Ansible 297 -- April 2012

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ANSIBLE 297
APRIL 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 simulated griamobots.

[NET NOTE. See http://news.ansible.co.uk/a297.html for the nice HTML version. Mailing list subscribe/unsubscribe information appears below -- please don't send such requests to my own e-mail address. DRL]


### THAT SHARE OF GLORY ###

PHIL DAVIS, the actor, gave sf a plug on BBC2's _My Life in Books_ (6 March) by praising _The Sirens of Titan_, but nervously added 'It's not really science fiction, it's satire.' [RS] Asked whether he'd read any other Vonnegut novels, he confidently cited _Cat's Cradle_ and _Fahrenheit 451_.

CARL FREDERICK, a 2002 finalist and 2003 winner in the L. Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future competition, decided to sever all links with WotF following a 12 March _Village Voice_ expose arguing that the supposed 'firewall' between competition organizers and the darker side of Scientology is distinctly leaky. Much online comment ensued. [JW]

SIMON INGS, now editing the digital magazine _Arc_, had a write-up in the _Independent_: 'Science fiction starts to get a bad reputation when it stops being a source of play and starts to take itself seriously as a force in the real world, says Ings. "If you don't take it seriously then it can be useful, because you're freeing up your imagination and churning through ideas of what the future might be like. The moment you take it seriously is the moment you stop having ideas."' (23 March) [MPJ]

CHRIS PRIEST was mightily gobsmacked to learn he was the hidden theme of the _Independent_'s 2 March cryptic crossword, by veteran setter 'Phi'. Besides Christopher and Priest, answers included Affirmation, Extremes, Glamour, Islander, Prestige, Scintilla and Separation. [PD]

J.K. ROWLING is still news even for not being news: _Telegraph_ coverage of the latest Forbes billionaires' list was headlined 'JK Rowling fortune under vanishing spell' to mark her absence owing to charitable donations and the UK's 'heavy taxation burden'. (7 March) [MPJ]

NORMAN SPINRAD's unproduced 1967 _Star Trek_ script 'He Walked Among Us' was to appear at last in the fan-created online series _Star Trek New Voyages: Phase II_ -- until CBS, which owns the rights, issued a cease-and-desist order. There was, strangely, no such objection when David Gerrold's unused 1987 _Star Trek: The Next Generation_ script 'Blood and Fire' appeared in that same series in 2007; but Spinrad told _File 770_, 'Not so mystifying when you consider that "Blood and Fire" was done well before J.J. Abrams came on the scene.' Our author was also told to stop selling copies of his script through online bookshops. (_New York Times_, 29 March) _Star Trek_ fans are not happy. So it goes.

ANDREW STANTON, talking on Radio 5 Live, said the reason for Disney's title change of his Barsoom film _John Carter of Mars_ to just _John Carter_ was that 'audiences don't like science fiction.' [MPJ] Perhaps in some parallel world where _Avatar_ flopped ... A more plausible story is that Disney lost serious money on the 2011 _Mars Needs Moms_ and decided with arcane logic that 'Mars' in the title had to be the problem.

BRAM STOKER's original 1897 contract for _Dracula_, drafted and handwritten by the author himself, is to be published for the first time in a new edition of the novel. Using arcane mental powers, Stoker had negotiated a princely 20% royalty deal. (_Independent_, 25 March) [MPJ]


### CONNANDSCIPE ###

Until 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.

6-9 Apr [] OLYMPUS 2012 (Eastercon), Radisson Edwardian Hotel, Heathrow, London. _Advance booking has closed. The convention is full and no memberships will be available at the door. No transfers of existing memberships after noon BST on 3 April._ 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.

21 Apr [] BRADFORD AFTER DARK (film), Cineworld, Bradford: all-day showing in horror strand of Bradford Film Festival, 19-29 April. More at www.bradfordfilmfestival.org.uk; tickets www.cineworld.co.uk.

22 Apr [] DIANA WYNNE JONES CELEBRATION (informal and 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. For full travel details, see calcifer.co.uk.

25 Apr [] BSFA OPEN MEETING, Melton Mowbray (new venue), 18 Holborn, London, EC1N 2LE. 6pm for 7pm. With Sharyn November.

26-29 Apr [] KONTAKT (SFeraKon/Eurocon), Zagreb, Croatia. _Advance booking now closed._ At the door: Euro20 reg, Euro30 deluxe (includes a guided tour). Further details at zagreb-eurocon2012.com.

