Ansible 294 -- January 2012

[Ansible Newsletter]

ANSIBLE 294
JANUARY 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 the manual for Computer 1578/32/W1.

[NET NOTE. See http://news.ansible.co.uk/a294.html for the nice HTML
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-- please don't send such requests to my own e-mail address. DRL]


WELCOME TO 2012. The _Ansible_ staff wishes you all a Happy New(ish)
Year, while privately thinking 'At least it can't be as bad as
2011....'


### THE END OF THE WORLD ###

DOUGLAS ADAMS was invoked as reassurance that it's OK for a serious
journalist to like _Doctor Who_ and interview Matt Smith, because this
is safely different from all that horrid sci-fi stuff: 'Surely there
are parallels with Douglas Adams -- one of the early Who writers --
who later, in Hitchhiker's, created a universe to explore not science
fiction but the human condition.' (Euan Ferguson, _Observer_, 4
December) [PE]

BEA BALLARD, J.G. Ballard's daughter, broke silence in a newspaper
interview about the John Baxter biography of her father that -- as
summarized by the subeditor -- 'brands him as racist, sexist and a
stranger to truth.' (_Telegraph_, 18 December) 'I do feel some of the
things presented as fact in this book sully important aspects of my
father's and our lives.' It is mentioned that she has 'compiled a six-
page list of the most obvious factual errors in the biography.' [MPJ]

PENELOPE LIVELY, author of _Astercote_ (1970) and other fine
children's fantasies as well as adult literary novels -- one of which
won the Booker -- was made a Dame in the UK New Year Honours. Maggie
Gee, who has written some sf and fantasy, received the OBE.

GEORGE R.R. MARTIN is _USA Today_'s Author of the Year (2011).

J.R.R. TOLKIEN would have been 120 today, 3 January 2012.


### CONVICIOUS ###

18 Jan [] CLARKE ODYSSEY LECTURE -- 'Arthur's Vision for Man in
Space', BIS, 27/29 South Lambeth Rd, Vauxhall, London, SW8 1SZ.
Pounds10 (BIS members free): book online at www.bis-space.com.

19-28 Jan [] _NEVERWHERE_ (play), Progress Theatre, Reading. 7:30pm;
matinees 2:30 on 21st, 28th. Pounds10; Pounds8 concessions. See
www.progresstheatre.co.uk. Box office 0118 960 6060.

25 Jan [] BSFA OPEN MEETING, The Antelope, 22 Eaton Terrace, London,
SW1W 8EZ. 5/6pm for 7pm. With Christopher Priest.

2-4 Feb [] SFX WEEKENDER 3, Prestatyn Sands, Holiday Park, North
Wales. Charged by accommodation, from Pounds250 for 2 (Pounds545 for
5) 'basic' up to Pounds400 for 2 'VIP'. Online booking (Pounds6
booking fee) at www.sfxweekender.com. Contact & children's bookings:
08700 110034.

3-5 Feb [] DUPLE TIME (filk), Ramada Grantham Hotel. Pounds40 reg;
Pounds27 unwaged; under-18s Pounds1/year; under-6 free. Cheques: UK
Filk Con, c/o Flat 1, 61 Marks Rd, Salisbury, SP1 3AY.

18 Feb [] PICOCON 29, Imperial College Union, London. 10am-7/8pm.
Pounds10 reg at door; Pounds8 concessions; Pounds5 ICSF members; past
GoHs free. Contact ICSF, Beit Quad, Prince Consort Road, London, SW7
2BB.

24-26 Feb [] SATELLITE 3, Grand Central Hotel, Glasgow. GoH Charles
Stross. Pounds45 reg _until 31 January_; Pounds10 supp or under-15s;
Pounds1 under-5s. Contact Satellite 3, PO Box 3738, Glasgow, G41 4YD.

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. _Membership refunds for those who find they can't make it remain
available until 31 January._

18-20 May [] DISCOVER FESTIVAL, Snibston Discovery Museum, Coalville,
Leicestershire. GoH Peter F. Hamilton, Graham Masterton. Pounds45 reg
plus Pounds2 online booking fee at www.discoverfestival.co.uk.

