Ansible 290 -- September 2011

[Ansible Newsletter]

ANSIBLE 290
SEPTEMBER 2011

From DAVID LANGFORD, 94 London Road, Reading, Berks, RG1 5AU, UK. Web
news.ansible.co.uk. ISSN 0265-9816 (print); 1740-942X (e). Available
for SAE or used stass-pisistors.

[NET NOTE. See http://news.ansible.co.uk/a290.html for the nice HTML
version. Mailing list subscribe/unsubscribe information appears below
-- please don't send such requests to my own e-mail address. DRL]


RENOVATION: Worldcon. Reno. Happened. To no one's surprise, the
unopposed Texas bid won the 2013 site selection: see LoneStarCon 3
below.
HUGO AWARDS: _Ansible_'s spies described the ceremony as
'interminable' and 'unfunny except for Robert Silverberg'. NOVEL
Connie Willis, _Blackout_/_All Clear_. NOVELLA Ted Chiang, _The
Lifecycle of Software Objects_. NOVELETTE Allen M. Steele, 'The
Emperor of Mars' by (_Asimov's_ 6/10). SHORT STORY Mary Robinette
Kowal, 'For Want of a Nail' by (_Asimov's_ 9/10). RELATED WORK Lynne
M. Thomas and Tara O'Shea, ed., _Chicks Dig Time Lords: A Celebration
of Doctor Who by the Women Who Love It_. GRAPHIC STORY Phil & Kaja
Foglio, _Girl Genius, Volume 10: Agatha Heterodyne and the Guardian
Muse_. DRAMATIC, LONG _Inception_. DRAMATIC, SHORT _Doctor Who_: 'The
Pandorica Opens'/'The Big Bang'. EDITOR, SHORT Sheila Williams.
EDITOR, LONG Lou Anders. PRO ARTIST Shaun Tan. SEMIPROZINE
_Clarkesworld_. FANZINE _The Drink Tank_. FAN WRITER Claire Brialey.
FAN ARTIST Brad W. Foster. JOHN W. CAMPBELL AWARD Lev Grossman.
HUGO RULES. Rules tinkering was debated at the Business Meeting
for several standlees (periods of near-infinite subjective time),
leading to Best Fancast as a new category for audio/video fan
publications, plus complementary amendments to the Semiprozine and
Fanzine definitions, the latter now including 'periodical' to
eliminate continually updated websites. Ratification is required in
2012.


### THE ASSASSINATION WEAPON ###

J.G. BALLARD was in the _Sunday Times_ and other UK papers, thanks to
a new book about him. Charles Platt comments: 'When John Baxter asked
me to help him write his Ballard biography, I somehow got the feeling
that I didn't trust him. In email to my friend David Pringle on August
3rd, 2010, I wrote: "... He'll probably misquote or misinterpret me,
one way or another...." / Well, how prescient, and I'm glad that I
didn't help Mr Baxter very much. Unfortunately I had written for the
_New York Review of SF_ about a drunken party where Jimmy talked of
"the ultimate car crash" involving his girlfriend, Claire. I presented
that anecdote with some humour, some skepticism, and some affection.
Deprived of this context, it reads like a bizarre mixture of two
defunct publications: _New Worlds_ and _News of the World_. How ironic
that Jimmy, always so fascinated by tabloid treatment of celebrities,
should find himself a victim of it -- after being safely dead and
unable to respond, of course. / If J.G. Ballard is now remembered as
the man who wanted to kill his girlfriend in a car crash (much as
William Burroughs is remembered for killing his wife when he tried to
shoot an apple off her head), we will have John Baxter to thank. To
anyone who finds this as offensive as I do, I would like to apologize
for the extent to which I may have served as an enabler.' (21 August)

