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Tuesday 21 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 ...
Zombies
Of the three chief classes of Supernatural Creature most popular in fantastic fiction – the others being Vampires and Werewolves – zombies seem the least supernatural and the most easily rationalized in sf terms, though at its origin the term clearly described an entirely supernatural entity, and was so understood in the late nineteenth century, when it was used by such authors as ...
Journey into Fear
Canadian Comic (1951-1954). Superior. 21 issues. Artists include Matt Baker and the Iger Shop. Script writers include the Iger Shop. 36 pages, with four long strips and a short text story each issue, plus occasional short pieces as filler. / As with many early 1950s Horror comics, sf or borderline sf elements are not uncommon. Aside from those mentioned below, there are regular ...
Nisbet, Hugh A
(? - ) UK author for Robert Hale Limited of Farewell to Krondahl (1980), a routine Space Opera. [JC]
Stead, Robert J C
(1880-1959) Canadian poet and author, best known for the nonfantastic novel Grain (1926). Of some sf interest are Dennison Grant: A Novel of To-Day (1920), in which the unpacking of a Utopian land settlement scheme infers a movement into the Near Future; and The Copper Disc (1931) features a Mad Scientist who plans to rule the world ...
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 ...