Ansible 427 --February 2023
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Feb 1, 2023, 12:18:33 PM2/1/23
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ANSIBLE(R) 427
FEBRUARY 2023
From DAVID LANGFORD, 94 London Road, Reading, Berks, RG1 5AU, UK. Website news.ansible.uk. ISSN 0265-9816 (print); 1740-942X (e). Available for SAE or Dr. Kurt Brevis's map of the Unknown Islands (or Lakes).
[NET NOTE. See https://news.ansible.uk/a427.html for the nice HTML version; https://news.ansible.uk/pdf/a427.pdf for a printable PDF. Mailing list subscribe/unsubscribe information appears below -- please don't send such requests to my own e-mail address. DRL]
### THE CLAM OF CATASTROPHE ###
MARGARET ATWOOD and IAN McEWAN were among the targets of Italian fraudster Filippo Bernardini's scheme to acquire unpublished manuscripts (reportedly over 1,000) by online impersonation of publishers, editors, agents, talent scouts, etc. He was arrested at JFK airport on 4 January, pleaded guilty in a US court on 6 January, and should be sentenced on 5 April: '15 to 21 months of imprisonment, a fine of between $7,500 and $75,000, and restitution of $88,000.' (_Vulture_, 6 January) [JDB]
PAUL DI FILIPPO was badly bruised in a road accident on 19 January, reports his partner Deborah Newton: 'Last night while on his evening walk, Paul was hit by a woman driving a large SUV. I will not write in all the details, but suffice it to say he was hit at dead center of the front of her vehicle, his body flew through the air and landed on the street.' 12 hours in ER; many bruises but no broken bones; he was soon recovering at home and posting online. All sympathy to both Paul and Deborah.
JO FLETCHER noticed the _New York Times_ tantalizing readers with a stupendously cryptic challenge: 'Here's a clue from the Sunday crossword: 37 Down: Literary award shaped like a rocket". (8 January) One suspects that 'International Fantasy Award' wouldn't fit.
BEN JEAPES does not write only sf, as revealed in an _i_ feature (7 January) about celebrity ghostwriters, in the context of a Certain Royal Memoir that he would have hesitated to take on: 'I have friends who have worked for the Royal Family and even the nice ones, in inverted commas, seem to be so demanding.' Just which children's adventure series Ben ghosted for which famous person remains shrouded in deadly secrecy.
TOM MONTELEONE ranted on Facebook and YouTube about recent winners of the Horror Writers Association life achievement award. From a YouTube transcript: '... the last three years of these awards have been severely skewed towards you know people that have been in the past called quote marginalized or not unquote okay so you know you've been oh wow you've been writing while Indian wow we're going to give you an award you you've been writing while black you get an award no problem and and you're you're a female and you're not a white male you get one right yeah that's evil it's literally what it is that's what's been going on but I'm not allowed _[...]_ to have that opinion ...' [SW] And thus: 'The Board of Trustees has voted to expel Mr Monteleone from the Horror Writers Association, thus revoking the benefits of his Lifetime Achievement Award ...' (HWA, 31 January) He's also banned from future HWA events. [TM]
JUSTIN ROILAND, co-creator, executive producer and star (voicing both title roles) of the popular animated sf series _Rick and Morty_, has been dropped from the show after US felony charges of 'domestic battery with corporal injury' and 'false imprisonment'. (_Deadline_, 24 January)
NAVAH WOLFE has joined DAW Books -- owned since last year by the Beijing-based Astra Publishing House -- as executive editor. [L]
### CONVOLVULACEAE ###
3-6 Feb [] SCOTIACON (furry), Crowne Plaza Hotel, Glasgow. GBP100 reg. Other details at www.scotiacon.org.uk.
16-19 Feb [] UK GHOST STORY FESTIVAL, Museum of Making, Derby. Talks etc. are separately ticketed: see www.ukghoststoryfestival.co.uk.
17-19 Feb [] SCI-FI BALL (media), Southampton. Tickets from GBP145 (GBP35 child) plus various more expensive options at scifiball.com.
25-26 Feb [] SURREY STEAMPUNK CONVIVIAL, Stoneleigh, Epsom. See bumpandthumper.wixsite.com/steampunkconvivials.
10-12 Mar [] FRIGHTFEST (film), Glasgow. Weekend pass GBP75; for individual tickets see frightfest.co.uk/filmsandevents.html.
10-12 Mar [] MINAMICON (anime), Novotel Hotel, Southampton. GBP65 reg. Further details at www.minamicon.org.uk.
11 Mar [] PICOCON 40, Imperial College, London. First GoH Alma Alexander. Details awaited at www.union.ic.ac.uk/scc/icsf/picocon/.
16-19 Mar [] CAMP SFW, Vauxhall Holiday Park, Great Yarmouth. 3-day pass GBP130; 2-day GBP99; more options at www.scifiweekender.com.
18 Mar [] BEDFORD WHO CHARITY CON (_Doctor Who_), King's House, Ampthill Road, Bedford, MK42 9AZ. 10am-5:30pm.GBP49.50; concessions/under-18s GBP25; under-15s GBP15. See bedfordwhocharitycon.co.uk.
7-10 Apr [] CONVERSATION (Eastercon), Hilton Metropole, Birmingham NEC. GBP80 reg, _rising to GBP90 on 5 February_; GBP45 concessions; GBP40 supporting or online- only membership; under-18s GBP20; under-13s GBP5. More information at conversation2023.org.uk.
14-16 Apr [] CONPULSION (games), Teviot Row House, Edinburgh. Further details awaited at conpulsion.org.
26-28 May [] SATELLITE 8, Crowne Plaza, Glasgow.GBP70 reg; under-25s GBP60; under-18s GBP20; under-12s GBP5; under-5s GBP2. _These rates may rise on 1 March._ See eight.satellitex.org.uk.
2-4 Jun [] JODIWORLD (Jodi Taylor), Doubletree by Hilton, Coventry. GoH Jodi Taylor, others. GBP70 reg; GBP10 supp; see www.jodiworld.org.
10 Sep [] POPCORN (media), Magna, Sheffield. Tickets GBP11.22; under-17s GBP9.09; under-7s free. See popcorncon.com.
18-22 Oct [] WORLDCON 2023, Chengdu, China. _New dates (moved from August) and venue:_ now to be held at the Chengdu Science Fiction Museum, currently under construction as part of a vast sf theme park at Jingrong Lake. (Twitter, 20 January) Hotels have also changed from those first announced. A Chinese fan post expresses concern that such decisions are being made by the marketing planning company of 'Chengdu Business Daily ... a news media organization that has nothing to do with science fiction' rather than by the appointed Worldcon committee. [F770] Hugo nominations open 'soon' and close at the end of April. Online registration is at last accepting non-Chinese credit cards, but it's now too late to join as a voting WSFS member. More at en.chengduworldcon.com.