DAVID FURY, scriptwriter for _Lost_, recalled a memorable moment of
liaison with the ABC-TV network: 'There's an episode in which _[the
long-term character]_ Said is being tortured by the French woman, and
she is giving up the story of how she got there, and she was there
with a research team, and Said asked her what were they studying, what
was their expertise, and she said, "Time." And the network said, "You
can't say that, that's veering into science fiction." _[Audience
laughter.]_ And at this point, we'd had a paraplegic stand up and
walk, we'd had a smoke monster no one had seen, and they're going "No,
no, no, you can't have this 'Time' thing, it's too science-fiction,
the audience won't go for that." (transcribed -- 'close paraphrase,
eliding mostly Ums' -- from _The Nerdist Writers Panel_ #2 at www.nerdist.com,
recorded 13 March 2011) [TM]

MARVIN KAYE has bought _Weird Tales_ from John Betancourt's Wildside
Press and plans to edit it himself. Current editor Ann VanderMeer,
under whom the venerable magazine won its only Hugo (2009), sadly
reports that she and other staff are to be dropped; her last issue
will be #359, scheduled for February 2012. (_Weird Tales_ website, 23
August)

MARTIN REES, Astronomer Royal, knows where his towel is. As he told
the British Interplanetary Society this year, 'It is better to read
first-rate science fiction than second-rate science; it's no more
likely to be wrong and is far more stimulating than the second-rate
science. And I think it's good to read the great classics of science
fiction.' [M]


### CONTESSERATE ###

2 Sep [] HEARTWOOD (Rob Holdstock memorial discussion), British
Library. 6:30-8pm. Pounds7.50/Pounds5 concessions. Online booking
only? See www.bl.uk/whatson/exhibitions/outof/events (with other
events too).

2-8 Sep [] SF SPECTACULAR, Oxfam Bookshop, Reading: a second promotion
based on Brian Stableford's huge donation of sf texts.

14-15 September [] OPERA SIAM: MAE NAAK (the UK premiere of Somtow
Sucharitkul's ghost opera), Bloomsbury Theatre, London. 7:30pm.
Pounds24; Pounds17 concessions. Box office 020 7388 8822; for details
and online booking see www.thebloomsbury.com/event/run/1593.

14 Sep [] CHRISTOPHER PRIEST reading & _Prestige_ showing, QUAD,
Market Place, Derby, DE1 3AS. 7pm. Pounds5.50. Box office 01332
290606.

15 Sep [] ROBERT RANKIN evening, Phoenix Square, Midland St,
Leicester, LE1 1TG. 7pm. Pounds5.50. Box office 0116 242 2800.

17-18 Sep [] FROM IMAGINATION TO REALITY (British Interplanetary Soc
space/sf event), Berrill Lecture Theatre, Open University, Walton
Hall, Milton Keynes, MK7 6AA. Pounds80 or Pounds45/day. Online booking
only, at www.bis-space.com/products-page/symposia/.

24 Sep [] TITANCON, Europa Exhibition Centre, Belfast. GoH Ian
McDonald. Pounds10 reg, Pounds5 supp. Join at www.titancon.com (PayPal
only).

28 Sep [] BSFA OPEN MEETING, The Antelope, 22 Eaton Terrace, London,
SW1W 8EZ. 5pm for 7pm. Free. With Jo Fletcher.

30 Sep - 2 Oct [] FANTASYCON 2011, Royal Albion Hotel, Brighton.
Pounds65 reg (BFS members Pounds60) or Pounds40/day (Sat only).
Cheques to 10 Haycroft Gardens, Mastin Moor, Chesterfield, Derbyshire,
S43 3FE.

7-9 Oct [] SCI-FI LONDON OKTOBERFEST, Odeon Camden Town and other
Camden Town venues. Further details to follow.

28 Nov - 7 Jan [] _HOWL'S MOVING CASTLE_ (play), Southwark Playhouse,
London. 3pm and 7:30pm Mon-Sat (not 24-26 Dec, 31 Dec, 1 Jan).
Pounds16; Pounds14 concessions. Box office 020 7407 0234.

6-9 Apr 2012 [] OLYMPUS 2012 (Eastercon), Radisson Edwardian Hotel,
Heathrow, London. _Now Pounds65 reg, Pounds55 unwaged_. Pounds20 supp/
under-17s, Pounds5 under-12s, Pounds1 under-5s. Contact 4 Evesham
Green, Aylesbury, Bucks, HP19 9RX, or enquiries at olympus2012 dot
org.

