Ansible 459 -- October 2025
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Oct 1, 2025, 12:13:51 PM (11 days ago) Oct 1
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ANSIBLE(R) 459
OCTOBER 2025
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, usable Thoggery or an eidolon named Night.
[NET NOTE. See https://news.ansible.uk/a459.html for the nice HTML version; https://news.ansible.uk/pdf/a459.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]
### ON A BLACK THRONE ###
C.J. CHERRYH is bemused by the aftermath of Melania Trump's speech which in a children's-toys context babbled that 'Great minds have turned marbles into microchips, paper airplanes into drones and kites into satellites' -- a line promptly flagged by 'AI Overview' as coming from Cherryh's _Downbelow Station_ (1981). But no one can find it there. (24 September)
P.A. CORNELL is another author who has given up on _Analog_ (and its sister magazines) after months of attempted contract negotiation with the new regime. Despite an initially friendly response -- 'It's the company's mission to help writers, so if that doesn't feel like what this contract is doing, it would be useful to us to hear about it ...' -- it became clear that the company's mission was to enforce the party line regardless. Cornell gloomily reports: 'I wish I could say I finally received a contract from Must Read Magazines that I found reasonable and was happy to sign. Unfortunately, that's not the case.' (_P.A. Cornell's Newsletter_, 4 September)
J.K. ROWLING 'has broken through the GBP29.99 ceiling!' gasps _Private Eye_. Her new Robert Galbraith novel is officially priced at GBP30, which 'leaves the big male beasts trailing -- Dan Brown, Lee Child and Stephen King's latest thrillers are available for a mere GBP25 [...] -- and must be a UK record for a standard edition of a non-illustrated novel.' (19 September)
GEORGE SAUNDERS, winner of the Booker Prize for his fantasy _Lincoln in the Bardo_, received a Distinguished Contribution to American Letters Medal from the US National Book Foundation. [L]
### CONSUETUDE ###
Until 2 Nov [] LONDON MONTH OF THE DEAD, various venues and events, a few of genre interest: see londonmonthofthedead.com.
2 Oct [] ANNIE BOT VS THE TECH BROS ('sf/AI origin stories' panel), online. 1-2pm. Free, with booking required at tinyurl.com/ye247bzu.
4 Oct - 21 Mar [] THE FUTURE WAS THEN (exhibition; sf predictions in comics), Cartoon Museum, London. More at www.cartoonmuseum.org/whats-on-exhibitions/the-future-was-then.
4 Oct [] SOMETHING MONSTROUS (BFS), online. 10am-6:30pm. GBP5; free to members, with registration still required at tinyurl.com/5cwp2ej7.
9-12 Oct [] GRIMMFEST (film), Odeon Great Northern, Manchester. Weekend pass (not Thursday) GBP96.54; other options at grimmfest.com.
10 Oct - 6 Dec [] THE WORD FOR WORLD: THE MAPS OF URSULA K. LE GUIN (exhibition), AA Gallery, 36 Bedford Square, London, WC1B 3ES. 11am-7pm. Free. Further details at tinyurl.com/ms4nackb.
12-13 Oct [] OCTOCON, Maldron Hotel, Tallaght, Dublin. Euro40 reg; concessions Euro25; under-22s Euro10; under-13s free; supp/online Euro20. In-person convention on Saturday; online only on Sunday. See octocon.com.
SOLD OUT 17-20 Oct [] IRISH DISCWORLD CONVENTION, Cork International Hotel, Cork. Euro95 reg; concessions Euro60; under-18s Euro20; under-7s free. Waiting list for cancelled memberships at idwcon.org.
18-19 Oct [] TOLKIEN SOCIETY SEMINAR: 'Arda's Entangled Bodies', Glasgow and online. Free. See www.tolkiensociety.org/events/.
23-26 Oct [] CELLULOID SCREAMS horror film festival, Sheffield. Weekend pass GBP121.50; this and other tickets at celluloidscreams.com.
23-26 Oct [] EDINBURGH HORROR FESTIVAL, Banshee Labyrinth and Lauriston Castle. See www.edhorrorfest.co.uk; many separately ticketed events are listed at www.edhorrorfest.co.uk/2025-programme.
24-26 Oct [] FESTIVAL OF FANTASTIC FILMS, Pendulum Hotel, Manchester. GBP120 reg. Day rates: GBP30 Friday, GBP55 Saturday, GBP45 Sunday. See fantastic-films.uk.
24-26 Oct [] STEAMPUNK HALLOWEEN, County Assembly Rooms, Lincoln. See www.ministryofsteampunk.com/halloween-2025.
25-26 Oct [] BRISTOLCON, Hilton DoubleTree Hotel, Bristol.GBP65 reg; GBP50 under-18s, concessions, disabled; under-14s free; GBP20 supporting only. Day rates and registration page at www.bristolcon.org.
25-26 Oct [] SURREY STEAMPUNK CONVIVIAL, Stoneleigh, Epsom. See bumpandthumper.wixsite.com/steampunkconvivials.
26 Oct [] STARS OF TIME (comics), LC, Swansea. 10am-5pm. GBP11.55 (under-14s GBP7.21) at www.starsoftime.co.uk/swanseacomiccon.
30 Oct [] QUEER FANTASY (panel discussion), British Library, London. 7pm-8:30pm. In-person tickets SOLD OUT; online GBP15 or GBP10 (your choice); concessions GBP5. Bookings at events.bl.uk/events/online-queer-fantasy.
30 Oct - 2 Nov [] WORLD FANTASY CONVENTION, Metropole, Brighton. GBP200 reg; GBP75 online; other rates at worldfantasy2025.co.uk.
