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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 ...
Robens, Howard
(? - ) German-born Canadian author of Hambro's Itch (1979) with Jack Wassermann, a Near Future mystery involving the death of a musician about to tour the Third World, and the planetary Disaster that must be averted. [JC]
Pall Mall Magazine
UK general interest magazine owned (until 1912) by William Waldorf Astor (1848-1919), published monthly from May 1893 to December 1912 by George Routledge, and from January 1913 to August 1914 by Iliffe & Sons. It was acquired by William Randolph Hearst's National Magazine Company and saw one more issue in September 1914 before being merged with Nash's Magazine as Nash's and Pall Mall Magazine. Though it retained Pall Mall's volume numbering the magazine was generally ...
Lost Planet, The
1. Serial Film (1953; vt Planet Men). Columbia. Directed by Spencer G Bennet. Written by George H Plympton, Arthur Hoerl. Cast includes Michael Fox, Judd Holdren, Vivian Mason, Gene Roth, Forrest Taylor and Ted Thorpe. 15 instalments. Black and white. / This Children's SF series – Hollywood's last sf serial – pits investigative reporter Rex Barrow (Holdren) against ...
Payne, Nick
(1984- ) UK screenwriter and playwright, most of whose dramas pithily compress sometimes transgressive content into stageable form, several of them applying speculative neuroscience to questions of Identity. In some of his work, worlds of discourse hover on the indeterminate boundaries of Fantastika, as in If There Is I Haven't Found It Yet (performed 22 October 2009 Bush Theatre, London; 2013 ...
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 ...