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.

14 Jul [] EDGE-LIT sf/fantasy horror day, QUAD art centre, Derby, DE1 3AS. 10am-midnight. Pounds25 reg. Box office 01332 290 606.

30 Aug - 3 Sep [] CHICON 7 (70th Worldcon), Hyatt Regency, Chicago. _Now $195 reg_; $540 family; $100 YA (17-21); $75 child (5-16); under-5s free. Contact PO Box 13, Skokie, IL 60076, USA.

22-29 Sep [] MILFORD UK (writers' workshop), Trigonos, Snowdonia. Pounds560 inc room and meals; Pounds115 deposit required; published writers only. Contact c/o 40 Westhay Rd, Meare, Glastonbury, BA6 9TL.

3-4 Mar 2013 [] P-CON X, Irish Writers' Centre, Parnell Square, Dublin 1. GoH Cory Doctorow, Sarah Pinborough. Euro20 reg (may rise later); payment via PayPal or at the door. See www.pcon.ie.

RUMBLINGS [] A Chicon press release announces that no 2014 Worldcon bidders other than London filed paperwork by the 2 March deadline. London in 2014 is unopposed and doomed to succeed! The Hugo shortlist will be announced on 7 April, during Eastercon.


### INFINITELY IMPROBABLE ###

AS OTHERS SEE RACE. There was a storm in a twittercup as watchers of _The Hunger Games_ tweeted bitterly that characters described in the novel as 'dark brown' or with 'dark skin' are shockingly portrayed in the film by black actors. One twit felt this 'kinda ruined the movie'; another asked 'why did the producer make all the good characters black'. [PD]

AWARDS. _Arthur C. Clarke Award_ shortlist: Greg Bear, _Hull Zero Three_; Drew Magary, _The End Specialist_; China Mieville, _Embassytown_; Jane Rogers, _The Testament of Jessie Lamb_; Charles Stross, _Rule 34_; Sheri S.Tepper, _The Waters Rising_. Carrying on the great Clarke tradition of grumbling, Chris Priest posted an online denunciation of the judges and (almost) the entire shortlist; others sniped back, and a fine cranky time was had by all; Charles Stross enshrined his description 'internet puppy' in t-shirt form.
     _James Tiptree Jr:_ Andrea Hairston, _Redwood and Wildfire_.
     _Lambda_ (LGBT) shortlist: Lee Thomas, _The German_; Geoff Ryman, _Paradise Tales: and Other Stories_; L.A. Witt & Amber Allure, _Static_; JoSelle Vanderhooft, ed., _Steam-Powered: Lesbian Steampunk Stories_; J.M. Frey, _Triptych_.[] _SFWA Solstice Award:_ Octavia Butler (posthumously), John Clute.
     _Service to SFWA:_ Bud Webster.

PUBLISHERS & SINNERS. Penguin UK is reviving the glorious tradition of Penguin SF with a new imprint called, actually, Berkley UK.

SKY AT NIGHT MASTERCLASS. _Anne Robinson:_ 'In astronomy, a nucleus, a coma and a tail are all parts of which celestial body?' _Contestant:_ 'A horse.' (BBC1, _The Weakest Link_, now mercifully cancelled.) [PI]