20-22 Oct [] FESTIVAL OF FANTASTIC FILMS, Pendulum Hotel, Manchester. GBP110 reg. For day rates see 'Book Tickets' at fantastic-films.uk.
21 Oct [] BRISTOLCON, Hilton DoubleTree Hotel, Bristol. GoH TBA.GBP35 reg; GBP20 under-18s, concessions, disabled; under-14s free; GBP10 supp. Registration opened on 1 February at www.bristolcon.org.
RUMBLINGS. _Eurocon 2024_ (Rotterdam, August) offers adult memberships for Euro125 at www.erasmuscon.nl but still gives no exact date.
_Worldcon 2024:_ Glasgow published its first Progress Report in January, leading to some caustic remarks about Chengdu's failure -- despite a year's start -- to do as much.
_Worldcon 2025:_ the deadline for bidders to file their papers is now 21 April 2023. The only definite bid is for Seattle, Washington, USA.
### INFINITELY IMPROBABLE ###
WE ARE EVERYWHERE. The newly-elected US representative Robert Garcia announced that he'd take his oath to Congress on the Constitution and (_inter alia_) a vintage 1939 _Superman_ #1. (_Raw Story_, 4 January) [JB]
AWARDS. _Philip K. Dick_ finalists: _Arboreality_ by Rebecca Campbell; _Widowland_ by C.J. Carey; _Ymir_ by Rich Larson; _January Fifteenth_ by Rachel Swirsky; _The Legacy of Molly Southbourne_ by Tade Thompson; _The Extractionist_ by Kimberly Unger.
_Robert A. Heinlein Award:_ John Scalzi. [] _Oscar_ best-film nominations include _Avatar: The Way of Water_ and _Everything Everywhere All at Once_.
_Otherwise_ (was Tiptree): _Light from Uncommon Stars_ by Ryka Aoki and _Sorrowland_ by Rivers Solomon.
PUBLISHERS AND SINNERS. JABberwocky Literary Agency apologized for an error in its POD paperback of Aliette de Bodard's _The Red Scholar's Wake_: all copies sold up to 9 January are missing a whole chapter, and will be replaced free of charge. (Awfulagent.com, 23 January) [SB]
THE DRAGON VARIATION. _Host:_ 'In cinema, the 2000 Ang Lee film that was nominated for a best picture Oscar was called _Crouching Tiger, Hidden_ ... what?' _Contestant:_ 'Cupboard.' (BBC1, _The Weakest Link_) [PE]
R.I.P. _Tim Barlow_ (1936-2023), UK actor in _Doctor Who_ ('Destiny of the Daleks', 1979), _10,000 BC_ (2008) and _Cockneys vs Zombies_ (2012), died on 21 January aged 87.
_Jeff Beck_ (1944-2023), UK musician with soundtrack credits for _Gremlins 2_ (1990) and genre tv series, died on 10 January aged 78. [LP]
_Earl Boen_ (1941-2023), US actor in _Battle Beyond the Stars_ (1980), _The Man with Two Brains_ (1983), _The Terminator_ (1984 plus sequels), _Alien Nation_ (1988) and others -- plus voice work for many genre videogames -- died on 5 January aged 81. [LP]
_James D. Brubaker_ (1937-2023), US producer of _The Right Stuff_ (1983), _The Nutty Professor_ (1996), _Bruce Almighty_ (2003) and others, died on 3 January aged 85. [PDF]
_Wally Campo_ (1923-2023), US actor in _Beast from Haunted Cave_ (1959), _The Little Shop of Horrors_ (1960) and _Master of the World_ (1961), died on 14 January aged 99. LP
_Suzy McKee Charnas_ (1939-2023), much-admired Hugo- and Nebula-winning US feminist author who began publishing sf with _Walk to the End of the World_ (1974) -- first in the 'Holdfast Chronicles' sequence -- and had particular success with _The Vampire Tapestry_ (1980), died on 4 January aged 83. [ED]
_Inna Churikova_ (1943-2023), Russian actress in _Frosty_ (1965), _The Cat Who Walked by Herself_ (1988) and _The Land of Oz_ (2015), died on 14 January aged 79. [LP]
_David Crosby_ (1941-2023), US musician and actor seen in _Hook_ (1991), died on 19 January aged 81. [LP]
_David Gold_ (1936-2023), UK publisher and football executive whose Compact Books (an imprint of the family firm Gold Star) published _New Worlds_ and _Science Fantasy_/_Impulse_ in the 1960s, died on 4 January aged 86. [DP]
_Hakan Gulliksson_ (1956-2022), Swedish physicist whose five interesting sf novels were published 2020-2022, died _circa_ 1 September 2022 aged 66. [J-HH]
_Piers Haggard_ (1939-2023), UK director of _The Blood on Satan's Claw_ (1971), _Quatermass_/_The Quatermass Conclusion_ (1979), _The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu_ (1980), _The Lifeforce Experiment_ (1984) and others, died on 11 January aged 83. [AIP]
_Stepan Kaymanov_ (1979-2023) Russian author of sf/f (four novels)and popular science, died on 17 January. [AM]
_Roger Kean_, UK magazine publisher who with his partner Oliver Frey (died 2022) published the original _Fear_ magazine (1988-1991, ed. John Gilbert), died on 3 January. [JG]
_Lance Kerwin_ (1960-2023), US actor in _Enemy Mine_ (1985), _Outbreak_ (1995) and genre tv series, died on 24 January aged 62. [LP]
_Robbie Knievel_ (1962-2023), US actor/stuntman in _Ninja III: The Domination_ (1984), died on 13 Junary aged 60. [LP]
_Elka Konstantinova_ (1932-2023) Bulgarian literary critic (and Minister of Culture 1991-1992) who wrote three books on sf, died on 12 January. [AM]
_Paul LaFarge_ (1970-2023), US author of mostly borderline-fantastic novels including _The Night Ocean_ (2017) -- featuring H.P. Lovecraft and the Futurians -- died on 19 January aged 52. [GVG]
_Chris Ledesma_ (1958-2022), US music editor best known for 734 episodes of _The Simpsons_, died on 16 December aged 64; further credits include _The Stepford Children_ (1987), _Dracula: Dead and Loving It_ (1995) and _Teen Angel_ (1997). [LP]
_Gina Lollobrigida_ (1927-2023), famed Italian actress with a genre credit for the tv series _Le avventure di Pinocchio_ (1972), died on 16 January aged 95. [AIP]
