Ansible 296 -- March 2012

[Ansible Newsletter]

ANSIBLE 296
MARCH 2012

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 fayalin/delinade cocktail recipes.

[NET NOTE. See http://news.ansible.co.uk/a296.html for the nice HTML
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### DARK TIDES ###

CLIVE BARKER spent some time in hospital in January 'thanks to a
nearly fatal case of Toxic Shock brought on by a visit to my dentist.
Apparently this is not uncommon. In my case the dental work unloaded
such a spillage of poisonous bacteria into my blood that my whole
system crashed, putting me into a coma. I spent several days in
Intensive Care, with a machine breathing for me.' He emerged twenty
pounds lighter. (www.dreadcentral.com, 7 February) [GW]

WILLIAM GIBSON retains the power to surprise journalists: 'For a
science-fiction novelist, William Gibson is oddly reluctant to be
called a prophet.' (_The Week_, 10 February). [MMW]

FRANK MUIR (1920-1998) mentioned a possible literary influence in his
autobiography: 'I was told recently that the novelist J.G. Ballard
much enjoyed the _My Word!_ stories, and after hearing a story of mine
in which, for purposes of the plot, I extolled the virtues of living
in beautiful Shepperton, Surrey (Thorpe _[where Muir lived]_ is about
5 miles away) -- I described Shepperton as "the Malibu of the Thames
Valley" -- he was moved by this warm recommendation and drove over in
his car, liked what he saw and bought a house there, in which he still
lives. Could this be true? I do hope so.' (_A Kentish Lad_, 1997) [IM]

NICK PARK is merely 'flattered' by the succession of UK newspaper
cartoons -- especially in the _Times_ -- which transfer the likeness
of his hapless inventor Wallace (of Wallace & Gromit fame) to the
allegedly hapless Labour leader Ed Miliband. But staff at Aardman
Animations worry that poor Wallace's image may be damaged by these
repeated comparisons: 'You have to protect the brand.' Meanwhile, 'A
spokesman for Mr Miliband declined to comment.' (_Independent_, 5
February) [MPJ]


### CONCEILL ###

Until 30 Mar [] _LEM1_ exhibition/installation by Herman Chong at
Rossi & Rossi, 16 Clifford St, London, W1S 3RG: '... to transform our
gallery space into a functioning second-hand Science-Fiction and
Fantasy bookshop.' 020 7734 6487; e-mail info at rossirossi dot com.

2 Mar [] BRITISH FANTASY SOCIETY OPEN NIGHT, The Mug House, London
Bridge, London, SE1 2PF. 5/6pm for 7:30pm. All welcome.

3-4 Mar [] P-CON IX, Irish Writers' Centre, Parnell Square, Dublin 1.
Euro20 reg: payment via PayPal or at door. See www.pcon.ie.

10-11 Mar [] QED (science/skeptics), Piccadilly Hotel, Portland St,
Manchester, M1 4PH. Pounds89 (students Pounds68) via www.qedcon.org.

27 Mar [] JAN PIENKOWSKI speaks, The Grove Building, Middlesex
University, NW4 4BT. 7pm. Details: farah dot sf at gmail dot com.

28 Mar [] BSFA OPEN MEETING, Melton Mowbray (_new venue_), 18 Holborn,
London, EC1N 2LE. 6pm for 7pm. BSFA Awards discussion.

28 Mar - 27 May [] 'IT'S LIFE JIMMY, BUT NOT AS WE KNOW IT': SF in
Scotland (exhibition), National Library of Scotland, George IV Bridge,
Edinburgh, EH1 1EW. Free. 10am-8pm; to 5pm Sat; 2-5pm Sun.

29 Mar - 1 Apr [] DEAD BY DAWN (horror film festival), Filmhouse,
Edinburgh. Pounds70. Box office 0131 228 2688; www.deadbydawn.co.uk.

6-9 Apr [] OLYMPUS 2012 (Eastercon), Radisson Edwardian Hotel,
Heathrow, London. 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.

13-15 Apr [] THE HUB 8 (_Torchwood_), Park Inn, Northampton. Tickets
from Pounds78 to Pounds195. See massiveevents.co.uk/hub8.

22 Apr [] DIANA WYNNE JONES CELEBRATION (informal, non-religious), St
George's, Brandon Hill, Bristol. 2pm for 2:30. Family members and
close friends will share their memories of Diana. All are welcome.

1-7 May [] SCI-FI LONDON film festival at Apollo Piccadilly Circus,
BFI Southbank, other London venues. See www.sci-fi-london.com.

