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Saturday 11 July 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 7 July 2026
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Indick, Ben
(1923-2009) US fan, involved as a fan with American sf from before World War Two, and a member of First Fandom; he began publishing fiction of genre interest with "The Road to Dunwich" for Ibid in 1973, and remained moderately active as a short fiction writer for three decades. He is of sf interest as well for his nonfiction, which includes The Drama of Ray Bradbury (1977; rev vt Ray Bradbury: Dramatist 1989), and ...
Heydron, Vicki Ann
(1945- ) US author who began to publish work of genre interest with "Keepersmith" for Asimov's in 1979 with Randall Garrett, who was her husband. Most of her work, such as the Gandalara Cycle beginning with The Steel of Raithskar (1981) with Garrett and ending with The River Wall (1986) with Garrett, was billed as written in collaboration with him but owing to his failing ability to work after ...
Letts, Barry
(1925-2009) UK Television producer, actor, scriptwriter and author, primarily associated with Doctor Who, though he was active in the theatre from before World War Two, in a career lasting nearly seventy years. His work as producer for the 1969-1974 seasons of Doctor Who featuring Jon Pertwee (1919-1996) arguably saved the series: partly because of his savvy decision to keep the Doctor earthbound, where a non-sf audience ...
Lovelock, James
(1919-2022) UK environmentalist, biologist and author whose proposal of the Gaia (which see) hypothesis in Gaia: A New Look at Life on Earth (1979; rev 2000) has had considerable influence on sf and the old concept of Living Worlds. He credited William Golding for suggesting in the late 1960s that his then evolving hypothesis be named after the Greek earth-goddess Gaia. His ...
True, John Preston
(1859-1933) US author, mostly of historical novels; the eponymous meteor fragment, in The Iron Star and What It Saw On Its Journey through the Ages: From Myth to History (1899), which is written for older children, inspires or is in the vicinity of significant moments in the gradual Evolution of Homo sapiens, a voyage initially depicted in Prehistoric SF terms, later more mundanely. [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 ...