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Tuesday 14 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 14 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 ...
Clemens, Brian
(1931-2015) UK screenwriter, Television producer and author who claimed to be related to Mark Twain (Samuel Langhorne Clemens); he began to write television and Cinema scripts in the mid-1950s, often using the pseudonym Tony O'Grady, the surname being his Irish mother's maiden name. Works of genre interest began with a 1959 teleplay for The Invisible Man ...
McConnell, Ashley
(? - ) US author, mostly of Ties, though her first novel, Unearthed (1992), is supernatural horror; she has also written fantasy. She is probably best known for her Ties to two Television series: Quantum Leap (1989-1993), beginning with Quantum Leap: The Novel (1992; vt Quantum Leap: Carny Knowledge ...
Bengal
Describing sf in Bangla (or the Bengali language) is a topic fraught with difficulties. Any understanding of sf in this linguistic region must begin with an analysis of kalpabigyan, the term generally used as a very rough analogue to sf in Bangla at present. / First of all, there are problems of definition, as kalpabigyan, which is a recent formulation (see below), has a wider range of meanings and applications than those usually associated with sf, because at least in part it ...
Quinn, James L
(1909-1992) US editor whose Quinn Publishing Company started the magazine If in 1952; Quinn became editor after the first four issues. Its circulation gradually declined, and in 1958 Quinn appointed Damon Knight in his place. The magazine's fortunes did not revive and Quinn suspended publication, subsequently selling the title to the publishers of Galaxy Science Fiction. With Eve Wulff he edited two anthologies ...
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 ...