31 Oct - 2 Nov [] ARMADACON, Future Inns, Plymouth. GBP47 reg; GBP40 concessions. More at www.armadacon.org.
31 Oct - 1 Nov [] FRIGHTFEST HALLOWEEN (film), Odeon Luxe, Leicester Square, London. See www.frightfest.co.uk/filmsandevents/.
1 Nov [] SONIC CON UK (Sonic the Hedgehog), Novotel London West. Tickets GBP35.37 inc fee; other rates at www.sonicconuk.com.
23 Nov [] SF, COMIC & TOY FAIR, Leigh Sports Village. 11am-4pm. Tickets GBP3, children GBP1. See www.mseevents.co.uk/.
30 Dec [] _THE FEMALE MAN_ online discussion panel, 7pm. Details on Facebook event sign-up at fb.me/e/3F0xoFwPh.
28-29 Mar 2026 [] HORRORFIED (horror), K2 Hotel, Crawley (_new venue_). Tickets inc. fees GBP53.42; day rate GBP31.86. See horrorfied.co.uk.
24-26 Apr 2026 [] PORTMEIRICON (_Prisoner_), Portmeirion, Gwynedd. Six of One membership (GBP27.50 UK; more elsewhere) required. GBP46 reg; Sat and Sun GBP41; Sat or Sun only, GBP29. See sixofone.co/convention.
13-17 May 2026 [] SCI-FI LONDON (film), Rich Mix, Shoreditch, London. Submissions are now open at sci-fi-london.com.
9-11 Oct 2026 [] FANTASYCON, Crowne Plaza, Glasgow. GBP80 reg; GBP50 concessions; GBP35 child. (BFS members GBP65, GBP35, GBP25.) Further details at britishfantasysociety.org/events-calendar/fantasycon-2026.
RUMBLINGS. _Middle-earth Festival:_ this mid-September UK event was cancelled because 'something has come up'. No further explanation. [] _Iridescence_ (Eastercon 2026) hotel booking opened in September.
### INFINITELY IMPROBABLE ###
SPACE RATIONS. 'This is more than a dinner. It's a multi-sensory journey through the cosmos, from the quiet stillness of the moon to the chaos of a black hole.' (Six By Nico restaurant chain advertisement) [PE]
AWARDS. _Dwarf Star_ (SFPA short verse): 'Perish and Live Forever' by Pedro Iniguez (_Mexicans on the Moon_).
_SFRA Lifetime Contributions to SF Scholarship_ (formerly the Pilgrim Award): Takayuki Tatsumi. [L]
GALACTOLOGY. Archie Goodwin's regular consumption of milk in the Nero Wolfe thrillers never seemed sinister to me, but in my innocence I'd failed to think of Stanley Kubrick: 'Grown men drinking milk has always been laden in symbolism, the blend of nurture and eroticism evocative of a sexual infantalization _[sic]_. It is why so many films from A Clockwork Orange to Babygirl centre milk as a poison beyond a place of regular intoxication.' (Sam Wolfson, _The Guardian_, 4 September)
AS SOMEONE SEES SOME OF US. 'People think Dr Who fandom and conventions are a bunch of nerds talking about Daleks. I've never known such a bunch of alcoholic bed-hoppers. Debauchery.' ('Anon Opin' scuttlebutt, Mastodon.social, 23 September) [DS]
R.I.P. _Giorgio Armani_ (1934-2025), Italian fashion designer whose film credits include _The Dark Knight_ (2008) and _Elysium_ (2013), died on 4 September aged 91. [SG]
_S.L. Bhyrappa_ (1931-2025), Indian Kannada language author, philosopher and screenwriter whose sf novel was _Yaana_ (2014), died on 24 September aged 94. [AM]
_Jean-Pierre Bouyxou_ (1946-2025) , French actor (films include _Female Vampire_ 1973), novelist (_Frankenstein de filles en aiguille_) and critic (_Frankenstein_, 1969; _La Science-fiction au cinema_, 1971), died on 2 September aged 79. [SJ]
_'Brandy'_ (Ildebrando Jose Rodriguez Rossetti), Spanish actor/stuntman in _Dracula, Prisoner of Frankenstein_ (1972), _The Werewolf and the Yeti_ (1975) and others, died on 22 August aged 85. [SJ]
_Gregorio C. Brillantes_ (1932-2025), noted Filipino author most of whose short sf is collected in _The Distance to Andromeda_ (1960) and _The Apollo Centennial_ (1980), died on 26 September aged 92. [AW]
_Joe Bugner_ (1950-2025), Hungarian boxer and actor in _The Sheriff and the Satellite Kid_ (1979) and genre tv series, died on 1 September aged 75. [SJ]
_Renato Casaro_ (1935-2025), Italian artist whose many genre film posters include _King Kong_ (1966), _Night of the Living Dead_, _Flash Gordon_ (1980), _Conan the Barbarian_, _Dune_ (1984), _The Princess Bride_ and _The Neverending Story_, died on 29 September aged 89. [SJ]
_Stuart Craig_ (1942-2025), Oscar-winning UK art director and production designer whose credits include _Superman_ (1978), _Greystoke_ (1984), _The Secret Garden_ (1993), and all the 'Harry Potter' and 'Fantastic Beasts' films, died on 7 September aged 83. [SJ]
_Michael Dryhurst_ (1938-2025), UK producer whose credits include _The Terminal Man_ (1974), _Excalibur_ (1981) and _Never Say Never Again_ (1983), died on 9 September aged 87. [SJ]
_Tony Edwards_, UK fan associated with the MaD (Manchester and District) Group, co-editor of _Alien_ 1963-1964, Knight of St. Fantony (inducted 1970) and co-founder of the Festival of Fantastic Films, died on 1 September aged 83. [SF2C]
_Ru Emerson_ (1944-2025), US fantasy author whose first novel was _The Princess of Flames_ (1986), died on 15 August aged 80. She also used the pseudonym Roberta Cray for _The Sword and the Lion_ (1993). [L]
_Ron Friedman_ (1932-2025), US screenwriter for _Transformers: The Movie_ (1986), _Bionic Six_ (which he created; 65 episodes 1987), _Fantastic Four_ (13 episodes 1994) and _Iron Man_ (ditto), died on 15 September aged 93. [SJ]
_Philippe Goddin_ (1944-2025), Belgian critic and Tintin scholar ('Hergeologist') whose works include the monumental _Herge -- Chronologie d'une oeuvre_ (7 volumes 2005-2011), died on 8 September aged 81.