_Lisa Loring_ (1958-2023), US actress who played Wednesday in the original _The Addams Family_ series (1964-1966), died on 28 January aged 64. [O]
_Sulambek Mamilov_ (1938-2023), Russian director of the sf film _Day of Wrath_ (1985) died on 13 January. [AM]
_Maya Menglet_ (1935-2023), Russian actress in _Shans_ (1984) and the Bram Stoker-based _Burial of the Rats_ (1995), died on 19 January aged 87. [AM]
_Graham Oakley_ (1929-2022), UK author and illustrator of the 'Church Mice' animal fantasies for children, beginning with _The Church Mouse_ (1972), died on 19 December aged 93. [AIP]
_Sal Piro_ (1950-2023), US fan and president since 1977 of _The Rocky Horror Picture Show_ fan club -- a founder of the audience-participation cult, about which he published two books -- died on 21 January aged 72. [AIP]
_Edward R. Pressman_ (1943-2023), US producer whose many credits include _Phantom of the Paradise_ (1974), _Conan the Barbarian_ (1982), _Martians Go Home_ (1989), _The Crow_ (1994 plus sequels) and _The Island of Dr Moreau_ (1996), died on 17 January aged 79. [AIP]
_Quinn K. Redeker_ (1936-2022), US actor in _The Three Stooges Meet Hercules_ (1962), _Spider Baby_ (1967), _The Andromeda Strain_ (1971), _Return to the Batcave_ (2003) and genre tv series, died on 20 December aged 86. [LP]
_Owen Roizman_ (1936-2023), US cinematographer whose films include _The Exorcist_ (1973), _The Stepford Wives_ (1975) and _The Addams Family_ (1991), died on 6 January aged 86. [AIP]
_Jeff Shuter_, US producer/director of _28 Days Later: The Aftermath_ (2007), _Invincible_ (2008) and _Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 8 Motion Comic_ (2010), died on 10 November 2022. [AIP]
_Aleksey Slapovsky_ (1957-2023), Russian author whose 25 novels include adult work with fantastic themes and a pair of children's fantasies, died on 8 January. [AM]
_Sylvia Syms_ (1934-2023), UK actress with genre credits for _Asylum_ (1972) and _Doctor Who_ ('Ghost Light', 1989), died on 27 January aged 89. [SJ]
_Svetlana Tulina_ (1968-2023), Russian fan, genre anthologist and award-winning short story author, died on 8 January. [AM]
_Agusti Villaronga_ (1953-2023), Spanish director of _99.9_ (1997) and _Moon Child_ (1989), died on 22 January aged 69. [AM]
_Fay Weldon_ (1931-2023), UK mainstream author who frequently explored sf/fantasy themes -- perhaps most famously in _The Cloning of Joanna May_ (1989; tv series adaptation 1991) -- died on 4 January aged 91. [DP]
_Hubert Wells_ (1934-2022), Hungarian-born US animal trainer with genre credits from _Doctor Dolittle_ (1967) to _Babe: Pig in the City_ (1998) -- in which he also acted -- died on 25 December aged 88. [LP]
_Annie Wersching_ (1977-2023), US actress in _The Vampire Diaries_ (2015-2016), _Timeless_ (2016-2018), _Star Trek: Picard_ (2022) and episodes of other genre tv series, died on 29 January aged 45. [AIP]
_Ted Whitehead_ (1933-2023), UK playwright and screenwriter for Fay Weldon's _The Cloning of Joanna May_ (see above), died on 13 January aged 89. [AIP]
_Cindy Williams_ (1947-2023), US actress in _Gas-s-s-s_ (1970), _Beware! The Blob_ (1972), _The Creature Wasn't Nice_ (1981), _Uforia_ (1984) and _The Stepford Husbands_ (1996), died on 25 January aged 75. [AIP]
WHAT'S THAT IN WELSH SWIMMING POOLS? '2 asteroids the size of 22 penguins to pass Earth this weekend -- NASA'. (_Jerusalem Post_, 19 January)
RANDOM FANDOM. _FAAn Awards_ voting for work published in 2022 opened in early January and will close on 6 March. Details in Nic Farey's _The Incompleat Register_ at efanzines.com/TIR/Incompleat2022.pdf.
_Chicon 8_ (Worldcon 2022) issued an apology for having initially followed the tradition of calling the Worldcon bidders' Q&A session The Fannish Inquisition: 'This phrase was initially created as a riff off the Monty Python sketch. However, the actual Spanish Inquisition was of course an atrocity against many groups, and the descendants of those groups understandably find this to be an offensive joke.' (Email, January) I hope no one will call for Jerry Kaufman's and Suzanne Tompkins's 1970s fanzine _The Spanish Inquisition_ to be removed from Fanac.org and bibliographies.
_Forrest J Ackerman_'s papers 'are now fully processed and open to researchers' at Syracuse University. [PB] See library.syracuse.edu/digital/guides/a/ackerman_fj.htm for the catalogue. Rob Hansen disputes some of the FJA biographical factoids on that page: '"In 1923, at the age of seven, he was a charter member of the Science Fiction League." Since Gernsback didn't create the SFL until February 1934 that's quite a feat.'
THE NUDE PAST. _20 Years Ago:_ 'Jim Battista charmed me with his revelation on Usenet that the great Forrest J Ackerman "had a bit part as Judge Reinhole in _Nudist Colony of the Dead_. Of all the musicals I've seen about zombie nudists who kill only fundamentalist Christians, it was the most recent."' (_Ansible_ 187, February 2003)
_30 Years Ago:_ 'Patrick Nielsen Hayden sends a flyer about _Nude Trek 2: The Wrath of Klothes_, the first nudist Trek convention, run by The Slugs Nudist Club in chilly Washington State (22 Jan). Perhaps the most macabre aspect is his covering note: "NOT A HOAX".' (_Ansible_ 67, February 1993)
MAGAZINE SCENE. _Daily Science Fiction_, in the 9 January email of its daily story to subscribers, announced that '_Daily Science Fiction_ is officially on hiatus.' The web archive remains at dailysciencefiction.com. [IN]
_Interzone_ emailed subscribers and contributors on 30 January to assure us all that 'Interzone #294 is now out in all its forms' and being shipped.
