Ansible 105 [long]
David Langford
ANSIBLE 105
APRIL 1996
From DAVE LANGFORD, 94 London Road, Reading, Berkshire, RG1 5AU, UK. Fax
01734 669914. ISSN 0265-9816. E-mail ans...@cix.compulink.co.uk.
Available for SAE or eldritch, blasphemous ichor.
[NET NOTE. Please see the last section for subscribe/unsubscribe
information: such requests should NOT be sent to my personal e-mail
address. DRL]
As I write, the Clute/Grant _Fantasy Encyclopedia_ is entering its final
throes of assembly (>> CREATION MYTH), with editors (>> DARK LORDS;
INSANITY) and contributors (>> BONDAGE; NAZGUL) struggling (>> LAST
BATTLE) towards completion (>> EUCATASTROPHE). The trouble (>> WRONGNESS)
with working for months (>> CALENDAR) on this behemoth (>> MONSTERS) of
books (>> LIBRARY) is that sooner or later (>> TIME ABYSS; TIME IN
FAERIE) you start tearing your hair (>> THINNING; TORTURE), thinking (>>
PERCEPTION) entirely in cross-references (>> RECURSIVE FANTASY), and
wistfully (>> SEHNSUCHT) wondering (>> PORTENTS; SCRYING) if you'll ever
again have time (>> TIME FANTASIES) to visit (>> NIGHT JOURNEY; QUEST)
the pub (>> INNS; PLOT DEVICES) for some relaxing beer (>> HEALING)....
### ELEPHANT WITH WOODEN LEG ###
STEVE BAXTER's _The Time Ships_ won the Kurd Lasswitz award for best
foreign language novel published in Germany in 1995 ... `despite the fact
that the only German character in the book is an anonymous time-
travelling aviator who drops a nuke on Guy Gibson,' notes Steve.
GREG EGAN's novel _Distress_ (which interestingly suggests the
ontological necessity of killing off theoretical physicists before they
Meddle With Thoughts Man Should Not Think) won the Aurealis Award for
excellence in Australian sf.
JO FLETCHER had a spectacular car accident in March: her car was forced
off a motorway by another driver (who neglected to stop) and rolled over
four times. Despite concussion, whiplash, sprains, cuts and bruises, she
returned home -- with crutches -- after one night in Peterborough
hospital.
NEIL GAIMAN has been having desperate fun with the shooting of his
_Neverwhere_ tv series in obscure crannies of London; repercussions even
reached _The Times_ when Piccadilly Line travellers were spooked by
`ghostly glimpses of strange characters at a table on a shadowy platform
covered in serpents and beetles; the vision flashed by seemingly
suspended in mid-air ...' This was a scene set on the platform of Down
Street tube station, abandoned since 1932. Quoth NG, `I worry, now that
I've had so much fun on top of and underneath London, that the actual TV
show will prove to be crap. But I'll walk away happy, because I got to
go everywhere I wanted to go in London; I have tromped in the Fleet River
(deep in a tunnel under Blackfriars bridge) and wandered the bell-towers
and attics of the St Pancras Hotel, and all it cost the BBC was, um,
around two million pounds actually....'
ANNE GAY and STAN NICHOLLS, celebrated UK sf people for celebrated UK sf
reasons, were married on 30 March.
GARRY KILWORTH was bemused to find the cover picture of his novel _House
of Tribes_ -- all about mice -- used as the illustration for an _Elle_
magazine article on how to rid one's house of vermin....
JOHN SLADEK smacks his lips: `I heard from Charles Platt the other
evening. He is doing well, and on his way to sit by the bedside of the
dying Timothy Leary. Charles belongs to the Cryogenics Society, who are
going to freeze the good doctor's head. I suggested that it would be so
saturated in high-powered drugs that it would not freeze. I can certainly
imagine the freezer being plundered by tattooed kids in search of acid.
Can you picture them taking a communion of Leary's brain?'