R.I.P. _M.A.R. Barker_ (Prof. Muhammad Abd-al-Rahman Barker, 1929-2012), creator of the science-fantasy world Tekumel as a setting for _Empire of the Petal Throne_ (1975) and related role-playing games, died on 16 March aged 83. [AW] Tekumel outdoes even Tolkien's Middle-earth for its density of historical, cultural and linguistic detail; besides 'nonfiction' treatises on the world, Barker also set five novels there, beginning with _The Man of Gold_ (1984).
     _Peter Bergman_ (1939-2012), US writer and member of the surreal comedy group The Firesign Theatre, died on 9 March aged 72. Firesign humour was often sf-themed: their albums _Don't Crush That Dwarf, Hand Me the Pliers_ and _I Think We're All Bozos on This Bus_ were Dramatic Presentation Hugo nominees in 1971 and 1972 respectively. [BH]
     _Christine Brooke-Rose_ (1923-2012), Swiss-born UK novelist and academic critic whose linguistically inventive fiction includes such sf novels as _Xorandor_ (1986) and _Verbivore_ (1990), died on 21 March at the age of 89.
     _Bruce Cornwell_, one of the original _Dan Dare_ artists in Frank Hampson's _Eagle_ comic team -- specializing in hardware and spaceships -- died on 2 March. [GW]
     _Robert Fuest_ (1927-2012), UK director of various _Avengers_ and _New Avengers_ episodes, _The Abominable Dr. Phibes_ (1971; also 1972 sequel), _The Final Programme_ (1973), _The Devil's Rain_ (1975) and _Revenge of the Stepford Wives_ (1980), died on 21 March aged 84. [SFS]
     _Paul Haines_ (1970-2012), New Zealand-born horror and sf author (in Australia from the 1990s) who won several Ditmar and Aurealis awards for his fiction, died on 5 March; he was 41. [PDF]
     _Gene DeWeese_ (1934-2012), US fan and author who began publishing with the _Man from U.N.C.L.E._ spinoff _The Invisibility Affair_ (1967, with Robert Coulson) as by Thomas Stratton and contributed novels to the _Star Trek_, _Dinotopia_ and other universes, died on 19 March; he was 78. [ML] With Coulson he wrote the light-hearted recursive sf romps _Now You See It/Him/Them_ (1975) and _Charles Fort Never Mentioned Wombats_ (1977).
     _Jean Giraud_ (1938-2012), highly prolific and influential French comics artist who cofounded the seminal magazine _Metal Hurlant_ in 1975, died on 10 March aged 73. [GW] Much of his sf work appeared as by Moebius. Genre films using his design concepts include _Alien_, _Tron_, _The Abyss_ and _The Fifth Element_. He was commissioned to draw a 1988 French postage stamp in honour of himself, and was inducted into the SF Hall of Fame in 2011.
     _Elyse Knox Harmon_ (1917-2012), US actress fondly remembered for screaming, fainting and being carried off by a heavily bandaged Lon Chaney in _The Mummy's Tomb_ (1942), died on 16 February; she was 94. [MPJ]
     _Sheldon Moldoff_ (1920-2012), US comics artist whose work appeared in the 1938 _Action Comics_ #1 (which introduced Superman) and whose cover art included the 1940 comics with the debuts of Flash and Green Lantern, died on 29 February aged 91. [PDF]
     _Noboru Ishiguro_ (1938-2012), Japanese anime director best known for the long-running tv and film anime series _Space Cruiser Yamato_, died on 21 March. He also co-authored a 1980 history of Japanese animation. [JC]
     _Hans Kneifel_ (1936-2012), German sf author who published his first novel in 1956, wrote over 80 Perry Rhodan books and scores more for other shared-world franchises, and returned to standalone work from the 1990s, died on 7 March aged 75. [J-HH]
     _Ralph McQuarrie_ (1929-2012), US designer and illustrator whose conceptual designs helped define the look of the original _Star Wars_ trilogy, the original _Battlestar Galactica_, _E.T._ and _Cocoon_ (for which he won a visual-effects Oscar), died on 3 March. He was 82. [AIP]
     _Philip Madoc_ (1934-2012), Welsh actor who appeared in _Doctor Who_ (several times), the _Space: 1999_ pilot, _Survivors_ and _UFO_, died on 5 March aged 77. [AW]
     _Don Markstein_ (1947-2012), US fan, co-founder in 1981 of the Apatoons animation APA, author of books about comics and creator of the encyclopedic Toonopedia site www.toonopedia.com, died after a long illness on 10 March. He was 64. [GHL]
     _Peter Phillips_ (1920-2012), UK author of 21 distinctive short sf stories published 1948-1957, died on 28 March; he was 92. He is best remembered for 'Dreams Are Sacred' (1948 _Astounding_), adapted for the BBC's _Out of the Unknown_ sf anthology series as 'Get Off My Cloud' (1969). [MA]
     _Robert B Sherman_ (1925), US lyricist who with his brother Richard wrote the songs for various genre films including _Mary Poppins_, _The Jungle Book_, _Chitty Chitty Bang Bang_ and _Bedknobs and Broomsticks_, died on 5 March aged 86. [MPJ]
     _Warren Stevens_ (1919-2012), US character actor who played Doc Ostrow in _Forbidden Planet_ (1956) and appeared in various tv sf serials, died on 27 March aged 92. [PDF]