27-30 Sept [] FANTASYCON 2012, Royal Albion Hotel, Brighton. GoH
announced: Joe R. Lansdale, Mary Danby. _Now Pounds55 reg (BFS members
Pounds50) until 31 May._ Payment at fantasycon2012.org/join.php, or to
10 Haycroft Gdns, Mastin Moor, Chesterfield, Derbyshire, S43 3FE.

31 Oct - 3 Nov 2013 [] WORLD FANTASY CONVENTION, Hilton Brighton
Metropole, Brighton. GoH announced: Richard Matheson, Richard
Christian Matheson. Pounds100 reg; Pounds50 supp. Cheques to 130 Park
View, Wembley, Middlesex, HA9 6JU; PayPal at www.wfc2013.org.

RUMBLINGS. New Worldcon bids are New Orleans in 2018 and Montreal in
2019. Existing: London 2014, Orlando vs Spokane 2015, Kansas City
2016, Japan vs New York 2017, New Zealand 2020. [CM]


### INFINITELY IMPROBABLE ###

AS OTHERS SEE US. An unusual analysis of sf trends: 'One way you can
describe the collapse of the idea of the future is the collapse of
science fiction. Now it's either about technology that doesn't work or
about technology that's used in bad ways. The anthology of the top
twenty-five sci-fi stories in 1970 was, like, "Me and my friend the
robot went for a walk on the moon," and in 2008 it was, like, "The
galaxy is run by a fundamentalist Islamic confederacy and there are
people who are hunting planets and killing them for fun."' (PayPal
cofounder Peter Thiel, profiled in _The New Yorker_, 28 November 2011)
[MMW]