_Vasili Golovachyov_ (1948-2025), Russian sf author who published 150 novels and won 17 genre awards, died on 7 September aged 77. [AM]
_Graham Greene_ (1952-2025), Canadian actor in _The Green Mile_ (1999), _Atlantic Rim_ (2013), _Winter's Tale_ (2014), _Loch Ness Monster of Seattle_ (2022) and others, died on 1 September aged 73. [TM]
_Takaya Hashi_ (1952-2025), Japanese voice actor in _Fist of the North Star_ (51 episodes 1985-1987), _Metropolis_ (2001) and many more films, series and videogames, died on 27 August aged 72. [SJ]
_Polly Holliday_ (1937-2025), US actres in _Gremlins_ (1984), died on 9 September aged 88. [AIP]
_Simon J. James_ (1971-2025), UK academic and Wells scholar who edited _The Wellsian_ 2009-2015, wrote _Maps of Utopia: H. G. Wells, Modernity and the End of Culture_ (2012) and edited four Wells novels for Penguin Classics, died in June. [JC]
_John Christopher Jones_ (1948-2025), US actor in the Broadway _Beauty and the Beast_ musical and _The Village_ (2004), died on 15 September aged 77. [AIP]
_Marilyn Knowlden_ (1926-2025), US child actress of the 1930s who was in the vampire film _Condemned to Live_ (1935), died on 15 September aged 99. [SJ]
_Harri Kumpulainen_ (1948-2025), Finnish author, editor, publisher, music producer and one of the first Finnish professional sf writers (as Harri Erkki), died on 29 August. [JH]
_Amy Blanc Lacy_, script supervisor for _The Walking Dead_ (137 episodes 2011-2020), _Loki_ (2021) and other genre series, was killed by a hit-and-run driver on 5 September aged 62. [AIP]
_Jon Lasser_ (1975-2025), US author of short sf (since 2014) and Clarion West board member, died on 23 September aged 49. [L]
_Antony Maitland_ (1935-2025), UK children's author and illustrator who created covers for genre titles including _A Wrinkle in Time_ (1963 UK) and _The Giant Under the Snow_ (1971), died on 15 September aged 90.
_Ted Mann_ (1952-2025), Canadian writer/producer for _Space Truckers_ (1996), _Millennium_ (1996-1997) and _Total Recall 2070_ (1999), died on 4 September aged 72. [AIP]
_Dan Markovich_ (1940-2025), Russian author of the dystopian satire _LChK_ (1991) -- acronym for _Likvidatsiya Chernykh Koshek_ (_Liquidation of Black Cats_) -- died on 26 September aged 84. [AM]
_John Masius_ (1950-2025), Emmy-winning US screenwriter for _Touched by an Angel_ (as creator: 211 episodes 1994-2003) and _Dead Like Me_ (2003-2004), died on 13 September aged 75. [AIP]
_Eusebio Poncela_ (1945-2025), Spanish actor in _Pastel de sangre_ (_Cake of Blood_, 1971), the Lovecraftian _The Valdemar Legacy II_ (2010) and others, died on 27 August aged 79. [SJ]
_Daniel Postgate_ (1964-2025), son of Oliver Postgate who with Peter Firmin revived _The Clangers_, writing 27 episodes (2015-2019), and contributing voice performances, died on 27 June aged 61. [NJ]
_Derry Power_ (1935-2025), Irish actor in _Warlords of Atlantis_ (1978) and genre tv series including _Super Gran_ (1985), died on 5 September aged 90.
_Robert Redford_ (1936-2025), Oscar-winning US actor whose rare genre films include _Charlotte's Web_ (2006), _Captain America: The Winter Soldier_ (2014) and _Pete's Dragon_ (2016), died on 16 September aged 89. [MR]
_Salli Sachse_ (1943-2025), US actress in _Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine_ (1965 plus sequel), _Sergeant Dead Head_ (1965) and others, died on 8 September aged 82. [LP]
_Sergio Salvati_ (1938-2025), Italian cinematographer whose films include Lucio Fulci's _Young Dracula_ (1975), _Zombie Flesh Eaters_ (1979), _City of the Living Dead_ (1980) and _The Beyond_ (1981), died on 17 September aged 87. [SJ]
_Paula Shaw_ (1941-2025), US actress in _To Hex with Sex_ (1969), _Chatterbox!_ (1977), _Communion_ (1989), _Freddy vs. Jason_ (2003) and others, died on 10 September aged 84. [SJ]
_Yuri Shaygardanov_ (1954-2025), Russian cinematographer who was director of photography for the Bulgakov-based _Sobachie serdtse_ (_Heart of a Dog_, 1988), died on 20 September aged 71. [AM]
_Scott Spiegel_ (1957-2025), US screenwriter and actor in _The Evil Dead_ (1981), _Evil Dead II_ (1987, which he co-wrote) and others, died on 1 September aged 67. [AIP]
_Neil Summers_ (1944-2025), UK actor/stuntman in _Harry and the Hendersons_ (1987), _RoboCop_ (1987), _Mars Attacks!_ (1996), _Bedazzled_ (2000 remake) and others, died on 4 September aged 81.