COURT CIRCULAR. Fox News is in trouble for an almost science-fictional reason: they played the US Emergency Alert System attention tone for three seconds as part of an NFL tv ad. Broadcasting this is 'prohibited to prevent people becoming desensitized to something you should only hear in the most dire circumstances', such as imminent nuclear attack or multi-penguin asteroid impact, and the Federal Communications Commission is talking about a $504,000 fine. (_The Register_, 27 January)
DOOMED ENTERPRISE. _80 Years Ago_, an ambitious cat-herding scheme was launched by 'Chief Futurian Attorney Vol Molesworth of the Futurian Society of Sydney: "I am preparing a standard Futurian Law text-book. To do this I need a copy of the rules and constitution of every fan club in the world, past and present. It is a big long task, but I intend to tackle it, for if all fan clubs adopted a standardised law it would make Futurian intercourse easier. Briefly, I want a complete set of data on a Society -- copy of its policy, constitution and rules in toto, full list of decisions and precedents that are within the scope of the word 'jurisdiction'. When I get this from all fan-clubs, and after comparison, sift out the common parts, I intend to roneo it off, bind it, and send a copy to each fan club.'" (_Futurian War Digest_ 26, February 1943)
FANFUNDERY. _TAFF_ voting continues at taff.org.uk/vote.php. Further TAFF trip reports released as free ebooks are _A Fake Fan in London_ by Bob Madle (1957), _Epitaff_ by Eric Bentcliffe (1960), _The Squirrel's Tale_ by Ron Ellik (1962) and _The Moffatt House Abroad_ by Len & June Moffatt (1973); also in the pipeline is _Colonial Excursion_ by Ron Bennett (1958). For the full list of ebooks, newest first, see taff.org.uk/ebooks.php?all&chron.
THOG'S MASTERCLASS. _Raconteur Dept._ 'I am going to tell you the story of Madame Bertaux, and that the powder of instruction may be properly balanced by the jam of amusement I am going to ...' (H. de Vere Stacpoole, 'The Ten-Franc Counter', _Munsey's_, 1926)
_A Moustache Worth Twirling._ '... and above his thin lip, more dark hair falling in waves inelegantly to his shoulders...' (Steven Brust, _Athyra_, 1993) [BA]
_Hairy Eyeball Dept._ 'Private Walsh swung his glower, beard and all, across Roan ...' (Theodore Sturgeon, 'Granny Won't Knit', 1954) [VS]
### GEEKS' CORNER ###
SUBSCRIPTIONS. To receive _Ansible_ monthly via email, send a message to:
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More details, and an ALTERNATIVE LIST subscription form for those averse to Google, on this page (which is also where to unsubscribe from the alternative list, hosted at ansible.uk):
https://news.ansible.uk/asubs.html
Home page -- https://news.ansible.uk/
RSS feed -- https://news.ansible.uk/rss.html
LiveJournal syndication -- http://www.livejournal.com/users/ansiblezine/
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Printable PDFs -- https://news.ansible.uk/pdf/
Email the editor -- https://news.ansible.uk/contact.php
Books Received -- https://ansible.uk/books.php
CONVENTION AND EVENT LINKS
British Isles -- https://news.ansible.uk
London -- https://news.ansible.uk/london.html
Overseas -- https://news.ansible.uk/conlisti.html [no longer updated]
### ENDNOTES ###
PAYPAL TIP JAR THINGY. Donate to support _Ansible_, cover website costs and keep the editor happy! Or just buy his books.
https://ansible.uk/paypal.html
https://ae.ansible.uk/
https://ae.ansible.uk/ebooks.php
https://ansible.uk/books/index.html
VIRTUAL MEETINGS.
15 February 2023, evening: London Zoom meeting, third Thursday of each month. 'Please share this with people who you know typically come to the Bishop's Finger, but aren't on Facebook.'
https://bohemiancoast.medium.com/first-thursday-london-sf-fan-virtual-drinks-5232021e961f
R.I.P. LATE REPORTS. _Noah Gordon_ (1926-2021), US author best known for medical novels, who reviewed sf in 1953 issues of _Avon Science Fiction and Fantasy Reader_, died on 22 November 2021 aged 95. [PDF]
_Denis MacEoin_ (1949-2022), UK novelist who wrote international thrillers as Daniel Easterman and ghost stories as Jonathan Aycliffe, died on 6 June 2022 aged 73. [DP]
RUMBLINGS II. Early-bird weekend passes for Cymera, the Scots festival of sf, fantasy and horror writing (Edinburgh and online, 2-4 June) will be on sale from 1 March to 1 April. See www.cymerafestival.co.uk.
EDITORIAL. Thanks are due to many fans who work behind the scenes on all those TAFF ebooks (and are, I hope, always credited in the ebook text) as proofreaders, researchers, transcribers, suppliers of hard-to-find material and providers of bright ideas. Such significant contributors to recent and ongoing projects include Sandra Bond, Claire Brialey, Pat Charnock, Rob Hansen, Rob Jackson, Curt Phillips and Ted White, without whom etc., etc. Oh noes, I am running out of ISBNs....
SOME LINKS from the _Ansible_ home page.
BSFA Awards Longlist
https://www.bsfa.co.uk/bsfa-awards-longlist
Fanzine Activity Achievement (FAAn) awards voting guide and form
https://efanzines.com/TIR/Incompleat2022.pdf
Glasgow 2024 Worldcon PR1 published
https://glasgow2024.org/publications-press/publications/
_SF2; Concatenation_ Spring 2023 Newscast
http://www.concatenation.org/news/news1~23.html
THOG'S GOLDEN OLDIES from _Ansible_ 187, February 2003. _Dept of Dimensional Analysis._''If you could enlarge the human body, blow it up to a vast size, you would see that it was literally nothing but a swirling mass of cells and atoms, clustered together into smaller swirls of cells and atoms.' (Michael Crichton, _Prey_, 2002)
_Dept of One-Off Use._ 'Passing over the roadie's ceramic teeth was a tongue that would help the man form a single word.' (P.P. Hartnett, _Rock'n'Roll Suicide_, 2002)
_Dept of Arresting Simile._ 'When he was yet a million miles away the bright ring of fire that marked its portal filled the sky in front of him, flexing and twisting like the devil's anus in spasms of immortal agony.' (Alan Glasser, _The Demon Cosmos_, 1978)
_Relativity Dept._ '"I once read somewhere," said Peter, "that a minute on Mars is equal to a year on our Earth, so that would be the reason why everything is terrifically speeded up."' (Prof A.M. Low, _Adrift in the Stratosphere_, 1937)
_Ansible_(R) 427 (C) David Langford, 2023. Thanks to Brian Ameringen, Peter Balestrieri, John D. Berry, Sandra Bond, John Boston, Ellen Datlow, Paul Di Filippo, _File 770_, John Gilbert, John-Henri Holmberg, Steve Jones, _Locus_, Todd Mason, Andrey Meshavkin, Ian Nichols, Omega, Lawrence Person, Andrew I. Porter, David Pringle, _Private Eye_, Vernon Speed, Gordon Van Gelder, Sean Wallace, and as always our Hero Distributors: Durdles Books (Birmingham SF Group), SCIS/Prophecy, and Alan Stewart (Australia).
