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Thursday 12 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.
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Attebery, Brian
(1951- ) US academic and author best known for his work in the analysis of fantasy as a genre [see Checklist below]; for this work in particular he was given an IAFA Award for Distinguished Scholarship in 1991, though the 2009 Pilgrim Award was given him for his work in general. He served as co-editor with Ursula K Le Guin, and with Karen Joy ...
Macaulay, Rose
(1881-1958) UK author of twenty-three novels from 1906, the most famous being her last, The Towers of Trebizond (1956). Some of these books – such as And No Man's Wit (1940), in which a mermaid appears – venture edgily into fantasy. Her experiences of World War One, in voluntary aid, as a land-girl, and later in the War Office, seem to have shaped Non-Combatants and Others (1916), a nonfantastic pacifist ...
Longevity in Writers
It did not yet seem remarkable in 1979, when the first edition of this encyclopedia was released, with many founding authors of Genre SF still in mid career. A few decades later, however, when the second edition appeared in 1993, it seemed appropriate to include an entry on the extreme longevity of some sf and fantasy writers and publications (for magazines and their editors see Longevity in Publications). Three decades ...
Farr, David
(1969- ) UK director, screenwriter, playwright and author, active in various capacities in the UK Theatre from around 1990, including the direction of several plays. The dramaturgical thrust of several of his dramas engage with Fantastika, though at times only metaphorically. The Nativity (performed 1999; 1999 chap) edgily literalizes various miracles and manifestations clustered around Mary the ...
Chase, Robert R
(1948-2025) US author who began to publish work of genre interest with "Seven Scenes from the Ultimate Monster Movie" in Analog for mid-December 1984; he remained active with this magazine and later with Asimov's, producing stories in more than one sequence (none collected into book form) until 2024. Chase first ventured into novels with the Game of Fox and Lion sequence of sf adventures set in a feudalized interplanetary venue, ...
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 ...