_David Weitzner_, US film marketing executive whose PR campaigns included those for _Star Wars_ (1977), _E.T._ (1982) and _Cocoon_ (1985), died on 1 September aged 86. [AIP]
_Chelsea Quinn Yarbro_ (1942-2025), prolific and admired US sf/fantasy/horror author best known for the lengthy 'Count of Saint-Germain' historical vampire series opening with _Hotel Transylvania_ (1978), died on 31 August aged 82. She received the World Horror Convention Grandmaster (2003), International Horror Guild Living Legend (2005), Bram Stoker (2009) and World Fantasy (2014) awards for life achievement, and was a 2018 Worldcon guest of honour. [LP]
THE WEAKEST LINK. _Bradley Walsh:_ 'Which English explorer mapped the coast of New Zealand in the 1770s?' _Contestant:_ 'Robinson Crusoe.' (ITV, _The Chase_) [PE]
_Alexander Armstrong:_ 'Name the Shakespeare play in which the title character meets three witches who tell him how he'll become king.' _Shazia Mirza:_ '_Scrooge._' (BBC1, _Pointless Celebrities_) [PE]
WE ARE EVERYWHERE. A piece on UK horror at current US politics opens by quoting eminent authority: 'Feminist Avedon Carol, a Maryland native who has lived in London for many years, once commented that the United States has an even closer relationship with the UK than it has with its neighbor to the north, Canada.' (MSN, 17 September) [DA]
JARNDYCE VS JARNDYCE. Chris Barkley's small-claims action to get hold of his 2023 Hugo (see _A456_) goes on. Dave McCarty, the man in possession, emailed on the day of the September continuation hearing to say he couldn't make it 'tomorrow' because of reasons. As Barkley learned _after_ driving from Ohio to Chicago for a no-show, and back again. [F770]
THE DEAD PAST. _40 Years Ago,_ William Gibson still wrote letters to fanzines: 'the sacred waters of Not Writing _Count Zero_ Any More flow over me like the grace of the living God. This is to mere gafia as Peruvian flake is to lookalike diet pills.' (_Flash Point_ 7, October 1985, ed. Patrick Nielsen Hayden)
_30 Years Ago_, a magical moment in the Intersection (1995 Glasgow Worldcon) pocket programme: 'The basic idea is that due to mass flow and back reaction, one end of a natural wormhole will become Greg Benford ...' (_Ansible_ 99, October 1995)
_10 Years Ago_, the then-new Philharmonie de Paris concert hall evoked a tasteful simile from _The New Yorker_: 'The midsection bulges out in twisting, rectilinear shapes, like the intestines of a sci-fi monster.' (_Ansible_ 339, October 2015)
THIS IS THE FUTURE. 'California cops confused after trying to give ticket to self-driving car / Police in a Silicon Valley suburb were flummoxed last weekend after pulling over a self-driving Waymo robo-taxi for making an illegal turn, then finding no driver they could issue with a ticket.' (_The Register_, 29 September) Philip K. Dick is dead, alas....
FANFUNDERY. _Corflu 50_ delegates to the 2026 Corflu are William Breiding, Gail Kolthoff and Kat Templeton.
_TAFF Ebooks._ The Little Free Library's first Down Under Fan Fund report is _Kaufman Coast to Coast_, Jerry Kaufman's 1988 account of his 1983 DUFF trip -- with corrections throughout, a previously omitted Harlan Ellison anecdote and a new afterword by Jerry. Download at taff.org.uk/ebooks.php?x=duff1983.
OUTRAGED LETTERS. _Lloyd Penney:_ 'We were hoping to get to LACon V, but there are now currently 150 Canadian citizens in detention somewhere, courtesy of ICE. I do not want to add to that number. Our foreign affairs department has been asking about our citizens, and there are no answers.' (Email, 3 September)
MAGAZINE SCENE. _The New York Review of Science Fiction_ had a long pause after #356 for February 2022, but in mid-September its online distributor invited me to download the new issue: #357 dated June 2025.
THOG'S MASTERCLASS. _The Suds of Tranquillity._ 'The all-embracing atmosphere of Nihvana which impregnated the deeper streaks of human minds, which spread a cloak of serenity over the budding conflicts of civilization and which bathed the personnel in the choice soap tolerance made it so that Jay almost forgot his slight brush with his wife.' (Graeme De Timms, _Split_, 1963)
_The Syllabus._ 'Do you understand the fundemental basis of Mathematics? Biochemistry? Bioradiology? Theomythology? Theoretics? Thermonuclearfission? Genetics? Psychophilosophy? Phycology? Theo-economics? Astrophysics? Transexology?' (_Ibid_)
_As They Do._ 'The hovercrafts hovered.' (_Ibid_)
_Jack of All Trades._ 'Have I not now mastered the dozen archaic languages. Am I not a master videotaponics. Am I not an atomist, a genetist and mechanic?' (_Ibid_) All spellings _sic_.
_King-Size Bed._ 'The thing's so big it swallows me at night like an amoeba swallowing a microbe!' (Harry Stephen Keeler, _The Case of the 16 Beans_, 1944)
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### 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://ansible.uk/books/index.html
GROUP THEORY.
16 October 2025, 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
RUMBLINGS II. The London First Thursday pub, The Bishop's Finger, has rented the upstairs room to another group on the evening of 2 October, and will instead set aside downstairs tables for the fan meeting.
There are whispers of a virtual First Thursday gathering on 1 January 2026, when the pub will not be open. More when I know it.
