The beta version of the new online incarnation of The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction has launched. The editors say, “We think we’re about 3/4 of the way through compiling the Encyclopedia. Our current 3.2m wordcount will probably expand to 4.2m by the time we’re done at the end of 2012. So there will be some entries missing in the beta text, and some cross-reference links that aren’t yet working. Of course, we hope that 3.2m words will be enough to occupy everyone for a while…” They expect to make updates monthly.

The encyclopedia was launched as part of the the new SF Gateway site from UK publisher (and Encyclopedia of Science Fiction sponsor) Gollancz. The new site makes thousands of classic SF works available as e-books for the first time.