JOHN WYNDHAM's papers are up for sale: trunkfuls of MSS, proofs,
correspondence, etc. ... including the handwritten MS of _The Day of the
Triffids_, four unpublished mystery novels, and much unpublished sf in
draft form. The SF Foundation finds itself awfully tempted, but the price
tag is #100,000. Can National Lottery money save the day? George Hay, SFF
founder, would prefer investment in other, more scientifictional areas:
he points out `the rocket that was put up -- and, more to the point,
retrieved -- lately by some totally unknown space buff, aided only by
sugar for the propulsion explosives from Tate & Lyle. #100,000 would pay
for a whole star-fleet!' Once again I realize the inferior, laggard
nature of my own imagination.
### CONTADOR ###
12-14 Apr [] ACCELERATE (_Quantum Leap_), Radisson Edwardian Hotel, nr
Heathrow, #35 reg. Contact 78 Sterry Rd, Dagenham, Essex, RM10 8NT.
17 Apr [] ARTHUR C.CLARKE AWARD presentation, London.
24 Apr [] BSFA London meeting, Jubilee pub, York Rd, nr Waterloo. 7pm on.
`We don' need no steenkin' guest....'
25-8 Apr [] EUROCON/BALTCON/LITUANICON, Vilnius, Lithuania. Contact
Gediminas Beresnevicius, PO Box 216, Vilnius 2040, Lithuania. Fax +3702
766578.
26 Apr [] BRIT FANT SOC EVENING, The Wheatsheaf, Rathbone Pl, London W.1.
6pm on. With Joe R.Lansdale signing.
2-5 May [] READING BEER FESTIVAL, King's Meadow, Reading. Bafflingly
variable entrance fees from free (Fri lunch, Sun pm) to #2.50 (Fri or Sat
eve). Enquiries 01734 508119. `Of course it's a fan event: _I'll_ be
there!' belches Martin Hoare.
2-6 May [] WARP TWO (_Trek_), Cardiff International Arena. #35 reg.
Contact 69 Merlin Cr, Edgware, Middlesex, HA8 6JB.
24-7 May [] INCONSISTENT (sf/humour), Scotch Corner Hotel, Darlington.
#22 reg; #27 after Easter. Contact 26 Northampton Rd, Croydon, Surrey,
CR0 7HA.
14-16 Jun [] NEXUS (_Trek_), Holiday Inn, Bristol. #35 reg. Contact (SAE)
26 Milner Rd, Horfield, Bristol, BS7 9PQ.
28-30 Jun [] DISCWORLD CONVENTION, Britannia `Sasha's' Hotel, Manchester.
_Membership closed_; supp members can still convert. Contact P.O. Box
3086, Chelmsford, Essex, CM1 6LD.
26-29 Jul [] ALBACON 96, Central Hotel, Glasgow. #30 reg. Contact F1/2,
10 Atlas Rd, Springburn, Glasgow, G21 4TE. `Nobody south of Carlisle
seems to realize that Albacon is on, or that we have both Harlan Ellison
and Terry Pratchett!' wails Cuddles; `The numbers are so poor [...] that
we are considering calling it a day.' You are urged to join instantly and
prevent this terrible thing.
1-7 Sep [] CATHARS, CASTLES & CRUSADERS -- a week's tour of mysterious
Languedoc in France, shepherded by that `erudite and well known lecturer,
author and TV presenter' Lionel (_The Holy Blood and the Holy Badger_)
Fanthorpe. #500 all-in. Contact -- if you dare -- PO Box 4, Llandeilo,
Dyfed, SA19 6YZ.
4-6 Oct [] FANTASYCON XX, International Hotel, London. #40 reg; BSF
members #35. GoHs Christopher Fowler, Tom Holt. Contact (SAE) 137 Priory
Rd, Hall Grn, Birmingham, B28 0TG.
24-6 Dec [] YULECON, Plough & Harrow Hotel, Hagley Rd, Edgbaston, Brum.
Avoid the family Xmas for #20 reg (and 3 x SAE). Contact 56 York Rd,
Torpoint, Cornwall, PL11 2LG.