2 May [] CLARKE AWARD at Sci-Fi London. By invitation.

24-27 Aug [] DISCWORLD CONVENTION, Hilton Metropole, Birmingham. Now
Pounds63 reg, Pounds42 concessions. _Sold out; waiting list closed._

26-28 Oct [] FESTIVAL OF FANTASTIC FILMS, Manchester Conference
Centre, Sackville St. Pounds70 reg. Contact 95 Meadowgate Rd, Salford,
Manchester, M6 8EN; Gil at manchesterfantasticfilms dot co dot uk.

11-18 Nov [] THOUGHT BUBBLE (comics), Leeds, including 17-18 November
comics convention. See www.thoughtbubblefestival.com.

23-25 Nov [] WEXWORLDS (sf/fantasy festival), Wexford, Ireland.
Assorted local events. More details awaited at www.wexworlds.net.

1-3 Feb 2013 [] QUARTER TONE (filk), Ramada Grantham Hotel. Pounds35
reg; Pounds22 unwaged; under-18s Pounds1/year; under-6 free. Cheques:
UK Filk Con, c/o 15 St. Catherine's Cross, Bletchingley, Surrey, RH1
4PX.

8-10 Feb 2013 [] SF BALL (media), Carrington House Hotel, Bournemouth.
Tickets from Pounds104; Pounds38/day Sat/Sun. See sfbevents.com/
sfball.

RUMBLINGS [] _2012 Hugo Nominations_ close on 11 March.


### INFINITELY IMPROBABLE ###

AS OTHERS SEE US. A _Guardian_ piece on the dark secrets of ebooks
makes the pecking order clear: 'Kindle-owning bibliophiles are furtive
beasts. Their shelves still boast classics and Booker winners. But
inside that plastic case, other things lurk. Sci-fi and self-help.
Even paranormal romance, where vampires seduce virgins and elves bonk
trolls.' (Antonia Senior, 5 February) In short, 'The ebook world is
driven by so-called genre fiction, categories such as horror or
romance. It's not future classics that push digital sales, but more
downmarket fare. No cliche is left unturned, no adjective
underplayed.' [CP] No sneer unsneered.

MAGAZINE SCENE. _Arc_, a 'digital magazine about the future' from the
_New Scientist_ stable, launched on 20 February in various e-formats
plus a 'collectible print edition' at an eye-watering $29.95 (152pp,
trade pb size). _Omni_-like mix of stories and articles. No
unsolicited submissions, but there's a fiction competition: see
arcfinity.tumblr.com.

AWARDS. _Kitschies_: NOVEL Patrick Ness & Siobhan Dowd, _A Monster
Calls_. DEBUT Kameron Hurley, _God's War_. COVER ART Peter Mendelsund,
for Glen Duncan's _The Last Werewolf_. SPECIAL (discretionary):
graphic novel publisher SelfMadeHero.
_Skylark:_ Sharon Lee & Steve Miller.

PUBLISHERS & SINNERS. Following Amazon's latest bullying -- delisting
over 4000 ebooks distributed by the Independent Publishing Group,
because IPG wouldn't accept an unfavourable Amazon rewrite of
contractual terms -- SFWA is redirecting its Amazon links elsewhere.