25-27 Feb 2013 [] REDEMPTION '13 (multimedia sf), Britannia Hotel,
Coventry, CV1 5RP. _Now Pounds65 reg_, rising to Pounds70 on 1
September 2012; unwaged etc Pounds20 less. Pounds15 supp and
under-18s; under-3s free. Contact 61 Chaucer Road, Farnborough,
Hampshire, GU14 8SP.

29 Aug - 2 Sep 2013 [] LONESTARCON 3 (71st Worldcon), Henry B.
Gonzalez Convention Center, San Antonio, Texas. GoH Ellen Datlow,
James Gunn, Willie Siros, Norman Spinrad, Darrel K. Sweet. $160 reg;
YA $110; child $75; family $440; $60 supp. For the usual labyrinth of
presupporter and site-voter discounts, see www.LoneStarCon3.org.
Contact PO Box 27277, Austin, TX 78755, USA.


### INFINITELY IMPROBABLE ###

RIOTWATCH. UK sf fans seem mostly unscathed by August's upheavals, but
Joe Gordon reported damage to the fronts of Forbidden Planet
International outlets in Birmingham (cracked windows at Nostalgia &
Comics) and Manchester, though no actual looting. However, Mike Ashley
heard bad news when researching an _SF Encyclopedia_ magazine entry:
'David Clark who now runs _The Edge_ (Graham Evans's old mag) was
going to bring me up to speed, except it turned out their office was
trashed in last week's riots.' Ouch. According to DC, 'No data or
files were lost, but there was some serious damage on two sites, and
while I saw no rioters or criminals I had some problems with the
police when I tried to go home.' Croydon fandom merely smelled the
smoke. Media riot coverage was reportedly evocative of sf: 'And as
that footage was beamed around the world, the images had their own
kind of psychic velocity: a short-cut to viewers' unconsciousness
provided by Britain's rich tradition of fictional visions of dystopia,
from George Orwell's _1984_ to Aldous Huxley's _Brave New World_,
William Golding's _Lord of the Flies_ and of course anything by JG
Ballard.' (Gautam Malkani, _Financial Times_, 13 August) [MMW] We all
remember _1984_'s proles looting TVs so Big Brother could watch them
all the better, and the soma-crazed masses of _Brave New World_ wildly
setting fire to cities....

AWARDS. _Big Heart:_ Gay Haldeman.
_Chesley_ life achievement (art): Boris Vallejo.
_Clareson for Distinguished Service_ (to sf): The Tiptree
Motherboard (Karen Joy Fowler, Jeanne Gomoll, Ellen Klages, Pat
Murphy, Debbie Notkin, Jeff Smith).
_Sidewise_ (alternate history): LONG Eric G. Swedin, _When Angels
Wept: A What-If History of the Cuban Missile Crisis_; SHORT Alan
Smale, 'A Clash of Eagles' (_Panverse Two_).

BY ANY OTHER NAME. '"Battlestar"'s five-year run ended in March of
2009, the same week the Cataclysm occurred. That event was the
announcement that the channel was changing its name from Sci Fi to
SyFy, a crime against nature that had fans -- no network has more
devoted or opinionated fans -- pulling out their light sabres and
aiming them at executives and, of course, burning up the Internet with
scathing, witty insults.... To switch from the noble Sci Fi,
associated with so many groundbreaking, beloved writers, to something
that looks like your Uncle Seymour's screen name -- it's enough to
make any earthling go berserk.' (Nancy Franklin, _New Yorker_, 1
August.) [MMW]