R.I.P. II -- LAST-MINUTE REPORTS. _Alexander Bushkov_ (1956-2025), bestselling Russian author whose 100+ novels include dozens of sf and fantasy titles, died on 29 September. [AM]
_Gennady Nilov_ (1936-2025), Russian actor who starred in the sf film _Prodavets vozdukha_ (_The Air Merchant_, 1967, based on Alexander Beliaev's novel of the same title) died on 29 September. [AM]
SOME LINKS from the _Ansible_ home page.
Tom Gauld interview
https://www.printmag.com/daily-heller/the-daily-heller-science-laughing-matter/
Hugo voting statistics (expanded version)
https://seattlein2025.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/2025-Hugo-Voting-Statistics-v3.pdf
_SF2 Concatenation_ Autumn 2025 Newscast
http://www.concatenation.org/news/news9~25.html
THOG'S GOLDEN OLDIES from _Ansible_ 219, October 2005. _Hot and Cold Running Dept._ 'Jean-Claude's sex ran over my skin while the fear ran like ice through the rest of me.' (Laurell K. Hamilton, _Cerulean Sins_, 2003)
_Beards Got Eyes._ 'She saw him murmur to Jair, and saw the big red beard turn in the lamplit dimness to stare almost incredulously at his leader.' (C.L. Moore, 'Judgment Night', 1943)
_Eyes Wide Shut_. 'The eyes that stared directly at her across the churchyard were closed, the face was pale and pasty in the faded moonlight.' (Justin Richards, _Doctor Who: Grave Matter_, 2000)
_Unusual Psi Powers._ 'Lucille Roman sat in a remote and lonely spot and mentally chewed her fingernails ...' (George O. Smith, _Fire in the Heavens_, 1958)
_Ansible_(R) 459 (C) David Langford, 2025. Thanks to Dev Agarwal, John Clute, _File 770_, Steve Green, Jukka Halme, Nicholas Jackson, Steve Jones, _Locus_, Bill Mallardi, Todd Mason, Andrey Meshavkin, Lawrence Person, Andrew I. Porter, _Private Eye_, Marcus Rowland, _SF2 Concatenation_, Doug Spencer, Andrew Wells, and as always our Hero Distributors: Durdles Books (Birmingham SF Group), SCIS/Prophecy, and Alan Stewart (Australia).
1 October 2025
OCTOBER 2025
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, usable Thoggery or an eidolon named Night.
[NET NOTE. See https://news.ansible.uk/a459.html for the nice HTML version; https://news.ansible.uk/pdf/a459.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]
### ON A BLACK THRONE ###
C.J. CHERRYH is bemused by the aftermath of Melania Trump's speech which in a children's-toys context babbled that 'Great minds have turned marbles into microchips, paper airplanes into drones and kites into satellites' -- a line promptly flagged by 'AI Overview' as coming from Cherryh's _Downbelow Station_ (1981). But no one can find it there. (24 September)
P.A. CORNELL is another author who has given up on _Analog_ (and its sister magazines) after months of attempted contract negotiation with the new regime. Despite an initially friendly response -- 'It's the company's mission to help writers, so if that doesn't feel like what this contract is doing, it would be useful to us to hear about it ...' -- it became clear that the company's mission was to enforce the party line regardless. Cornell gloomily reports: 'I wish I could say I finally received a contract from Must Read Magazines that I found reasonable and was happy to sign. Unfortunately, that's not the case.' (_P.A. Cornell's Newsletter_, 4 September)
J.K. ROWLING 'has broken through the GBP29.99 ceiling!' gasps _Private Eye_. Her new Robert Galbraith novel is officially priced at GBP30, which 'leaves the big male beasts trailing -- Dan Brown, Lee Child and Stephen King's latest thrillers are available for a mere GBP25 [...] -- and must be a UK record for a standard edition of a non-illustrated novel.' (19 September)
GEORGE SAUNDERS, winner of the Booker Prize for his fantasy _Lincoln in the Bardo_, received a Distinguished Contribution to American Letters Medal from the US National Book Foundation. [L]
### CONSUETUDE ###
Until 2 Nov [] LONDON MONTH OF THE DEAD, various venues and events, a few of genre interest: see londonmonthofthedead.com.
2 Oct [] ANNIE BOT VS THE TECH BROS ('sf/AI origin stories' panel), online. 1-2pm. Free, with booking required at tinyurl.com/ye247bzu.
4 Oct - 21 Mar [] THE FUTURE WAS THEN (exhibition; sf predictions in comics), Cartoon Museum, London. More at www.cartoonmuseum.org/whats-on-exhibitions/the-future-was-then.
4 Oct [] SOMETHING MONSTROUS (BFS), online. 10am-6:30pm. GBP5; free to members, with registration still required at tinyurl.com/5cwp2ej7.
9-12 Oct [] GRIMMFEST (film), Odeon Great Northern, Manchester. Weekend pass (not Thursday) GBP96.54; other options at grimmfest.com.
10 Oct - 6 Dec [] THE WORD FOR WORLD: THE MAPS OF URSULA K. LE GUIN (exhibition), AA Gallery, 36 Bedford Square, London, WC1B 3ES. 11am-7pm. Free. Further details at tinyurl.com/ms4nackb.
12-13 Oct [] OCTOCON, Maldron Hotel, Tallaght, Dublin. Euro40 reg; concessions Euro25; under-22s Euro10; under-13s free; supp/online Euro20. In-person convention on Saturday; online only on Sunday. See octocon.com.
SOLD OUT 17-20 Oct [] IRISH DISCWORLD CONVENTION, Cork International Hotel, Cork. Euro95 reg; concessions Euro60; under-18s Euro20; under-7s free. Waiting list for cancelled memberships at idwcon.org.
18-19 Oct [] TOLKIEN SOCIETY SEMINAR: 'Arda's Entangled Bodies', Glasgow and online. Free. See www.tolkiensociety.org/events/.
