We are sad to report the deaths of D C Fontana (1939-2019) on 2 December 2019, and Andrew Weiner

We are sad to report the death of Gahan Wilson on 21 November at the age of 89. He wrote several books, but for se

For various reasons it's been a tough year at SF Encyclopedia headquarters. John Clute broke his femur and is still rec

As reported in the December issue of Ansible, the Bank of England's longlist of past UK scientists who have bee

The annual World Science Fiction Convention always generates a great many updates for the SF Encyclopedia, and this year's event

The Scots sf and fantasy author Michael

At a ceremony held at Foyles in Charing Cross Road, London, on 18 July, the 2018 Arthur C Clarke Award (taking the traditiona

Harlan Ellison

Gardner Dozois, after a short illness, died in

Kate Wilhelm died on 8 March 2018

We announce with great regret the death on 6 March of Peter Nicholls (1939-2018), who conceived and edited th

Losing Ursula K. Le

John Clute writes: It was only in early 2013, almo

Brian Aldiss, universally acclaimed as a major sf writer, anthologist, critic, and general mover and

On 27 July 2017, the Arthur C Clarke Award went to Colson Whitehead for his novel 

Less than four months after our slightly bemused announcement  that the SF Encyclopedia  Picture Gallery had more than 17,000 cover images, the total h

Achievement unlocked this month: the SF Encyclopedia now has more than 17,000 entries (most of the recent additions being new author articles by the terrifyingly

We really meant to have a special celebration when the SF Encyclopedia word count reached the semi-magi

The SF Encyclopedia and SF Gateway are both about to celebrate their fifth anniversary. According to the relent

Many sf awards were presented at this year's Worldcon (MidAmeriCon II in Kansas City, 17-21 Augus

Good to see that the Guardian story

The SF Encyclopedia Picture Gallery has been growing steadily since its launch in May 2013, with most of the cover images com

Last night's site update finally took the SF Encyclopedia past five million words. As you know, Professor, the first edition of 1979 ran to some 730,00

To mark Independence Day in the USA, a gigantic alien battleship now hovering above the SF Encyclopedia will reduce

Sir Terry Pratchett, famed and widely loved creator of the Discworld saga and m

We used this headline just a year ago, but recycling is supposed to be a good thing.... As usual, the SF Encyclopedia editors ha

The main SF Encyclopedia and SF Gateway sites are scheduled for downtime on

We seem to have been too busy since the London Worldcon to issue one of these progress reports, but SF Encyclopedia progress continue

We'd been hoping for some while to push the SF Encyclopedia text past 4,500,000 words in time for Lonc

Frank M Robinson died on 30 June at the age of  87. His long publishing career began in the 1940s and

Daniel Keyes, author of the powerful and unforgettable sf tragedy Flowers for Algernon (April

We regret to report the deaths this month of two well-known -- indeed internationally famous -- genre artists: H R Giger on 12 May 2014 and

The 2014 Arthur C Clarke Award went to Ann Leckie for Ancillary Justice, her much-pr

Announced over the Easter weekend: the British SF Association Award winners, the

The latest Philip K Dick Award, for the best genre paperback original published in the USA during 2013, went to Ben H

With the 2014 London Worldcon getting closer, we thought it would be fun to put together a slideshow of L

Lucius Shepard, one of the sf world's most remarkable yet academically neglected storytel

As usual, the SF Encyclopedia editors have been toiling away behind the scenes. In mid-February the total text size crept beyond

The main SF Encyclopedia and SF Gateway sites are scheduled for roughly

Colin Wilson, initially famous for his philosophical exploration of literary and real-w

Doris Lessing, the distinguished literary author who besides many other honours in her lo

On 4 November 2013, the ever-increasing tally of images added to the <

William Harrison, the US author and screenwriter known to sf readers for his 1973 story "Roller Ball Murder" -- which

The main SF Encyclopedia and SF Gateway sites are scheduled for up to s

Another of the long-time sf greats has left us: Frederik Pohl died on 2 September at the age of 93. His granddaughter Emily P

As of Monday 12 August the SF Encyclopedia has 14,000 entries. Not a round enough number to seem magical, but cheering all the same.