1 February 2023
FEBRUARY 2023
From DAVID LANGFORD, 94 London Road, Reading, Berks, RG1 5AU, UK. Website news.ansible.uk. ISSN 0265-9816 (print); 1740-942X (e). Available for SAE or Dr. Kurt Brevis's map of the Unknown Islands (or Lakes).
[NET NOTE. See https://news.ansible.uk/a427.html for the nice HTML version; https://news.ansible.uk/pdf/a427.pdf for a printable PDF. Mailing list subscribe/unsubscribe information appears below -- please don't send such requests to my own e-mail address. DRL]
### THE CLAM OF CATASTROPHE ###
MARGARET ATWOOD and IAN McEWAN were among the targets of Italian fraudster Filippo Bernardini's scheme to acquire unpublished manuscripts (reportedly over 1,000) by online impersonation of publishers, editors, agents, talent scouts, etc. He was arrested at JFK airport on 4 January, pleaded guilty in a US court on 6 January, and should be sentenced on 5 April: '15 to 21 months of imprisonment, a fine of between $7,500 and $75,000, and restitution of $88,000.' (_Vulture_, 6 January) [JDB]
PAUL DI FILIPPO was badly bruised in a road accident on 19 January, reports his partner Deborah Newton: 'Last night while on his evening walk, Paul was hit by a woman driving a large SUV. I will not write in all the details, but suffice it to say he was hit at dead center of the front of her vehicle, his body flew through the air and landed on the street.' 12 hours in ER; many bruises but no broken bones; he was soon recovering at home and posting online. All sympathy to both Paul and Deborah.
JO FLETCHER noticed the _New York Times_ tantalizing readers with a stupendously cryptic challenge: 'Here's a clue from the Sunday crossword: 37 Down: Literary award shaped like a rocket". (8 January) One suspects that 'International Fantasy Award' wouldn't fit.
BEN JEAPES does not write only sf, as revealed in an _i_ feature (7 January) about celebrity ghostwriters, in the context of a Certain Royal Memoir that he would have hesitated to take on: 'I have friends who have worked for the Royal Family and even the nice ones, in inverted commas, seem to be so demanding.' Just which children's adventure series Ben ghosted for which famous person remains shrouded in deadly secrecy.
TOM MONTELEONE ranted on Facebook and YouTube about recent winners of the Horror Writers Association life achievement award. From a YouTube transcript: '... the last three years of these awards have been severely skewed towards you know people that have been in the past called quote marginalized or not unquote okay so you know you've been oh wow you've been writing while Indian wow we're going to give you an award you you've been writing while black you get an award no problem and and you're you're a female and you're not a white male you get one right yeah that's evil it's literally what it is that's what's been going on but I'm not allowed _[...]_ to have that opinion ...' [SW] And thus: 'The Board of Trustees has voted to expel Mr Monteleone from the Horror Writers Association, thus revoking the benefits of his Lifetime Achievement Award ...' (HWA, 31 January) He's also banned from future HWA events. [TM]
JUSTIN ROILAND, co-creator, executive producer and star (voicing both title roles) of the popular animated sf series _Rick and Morty_, has been dropped from the show after US felony charges of 'domestic battery with corporal injury' and 'false imprisonment'. (_Deadline_, 24 January)
NAVAH WOLFE has joined DAW Books -- owned since last year by the Beijing-based Astra Publishing House -- as executive editor. [L]
### CONVOLVULACEAE ###
3-6 Feb [] SCOTIACON (furry), Crowne Plaza Hotel, Glasgow. GBP100 reg. Other details at www.scotiacon.org.uk.
16-19 Feb [] UK GHOST STORY FESTIVAL, Museum of Making, Derby. Talks etc. are separately ticketed: see www.ukghoststoryfestival.co.uk.
17-19 Feb [] SCI-FI BALL (media), Southampton. Tickets from GBP145 (GBP35 child) plus various more expensive options at scifiball.com.
25-26 Feb [] SURREY STEAMPUNK CONVIVIAL, Stoneleigh, Epsom. See bumpandthumper.wixsite.com/steampunkconvivials.
10-12 Mar [] FRIGHTFEST (film), Glasgow. Weekend pass GBP75; for individual tickets see frightfest.co.uk/filmsandevents.html.
10-12 Mar [] MINAMICON (anime), Novotel Hotel, Southampton. GBP65 reg. Further details at www.minamicon.org.uk.
11 Mar [] PICOCON 40, Imperial College, London. First GoH Alma Alexander. Details awaited at www.union.ic.ac.uk/scc/icsf/picocon/.
16-19 Mar [] CAMP SFW, Vauxhall Holiday Park, Great Yarmouth. 3-day pass GBP130; 2-day GBP99; more options at www.scifiweekender.com.
18 Mar [] BEDFORD WHO CHARITY CON (_Doctor Who_), King's House, Ampthill Road, Bedford, MK42 9AZ. 10am-5:30pm.GBP49.50; concessions/under-18s GBP25; under-15s GBP15. See bedfordwhocharitycon.co.uk.
7-10 Apr [] CONVERSATION (Eastercon), Hilton Metropole, Birmingham NEC. GBP80 reg, _rising to GBP90 on 5 February_; GBP45 concessions; GBP40 supporting or online- only membership; under-18s GBP20; under-13s GBP5. More information at conversation2023.org.uk.
14-16 Apr [] CONPULSION (games), Teviot Row House, Edinburgh. Further details awaited at conpulsion.org.
26-28 May [] SATELLITE 8, Crowne Plaza, Glasgow.GBP70 reg; under-25s GBP60; under-18s GBP20; under-12s GBP5; under-5s GBP2. _These rates may rise on 1 March._ See eight.satellitex.org.uk.
2-4 Jun [] JODIWORLD (Jodi Taylor), Doubletree by Hilton, Coventry. GoH Jodi Taylor, others. GBP70 reg; GBP10 supp; see www.jodiworld.org.
10 Sep [] POPCORN (media), Magna, Sheffield. Tickets GBP11.22; under-17s GBP9.09; under-7s free. See popcorncon.com.
18-22 Oct [] WORLDCON 2023, Chengdu, China. _New dates (moved from August) and venue:_ now to be held at the Chengdu Science Fiction Museum, currently under construction as part of a vast sf theme park at Jingrong Lake. (Twitter, 20 January) Hotels have also changed from those first announced. A Chinese fan post expresses concern that such decisions are being made by the marketing planning company of 'Chengdu Business Daily ... a news media organization that has nothing to do with science fiction' rather than by the appointed Worldcon committee. [F770] Hugo nominations open 'soon' and close at the end of April. Online registration is at last accepting non-Chinese credit cards, but it's now too late to join as a voting WSFS member. More at en.chengduworldcon.com.
