SF Encyclopedia Home Page
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 ...
Townsend, John
(1924- ) UK author of the Andy and Tom series of Children's SF Space Operas comprising The Rocket-Ship Saboteurs (1959) and A Warning to Earth (1960). He should not be confused with John Rowe Townsend. [JC]
Pacific Rim
American film (2013). Warner Brothers/Legendary Pictures. Directed by Guillermo Del Toro. Written by Travis Beacham and del Toro, based on a story by Beacham. Cast includes Charlie Day, Idris Elba, Burn Gorman, Charlie Hunnam, Robert Kazinsky, Rinko Kikuchi, Max Martini and Ron Perlman. 131 minutes. Colour. / As a prelude to their colonization of Earth, Aliens from another Dimension have ...
Unknown Island
US film (1948) Albert Jay Cohen Productions/Film Classics Inc. Produced by Albert J Cohen. Directed by Jack Bernard. Written by Robert T Shannon, Jack Harvey from an original story by Shannon. Cast includes Richard Denning, Virginia Grey, Barton MacLane and Phillip Reed (as Philip Reed). 76 minutes, cut to 75 minutes. Colour. / Adventurer Ted Osborne (Reed) convinces his fiancée Carole Lane (Grey) to finance a search for a legendary Island in the ...
Fantastic Worlds
1. US Amateur Magazine which saw eight issues from Summer 1952 to Fall 1955, published and edited by Edward W Ludwig for the first two issues and then taken over by Sam Sackett. It ran mostly fan-written articles but included some short fiction and other essays of interest such as "The Arkham House Story" (Summer 1952) by August Derleth, "Lovers and Otherwise" (Spring 1953) by ...
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 ...