28-31 Mar 97 [] INTERVENTION (Eastercon), Adelphi Hotel, Liverpool. #25
reg/#15 unwaged (#30/#20 after Easter); cheques to `Wincon'. Contact 12
Crowsbury Close, Emsworth, Hants, PO10 7TS.
_Rumblings_ [] CHRIS BELL issued great ululating cries of horror and
despair on discovering that (a) Evolution hotel rooms don't have tea- or
coffee-making facilities -- `We are a 5-star hotel. Our customers do not
wish to make their own coffee'; (b) room service allegedly charges #2.50
a cup; (c) others on the committee knew this but had neglected to tell
their e-mail-less hotel liaison person C.Bell.... [] BRUM GROUP 3rd-Fri-
of-month meetings have moved (after vast upheavals) to Prince Hotel,
Station St; READING GROUP Monday beerfests (9pm on) are now in the Three
B's bar, Town Hall basement. [] WORLDCON 1999: the selection ballot will
apparently feature only Australia and Zagreb, a mooted Las Vegas bid
having failed to file its papers in time (though a campaign for write-in
votes may still be an option).
### INFINITELY IMPROBABLE ###
WOULD YOU DO IT FOR A PENNY? The fabled US sf magazines _Asimov's_ and
_Analog_ have been sold (along with all other Dell Magazines titles,
including _Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine_) to Penny Press, a
Connecticut publisher previously specializing in crossword puzzle
magazines. SF editors Gardner Dozois (7, 6) and Stanley Schmidt (anag.)
are expected to remain in charge.
TIPTREE AWARD: Elizabeth Hand, _Waking The Moon_; Theodore Roszak, _The
Memoirs of Elizabeth Frankenstein_ (tie). [ED]
WHY WE ARE DESPICABLE. `Science fiction novels are historical novels in
reverse, and both are properly despised. Both are archaeological -- so
obsessed with discovery that the given is stinted. In both, world-mapping
obliterates world-making; both attempt a kind of reconstruction, one
backwards from the present, and one forwards. Specificity -- how the
sewers worked in 1880, or how they will work in 2080 -- is so strategic
that it wearies the reader....' Thus James Wood in _The Guardian_,
reviewing Russell Hoban's _Fremder_ -- favourably, since (just like 1,000
other despised sf novels which Wood knows he needn't read) the book isn't
particularly concerned with world-maps or sewers.
R.I.P. _Richard Powers_ (born 1921; died 9 March in Madrid), the artist
who successfully brought abstract art and surrealism to sf book jackets.
[] _Evangeline Walton_ (born 1907; died 11 March, of pneumonia), who
novelized the four branches of the _Mabinogion_ -- beginning with _The
Virgin and the Swine_ (1936, wisely retitled _The Island of the Mighty_)
and completing the set as 70s Ballantine Adult Fantasies. [CNB]
RANDOM FANDOM. _John D.Berry_ sends a _Science News_ headline proving
that Eyes Are Upon Us: `CIA studies fan debate over psi abilities'. []
_Helena Gough & Martin Tudor_ announced their wedding for 4 April,
followed by a combined honeymoon and TAFF campaign in the sultry,
tropical setting of Eastercon.... [] _Kim Huett_ renounced all fan-fund
ambitions, preferring to visit the US under his own steam: `Not that I
would ever stand for DUFF anyway as it involves attending a worldcon,
i.e. the fannish equivalent of genital warts.' [] _Joan Paterson and
Tibs_ `are now the proud (and exhausted) parents of Michael Lachlan Ibbs,
born 1:35am on 2 April 1996 at the Queen Mother's Hospital in Glasgow.'
[] _Councillor Iain Thomas_ of the Glasgow District Council, that fun-
loving skiffy fan dear to the hearts of all locals, had plans to enliven
his final council meeting with loud and amusing bangs ... but the Lord
Provost's heavy mob got wind of this, took him sternly aside, and caused
him to empty his pockets of fireworks. Cllr Thomas is a self-confessed
Conservative. [_Glasgow Herald_, 29 Mar]
C.O.A. _BEM_ (Spanish newszine), Interface Grupo Editor, PO Box 6092,
47080 Valladolid, Spain [] _Gary Farber_, 922 East 15th St, Apt 2B,
Brooklyn, NY 11230, USA (expected by 11 Apr). [] _Sally Ann Melia_, 6
Addlestone Pk, Addlestone, Surrey, KT15 1SA [] _Rob & Pat Welbourn_, 24
Wilde Road, Waban, MA 02168-1325, USA.
