of Italian-born author Augustine Mandino II (1923-1996), in US from childhood, most of whose work promulgates self-help with a Christian tint. Of some sf interest is his novel, The Christ Commission (1980), which features Time Travel to the time of Jesus. [JC]
Leininger, Robert
(1946- ) US author in whose Black Sun (1991) the Disaster of a sudden dimming of the Sun causes a new Ice Age (see Climate Change). [JC]
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 ...