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Thursday 12 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.
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Carver, Jeffrey A
(1949-2026) US author who began publishing sf with "... Of No Return" in Fiction Magazine for 1974. His first novel, Seas of Ernathe (1976), which serves as an introduction to the loose Star Rigger sequence of Space Operas, showed early signs of a love of plot and thematic complexity which would take him some time, and several novels, to control. The continuation, Star Rigger's Way (1978), for instance, combines quest ...
Jackson, Edward Payson
(1839-1905) Turkish-born US educator and author, of missionary parents, in America from 1845; of sf interest is A Demigod: A Novel (1886), published anonymously, in which a Eugenics programme, begun in Greece in the seventeenth century, generates in the late nineteenth century a Superman who boasts extraordinary strength and agility, plus a massive intellect, out of which pours Inventions ...
Gowland, John Stafford
(1898-1959) UK author whose sf novel, Beyond Mars (1956), treats, perhaps rather too primitively, Space Flight to the Moon and beyond by use of Antigravity; Aliens are encountered, as a matter of course. [JC]
Porter, Peter
(1929-2010) Australian editor and poet, in UK from 1951, prolifically active from 1958; two of his 1960s poems appear in Edward Lucie-Smith's early sf Poetry selection Holding Your Eight Hands (anth 1969). He is of further sf interest for one volume, Mars (coll 1988 chap), heavily illustrated by the Australian painter Arthur Boyd (1920-1999), where a sometimes heavily metaphorical ...
Panshin, Cory
(1947- ) US author and critic, collaborator with her husband, Alexei Panshin (whom see for further details), since before 1975. With him she co-wrote the fantasy Earth Magic (April-September 1973 Fantastic as "The Son of Black Morca"; 1978) and the critical volumes SF in Dimension (coll 1976; exp 1980) and ...
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 ...