In

A couple more small landmarks. On 1 August, after a fairly hefty SF Encyclopedia site update, John Clute's personal tot

Another of the genre's grand old men has gone. Richard Matheson died in Los Angeles on 23 June. As our entry says, he was a master

Iain Banks died on 9 June 2013, all too soon after his terminal cancer diagnosis earlier in the year. He was only 59. Many long obituaries and appr

It's that time of year again. The main SF Encyclopedia site (the one you're looking at now) will be unavailable from some time early in the morning on

The SF Encyclopedia editors have long wanted to add a little tasty eye candy to this website's massive textual presentation. Now at last we have a new page for t

Ray Harryhausen, one of the pioneering greats of sf/fantasy film effects -- he was particularly famed for his work in stop-motion an

EightSquaredCon, the 64th British Eastercon, is currently taking place in Bradford, Yorkshire. Editors of this Enc

Richard E Geis, novelist and publisher of the fanzine Psychotic and the long-running semiprozine of sf criticis

As subtly hinted in the headline, the SF Encyclopedia site update of 21 January 2013 took us comfortably past 4,000,000 words of text. It's tempting to

Gerry Anderson, creator of the much-loved Thunderbirds and other popular children's sf tel

The Strugatski or Strugatsky brothers, Arkady and Boris in collaboration, were Russia's best-known and most-translated sf

Today, 8 November 2012, the SF Encyclopedia reached and passed the 3.8 million word mark. The 3,800,000th word was written by Contributing Editor Gary

Alan Hunter, who died on 1 August 2012 after a long illness, was not only a fine artist but a generous man who drew covers and interior

Now we have photographs of them all, we've added a discreet page for the Encyclopedia's 2012 awards. Norma

The SF Encyclopedia team is enormously thrilled to have been voted the Hugo Award for Best Related work at the 2012 ceremony during the Chicago Worldcon on 2 S

Today it was confirmed that the unopposed London bid for the 72nd World SF Convention in 2014 was, as expected, successful in the site selection voting at the Chica

Several long-planned SF Encyclopedia website improvements went live on 21 August 2012. These include:

? A new "widget" (as the technical people call i

There is general mourning in sf circles for the loss of Harry Harrison, who died on 15 August (circa 1am) in the Ea

Now it can be revealed, with 2012 Hugo voting safely closed: we were encouraged to provide some exclusive SF Encyclopedia extras for inclusion in the Chicon Hu

Sad to record the death of Gore Vidal (1925-2012) on 31 July at the age of 86. A gifted mainstream novelist, he used sf and fant

Another small milestone: the editors are modestly pleased that the latest SF Encyclopedia site update has taken us past 3.6 million words.

Un

Ray Bradbury, one of the best-known sf and fantasy authors in the world, died in Los Angeles on the morning of 6 June 2012. The Martian Chronicles (coll of linked stories 1950) is among the great mythmaking wo

Leo Dillon, who with his wife and collaborator Diane Dillon formed a remarkable sf/fantasy artistic team, died on 26 May; Diane Dillon survives him.

Regular SF Encyclopedia updates continue; there is still much work to be done. The 2 May presentation of the Arthur C Clarke Award to The Testament of Jessie Lamb by Jane Rogers naturally led to a

Ernest Callenbach, author of Ecotopia, died on 16 April.

We are, of course, deeply thrilled to be included in the 2012 Hugo shortlist, Best Related Book category. The day after the Hugo list was announced, the SFE won the BSFA Award

Peter Phillips, author of the pioneering Dream Hacking story "Dreams Are Secred", died on 28 March.

Christine Brooke-Rose, the critic and experimental novelist who wrote several unusual works of sf, died on 21 March aged 89.

M A R Barker (Muhammad Abd-al-Rahman Barker), an important role playing game designer who created the world of Tékumel, died on 16 March.

Jean Giraud, the major French sf/fantasy artist who also published as Moebius, died on 10 March.

John Christopher -- known to friends by his real name Sam Youd -- died on 3 February at the age of 89. His books include the classic disaster novel The Death of Grass (1956; vt No Blade of Grass 1957)

Ardath Mayhar died on 1 February 2012, as reported here.

Her SFE entry has been slightly updated.

The official author website is

We are very pleased (and also surprised, since this is still a work in progress) that the SF Encyclopedia has been shortlisted in the Best Nonfiction category of the British SF Association Awards for 2011 work.

Other contenders in the same category include works by our Co

It's now three months since the SF Encyclopedia site was launched. We, the editors, and the website experts at STEEL have made a great many changes since October 2011, adding new material, correcting text errors and omissions, and fixing problems with the site.

The SFE no

Sadly, the authors T J Bass and Russell Hoban (of Riddley Walker fame) both died on 13 December 2011. 

Their entries will be updated as soon as possible. (Now done.)

You can read more at t

On October 3rd, the beta text of the third edition of The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction went live.

To answer some Frequently Asked Questions:

Q: What exactly is a beta text?

In this context, it means a text of the SFE that isn't yet complete. W