23-26 Oct [] CELLULOID SCREAMS horror film festival, Sheffield. Weekend pass GBP121.50; this and other tickets at celluloidscreams.com.
23-26 Oct [] EDINBURGH HORROR FESTIVAL, Banshee Labyrinth and Lauriston Castle. See www.edhorrorfest.co.uk; many separately ticketed events are listed at www.edhorrorfest.co.uk/2025-programme.
24-26 Oct [] FESTIVAL OF FANTASTIC FILMS, Pendulum Hotel, Manchester. GBP120 reg. Day rates: GBP30 Friday, GBP55 Saturday, GBP45 Sunday. See fantastic-films.uk.
24-26 Oct [] STEAMPUNK HALLOWEEN, County Assembly Rooms, Lincoln. See www.ministryofsteampunk.com/halloween-2025.
25-26 Oct [] BRISTOLCON, Hilton DoubleTree Hotel, Bristol.GBP65 reg; GBP50 under-18s, concessions, disabled; under-14s free; GBP20 supporting only. Day rates and registration page at www.bristolcon.org.
25-26 Oct [] SURREY STEAMPUNK CONVIVIAL, Stoneleigh, Epsom. See bumpandthumper.wixsite.com/steampunkconvivials.
26 Oct [] STARS OF TIME (comics), LC, Swansea. 10am-5pm. GBP11.55 (under-14s GBP7.21) at www.starsoftime.co.uk/swanseacomiccon.
30 Oct [] QUEER FANTASY (panel discussion), British Library, London. 7pm-8:30pm. In-person tickets SOLD OUT; online GBP15 or GBP10 (your choice); concessions GBP5. Bookings at events.bl.uk/events/online-queer-fantasy.
30 Oct - 2 Nov [] WORLD FANTASY CONVENTION, Metropole, Brighton. GBP200 reg; GBP75 online; other rates at worldfantasy2025.co.uk.
31 Oct - 2 Nov [] ARMADACON, Future Inns, Plymouth. GBP47 reg; GBP40 concessions. More at www.armadacon.org.
31 Oct - 1 Nov [] FRIGHTFEST HALLOWEEN (film), Odeon Luxe, Leicester Square, London. See www.frightfest.co.uk/filmsandevents/.
1 Nov [] SONIC CON UK (Sonic the Hedgehog), Novotel London West. Tickets GBP35.37 inc fee; other rates at www.sonicconuk.com.
23 Nov [] SF, COMIC & TOY FAIR, Leigh Sports Village. 11am-4pm. Tickets GBP3, children GBP1. See www.mseevents.co.uk/.
30 Dec [] _THE FEMALE MAN_ online discussion panel, 7pm. Details on Facebook event sign-up at fb.me/e/3F0xoFwPh.
28-29 Mar 2026 [] HORRORFIED (horror), K2 Hotel, Crawley (_new venue_). Tickets inc. fees GBP53.42; day rate GBP31.86. See horrorfied.co.uk.
24-26 Apr 2026 [] PORTMEIRICON (_Prisoner_), Portmeirion, Gwynedd. Six of One membership (GBP27.50 UK; more elsewhere) required. GBP46 reg; Sat and Sun GBP41; Sat or Sun only, GBP29. See sixofone.co/convention.
13-17 May 2026 [] SCI-FI LONDON (film), Rich Mix, Shoreditch, London. Submissions are now open at sci-fi-london.com.
9-11 Oct 2026 [] FANTASYCON, Crowne Plaza, Glasgow. GBP80 reg; GBP50 concessions; GBP35 child. (BFS members GBP65, GBP35, GBP25.) Further details at britishfantasysociety.org/events-calendar/fantasycon-2026.
RUMBLINGS. _Middle-earth Festival:_ this mid-September UK event was cancelled because 'something has come up'. No further explanation. [] _Iridescence_ (Eastercon 2026) hotel booking opened in September.
### INFINITELY IMPROBABLE ###
SPACE RATIONS. 'This is more than a dinner. It's a multi-sensory journey through the cosmos, from the quiet stillness of the moon to the chaos of a black hole.' (Six By Nico restaurant chain advertisement) [PE]
AWARDS. _Dwarf Star_ (SFPA short verse): 'Perish and Live Forever' by Pedro Iniguez (_Mexicans on the Moon_).