R.I.P. _Gilbert Adair_ (1944-2011) Scots critic, translator and author
whose two genre novels are sequels to famous children's fantasies --
_Alice Through the Needle's Eye_ (1984) and _Peter Pan and the Only
Children_ (1987) -- died on 8 December; he was 66. [JC]
_Bob Anderson_ (1923-2012), UK Olympic fencer who played Darth
Vader in light-sabre duels in _The Empire Strikes Back_ and _Return of
the Jedi_, died on 1 January aged 89. [AW]
_Shingo Araki_ (1939-2011), major Japanese anime artist, writer
and director whose best-known work in Britain was _Ulysses 31_ (Greek
mythology in space), died on 1 December. [JonC]
_T.J. Bass_ (Thomas J. Bassler, 1932-2011), US author whose
linked novels _Half Past Human_ (1971) and _The Godwhale_ (1974) were
highly regarded (but not, alas, followed up), died on 13 December. He
was 79. [MJE]
_John Berry_, Irish fan who published a huge amount of humorous
writing in his own and others' fanzines (mostly from 1954 to the early
60s) and was Fan Guest of Honour at the 1959 Detroit Worldcon, died on
25 November. Sam Long writes: 'Did you know he held the British Empire
Medal and was therefore entitled to put BEM after his name? '
_Richard Bessiere_ (1923-2011), prolific French sf author whose
debut series 'Conquerors of the Universe' began in 1951, died on 22
December aged 88. [L]
_A.J. Barker_ (Andre Barker Bridget), US fan married to Bill
Bridget and active with him in the Southern Fandom Press Alliance in
the 1980s, died on 23 December aged 64. [AIP]
_Gianluca Casseri_ (1961-2011), Italian fantasy author and
magazine editor, killed himself on 14 December after fatally shooting
two Senegalese immigrants to Florence and wounding three others. [SHS]
_Cheetah-Mike_, a chimpanzee claimed to have played Cheeta/
Cheetah in 1930s Tarzan films, died on 24 December at a supposed age
of 80. [JCo] Many chimps (more than one per film) appeared in the
role; whether any from the 1930s really survived to 2011 has been
questioned. A debunked rival claimant, Cheeta, died on 3 January.
_Russell Garcia_ (1916-2011), US composer and music arranger who
scored George Pal's films _The Time Machine_ (1960) and _Atlantis, The
Lost Continent_ (1961), died on 20 November; he was 95. [MMW]
_Vaclav Havel_ (1936-2011), Czech playwright, poet, dissident,
politician and former President of the Czech Republic, died on 18
December aged 75. His plays satirized Soviet bureaucracy through such
sf-flavoured devices as the imposition of absurd artificial languages
in _The Memorandum_ (1965) and a demented computer in _The Increased
Difficulty of Concentration_ (1968).
_Rusty Hevelin_ (1922-2011), long-time US fan, 1975 DUFF winner,
1981 Denver Worldcon Fan Guest of Honour, and co-founder of PulpCon,
died on 27 December; he was 89. [BH]
_Russell Hoban_ (1925-2011), US-born but long UK-resident writer
best known for the remarkable children's fantasy _The Mouse and His
Child_ (1967) and the sf narrative tour-de-force _Riddley Walker_
(1980), died after long illness on 14 December; he was 85. Many of his
other novels, such as _Pilgermann_ (1983) and _The Medusa Frequency_
(1987), were threaded with fantastic themes. He was a charming GoH at
the first UK Mexicon in 1984. [JC]
_Glenn Lord_ (1931-2011), US agent for the Robert E. Howard
estate, editor of Howard collections and author of _The Last Celt: A
Bio-Bibliography of Robert Ervin Howard_ (1976), died on 31 December;
he was 80. [SHS/AIP]
_Thierry Martens_ (1942-2011), Belgian author, anthologist,
comics historian and former editor of the comic _Spirou_, died on 27
June aged 69. Under his _Spirou_ writing pseudonym Yves Varende he
also published sf and Sherlockian-pastiche novels. [PDF]
_Jerry Robinson_ (1922-2011), US comics artist generally
acknowledged as the creator of Batman's most memorable foe the Joker
(he also gave Robin his name), died on 7 December aged 89. [SG]
_Bob Sabella_ (1948-2011), long-time US fan, author of _Who
Shaped Science Fiction?_ (2000), publisher of the fanzine _Visions of
Paradise_, and current Official Editor of the Fantasy Amateur Press
Association, died on 3 December. He was 63. [SG/RL]
_Ronald Searle_ (1920-2011), celebrated UK cartoonist perhaps
best known for creating St Trinian's and drawing Nigel Molesworth,
died on 30 December aged 91. Genre-related work includes sf daydream
sequences in the Molesworth books written by Geoffrey Willans, spoof
mythology in his solo _Zoodiac_ (1977) and story character crossovers
including Kakfa/Lewis Carroll in _Marquis de Sade Meets Goody Two-
Shoes_ (1994). His style was inimitable, his range extraordinary.
_Don Sharp_ (1922-2011), Tasmanian-born film director best known
for Hammer studio work, died on 18 December aged 89. Films included
_The Kiss of the Vampire_ (1963), _Witchcraft_ (1964), _Curse of the
Fly_ (1965), _Rasputin, the Mad Monk_ (1966)m _The Face of Fu Manchu_
(1966), _Jules Verne's Rocket to the Moon_ (1967) and _Psychomania_
(1973). As a radio actor he played 'Mitch' Mitchell in the 1953 BBC
_Journey Into Space_ and its sequel _The Red Planet_. [SG/MPJ]
_Joe Simon_ (1913-2011), US comics writer and artist who with
Jack Kirby created Captain America in 1941 and worked on the 1940s
_Sandman_ for DC, died on 14 December aged 98. [MPJ]
_Kathleen Stein_, US science writer who was a staff journalist at
_Omni_ for many years and wrote the popular-neuroscience book _The
Genius Engine_ (2007), died in a fall on 13 November. [SW]
_Darrell K. Sweet_ (1934-2011), noted US sf/fantasy cover artist
since 1975, died on 5 December aged 77. His distinctive work appeared
on several popular series including Piers Anthony's Xanth books,
Stephen R. Donaldson's Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, L.E. Modesitt's
Recluce and Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time. [PDF]
_Louis Thirion_ (1923-2011), French sf author who published more
than 30 novels beginning with _Waterloo, morne plaine_ (1964), died on
9 December; he was 88. [L]
_Shinji Wada_ (1950-2011), prolific Japanese manga creator whose
best-known works are the _Sukeban Deka_ comics and media spinoffs,
died on 5 July at the age of 61. [PDF]

THE WEAKEST LINK. _Danny Baker_, comedy quiz show host: 'Which science
fiction film starring Sting also starred a giant worm?' _Tony Hawks:_
'_Moon_.' (_History Repeats Itself_, Radio 5 Live, 4 December) [MPJ]
_Alex Trebeck:_ 'For $1,000, name the author of the 1956 novel
_The City and the Stars_ who was knighted in 1998 by Queen Elizabeth
II.' _Contestant:_ 'Who was Isaac Asimov?' (_Jeopardy_, 2 December)
[AIP]

