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Wednesday 25 June 2025
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 23 June 2025
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Drayton, Henry S
(1840-1923) US medical doctor and author whose Lost World novel, In Oudemon: Reminiscences of an Unknown People, by an Occasional Traveler (1900), features a 100-year-old English colony within a beneath South America, which is technologically advanced, telepathic, socialist and Christian. [JC]
Weiss, Sara
(? -1904) US author of the Ento sequence comprising Journeys to the Planet Mars (1903) and Decimon Hûŷdas: A Romance of Mars (1906) [for further data on both titles see Checklist below]; Sara Weiss herself reports, via psychic messages, on the Utopia flourishing on Mars centuries previous, including advanced forms of Transportation (such as the ...
Daventry, Leonard
(1915-1987) UK author whose first sf novel, A Man of Double Deed (1965), began the Claus Coman series of tales set on an Earth partly recovered from nuclear Disaster and run by Telepaths, one of whom, the protagonist, is assigned the task of solving various problems. The sequels, two book-length stories, were published together as Reflections in a Mirage, and The Ticking Is in Your Head (coll 1969) ...
Hayward, Dagney
Pseudonym of UK author John Dagney Major (1875-1937), under which name appeared The Secret of the Silent City!: A Magnificent Adventure Story (1920 The Magnet; 1921), an unpretentious Lost Race tale. An earlier sf tale, "Into the Unknown", was serialized in The Gem in 1916 under the byline Dagney Major. [JC/SH] see also: Boys' Friend Library; ...
Mister X
Created by Canadian designers Dean Motter and Paul Rivoche, this cipherlike character – bald and with sunglasses, black overcoat and suitcase – appeared in illustrations and on record-album covers in the late 1970s before plans were made to publish a comic. The Mister X comic was promoted with several gorgeously designed posters 1981-1983 without in fact appearing. Eventually Rivoche was taken off the strip and the project was handed over to Jaime, Gilbert and Mario ...
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 ...