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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 ...
Christie, Douglas
(1894-1935) UK author who also published some work as by Colin Campbell, and thrillers as by Lynn Durie like This Yellow Slave (1933); his sf novel is The Striking Force: A Story of the North-West Frontier (1935), where Religion and Politics mix to create an unstable Near Future for Britain. [JC]
Quinn, James L
(1909-1992) US editor whose Quinn Publishing Company started the magazine If in 1952; Quinn became editor after the first four issues. Its circulation gradually declined, and in 1958 Quinn appointed Damon Knight in his place. The magazine's fortunes did not revive and Quinn suspended publication, subsequently selling the title to the publishers of Galaxy Science Fiction. With Eve Wulff he edited two anthologies ...
Madden, Timothy A
(1941- ) US author of Outbanker (1990), a Space Opera, and of The Bruja's Tale (2008), and occult fantasy. [JC]
Lampton, Chris
(1950- ) US author who began writing sf with "The Most Dangerous Man in the World" for Void in 1975 with David F Bischoff, also collaborating with Bischoff on his first novel, The Seeker (1976); he continued his short active career with two further competent sf adventures, Cross of Empire (1976) and Gateway to Limbo (1979). [JC]
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 ...