_SFRA Lifetime Contributions to SF Scholarship_ (formerly the Pilgrim Award): Takayuki Tatsumi. [L]
GALACTOLOGY. Archie Goodwin's regular consumption of milk in the Nero Wolfe thrillers never seemed sinister to me, but in my innocence I'd failed to think of Stanley Kubrick: 'Grown men drinking milk has always been laden in symbolism, the blend of nurture and eroticism evocative of a sexual infantalization _[sic]_. It is why so many films from A Clockwork Orange to Babygirl centre milk as a poison beyond a place of regular intoxication.' (Sam Wolfson, _The Guardian_, 4 September)
AS SOMEONE SEES SOME OF US. 'People think Dr Who fandom and conventions are a bunch of nerds talking about Daleks. I've never known such a bunch of alcoholic bed-hoppers. Debauchery.' ('Anon Opin' scuttlebutt, Mastodon.social, 23 September) [DS]
R.I.P. _Giorgio Armani_ (1934-2025), Italian fashion designer whose film credits include _The Dark Knight_ (2008) and _Elysium_ (2013), died on 4 September aged 91. [SG]
_S.L. Bhyrappa_ (1931-2025), Indian Kannada language author, philosopher and screenwriter whose sf novel was _Yaana_ (2014), died on 24 September aged 94. [AM]
_Jean-Pierre Bouyxou_ (1946-2025) , French actor (films include _Female Vampire_ 1973), novelist (_Frankenstein de filles en aiguille_) and critic (_Frankenstein_, 1969; _La Science-fiction au cinema_, 1971), died on 2 September aged 79. [SJ]
_'Brandy'_ (Ildebrando Jose Rodriguez Rossetti), Spanish actor/stuntman in _Dracula, Prisoner of Frankenstein_ (1972), _The Werewolf and the Yeti_ (1975) and others, died on 22 August aged 85. [SJ]
_Gregorio C. Brillantes_ (1932-2025), noted Filipino author most of whose short sf is collected in _The Distance to Andromeda_ (1960) and _The Apollo Centennial_ (1980), died on 26 September aged 92. [AW]
_Joe Bugner_ (1950-2025), Hungarian boxer and actor in _The Sheriff and the Satellite Kid_ (1979) and genre tv series, died on 1 September aged 75. [SJ]
_Renato Casaro_ (1935-2025), Italian artist whose many genre film posters include _King Kong_ (1966), _Night of the Living Dead_, _Flash Gordon_ (1980), _Conan the Barbarian_, _Dune_ (1984), _The Princess Bride_ and _The Neverending Story_, died on 29 September aged 89. [SJ]
_Stuart Craig_ (1942-2025), Oscar-winning UK art director and production designer whose credits include _Superman_ (1978), _Greystoke_ (1984), _The Secret Garden_ (1993), and all the 'Harry Potter' and 'Fantastic Beasts' films, died on 7 September aged 83. [SJ]
_Michael Dryhurst_ (1938-2025), UK producer whose credits include _The Terminal Man_ (1974), _Excalibur_ (1981) and _Never Say Never Again_ (1983), died on 9 September aged 87. [SJ]
_Tony Edwards_, UK fan associated with the MaD (Manchester and District) Group, co-editor of _Alien_ 1963-1964, Knight of St. Fantony (inducted 1970) and co-founder of the Festival of Fantastic Films, died on 1 September aged 83. [SF2C]
_Ru Emerson_ (1944-2025), US fantasy author whose first novel was _The Princess of Flames_ (1986), died on 15 August aged 80. She also used the pseudonym Roberta Cray for _The Sword and the Lion_ (1993). [L]
_Ron Friedman_ (1932-2025), US screenwriter for _Transformers: The Movie_ (1986), _Bionic Six_ (which he created; 65 episodes 1987), _Fantastic Four_ (13 episodes 1994) and _Iron Man_ (ditto), died on 15 September aged 93. [SJ]
_Philippe Goddin_ (1944-2025), Belgian critic and Tintin scholar ('Hergeologist') whose works include the monumental _Herge -- Chronologie d'une oeuvre_ (7 volumes 2005-2011), died on 8 September aged 81.
_Vasili Golovachyov_ (1948-2025), Russian sf author who published 150 novels and won 17 genre awards, died on 7 September aged 77. [AM]
_Graham Greene_ (1952-2025), Canadian actor in _The Green Mile_ (1999), _Atlantic Rim_ (2013), _Winter's Tale_ (2014), _Loch Ness Monster of Seattle_ (2022) and others, died on 1 September aged 73. [TM]
_Takaya Hashi_ (1952-2025), Japanese voice actor in _Fist of the North Star_ (51 episodes 1985-1987), _Metropolis_ (2001) and many more films, series and videogames, died on 27 August aged 72. [SJ]
_Polly Holliday_ (1937-2025), US actres in _Gremlins_ (1984), died on 9 September aged 88. [AIP]
_Simon J. James_ (1971-2025), UK academic and Wells scholar who edited _The Wellsian_ 2009-2015, wrote _Maps of Utopia: H. G. Wells, Modernity and the End of Culture_ (2012) and edited four Wells novels for Penguin Classics, died in June. [JC]
_John Christopher Jones_ (1948-2025), US actor in the Broadway _Beauty and the Beast_ musical and _The Village_ (2004), died on 15 September aged 77. [AIP]
_Marilyn Knowlden_ (1926-2025), US child actress of the 1930s who was in the vampire film _Condemned to Live_ (1935), died on 15 September aged 99. [SJ]
_Harri Kumpulainen_ (1948-2025), Finnish author, editor, publisher, music producer and one of the first Finnish professional sf writers (as Harri Erkki), died on 29 August. [JH]
_Amy Blanc Lacy_, script supervisor for _The Walking Dead_ (137 episodes 2011-2020), _Loki_ (2021) and other genre series, was killed by a hit-and-run driver on 5 September aged 62. [AIP]
_Jon Lasser_ (1975-2025), US author of short sf (since 2014) and Clarion West board member, died on 23 September aged 49. [L]
_Antony Maitland_ (1935-2025), UK children's author and illustrator who created covers for genre titles including _A Wrinkle in Time_ (1963 UK) and _The Giant Under the Snow_ (1971), died on 15 September aged 90.
_Ted Mann_ (1952-2025), Canadian writer/producer for _Space Truckers_ (1996), _Millennium_ (1996-1997) and _Total Recall 2070_ (1999), died on 4 September aged 72. [AIP]
_Dan Markovich_ (1940-2025), Russian author of the dystopian satire _LChK_ (1991) -- acronym for _Likvidatsiya Chernykh Koshek_ (_Liquidation of Black Cats_) -- died on 26 September aged 84. [AM]
_John Masius_ (1950-2025), Emmy-winning US screenwriter for _Touched by an Angel_ (as creator: 211 episodes 1994-2003) and _Dead Like Me_ (2003-2004), died on 13 September aged 75. [AIP]
_Eusebio Poncela_ (1945-2025), Spanish actor in _Pastel de sangre_ (_Cake of Blood_, 1971), the Lovecraftian _The Valdemar Legacy II_ (2010) and others, died on 27 August aged 79. [SJ]
_Daniel Postgate_ (1964-2025), son of Oliver Postgate who with Peter Firmin revived _The Clangers_, writing 27 episodes (2015-2019), and contributing voice performances, died on 27 June aged 61. [NJ]
_Derry Power_ (1935-2025), Irish actor in _Warlords of Atlantis_ (1978) and genre tv series including _Super Gran_ (1985), died on 5 September aged 90.