PUBLISHERS AND SINNERS. PublishAmerica, the notorious US vanity press,
made its authors an irresistible offer linked to the Edinburgh
International Book Festival. 'We will bring your book to the attention
of Harry Potter's author next week while our delegation is in her
hometown, and ask her to read it and to tell us and you what she
thinks. Tell her what you think: in the Ordering Instructions box
write your own note for JK Rowling, max. 50-100 words. We will include
your note in our presentation for her!' Cost: $49, or $69 for multiple
books. Alas, neither Rowling nor the Festival had ever heard of this
interesting deal. 'Rowling spokesman Mark Hutchinson said Tuesday that
the claim was "completely false" and promised "appropriate action."
PublishAmerica, based in Frederick, Md., has long been cited by
industry watchdogs for allegedly deceiving authors.' (_Huffington
Post_, 16 August) Meanwhile, PublishAmerica made blustery threats to
sue for defamation. (_Writer Beware_, 16/18 August) [JS] _Publishers
Weekly_ found this PublishAmerica response 'notable because their
legal representation utilizes triple exclamation points.' (_PWxyz_, 19
August) [AIP]

R.I.P. _L.A. Banks_ (Leslie Esdaile Banks, 1959-2011), US author of
many urban fantasies including the 'Vampire Huntress Legends' vampire
series and the 'Crimson Moon' werewolf series, died from adrenal
cancer on 2 August. She was 51. [PDF]
_Del Connell_ (1918-2011), US old-timer of comics and animation
-- almost always anonymously owing to past industry practice -- died
on 12 August aged 93. He wrote thousands of comics, spent several
decades from 1939 with Disney drawing Mickey Mouse and others, and
created the storyline that became tv's _Lost in Space_; his life work
was at long last honoured with the Bill Finger award for Achievement
in Comic Book Writing at Comic-Con this year. [PDF]
_Colin Harvey_ (1960-2011), UK sf author and anthologist whose
small-press book debut was _Lightning Days_ (2007) and whose career
had since taken off with two novels from Angry Robot, died on 16
August following a stroke on the previous day. He was 50. [JS]
_Richard A. Hoen_ (1928-2010), US fan who in 1948 sent a joke
letter to _Astounding SF_ about its November 1949 contents -- to which
John W. Campbell famously responded by publishing the issue more or
less as described -- died on 2 August last year. [SHS]
_Pat Jackson_ (1916-2011), UK film/tv director who was the last
surviving director of Patrick McGoohan's _The Prisoner_ (1967-1968),
died on 3 June aged 95. [MPJ]
_Robert Robinson_ (1927-2011), popular UK tv and radio
personality whose three novels include the sf satire _The Conspiracy_
(1968), died on 12 August; he was 83. (BBC)
_Jimmy Sangster_ (1927-2011), UK Hammer Studios scriptwriter and,
later, director who wrote _The Curse of Frankenstein_ (1957), _Horror
of Dracula_ (1958) and other Hammer classics, died on 19 August aged
83. [SG]
_William Sleator_ (1945-2011), US author of more than 30 books
including many children's and young-adult sf and fantasy novels, died
on 2 August aged 66. [AIP] An early sf title is _House of Stairs_
(1974).

AS OTHERS SEE OUR DUPES. 'Most Australians duped by science fiction'
is an intriguing ABC News headline. The Australian Nuclear Science &
Technology Organization polled 1,250 people to learn if they could
tell reality from sf: 'More than three-quarters of Australians believe
microscopic life has been found on other planets and almost half
believe humans can be frozen and thawed back to life, despite neither
being true.' (15 August) [AL] Could they possibly be remembering old
news stories and pop-science articles rather than sf?

OUTRAGED LETTERS. _Paul Barnett_ on _A288_ obits: 'For me and I think
many others, Peter Falk's major role in a fantasy flick was in Wim
Wnders's _Wings of Desire_ (1987).'
_N. Lee Wood_ on _A289_: 'I was really saddened to read that
Sakyo Komatsu had died. He was a charming, funny, sweet, intelligent,
lovely man, and his passing is a loss to the entire sf community. I
spent a memorable evening at a science fiction convention (Den Haag?
Italy?) when he and I ended up orphaned in the hotel restaurant
together, too far away to join in with the rest of the gang's
conversation. He entertained me well into the wee hours with a
thoroughly funny explanation of intricately Byzantine Japanese tax
laws while drinking copious amounts of booze until his eyes became a
peculiar shade of bloodshot. The next morning, when I saw him at
breakfast, I said hello, and asked, as one does, "How are you this
morning?" He bowed, always the polite Japanese gentleman, and with
impeccable comedic timing said, "Very hungover, thank you very much."
He was a tireless and amazingly cheerful man who attended sf
conventions all over the world, and did a great deal to promote
Japanese sf into the English language market, as well as vice versa.
I'll miss him.'

