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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 ...
Fast, Howard
(1914-2003) US author best known for his work outside the sf field: historical novels under his own name, and detective novels and thrillers as by E V Cunningham. The Unvanquished (1942) and Spartacus (1951), both signed with his own name, remain perhaps his most familiar titles. He began publishing sf with "Wrath of the Purple" in Amazing for October 1932, about a blob (see Biology) whose growth is unstoppable ...
McGuire, Seanan
(1978- ) US filker (see Filk), Internet presence and prolific author, who also writes as by A Deborah Baker and Mira Grant; she began publishing work of genre interest with "Lost" in Ravens in the Library: Magic in the Bard's Name (anth 2009) edited by SatyrPhil Brucato and Sandra Buskirk, and became prominent very quickly, winning the John W Campbell Award for best new writer in 2010. She ...
Cosmic Encounter
Board Game (1977). Eon Products (EP). Designed by Peter Olotka, Jack Kittredge, Bill Eberle. / Cosmic Encounter is perhaps the archetypal self modifying game. Every player is given a card representing an Alien race which has a special power; examples include the ability to force players to become allies and a race which gains the abilities of another, different, card after every defeat. When the alien powers conflict ...
Steel, Mark
Almost certainly a pseudonym of the otherwise unidentified UK author (? - ) of Trouble Planet (1954), in which an agent, sent on a mission to Mars, reminisces about his cadet training on a Space Station while dealing with Aliens who live on an Asteroid. [JC]
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 ...