R.I.P. _Ian Abercrombie_ (1934-2012), UK character actor seen in
various genre films (_Army of Darkness_, _The Lost World: Jurassic
Park_) and tv series (_Twin Peaks_, _Birds of Prey_, _Wizards of
Waverly Place_) as well as voicing for animations (_Shrek_, _Star
Wars: The Clone Wars_, _Rango_), died on 26 January; he was 77. [MPJ]
_Anders Akerlind_ (?1960-2011), highly active Swedish fan from
the late 1970s to mid-1980s, died on 11 February 2011; his legacy is
SFF (Swedish Fanzine Association), an open APA which he founded. [J-
HH]
_Jan Berenstain_ (1923-2012), creator with her husband Stan (d.
2005) of the long-running Berenstain Bears talking-animal sequence for
young children, died on 24 February aged 88. [PDF]
_Mark Bourne_ (1961-2012), US author of several short stories
since 1993 and a number of planetarium presentations (two _Trek_-
themed) died on 25 February; he was 50. [SFS]
_Richard Carpenter_ (1933-2012), UK screenwriter and author whose
tv series creations included _Catweazle_ (1970-1971) and _The Ghosts
of Motley Hall_ (1976-1978) -- both of which he novelized -- died on
26 February. [DH]
_Lou Cameron_ (1924-2010), US comics artist and author of over
300 novels -- mostly Westerns -- whose sf ventures included _The Spy
with the Blue Kazoo_ (1967 as by Dagmar) and _Cybernia_ (1972), is
confirmed as having died on 25 November 2010 aged 86. [SL] This had
previously been denied by a family member when reported in March 2011.
_John Christopher_ (Sam Youd, 1922-2012), noted UK author of both
adult and YA sf, died on 3 February after long illness; he was 89.
Active in fandom in the 1930s, he began publishing with a 1941 _Weird
Tales_ poem and a 1949 _Astounding_ story; the best-known of his
strong adult disaster novels is _The Death of Grass_ (1956, aka _No
Blade of Grass_, under which title it was filmed); others include _The
World in Winter_ and _A Wrinkle in the Skin_. For younger readers, the
part-televised Tripods sequence (1967-1968) and the Prince in Waiting
trilogy (1970-1972) are especially memorable.
_Bob Franklin_, UK fan in the 1960s whose one published sf story
was 'Cinnabar Balloon Tautology' (March 1970 _New Worlds_), died on 22
February. Chris Priest remembers him as '... an old friend of mine
from the 1960s. He was close to me and Graham Hall, and was on the
fringes of the _New Worlds_ group.'
_Todd Frazier_ (1954-2012), US fan who for many years helped
produce Ed Meskys's _Niekas_ (1962-1998; 1967 Hugo winner), died on 8
February aged 57. [EM]
_Peter Halliday_ (1924-2012), UK actor whose best-known star role
was as Dr John Fleming in the BBC sf serials _A for Andromeda_ (1961)
and _The Andromeda Breakthrough_ (1962), died in February; he was 87.
[MPJ]
_Bill Hinzman_ (1936-2012), US cinematographer and actor who was
the 'number one zombie' in _Night of the Living Dead_ (1968), died on
5 February aged 75. Further zombie roles included the title part in
_FleshEater_ (1988, aka _Zombie Nosh_), which he directed. [MPJ]
_Zalman King_ (1942-2012), US director and screenwriter whose
early genre credits as actor include _Blue Sunshine_ (1978) and
_Galaxy of Terror_ (1981), died ON 3 February; he was 69. [SG]
_Elyse Knox_ (1917-2012), US actress best known for her starring
role in _The Mummy's Tomb_ (1942), died on 16 February aged 94. [SFS]
_Sir Simon Marsden_ (1948-2012), UK photographer specializing in
ruins, graveyards and general eeriness, died on 22 January aged 63.
His books include the Poe selection _Visions of Poe_ (1988), the
supernatural fiction anthology _The Twilight Hour_ (2003) and
_Vampires: The Twilight World_ (2011). (_Telegraph_, 7 February)
_Christoffer Schander_ (1960-2012), leading 1980s Swedish fan who
organized conventions and published the highly regarded genzine
_Procul Este Profani_, died on 20 February; he was 51. [J-HH]
_Mike White_, UK comics artist best known for _Roy of the
Rovers_, died on 28 or 29 January. Genre work included the dystopian
_Kids Rule OK_ for _Action_ (scripted by Jack Adrian) and various
_2000 AD_ 'Future Shocks' and 'Time Twisters' features (many, along
them the Abelard Snazz tales, scripted by Alan Moore). [GW]

DEPARTMENT OF STRANGE BEDFELLOWS. 'Harry Potter and Viagra have more
in common than you may imagine. They came to market within a year of
each other in the late 1990s; they enjoyed enormous success; and what
was a boon for the companies that sold them could turn into a bane as
their popularity fades and rivals emerge.' (Andrew Hill, _Financial
Times_, 7 February) [MMW]