CAUTIONARY TALES. The March/April _Accounting Technician_ explains what not to say in an interview when asked about one's interests outside work. 'BAD -- My partner and I like dressing up as Doctor Who villains and socializing with fellow sci-fi fans in full costume. GOOD -- I like to spend time with my partner attending cultural events.' [IS]

COURT CIRCULAR. The Southampton theme pub The Hobbit (so called for twenty years) became the latest target of the Saul Zaentz Company, owners of Tolkien-related trademarks. After very public complaints about this 'bullying' from Stephen Fry and Ian 'Fly, you fools!' McKellen, the SZC cease-and-desist order was followed by a friendlier offer from producer Paul Zaentz: 'When it's an established business, we like to get the company to acknowledge they are using our trademarks, stop selling infringing articles and then we will grant them a licence for a nominal fee -- approximately $100 a year.' (BBC, 13 & 15 March; Yahoo, 16 March)

OUTRAGED LETTERS. _Ross Fletcher:_ 'Please may I nominate the following lyrics from "The A Team" (Ed Sheeran, +, 2011) for inclusion in the Sinking Faces and Screaming Pastry departments of Thog's Masterclass? "Her face seems / Slowly sinking, wasting / Crumbling like pastries / And they scream / 'The worst things in life come free to us'"'
     _Yvonne Rousseau_ on literary antecedents: 'I was surprised to notice that in Georgette Heyer's _The Foundling_ (1948) there is a schoolmaster named Snape. Unlike the Snape of Hogwarts, he is acting as a private tutor to 15-year-old Tom Mamble. From Tom's account (after Snape has been reading aloud about medieval history when on holiday and Tom has therefore hit Snape on the head and run away), the Duke of Sale judges Snape to be "a joyless individual". Tom confides that Snape "is the greatest beast in nature, and I hate him." Once encountered, Snape excites the Duke's contempt: "Yes, I had thought from what Tom told me that you were a shabby, mean sort of a fellow."'
     _Kip Williams_ on an _A296_ death notice: 'Genre credits for Lou Cameron in comics are impressive. For _Classics Illustrated_, he drew very strong adaptations of _Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde_, "The Bottle Imp", _The War of the Worlds_ and _The Time Machine_. I like to think Cameron was responsible for the visual barb in a panel where The Time Traveler is moving across eras into the future, thinking "What wonderful progress mankind must be making!" The scene outside shows two men in gas masks struggling on a stark battlefield. / _The Count of Monte Cristo_ is not in an SF genre, but I hate not to mention the fine job he did on it.'

AS OTHERS SEE US. A.A. Gill knows our secret: '... people who don't like or understand literature read science fiction.' (_Paper View_, 2008)

RANDOM FANDOM. _Dave Lally_ proposes a series of 6 'SF Linkcons' as extra attractions for attendees of the expected 2014 London Worldcon (14-18 August) and Dublin Eurocon (22-25 August). Current plans: 12 Aug, Woking and H.G. Wells territory; 13 Aug, London Elstree studios; 20-21 Aug Portmeirion; 27-28 Aug, Irish C.S. Lewis sites; 28-29 Aug, Scots _Wicker Man_ locations; 29 Aug, London 'TunCon' for 40th anniversary of One Tun pub meetings, _not_ at the Tun but at the Melton Mowbray or (if meetings move) the latest First Thursday venue.

MAGAZINE SCENE. Brit Mandelo is now Fiction Editor at _Strange Horizons_; additional short-fiction editors are still sought.

THE DEAD PAST. _50 Years Ago_, the secrets of the 1962 Eastercon in Peterborough were revealed: 'With several bills still to pay there is a small profit, but we are anticipating an unexpected bill from one hotel. Actual attendance, notwithstanding gatecrashers from the nobility and elsewhere, was 94 out of a 105 membership.' (_Skyrack_ 42, April 1962)

THE GOVERNANCE OF BRITAIN. What do they do all day in the House of Commons? Edit Wikipedia, it seems. Genre-flavoured edits traced to Commons IP addresses include changing 'Dalek' to 'Darlek' and then back again, fiddling with Harry Potter-related entries, and improving _Lord of the Rings_ film coverage with the description '12 hours of utter tripe about some little bender running around trying to find a ring with his equally bendersish mates.' (_Independent_, 9 March) [MPJ]

IN TYPO VERITAS. From _Slate_ magazine's corrections list: '... Torie Bosch misspelled the science fiction award won by writer Bruce Sterling. It is of course the Hugo Award, not the Huge Award.' [CM] Roy Kettle used to call sf's two major awards the Huge and Knobbly.