20-22 Oct [] FESTIVAL OF FANTASTIC FILMS, Pendulum Hotel, Manchester. GBP110 reg. For day rates see 'Book Tickets' at fantastic-films.uk.
21 Oct [] BRISTOLCON, Hilton DoubleTree Hotel, Bristol. GoH TBA.GBP35 reg; GBP20 under-18s, concessions, disabled; under-14s free; GBP10 supp. Registration opened on 1 February at www.bristolcon.org.
RUMBLINGS. _Eurocon 2024_ (Rotterdam, August) offers adult memberships for Euro125 at www.erasmuscon.nl but still gives no exact date.
_Worldcon 2024:_ Glasgow published its first Progress Report in January, leading to some caustic remarks about Chengdu's failure -- despite a year's start -- to do as much.
_Worldcon 2025:_ the deadline for bidders to file their papers is now 21 April 2023. The only definite bid is for Seattle, Washington, USA.
### INFINITELY IMPROBABLE ###
WE ARE EVERYWHERE. The newly-elected US representative Robert Garcia announced that he'd take his oath to Congress on the Constitution and (_inter alia_) a vintage 1939 _Superman_ #1. (_Raw Story_, 4 January) [JB]
AWARDS. _Philip K. Dick_ finalists: _Arboreality_ by Rebecca Campbell; _Widowland_ by C.J. Carey; _Ymir_ by Rich Larson; _January Fifteenth_ by Rachel Swirsky; _The Legacy of Molly Southbourne_ by Tade Thompson; _The Extractionist_ by Kimberly Unger.
_Robert A. Heinlein Award:_ John Scalzi. [] _Oscar_ best-film nominations include _Avatar: The Way of Water_ and _Everything Everywhere All at Once_.
_Otherwise_ (was Tiptree): _Light from Uncommon Stars_ by Ryka Aoki and _Sorrowland_ by Rivers Solomon.
PUBLISHERS AND SINNERS. JABberwocky Literary Agency apologized for an error in its POD paperback of Aliette de Bodard's _The Red Scholar's Wake_: all copies sold up to 9 January are missing a whole chapter, and will be replaced free of charge. (Awfulagent.com, 23 January) [SB]
THE DRAGON VARIATION. _Host:_ 'In cinema, the 2000 Ang Lee film that was nominated for a best picture Oscar was called _Crouching Tiger, Hidden_ ... what?' _Contestant:_ 'Cupboard.' (BBC1, _The Weakest Link_) [PE]
R.I.P. _Tim Barlow_ (1936-2023), UK actor in _Doctor Who_ ('Destiny of the Daleks', 1979), _10,000 BC_ (2008) and _Cockneys vs Zombies_ (2012), died on 21 January aged 87.
_Jeff Beck_ (1944-2023), UK musician with soundtrack credits for _Gremlins 2_ (1990) and genre tv series, died on 10 January aged 78. [LP]
_Earl Boen_ (1941-2023), US actor in _Battle Beyond the Stars_ (1980), _The Man with Two Brains_ (1983), _The Terminator_ (1984 plus sequels), _Alien Nation_ (1988) and others -- plus voice work for many genre videogames -- died on 5 January aged 81. [LP]
_James D. Brubaker_ (1937-2023), US producer of _The Right Stuff_ (1983), _The Nutty Professor_ (1996), _Bruce Almighty_ (2003) and others, died on 3 January aged 85. [PDF]
_Wally Campo_ (1923-2023), US actor in _Beast from Haunted Cave_ (1959), _The Little Shop of Horrors_ (1960) and _Master of the World_ (1961), died on 14 January aged 99. LP
_Suzy McKee Charnas_ (1939-2023), much-admired Hugo- and Nebula-winning US feminist author who began publishing sf with _Walk to the End of the World_ (1974) -- first in the 'Holdfast Chronicles' sequence -- and had particular success with _The Vampire Tapestry_ (1980), died on 4 January aged 83. [ED]
_Inna Churikova_ (1943-2023), Russian actress in _Frosty_ (1965), _The Cat Who Walked by Herself_ (1988) and _The Land of Oz_ (2015), died on 14 January aged 79. [LP]
_David Crosby_ (1941-2023), US musician and actor seen in _Hook_ (1991), died on 19 January aged 81. [LP]
_David Gold_ (1936-2023), UK publisher and football executive whose Compact Books (an imprint of the family firm Gold Star) published _New Worlds_ and _Science Fantasy_/_Impulse_ in the 1960s, died on 4 January aged 86. [DP]
_Hakan Gulliksson_ (1956-2022), Swedish physicist whose five interesting sf novels were published 2020-2022, died _circa_ 1 September 2022 aged 66. [J-HH]
_Piers Haggard_ (1939-2023), UK director of _The Blood on Satan's Claw_ (1971), _Quatermass_/_The Quatermass Conclusion_ (1979), _The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu_ (1980), _The Lifeforce Experiment_ (1984) and others, died on 11 January aged 83. [AIP]
_Stepan Kaymanov_ (1979-2023) Russian author of sf/f (four novels)and popular science, died on 17 January. [AM]
_Roger Kean_, UK magazine publisher who with his partner Oliver Frey (died 2022) published the original _Fear_ magazine (1988-1991, ed. John Gilbert), died on 3 January. [JG]
_Lance Kerwin_ (1960-2023), US actor in _Enemy Mine_ (1985), _Outbreak_ (1995) and genre tv series, died on 24 January aged 62. [LP]
_Robbie Knievel_ (1962-2023), US actor/stuntman in _Ninja III: The Domination_ (1984), died on 13 Junary aged 60. [LP]
_Elka Konstantinova_ (1932-2023) Bulgarian literary critic (and Minister of Culture 1991-1992) who wrote three books on sf, died on 12 January. [AM]
_Paul LaFarge_ (1970-2023), US author of mostly borderline-fantastic novels including _The Night Ocean_ (2017) -- featuring H.P. Lovecraft and the Futurians -- died on 19 January aged 52. [GVG]
_Chris Ledesma_ (1958-2022), US music editor best known for 734 episodes of _The Simpsons_, died on 16 December aged 64; further credits include _The Stepford Children_ (1987), _Dracula: Dead and Loving It_ (1995) and _Teen Angel_ (1997). [LP]
_Gina Lollobrigida_ (1927-2023), famed Italian actress with a genre credit for the tv series _Le avventure di Pinocchio_ (1972), died on 16 January aged 95. [AIP]