COURT CIRCULAR. Steven John Busti is suing the makers of the _Cowboys
& Aliens_ film based on a 2006 graphic novel, since 'he came up with
the concept of a group of 19th Century cowboys who fend off an alien
assault in a Wild West backdrop in 1994.' (BBC, 2 December). [MPJ] And
our own Howard Waldrop did it in 1987 with 'Night of the
Cooters' (_Omni_).
Gary Friedrich, creator of the Marvel Comics hero Ghost Rider in
1972, failed in his legal bid for a share of film and other spinoff
rights: the judge ruled that 'If Friedrich ... had any rights to the
character or the work at the time he endorsed the cheques ... he
relinquished those rights to Marvel.' (BBC, 30 December) [DVB]
More _Avatar_ lawsuits! Bryant Moore sued James Cameron and 20th
Century Fox in December, asking $2.5 billion damages since 'Cameron
stole his idea for the movie from Moore's screenplays, entitled
_Aquatica_ and _Descendants: The Pollination_.' (TMZ.com via
TheCelebrityCafe.com, 19 December) The screenplays were allegedly
submitted to Cameron's Lightstorm Entertainment in 1994 and 2003.
Meanwhile sf author Eric Ryder says he worked for two years with
Cameron on a film based on his own 'KRZ 2068', with 'striking
similarities' to _Avatar_, while Gerald Morawski knows _Avatar_ is
based on his pitch to Cameron for his unfilmed _Guardians of Eden_.
(_Entertainment Law Digest_, 21 December).
A change from cinema: Jeff Kinney's 'Wimpy Kid, Inc' company --
whose bestselling _Diary of a Wimpy Kid_ series has been spoofed as
_Diary of Zombie Kid_ (2011) by Fred Perry & David Hutchinson -- is
suing the latter's publisher Antarctic Press for copyright and
trademark infringement. (_PW_, 22 December) [AIP] A previous lampoon,
_Tales from the Crypt: Diary of a Stinky Dead Kid_ (2009), was
labelled PARODY in big letters and escaped legal reprisals. No such
label on _Zombie Kid_.

AS OTHERS SEE US II. '"Harrison Bergeron" had been published in 1961
in the _Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction_, a paid-by-the-word,
cultish monthly for hardcore admirers of literary science
fiction.' (Charles J. Shields, _And So it Goes: Kurt Vonnegut, A
Life_, 2011) [MM] That paid-by-the-word sounds pretty damning, doesn't
it?

OUTRAGED LETTERS. _Ric Cooper_ responds to Simon R. Green (_A293_): 'I
had the Dalek Cutamatic too in the mid-60s, when I was about 9 or 10.
It was a thin wire stretched across the jaws of a U-shaped frame,
connected to a battery box (9v I think) to heat up the wire. The
Daleks and their chums were printed on thick sheets of expanded
polystyrene. My first thought, obviously, was to use it to torture my
little brother, but after some experimentation I was bitterly
disappointed to find that, although hot enough to cut polystyrene
foam, I couldn't so much as raise a burn on my hand with it. So no
diced digits, more's the pity.'
_Martyn P. Jackson_ confirms that politics and _Who_ remain
intertwingled: 'Doctor Who and Sherlock writer Mark Gattis was
interviewed on Richard Bacon's BBC Radio 5 Live show this afternoon,
where he and Bacon revealed that the BBC preview screening of the
Christmas episode of _Doctor Who_ was attended by both George Osbourne
and Ed Balls, along with their children. Prior to the event the warm-
up man had asked the kiddies to name a _Doctor Who_ monster, and an
adult voice piped up "George Osbourne".' (21 December)

MAGAZINE SCENE. Sheryl Tempchin's _Zahir: A Journal of Speculative
Fiction_ has ceased publication, although online issues can still be
read at www.zahirtales.com. [MA]
_Lightspeed_ (sf) and _Fantasy_, both edited and now published by
John Joseph Adams, are to merge without any reduction in fiction
content; there will be less nonfiction.