AS OTHERS REMEMBER US. '[John W.] Campbell was the Editor of _Amazing
Stories_, the first sci-fi magazine, with a group of contributors that
included Frederik Pohl, Isaac Asimov, and Damon Knight.' (Comics
Alliance.com on the _New Worlds_ revival, 20 August) [AIP]

FANFUNDERY. _TransAtlantic Fan Fund._ The 2012 TAFF race begins. N.
American candidates for the trip to Olympus 2012 (Eastercon) must find
nominators, write a platform, etc., by _30 September_. Contact Anne &
Brian Gray (akg.netmouse at gmail.com; see CoA) or see taff.org.uk.

WE ARE EVERYWHERE. More genre imagery. 'The phone-hacking scandal has
reached a tipping point familiar to any viewer of science fiction: the
moment when the monster, created in a secret laboratory, finally
breaks free of any restraint and goes rampaging off amid a trail of
mayhem.' (Jenny McCartney, _Sunday Telegraph_, 21 August) [MPJ]
'Enter a terrifying procession of ghouls. The US economy has
started to stumble lethargically, as if bitten by a zombie. The
eurozone countries, one by one, are being drained of lifeblood by a
swift and merciless vampire. Even among the seemingly healthy emerging-
market villagers, there are signs of a diabolical malady that brings
first fever and then debilitation. Perhaps most worrying of all is
that the forces of light -- with their weaponry of silver bullets,
decapitation machetes and powerful antibiotics -- are scattered and
disorganized, if not totally absent.' (Alan Beattie, _Financial
Times_, 6 August) [MMW]

RANDOM FANDOM. _Ted White_ had a spinal laminectomy on 25 August and
came through 'in excellent shape'. [CP] He's back home, can walk, and
is active in his usual email lists.
_Also Hospitalized_ but recovering: Jan Howard Finder, who got to
Reno but missed Worldcon owing to heart trouble, and Heinlein
biographer Bill Patterson, who had to leave early with a necrotic foot
that's since been amputated.
_Worldcon Attendance_ estimated at over 4000, perhaps over 4100.
[F770]

THE DEAD PAST. _50 Years Ago:_ London uproar! 'JOHN BRUNNER is
understood to be one of the many CND people who yesterday staged a Ban
the Bomb sit down in Trafalgar Square. Although the rally was declared
illegal by Home Secretary R.A. Butler, the demonstration went on.
Chaos reigned in the Square and squatters were carted away constantly
by the police in an attempt to get traffic moving. Well over 600
arrests were made. Not playing the game at all, what! And on Battle of
Britain Day!!!' (Ron Bennett, _Skyrack_ 37, 18 September 1961)

C.O.A. _Anne and Brian Gray_, 5006 Royene Ave NE, Albuquerque, NM
87110, USA. ('We moved just ten days before Worldcon ...')

GROUP GROPES. _London Fortean Society_, The Bell, 50 Middlesex St,
London, E1 7EX. Last Thursday each month except August & December.
First meeting 29 September; 7pm for 7:30; Pounds3 or Pounds2
concessions. [DVB]

THOG'S MASTERCLASS. _Sensitivity Dept._ 'Even from the corner of her
eye when one of her sobs was carried to him like a fallen leaf, he,
thankfully, let her be.' (Taylor Holden, _The Sense of Paper_, 2006)
[PB]
_Dept of Existential Insight._ 'Carnelian jerked awake. The
cessation of pain was so instant he was sure he must be a
corpse.' (Ricardo Pinto, _The Third God_, 2009) [BA]
_Morning After Dept._ 'She recoiled from herself.' 'But I woke
the next morning with a fountain spurting from the pit of my
stomach.' (both William Brodrick, _The Sixth Lamentation_, 2003) [PB]
_Dept of Possible Perspiration._ 'The boy's face shone with the
youthful dew that no one misses until it is gone.' (David Ebershoff,
_The 19th Wife_, 2008) [PB]
_Try It With A Log Dept._ 'I lay awake upon the bed, unable to
fall off.' (_Ibid_)

