SF Encyclopedia Home Page
Wednesday 22 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 20 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 ...
Mäki, Reijo
(1958- ) Finnish author of horror and thrillers, primarily known for his long-running Vares series, which pastiches American hard-boiled fiction and classic Westerns in an incongruous contemporary Finnish setting. Although little of his work has been translated, he remains one of the most recognizable Pulp fiction novelists in his native country, becoming a ...
Cartmel, Andrew
(1958- ) UK computer worker, author and Television script editor for the 24th-26th seasons (1987-1989) of Doctor Who, covering Sylvester McCoy's stint as the Seventh Doctor. Cartmel went on to write a number of novels Tied to this and other series. His standalone novel The Wise (1999) is a supernatural tale. / The couple of years prior to Cartmel's appointment had not ...
Hoffman, Lee
Working name of US sf fan and author Shirley Bell Hoffman (1932-2007), married (1956-1958) to Larry T Shaw. She first became known in the field for her two influential Fanzines, Quandry (30 issues 1950-1953) and Science-Fiction Five-Yearly (12 issues on the stated schedule, 1951-2006); the latter won the fanzine ...
Taylor, Jeri
(1938-2024) US Television scriptwriter, producer, showrunner and author best known as a significant contributor to the Star Trek universe, most notably for Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987-1994) and Star Trek: Voyager (1995-2001) series; she also wrote some episodes of ...
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 ...