_FANTASY ENCYCLOPAEDIA_ FUN. Best cross-reference entry so far,
surprising yet logical: `GUYS >> DOLLS'. [] Most regrettedly unwritten
theme-entry phrases: in DARK TOWER, `... often updated as black-glass
skyscrapers; modern London and New York have suffered severe attacks of
DTs'; and in BRAVE LITTLE TAILOR, `The BLT sandwiches, as it were, the
concepts of ...'
FAANS REDIVIVUS. Fanzine Activity Achievement awards at Corflu went to:
ARTIST D.West (runners-up Ian Gunn, Teddy Harvia, Dan Steffan); WRITER
Andrew P.Hooper (r.u. Sharon Farber, Dave Langford, Simon Ounsley);
FANZINE _Apparatchik_ (r.u. _Attitude_, _BLAT!_, _Mimosa_). [JM] Could
these results foreshadow ... the fan Hugos?
THOG'S CRITICAL MASTERCLASS. From a Ringpull flyer for Jeff Noon's
_Pollen_: `Cyber-punk was invented by the Americans in the late 1980s
when people such as William Gibson began exploring the possibilities of
high-tech meets science-fiction. But cyber-punk is a million miles from
the traditional world of science-fiction ruled by sword and sorcery. The
new generation's worlds are ruled by the gun and are inhabited by sharply
drawn credible characters. Witty, urban and hip, cyber-punk came as a
maelstrom of fresh air....'
BRAM STOKER AWARDS. 1996 finalists: NOVEL _Widow_, Billie Sue Mosiman;
_deadrush_, Yvonne Navarro; _Zombie_, Joyce Carol Oates; _Bone Music_,
Alan Rodgers. FIRST NOVEL _Diary of a Vampire_, Gary Bowen; _The
Between_, Tananarive Due; _Madeleine's Ghost_, Robert Giardi; _The Safety
of Unknown Cities_, Lucy Taylor; _Wyrm Wolf_, Edo van Belkom. NOVELETTE
`Baby Girl Diamond', Adam-Troy Castro; `Lunch at the Gotham Cafe',
Stephen King; `Looking for Mr. Flip', Thomas F. Monteleone; `Lover Doll',
Wayne Allen Sallee; SHORT `Becky Lives' Harry Crews; `Chatting with
Anubis', Harlan Ellison; `The Bungalow House', Thomas Ligotti; `Death of
the Novel', William Browning Spencer. COLLECTION _The Panic Hand_,
Jonathan Carroll; _Cages_, Ed Gorman; _The Black Carousel_, Charles
Grant; _Strange Highways_, Dean Koontz. NONFICTION _The Supernatural
Index_, Mike Ashley & William Contento; _Psycho: Behind the Scenes_,
Janet Leigh & Christopher Nickens; _An Encyclopedia of Claims, Frauds,
and Hoaxes of the Occult and Supernatural_, James Randi; _Immoral Tales:
European Sex and Horror Movies 1956-1984_, Cathal Tohill and Pete Tombs.
Winners to be announced 8 June. [ED]
OOPS. Mighty defender of truth _Jim England_ denounced me in _The
Skeptic_ magazine as `importantly wrong', for an obituary that quoted the
full name John Kilian Houston Brunner. Armed with infallible memories of
some conversation with John in the early 50s, JE declared that the middle
names were `invented' as a pseudonym. `Most SF writers ... seem to have
wrongly assumed they were part of his real name.' FACT: John's 1934 birth
certificate is available through the Office of National Statistics, and
lists his forenames as John Kilian Houston. (From which he extracted the
briefly-used pseudonym `Kilian Houston Brunner'.)