_Lisa Loring_ (1958-2023), US actress who played Wednesday in the original _The Addams Family_ series (1964-1966), died on 28 January aged 64. [O]
_Sulambek Mamilov_ (1938-2023), Russian director of the sf film _Day of Wrath_ (1985) died on 13 January. [AM]
_Maya Menglet_ (1935-2023), Russian actress in _Shans_ (1984) and the Bram Stoker-based _Burial of the Rats_ (1995), died on 19 January aged 87. [AM]
_Graham Oakley_ (1929-2022), UK author and illustrator of the 'Church Mice' animal fantasies for children, beginning with _The Church Mouse_ (1972), died on 19 December aged 93. [AIP]
_Sal Piro_ (1950-2023), US fan and president since 1977 of _The Rocky Horror Picture Show_ fan club -- a founder of the audience-participation cult, about which he published two books -- died on 21 January aged 72. [AIP]
_Edward R. Pressman_ (1943-2023), US producer whose many credits include _Phantom of the Paradise_ (1974), _Conan the Barbarian_ (1982), _Martians Go Home_ (1989), _The Crow_ (1994 plus sequels) and _The Island of Dr Moreau_ (1996), died on 17 January aged 79. [AIP]
_Quinn K. Redeker_ (1936-2022), US actor in _The Three Stooges Meet Hercules_ (1962), _Spider Baby_ (1967), _The Andromeda Strain_ (1971), _Return to the Batcave_ (2003) and genre tv series, died on 20 December aged 86. [LP]
_Owen Roizman_ (1936-2023), US cinematographer whose films include _The Exorcist_ (1973), _The Stepford Wives_ (1975) and _The Addams Family_ (1991), died on 6 January aged 86. [AIP]
_Jeff Shuter_, US producer/director of _28 Days Later: The Aftermath_ (2007), _Invincible_ (2008) and _Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 8 Motion Comic_ (2010), died on 10 November 2022. [AIP]
_Aleksey Slapovsky_ (1957-2023), Russian author whose 25 novels include adult work with fantastic themes and a pair of children's fantasies, died on 8 January. [AM]
_Sylvia Syms_ (1934-2023), UK actress with genre credits for _Asylum_ (1972) and _Doctor Who_ ('Ghost Light', 1989), died on 27 January aged 89. [SJ]
_Svetlana Tulina_ (1968-2023), Russian fan, genre anthologist and award-winning short story author, died on 8 January. [AM]
_Agusti Villaronga_ (1953-2023), Spanish director of _99.9_ (1997) and _Moon Child_ (1989), died on 22 January aged 69. [AM]
_Fay Weldon_ (1931-2023), UK mainstream author who frequently explored sf/fantasy themes -- perhaps most famously in _The Cloning of Joanna May_ (1989; tv series adaptation 1991) -- died on 4 January aged 91. [DP]
_Hubert Wells_ (1934-2022), Hungarian-born US animal trainer with genre credits from _Doctor Dolittle_ (1967) to _Babe: Pig in the City_ (1998) -- in which he also acted -- died on 25 December aged 88. [LP]
_Annie Wersching_ (1977-2023), US actress in _The Vampire Diaries_ (2015-2016), _Timeless_ (2016-2018), _Star Trek: Picard_ (2022) and episodes of other genre tv series, died on 29 January aged 45. [AIP]
_Ted Whitehead_ (1933-2023), UK playwright and screenwriter for Fay Weldon's _The Cloning of Joanna May_ (see above), died on 13 January aged 89. [AIP]
_Cindy Williams_ (1947-2023), US actress in _Gas-s-s-s_ (1970), _Beware! The Blob_ (1972), _The Creature Wasn't Nice_ (1981), _Uforia_ (1984) and _The Stepford Husbands_ (1996), died on 25 January aged 75. [AIP]
WHAT'S THAT IN WELSH SWIMMING POOLS? '2 asteroids the size of 22 penguins to pass Earth this weekend -- NASA'. (_Jerusalem Post_, 19 January)
RANDOM FANDOM. _FAAn Awards_ voting for work published in 2022 opened in early January and will close on 6 March. Details in Nic Farey's _The Incompleat Register_ at efanzines.com/TIR/Incompleat2022.pdf.
_Chicon 8_ (Worldcon 2022) issued an apology for having initially followed the tradition of calling the Worldcon bidders' Q&A session The Fannish Inquisition: 'This phrase was initially created as a riff off the Monty Python sketch. However, the actual Spanish Inquisition was of course an atrocity against many groups, and the descendants of those groups understandably find this to be an offensive joke.' (Email, January) I hope no one will call for Jerry Kaufman's and Suzanne Tompkins's 1970s fanzine _The Spanish Inquisition_ to be removed from Fanac.org and bibliographies.
_Forrest J Ackerman_'s papers 'are now fully processed and open to researchers' at Syracuse University. [PB] See library.syracuse.edu/digital/guides/a/ackerman_fj.htm for the catalogue. Rob Hansen disputes some of the FJA biographical factoids on that page: '"In 1923, at the age of seven, he was a charter member of the Science Fiction League." Since Gernsback didn't create the SFL until February 1934 that's quite a feat.'
THE NUDE PAST. _20 Years Ago:_ 'Jim Battista charmed me with his revelation on Usenet that the great Forrest J Ackerman "had a bit part as Judge Reinhole in _Nudist Colony of the Dead_. Of all the musicals I've seen about zombie nudists who kill only fundamentalist Christians, it was the most recent."' (_Ansible_ 187, February 2003)
_30 Years Ago:_ 'Patrick Nielsen Hayden sends a flyer about _Nude Trek 2: The Wrath of Klothes_, the first nudist Trek convention, run by The Slugs Nudist Club in chilly Washington State (22 Jan). Perhaps the most macabre aspect is his covering note: "NOT A HOAX".' (_Ansible_ 67, February 1993)
MAGAZINE SCENE. _Daily Science Fiction_, in the 9 January email of its daily story to subscribers, announced that '_Daily Science Fiction_ is officially on hiatus.' The web archive remains at dailysciencefiction.com. [IN]
_Interzone_ emailed subscribers and contributors on 30 January to assure us all that 'Interzone #294 is now out in all its forms' and being shipped.
