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Saturday 14 March 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 9 March 2026
Sponsor of the day: Paul Giamatti
Robert Hale Limited
UK publishing firm which from 1936 through 1984, though mainly in the 1970s, published more than 450 sf novels, in hardbound editions, primarily for the library market. (In 1990 a few US sf titles were reprinted, but no originals.) A large majority of titles originating with the firm were uniform in length (192 pages) and routine in substance, most being Space Operas varied with occasional Dystopias, though other forms of sf also ...
Britton, David
(1945-2020) UK publisher and author, founder with Michael Butterworth (and briefly Charles Partington) of Savoy Books in 1976 in Manchester, whose early list included works by Michael Moorcock, Charles Platt and Jack Trevor Story. With Butterworth, he edited The Savoy Book (anth 1978) and ...
Janifer, Laurence M
(1933-2002) US author in several genres and performing musician. Born Larry Mark Harris – a name used for his fiction until 1963 – he reverted to the old family name, which had been discarded by an immigration officer when Janifer's grandfather had gained entry to the America from Poland. Some of his non-sf books – mostly erotica – appeared under the pseudonyms Alfred Blake and Barbara Wilson; other pseudonyms (almost never for works in the fields of the fantastic) ...
Dreyer, Hans P
(1886-1945) Norwegian-born author, in US from the early years of the century; his sf novel, The Secret of the Sphinx (1929), is a Lost Race tale set in the Himalayas, to which am impecunious young doctor travels, leaving his wife behind. Her adventures, which include defending herself from a sexual abuser, may seem more fraught. [JC]
Kingsnorth, Paul
(1972- ) UK journalist and author, active from the early 1990s, much of whose nonfiction has dealt with the planetary environment, his earlier work focusing on Ecology as such, though the devouring issue of Climate Change clearly became of increasing concern. He is of sf interest for the Buccmaster trilogy comprising The Wake (2015), Beast (2017) and Alexandria ...
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 ...