NEBULA SHORTLIST. NOVEL Jo Walton, _Among Others_; China Mieville,
_Embassytown_; Jack McDevitt, _Firebird_; Kameron Hurley, _God's War_;
Genevieve Valentine, _Mechanique_; N.K. Jemisin, _The Kingdom of
Gods_.
NOVELLA Mary Robinette Kowal, 'Kiss Me Twice' (_Asimov's_ 6/11);
Catherynne M. Valente, 'Silently and Very Fast' (_Clarkesworld_
10/11); Carolyn Ives Gilman, 'The Ice Owl' (_F&SF_ 11/11); Kij
Johnson, 'The Man Who Bridged the Mist' (_Asimov's_ 10/11); Ken Liu,
'The Man Who Ended History: A Documentary' (_Panverse Three_); Adam-
Troy Castro, 'With Unclean Hands' (_Analog_ 11/11).
NOVELETTE Rachel Swirsky, 'Fields of Gold' (_Eclipse 4_); Brad R.
Torgersen, 'Ray of Light' (_Analog_ 12/11); Ferrett Steinmetz,
'Sauerkraut Station' (_Giganotosaurus_ 11/11); Charlie Jane Anders,
'Six Months, Three Days' (Tor.com, 6/11); Katherine Sparrow, 'The
Migratory Pattern of Dancers' (_Giganotosaurus_ 7/11); Jake Kerr, 'The
Old Equations' (_Lightspeed_ 7/11); Geoff Ryman, 'What We
Found' (_F&SF_ 9/11). SHORT STORY Adam-Troy Castro, 'Her Husband's
Hands' (_Lightspeed_ 10/11); Tom Crosshill, 'Mama, We are Zhenya, Your
Son' (_Lightspeed_ 4/11); Nancy Fulda, 'Movement' (_Asimov's_ 3/11);
Aliette de Bodard, 'Shipbirth' (_Asimov's_ 2/11); David W. Goldman,
'The Axiom of Choice' (_New Haven Review_, Winter 2011); E. Lily Yu,
'The Cartographer Wasps and the Anarchist Bees' (_Clarkesworld_
Magazine 4/11); Ken Liu, 'The Paper Menagerie' (_F&SF_ 3/11).
DRAMATIC _Attack the Block_; _Captain America: The First
Avenger_; _Doctor Who_: 'The Doctor's Wife'; _Hugo_; _Midnight in
Paris_; _Source Code_; _The Adjustment Bureau_.
ANDRE NORTON (YA) Nnedi Okorafor, _Akata Witch_; Franny
Billingsley, _Chime_; Laini Taylor, _Daughter of Smoke and Bone_; A.S.
King, _Everybody Sees the Ants_; Greg van Eekhout, _The Boy at the End
of the World_; Delia Sherman, _The Freedom Maze_; Rae Carson, _The
Girl of Fire and Thorns_; R.J. Anderson, _Ultraviolet_.

AS OTHERS CLASSIFY US. _Parade_ magazine's 'Parade Picks' for 20
January include Daniel O'Malley's novel _The Rook_: 'The heroine, an
operative at a U.K. agency that fights supernatural threats, must
determine which snarky coworker is trying to off her. Utterly
uncategorizable, yet fantastically fun.' Which publisher will be first
to invent a category name for such work? Fantasy Urban, they might
call it. [PL]

RANDOM FANDOM. _British Fantasy Society Awards:_ reform details
announced. BFS members having failed to vote right in 2011, winners
will now be decided by a 5-person jury, based on member nominations.
'The jury shall also have powers to add nominations where it
identifies an egregious omission.'
_John-Henri Holmberg_ reports that the late Arne Sjogren (see
_A295_) left SEK300,000 (~Pounds29,000) to Cosmos -- his old
Gothenburg sf fan club -- to reward promoters of the club and/or
Swedish sf in general.
_Doreen Rogers_ (nee Parker) spent December in hospital after
breaking her arm and then -- while in hospital -- her hip, but
returned home 'with a lot of extra care' in January. [SH]
_Andrew Wells_ saw an eBay listing for that essential designer
product, a 'Girls Animal Ansible T-Shirt -- Purple Heather'. Sadly,
it's been sold....

THE DEAD PAST. _30 Years Ago_, John Sladek attempted naked self-
promotion: 'The second volume of _Roderick_ is now called _Roderick at
Random_; I'm hoping to sell a few copies to any Smollett scholars who
happen to be buying books in a hurry.' (_Ansible_ 24, March 1982)
_Voice of Prophecy, 1970:_ '... I must conclude that the staff of
_New Worlds_ is a very pessimistic lot. By their thinking, if the
human race makes it to the 1980s, we'll be reduced to "totally
subservient, humanized robots," obsessed with our materialism and
subject to madness upon seeing the vastness of the universe. The lucky
ones will be transformed into sex freaks with Dr. Ballard drooling
over our deformed bodies.' (Tony Isabella, _Fantastic Fanzine_ 12.
1970) [TM]
_40 Years Ago_, _Checkpoint_ was not afraid to report the Tolkien
Society AGM in full statistical detail: 'The Society has about 90
members out of 200 known Tolkien fans in Britain.' (_Checkpoint_ 16,
March 1972)