THOG'S MASTERCLASS. `"And I've been here many times before. In fact, I
was here when you were running around in dirty diapers, Mr Coal. Things
have a way of leaking out." / "I think you've had leaks yourself," Coal
said.' (John Grisham, _The Pelican Brief_) [] `The likelihood of life
elsewhere in the Galaxy, the inevitability of her species being drawn
into an interstellar extinction lottery, was all spelled out on the
insides of Sargenti-Peterson.' (Charles Pellegrino & George Zebrowski,
_The Killing Star_. S-P is, luckily, a comet.) [] _The Author_ reports
extreme difficulty in recording one novel's alleged immortal line for an
audiobook: `All the streets of the port were running with Arab seamen.'
HOLDSTOCKGRAM! _Rob Holdstock_ rips the lid off: `Good God it's Peter
Weston! At the International Association for Fantasy in the Arts in Fort
Lauderdale, Florida! "What are _you_ doing here, Peter?" many a delegate
asks (shocked). "It's terrible," the reply comes from his seat at the
poolside. "I'm supposed to be selling doorknobs to a bunch of blokes in
Orlando. It's a business trip, see? But my connecting flight from Fort
Lauderdale was cancelled! Isn't that terrible?" "Shocking! When's your
next available flight?" "Mine's a Pina Colada," comes the chortling
reply! [] Astonishing scenes at the panel on British sf where Tom Shippey
and John Clute heatedly disagree about _Interzone_ publishing policy
following a teasing statement from Peter that were he to write an upbeat
space-opera, _IZ_ wouldn't publish it because it wouldn't be pessimistic
enough. Generously ignoring any _other_ reason for rejection, Clute's
impassioned defence of new writer optimism is only slightly undermined
when Ellen Datlow, of _Omni_, informs the audience that the new
generation of dour British sf writers collectively call themselves "The
Miserables". "I'm sorry John. I just thought you should know." [] Even
more astonishing scenes at the guest lunch on Friday, where 300 delegates
are holding copies of _The Hollowing_. How quickly one is able to forget
that the book was distributed as a freebie! [] To the Bahia Cabana with
a small gang all curious to see if it's true that the menu includes
Blackened Dolphin Steak Sandwich. It is. After minutes of silence and
soul searching -- _First Englishman_ (softly): "It may be politically
incorrect ... but I'm going to have the fucking dolphin. How about you?"
_Second Englishman_ (whispering): "Absolutely! I was just waiting for
someone to go first." [] A summons from the bar to the roof, where Joe
Haldeman has his binoculars pointed towards the comet Hyakutake. His
instruction to delegates to "Let your eyes adjust and you'll see
something blurry, surrounded by a fuzzy haze" is quite unnecessary. []
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Con listing by Famous Chris O'Shea,
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Fan e-mail directory (new location),
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Fan funds information,
http://lacon3.worldcon.org/www/Funds/
Laurie Mann's interesting sf/fan links,
http://www.lm.com/~lmann/hot/sf.html
_Omni_, http://www.omnimag.com
Science Fiction Foundation Collection,
http://www.liv.ac.uk/~asawyer/sffchome.html
_The Skeptic_ magazine (UK), http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/skeptic
_Who's 7_, http://www.ftech.net/~whos7/
Worldcon bids round-up by Chaz Baden,
http://lacon3.worldcon.org/www/Bids/
Worldcons ditto, http://lacon3.worldcon.org/www/worldcons.html
CHANGE AND DECAY IN ALL AROUND I SEE: please note the altered
_Ansible_ electronic subscription details at the beginning of "Geeks'
Corner". Mind you, there are still problems with this list server, and
I don't know when they will be resolved.
Ansible 105 Copyright (c) Dave Langford, 1996. Thanks to Jane Barnett,
Paul Barnett, Charles N.Brown, Cuddles, Ellen Datlow, Martin Morse
Wooster and our Hero Distributors: Janice Murray (NA), SCIS, Alan
Stewart (Oz), Martin (For TAFF!) Tudor and Bridget Wilkinson (FATW).
5 Apr 96
--
David Langford
ans...@cix.compulink.co.uk