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### ENDNOTES ###

APPARITIONS.
[] 6 September 2011: Frances Hardinge reading, Oxfam Bookshop, Market
Place, Reading, RG1 2EA. 6:30pm. Free, I think.
[] 9 September 2011: Brum Group, Briar Rose Hotel, Bennett's Hill,
Birmingham city centre, 7:30pm for 8pm; Pounds4 or Pounds3 for
members. With Stan Nicholls & Peter Weston. Contact bhamsfgroup at
yahoo co uk or rog.peyton at btinternet com. Further meetings: 14
October, David Wingrove; 4 November, TBA.
[] 29 September 2011: Christopher Priest new book launch, The Gallery,
Foyles, London. 6:30pm-7:30pm. Free, but reserve your place by
emailing events at foyles co uk. More details and more such events at:
http://www.foyles.co.uk/events-at-foyles

EDITORIAL. In August, someone madly enquired about the 'AIQ' text-
generator software produced by Ansible Information back in the days of
MS-DOS and later transferred to this new-fangled Windows thing. (I
have no evidence that any author actually used the ghastly fantasy
novel titles spewed out by one of its many options, but there are dark
suspicions.) Since I've had quite enough of software marketing, 'AIQ'
is now available as a free, excitingly unsupported download:
http://ai.ansible.co.uk/aiq.html

PAYPAL TIP JAR THINGY. Support _Ansible_, cover website costs and keep
the editor happy! Or just buy his books.
http://ansible.co.uk/paypal.html
http://ansible.co.uk/books/index.html
http://ansible.co.uk/books/starcomb.html

COURT CIRCULAR II. The patent war between Samsung and Apple took an
interesting turn on 22 August, with a new legal filing from the former
that cites Kubrick's _2001: A Space Odyssey_ (1968). Apple wants
Samsung's tablet-like gadgets barred from US sale as infringing a 2004
Apple patent -- now challenged on 'prior art' grounds since similar
tablet devices are seen and used in both _2001_ and the 1970s Thames
TV series _The Tomorrow People_. Which could be a worrisome precedent
for future attempts to patent working time machines, matter
transmitters or sonic screwdrivers. [TC]
http://tinyurl.com/samsung2001

THE NAUGHTY BITS. Dave Locke feels that Nicolson Baker's new
sex'n'skiffy epic _House of Holes_ is a natural for Thog's
Masterclass, but I worry about getting Thog over-excited. Better to
leave it in the safe hands of reviewer Charles McGrath: 'The book
coins dozens of new terms for the male member, like "thundertube,"
"seedstick" and the "Malcolm Gladwell," and near the end there is a
sort of Joycean explosion, an "Atlas-shrug shudderation of arrival"
that makes a young woman named Shandee "shiver her way through the
seven, eight, nine, twelve seconds of worldwide interplanetary flux of
orgasmic strobing happy unmatched tired coughing ebbing thrilled spent
ecstasy."' (_New York Times_, 4 August) Personally I still haven't
recovered from the male-apparatus euphemism that Baker invented years
ago in _The Fermata_: 'my triune crotch-lump'.
http://goo.gl/Fdd4h


Ansible 290 Copyright (c) David Langford, 2011. Thanks to David V.
Barrett, Brian Ameringen, Paul Barnett, Tony Cullen, the late and
still-missed Mog Decarnin, Paul Di Filippo, File 770, Steve Green,
Martyn P. Jackson, A. Lawday, Markus, Todd Mason, Curt Phillips,
Andrew I. Porter, Steven H Silver, Jim Steel, Martin Morse Wooster,
and our Hero Distributors: Dave Corby (Brum Group), SCIS/Prophecy,
Alan Stewart (Australia).

1 September 2011