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Wednesday 18 February 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 16 February 2026
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Zhang Ran
(1981- ) Chinese author and former award-winning online news journalist (until 2011) whose rise to fame was coterminous with the push of Chinese authors into Anglophone publishing. For earlier work, as by Zhuxie Duowen, see below. His first work under the Zhang name, the novella "Yitai" ["Ether"] (September 2012 Kehuan Shijie; trans Carmen Yiling Yan and Ken Liu, January 2015 ...
Weekley, Ian
(1933-2014) UK teacher and author, who should not be confused with the artist and modeller Ian Weekley (1932-2005). His sf novel, The Moving Snow (1974), rather prosaically describes how a family copes with a Climate Change crisis that brings severe Arctic conditions to the UK. All in all they survive snugly (see Cosy Catastrophe). [JC]
Best, Herbert
(1894-1981) UK-born author, after active service during World War One in Nigeria 1919-1932, subsequently in the US though he seems to have returned to Britain late in life; most of his fiction, like Young'un (1944), was written for children. He published one Scientific Romance, The Twenty-Fifth Hour (1940), a Last Man tale in which, after a worldwide ...
Comfort, Alex
(1920-2000) UK medical doctor, poet and author of significant popular work in the fields of sexology and gerontology, being perhaps best known for The Joy of Sex (1972; frequently revised), many of whose interior illustrations were by Chris Foss. Before World War Two he established an extremely precocious reputation for his poetry and fiction, and for the pacifism he espoused rigorously during the years of conflict (later, in 1961, in connection ...
Dead End: Paranormal Park
US animated online tv series (2022). Blink Industries, Netflix Animation. Created by Hamish Steele. Based on the short Dead End, broadcast as part of the Cartoon Hangover anthology series Too Cool! Cartoons (2013-2014) (see What a Cartoon!). Directed by Liz Whitaker. Writers include Jen Bardekoff, Brydie Lee-Kennedy, Nicole Paglia and Hamish Steele. Voice cast includes Zach Barack, Alex Brightman, Kody Kavitha, Kathreen Khavari, ...
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 ...