MORE AWARD SHORTLISTS. _Libertarian Futurist Hall of Fame:_ Lois
McMaster Bujold, _Falling Free_ (1988); Harlan Ellison, '"Repent,
Harlequin!" Said the Ticktockman' (1965); E.M. Forster, _The Machine
Stops_ (1909); Rudyard Kipling, 'As Easy as A.B.C.' (1912).
_Bram Stoker_ (horror, selected categories): NOVEL Christopher
Conlon, _A Matrix Of Angels_; Greg Lamberson, _Cosmic Forces_; Ronald
Malfi, _Floating Staircase_; Joe McKinney, _Flesh Eaters_; Gene
O'Neill, _Not Fade Away_; Lee Thomas, _The German_. SCREENPLAY _The
Adjustment Bureau_; _American Horror Story_: 'Afterbirth'; _Priest_;
_True Blood_: 'Spellbound'; _The Walking Dead_: 'Pretty Much Dead
Already'; _The Walking Dead_: 'Save the Last One'. Further categories
online at www.horror.org/blog/?p=2331.
_Clarke Award:_ the full 2012 submissions list (not a shortlist
nor even a longlist) can be read at http://tinyurl.com/6m3vhlu, giving
omitted authors the opportunity to ring their publishers and cry
'Bastards!'

AS OTHERS SUBDIVIDE US. 'I regard romantic comedies as a subgenre of
sci-fi, in which the world operates according to different rules than
my regular human world. For me, there is no difference between Ripley
from "Alien" and any Katherine Heigl character. They are equally
implausible. They're all participating in a similar level of fakey
razzle-dazzle, and I enjoy every second of it. / It makes sense, then,
that in the romantic comedy world there are many specimens of women
who -- like Vulcans or Mothra -- do not exist in real life.' (Mindy
Kaling, 'Flick Chicks: A Guide to Women in the Movies', _New Yorker_,
3 October) [PL]

EDITORIAL. Many thanks for various cards and good wishes following
last issue's announcement of my affliction with the Evil Eye (detached
retina; successful operation). I'm seeing better now, but still feel
tired.

WE ARE EVERYWHERE. Roger Protz on the sf horror of excess yeast
fermentation at the Eldredge Pope brewery: 'The head was enormous,
threatening to over-run the container like some terrible extra-
terrestrial beast from a John Wyndham novel.' (_A Life on the Hop_,
2009) [MMW]

MEDIA AWARDS. Four of the audience-voted Whatsonstage.com awards went
to the Roald Dahl adaptation _Matilda the Musical_; Danny Boyle won
best director for _Frankenstein_. (BBC, 20 February) [MPJ]

THOG'S MASTERCLASS. _Socratic Dept._ 'The question hung there like an
invisible cloud of flatulence.' (Neal Stephenson, _Reamde_, 2011) [PM]
_Dept of Nautical Detail._ 'Stan and Olivia ate noodles together
and then proceeded by taxi to Sembawang Wharves, where Olivia boarded
an American destroyer in a long raincoat with the hood up while
carrying a large umbrella.' (_Ibid_)
_Dept of Sudden Insight._ '... and saw that the entire train of
thought concerning menstrual blood had been a dangerous exercise in
self-absorption.' (_Ibid_)
_Watchslug Dept._ 'The iron door at the top stood unbolted and
ajar, and across its threshold John lay unconscious, scavenger-slugs
already sniffing enquiringly at his face and hands.' (Barbara Hambly,
_Dragonsbane_, 1986) [SM]
_Master of Concealment Dept._ 'Gill Templer could not find Rebus.
He had disappeared as though he had been a shadow merely and not a man
at all. ... He might have been hiding under her feet, under her desk,
in her clothes, and she would never have found him.' (Ian Rankin,
_Knots & Crosses_, 1987) [SB]

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### ENDNOTES ###

APPARITIONS.
[] 9 March 2012: Christopher Priest talks to the Brum Group; Briar
Rose Hotel, Bennett's Hill, Birmingham city centre, 7:30pm for 8pm;
Pounds4 or Pounds3 for members. Contact bhamsfgroup at yahoo co uk or
rog.peyton at btinternet com. Further meetings: 13 April tba; 11 May
tba; 8 June Graham Joyce.

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/leaky.html

THOG'S SECOND HELPING. _Deep Throat Dept._ 'The rapid-fire blasters
huzzaed into automatic firing positions and let go with a hum and a
deep-throated _ping_.' (A.E. van Vogt, 'The Rull', _Astounding_, May
1948) [MK]


Ansible 296 Copyright (c) David Langford, 2012. Thanks to Stuart
Broughton, Paul Di Filippo, Steve Green, Susie Haynes, John-Henri
Holmberg, Dave Hutchinson, Martyn P. Jackson, Morris Keesan, Steve
Lewis, Pamela Love, Iain MacDonald, Tim Marion, Ed Meskys, Petrea
Mitchell, Chris Priest, SF Site, Gary Wilkinson, Martin Morse Wooster,
and our Hero Distributors: Dave Corby (BSFG), SCIS/Prophecy, Alan
Stewart (Australia).

1 March 2012