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 ...
Gallagher, Diana G
(1946-2021) US illustrator and author, in the former capacity winning a Hugo award for best fan artist in 1989 (see Fandom) as Diana Gallagher Wu (she was then married to William F Wu). As an author she concentrated almost exclusively on Young Adult Ties to Television series such as Sabrina, the Teenage Witch ...
Mysteries of Unexplored Worlds
US Comic (1956-1965). Charlton Comics. 48 issues. Artists include Jon D'Agostino, Steve Ditko, Rocco "Rocke" Mastroserio and Bill Molno. Most of the scripts were by Joe Gill, one of the most prolific comic writers. Usually 4-6 comic strips per issue, plus a two-page text story, covering sf, supernatural Horror and ...
Empire of the Ants
Film (1977; vt H G Wells' Empire of the Ants). MGM Studios, Cinema 77, American International Pictures (AIP). Directed by Bert I Gordon. Screenplay by Gordon and Jack Turley, very loosely based on "The Empire of the Ants" (December 1905 Strand Magazine) by H G Wells. Cast includes Joan Collins, Robert Lansing. 82 minutes. ...
Black Gate
US Small Press Fantasy magazine that began as a Semiprozine but now pays professional rates. It is published by New Epoch Press, St Charles, Illinois on a bi-annual basis and edited by John O'Neill. It was printed in standard size in emulation of the Pulp magazines, though is not pulp itself being printed on quality lightly ...
Clute, John
(1940- ) Canadian critic, editor and author, in the UK from 1969; married to Judith Clute from 1964, partner of Elizabeth Hand since 1996. He began to publish work of genre interest with an sf-tinged poem "Carcajou Lament" in Triquarterly for Winter 1960 [ie Autumn 1959]; he began consistently publishing sf reviews in his "New Fiction" column for the Toronto Star (1966-1967), and later in ...