WE ARE EVERYWHERE. The economist W. Brian Arthur conveys the flavour of the annual World Economic Forum in Davos: 'It's as if we woke up and discovered we were now in a different world. It's like that bit in _Lord of the Rings_, where they are underground, and they hear the distant rumblings of the Balrog. Here there are rumblings of dissatisfaction, but only rumblings.' (_New Yorker_, 5 March) [MMW] The Saul Zaentz Company lawyers' stern instruction to cease and desist from unauthorized use of the term Balrog© is no doubt in the post.

EMPIRE AWARDS (cinema). Best film, overall: _Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows -- Part 2_. Director: David Yates (_HP&DH2_). SF: _Thor_. Art of 3D: _The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn_. [MPJ]

THOG'S MASTERCLASS. _Not Just Physical Dept._ 'They knew that the loins of this dark girl beside me were a trap that had closed on my soul.' (John D. McDonald, _Weep for Me_, 1951) [BT]
     _Dept of Melodious Twangs._ 'The silence between them was as audible as the twang of an overstrained rope.' (Barbara Hambly, _The Ladies of Mandrigyn_, 1984) [KAM]
     _Future Baseball Dept._ 'The game was tied, the Yanks one out shy of a win.' (Chris Moriarty, _Spin State_, 2003; Thog not understand this one.) [AL]
     _Dept of Sonic Weaponry._ 'He froze as a man's wail sounded from the zoo level. The sound visibly cut through every person below.' (Kim Lakin-Smith, _Cyber Circus_, 2011) [DL]
     _Nicholson Baker Memorial Euphemism Dept._ 'I had too much altar boy in me to seize the bitch goddess of success by her ponytail and bugger the Zeitgeist with my throbbing baguette.' (James Walcott, _Lucking Out_, 2011) [MMW]

### GEEKS' CORNER ###

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[] London meetings/events -- http://news.ansible.co.uk/london.html


### ENDNOTES ###

APPARITIONS.
[] 13 April 2012: Bob Blackham on Tolkien at 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: 11 May tba; 8 June Graham Joyce; 13 July tba; 10 August Summer Social meal at the Black Eagle pub.

APRIL FOOLERY. The usual genre-related japes appeared online yesterday. For _Ansible_'s hasty roundup, see the first link below. The second goes to Lawrence Person's development (at _Locus_) of the venerable Talking Squid in Outer Space theme: namedropping will get you anywhere.

OUTRAGED LETTERS II. _Bob Ham:_ 'I must say I'm quite dismayed by your inclusion of the QED science/sceptic conference in the conference list in _A296_. As a science-educated fan and a spiritual person, I see the sceptic/neo-atheist bunch as being quite opposed to genre work. Rigid defence of the scientific status quo seems at odds with speculative exploration of the possible. In my humble opinion, a meeting of those who would scoff at Arthur C. Clarke's _Childhood's End_ has no place in a list of SF conferences.' Do readers agree?

PAYPAL TIP JAR THINGY. Support _Ansible_, cover website costs and keep the editor happy! Or just buy his books.

THOG'S SECOND HELPING. _Eyeballs in the Shattered Congealed Opaque Impenetrable Barrier Dept._ 'The doctor slid his cold blue eyes to Sherwood, and the two men studied each other for a long, decisive moment, a division in time that suddenly congealed into an opaque, impenetrable barrier which the doctor shattered by saying, "What do you expect to gain by this intrusion, Dr. Sherwood?"' (Jerry Sohl, _The Time Dissolver_, 1957) [BA]


Ansible 297 Copyright (c) David Langford, 2012. Thanks to Brian Ameringen, Mike Ashley, Jonathan Clements, Paul Di Filippo, Paul Dormer, Bill Higgins, John-Henri Holmberg, Martyn P. Jackson, Duncan Lawie, Guy H. Lillian III, Andy Love, Mike Lowrey, Klaus AE. Mogensen, Cheryl Morgan, Andrew I. Porter, Private Eye, Ian Sewell, SF Site, Richard Simms, Bob Toomey, Andrew Wells, Gary Wilkinson, Martin Morse Wooster, James Worrad and our Hero Distributors: Dave Corby (BSFG), SCIS/Prophecy, Alan Stewart (Australia).

2 April 2012

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