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Saturday 10 October 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 6 October 2026
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Edwards, Malcolm
(1949-2026) UK editor, critic and publisher, educated at Cambridge, where he graduated in anthropology. Active in UK sf Fandom in the 1970s and early 1980s, he published the first complete text of James Blish's "The Science in Science Fiction" (May 1951-May 1952 Science Fiction Quarterly) in his Fanzine Quicksilver #2 in 1971; edited the ...
Nichols, Walter
(? - ) UK author of Simon Magus (1947), essentially an historical novel, though at one point suggests that – more than simply levitating, as the feared and revered gnostic magician was reputed to do – Magus is actually responsible for the Invention of an Airship. [JC]
Armenia
A full entry for sf in Armenia must await a contributor fluent in its language and able to report from the inside on the development of the genre there, and on untranslated works. Relevant authors given entries in this encyclopedia are Michael Arlen, of Bulgarian-Armenian origin; the Turkish-Armenia-born US Gregory Casparian; Mariam Petrosyan; and G ...
Ruditis, Paul
(? - ) US author, mostly of Ties to Television or Comics series, beginning with Which Way Did She Go? (2001) for the vast Sabrina the Teenage Witch reboot beginning in 2000; other ties include one for the Star Trek universe, Star Trek: Enterprise: Shockwave (2002), one for ...
Coombs, Charles I
(1914-1994) US author, usually known as Chick Coombs, who in 1941 modelled John Carter of Mars for John Coleman Burroughs's Sunday-newspaper comics strip of that name (see Edgar Rice Burroughs). Coombs's written output was almost exclusively of nonfiction books for Young Adult readers, a high proportion of them about flying. Of sf interest are at least two tales, ...
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 ...