COURT CIRCULAR. Fox News is in trouble for an almost science-fictional reason: they played the US Emergency Alert System attention tone for three seconds as part of an NFL tv ad. Broadcasting this is 'prohibited to prevent people becoming desensitized to something you should only hear in the most dire circumstances', such as imminent nuclear attack or multi-penguin asteroid impact, and the Federal Communications Commission is talking about a $504,000 fine. (_The Register_, 27 January)
DOOMED ENTERPRISE. _80 Years Ago_, an ambitious cat-herding scheme was launched by 'Chief Futurian Attorney Vol Molesworth of the Futurian Society of Sydney: "I am preparing a standard Futurian Law text-book. To do this I need a copy of the rules and constitution of every fan club in the world, past and present. It is a big long task, but I intend to tackle it, for if all fan clubs adopted a standardised law it would make Futurian intercourse easier. Briefly, I want a complete set of data on a Society -- copy of its policy, constitution and rules in toto, full list of decisions and precedents that are within the scope of the word 'jurisdiction'. When I get this from all fan-clubs, and after comparison, sift out the common parts, I intend to roneo it off, bind it, and send a copy to each fan club.'" (_Futurian War Digest_ 26, February 1943)
FANFUNDERY. _TAFF_ voting continues at taff.org.uk/vote.php. Further TAFF trip reports released as free ebooks are _A Fake Fan in London_ by Bob Madle (1957), _Epitaff_ by Eric Bentcliffe (1960), _The Squirrel's Tale_ by Ron Ellik (1962) and _The Moffatt House Abroad_ by Len & June Moffatt (1973); also in the pipeline is _Colonial Excursion_ by Ron Bennett (1958). For the full list of ebooks, newest first, see taff.org.uk/ebooks.php?all&chron.
THOG'S MASTERCLASS. _Raconteur Dept._ 'I am going to tell you the story of Madame Bertaux, and that the powder of instruction may be properly balanced by the jam of amusement I am going to ...' (H. de Vere Stacpoole, 'The Ten-Franc Counter', _Munsey's_, 1926)
_A Moustache Worth Twirling._ '... and above his thin lip, more dark hair falling in waves inelegantly to his shoulders...' (Steven Brust, _Athyra_, 1993) [BA]
_Hairy Eyeball Dept._ 'Private Walsh swung his glower, beard and all, across Roan ...' (Theodore Sturgeon, 'Granny Won't Knit', 1954) [VS]
### GEEKS' CORNER ###
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More details, and an ALTERNATIVE LIST subscription form for those averse to Google, on this page (which is also where to unsubscribe from the alternative list, hosted at ansible.uk):
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LiveJournal syndication -- http://www.livejournal.com/users/ansiblezine/
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Printable PDFs -- https://news.ansible.uk/pdf/
Email the editor -- https://news.ansible.uk/contact.php
Books Received -- https://ansible.uk/books.php
CONVENTION AND EVENT LINKS
British Isles -- https://news.ansible.uk
London -- https://news.ansible.uk/london.html
Overseas -- https://news.ansible.uk/conlisti.html [no longer updated]
### ENDNOTES ###
PAYPAL TIP JAR THINGY. Donate to support _Ansible_, cover website costs and keep the editor happy! Or just buy his books.
https://ansible.uk/paypal.html
https://ae.ansible.uk/
https://ae.ansible.uk/ebooks.php
https://ansible.uk/books/index.html
VIRTUAL MEETINGS.
15 February 2023, evening: London Zoom meeting, third Thursday of each month. 'Please share this with people who you know typically come to the Bishop's Finger, but aren't on Facebook.'
https://bohemiancoast.medium.com/first-thursday-london-sf-fan-virtual-drinks-5232021e961f
R.I.P. LATE REPORTS. _Noah Gordon_ (1926-2021), US author best known for medical novels, who reviewed sf in 1953 issues of _Avon Science Fiction and Fantasy Reader_, died on 22 November 2021 aged 95. [PDF]
_Denis MacEoin_ (1949-2022), UK novelist who wrote international thrillers as Daniel Easterman and ghost stories as Jonathan Aycliffe, died on 6 June 2022 aged 73. [DP]
RUMBLINGS II. Early-bird weekend passes for Cymera, the Scots festival of sf, fantasy and horror writing (Edinburgh and online, 2-4 June) will be on sale from 1 March to 1 April. See www.cymerafestival.co.uk.
EDITORIAL. Thanks are due to many fans who work behind the scenes on all those TAFF ebooks (and are, I hope, always credited in the ebook text) as proofreaders, researchers, transcribers, suppliers of hard-to-find material and providers of bright ideas. Such significant contributors to recent and ongoing projects include Sandra Bond, Claire Brialey, Pat Charnock, Rob Hansen, Rob Jackson, Curt Phillips and Ted White, without whom etc., etc. Oh noes, I am running out of ISBNs....
SOME LINKS from the _Ansible_ home page.
BSFA Awards Longlist
https://www.bsfa.co.uk/bsfa-awards-longlist
Fanzine Activity Achievement (FAAn) awards voting guide and form
https://efanzines.com/TIR/Incompleat2022.pdf
Glasgow 2024 Worldcon PR1 published
https://glasgow2024.org/publications-press/publications/
_SF2; Concatenation_ Spring 2023 Newscast
http://www.concatenation.org/news/news1~23.html
THOG'S GOLDEN OLDIES from _Ansible_ 187, February 2003. _Dept of Dimensional Analysis._''If you could enlarge the human body, blow it up to a vast size, you would see that it was literally nothing but a swirling mass of cells and atoms, clustered together into smaller swirls of cells and atoms.' (Michael Crichton, _Prey_, 2002)
_Dept of One-Off Use._ 'Passing over the roadie's ceramic teeth was a tongue that would help the man form a single word.' (P.P. Hartnett, _Rock'n'Roll Suicide_, 2002)
_Dept of Arresting Simile._ 'When he was yet a million miles away the bright ring of fire that marked its portal filled the sky in front of him, flexing and twisting like the devil's anus in spasms of immortal agony.' (Alan Glasser, _The Demon Cosmos_, 1978)
_Relativity Dept._ '"I once read somewhere," said Peter, "that a minute on Mars is equal to a year on our Earth, so that would be the reason why everything is terrifically speeded up."' (Prof A.M. Low, _Adrift in the Stratosphere_, 1937)
_Ansible_(R) 427 (C) David Langford, 2023. Thanks to Brian Ameringen, Peter Balestrieri, John D. Berry, Sandra Bond, John Boston, Ellen Datlow, Paul Di Filippo, _File 770_, John Gilbert, John-Henri Holmberg, Steve Jones, _Locus_, Todd Mason, Andrey Meshavkin, Ian Nichols, Omega, Lawrence Person, Andrew I. Porter, David Pringle, _Private Eye_, Vernon Speed, Gordon Van Gelder, Sean Wallace, and as always our Hero Distributors: Durdles Books (Birmingham SF Group), SCIS/Prophecy, and Alan Stewart (Australia).
1 February 2023
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