RANDOM FANDOM. _Guy H. Lillian III_ missed Christmas: he 'suffered a
fairly dramatic faint in a local superstore on December 18 and is only
today, New Year's Eve, free of the horsepistol, two feet of guts to
the lesser and woozy in the extreme. _Challenger 34_ is delayed but I
did publish once already in 2011.' Ouch!
_Curt Phillips_ has taken over as Official Editor of FAPA
following Bob Sabella's death (above).
_D. West_ declined the Rotsler Award for life achievement in
fanzine art (whose presentation was announced in _A293_). 'Basically,
to accept an award with Rotsler's name attached would be to accept his
(unspoken but very evident) opinion of fan art as worthless doodling.'
Needless to say, this view is contested by admirers of the late Bill
Rotsler.

THE DEAD PAST. _75 Years Ago_, on 3 January 1937, that first sf
convention as we know it was held in the Leeds Theosophical Hall. Rob
Hansen (www.fiawol.org.uk/fanstuff/THEN Archive/1937con.htm) has
previously unpublished photos (including the young Clarke), the
official souvenir report and Ted Carnell's delayed report: 'Everyone
made speeches, plenty of ideas and suggestions floated around, an
Association was formed. The last we remember of the meeting was
sneaking off into a private sanctum, lighting a gas fire, and dropping
off to sleep utterly worn out. But, as we remember, they did form the
Science Fiction Association, and the noose was drawn a little tighter
round our lily-white throats. / That original meeting really started
the ball rolling in, this country, and from it all the fan clubs (all
four of 'em), evolved and owed allegiance. They were the four Hells.
Leeds, Liverpool, London and Leicester.' (_Sands of Time_, January
1943)
_70 Years Ago:_ 'A letter from Arthur C. (Ego) Clarke, mad
scientist of the B.I.S., informs us that he is now at No 2 RAF radio
school as an instructor. [...] Damon Knight, well known fan and editor
of "Snide" has broken into the pro magazines and is now illustrating
for "Future" and "Astonishing Stories".....' (_Futurian War Digest_,
January 1942)

FANFUNDERY. _TransAtlantic Fan Fund._ The 2012 TAFF winner is
Jacqueline (Jacq) Monahan. More at taff.org.uk.
_GUFF_ final reminder: the voting deadline is 22 January. See
taff.org.uk/guff.html.

THOG'S MASTERCLASS. _My Name is Legion Dept._ 'Given his somewhat
unassuming appearance, he looked no different from the teeming horde
that had descended nightly on Glastonbury since war had begun reaching
England's shores.' (Barry Reese, 'Restoration: An Adventure Starring
Devlin Jones', _Startling Stories_, Spring 2009) [DL]
_Dept of Draculaic Homage._ 'She bent her head over the old book,
her eyelashes heavy on her cheek.' 'When I grasped his hand, my heart
leaped into my fingers.' '... it made all the blood in her veins
suddenly writhe and coil.' 'When the waitress had returned with our
tea, Helen stirred it with a somber face.' 'His feet were clad in
narrow black boots indescribably different from any boots I'd ever
seen.' (all Elizabeth Kostova, _The Historian_, 2005) [PB]
_Neat Tricks Dept._'She reached into her pocket and pulled out
her fist.' (Kiki Hamilton, _The Faerie Ring_, 2011) [PM] 'My hands are
already dirty just from setting foot on this planet.' (Brian Herbert
and Kevin J. Anderson, _Hellhole_, 2011) [PM]

### GEEKS' CORNER ###

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### ENDNOTES ###

APPARITIONS.
[] 13 January 2012: Brum Group, AGM/Auction; 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: 10 February, quiz.

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

C.O.A. _Michael Walsh_ (the Baltimore one) has changed his email to
walshmichaelj at gmail dot com.


Ansible 294 Copyright (c) David Langford, 2012. Thanks to Paul
Barnett, David V. Barrett, Jonathan Clements, John Clute, Philip
Eagle, Malcolm Edwards, Paul Di Filippo, Steve Green, Bill Higgins,
Martyn P. Jackson, Robert Lichtman, Denny Lien, Locus, Mario
Milosevic, Petrea Mitchell, Cheryl Morgan, Andrew I. Porter, Steven H
Silver, Sean Wallace, Andrew Wells, Martin Morse Wooster, and our Hero
Distributors: Dave Corby (BSFG), SCIS/Prophecy, Alan Stewart
(Australia). Once again, Happy New Year!

3 January 2012