_Robert Redford_ (1936-2025), Oscar-winning US actor whose rare genre films include _Charlotte's Web_ (2006), _Captain America: The Winter Soldier_ (2014) and _Pete's Dragon_ (2016), died on 16 September aged 89. [MR]
_Salli Sachse_ (1943-2025), US actress in _Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine_ (1965 plus sequel), _Sergeant Dead Head_ (1965) and others, died on 8 September aged 82. [LP]
_Sergio Salvati_ (1938-2025), Italian cinematographer whose films include Lucio Fulci's _Young Dracula_ (1975), _Zombie Flesh Eaters_ (1979), _City of the Living Dead_ (1980) and _The Beyond_ (1981), died on 17 September aged 87. [SJ]
_Paula Shaw_ (1941-2025), US actress in _To Hex with Sex_ (1969), _Chatterbox!_ (1977), _Communion_ (1989), _Freddy vs. Jason_ (2003) and others, died on 10 September aged 84. [SJ]
_Yuri Shaygardanov_ (1954-2025), Russian cinematographer who was director of photography for the Bulgakov-based _Sobachie serdtse_ (_Heart of a Dog_, 1988), died on 20 September aged 71. [AM]
_Scott Spiegel_ (1957-2025), US screenwriter and actor in _The Evil Dead_ (1981), _Evil Dead II_ (1987, which he co-wrote) and others, died on 1 September aged 67. [AIP]
_Neil Summers_ (1944-2025), UK actor/stuntman in _Harry and the Hendersons_ (1987), _RoboCop_ (1987), _Mars Attacks!_ (1996), _Bedazzled_ (2000 remake) and others, died on 4 September aged 81.
_David Weitzner_, US film marketing executive whose PR campaigns included those for _Star Wars_ (1977), _E.T._ (1982) and _Cocoon_ (1985), died on 1 September aged 86. [AIP]
_Chelsea Quinn Yarbro_ (1942-2025), prolific and admired US sf/fantasy/horror author best known for the lengthy 'Count of Saint-Germain' historical vampire series opening with _Hotel Transylvania_ (1978), died on 31 August aged 82. She received the World Horror Convention Grandmaster (2003), International Horror Guild Living Legend (2005), Bram Stoker (2009) and World Fantasy (2014) awards for life achievement, and was a 2018 Worldcon guest of honour. [LP]
THE WEAKEST LINK. _Bradley Walsh:_ 'Which English explorer mapped the coast of New Zealand in the 1770s?' _Contestant:_ 'Robinson Crusoe.' (ITV, _The Chase_) [PE]
_Alexander Armstrong:_ 'Name the Shakespeare play in which the title character meets three witches who tell him how he'll become king.' _Shazia Mirza:_ '_Scrooge._' (BBC1, _Pointless Celebrities_) [PE]
WE ARE EVERYWHERE. A piece on UK horror at current US politics opens by quoting eminent authority: 'Feminist Avedon Carol, a Maryland native who has lived in London for many years, once commented that the United States has an even closer relationship with the UK than it has with its neighbor to the north, Canada.' (MSN, 17 September) [DA]
JARNDYCE VS JARNDYCE. Chris Barkley's small-claims action to get hold of his 2023 Hugo (see _A456_) goes on. Dave McCarty, the man in possession, emailed on the day of the September continuation hearing to say he couldn't make it 'tomorrow' because of reasons. As Barkley learned _after_ driving from Ohio to Chicago for a no-show, and back again. [F770]
THE DEAD PAST. _40 Years Ago,_ William Gibson still wrote letters to fanzines: 'the sacred waters of Not Writing _Count Zero_ Any More flow over me like the grace of the living God. This is to mere gafia as Peruvian flake is to lookalike diet pills.' (_Flash Point_ 7, October 1985, ed. Patrick Nielsen Hayden)
_30 Years Ago_, a magical moment in the Intersection (1995 Glasgow Worldcon) pocket programme: 'The basic idea is that due to mass flow and back reaction, one end of a natural wormhole will become Greg Benford ...' (_Ansible_ 99, October 1995)
_10 Years Ago_, the then-new Philharmonie de Paris concert hall evoked a tasteful simile from _The New Yorker_: 'The midsection bulges out in twisting, rectilinear shapes, like the intestines of a sci-fi monster.' (_Ansible_ 339, October 2015)
THIS IS THE FUTURE. 'California cops confused after trying to give ticket to self-driving car / Police in a Silicon Valley suburb were flummoxed last weekend after pulling over a self-driving Waymo robo-taxi for making an illegal turn, then finding no driver they could issue with a ticket.' (_The Register_, 29 September) Philip K. Dick is dead, alas....
FANFUNDERY. _Corflu 50_ delegates to the 2026 Corflu are William Breiding, Gail Kolthoff and Kat Templeton.
_TAFF Ebooks._ The Little Free Library's first Down Under Fan Fund report is _Kaufman Coast to Coast_, Jerry Kaufman's 1988 account of his 1983 DUFF trip -- with corrections throughout, a previously omitted Harlan Ellison anecdote and a new afterword by Jerry. Download at taff.org.uk/ebooks.php?x=duff1983.
OUTRAGED LETTERS. _Lloyd Penney:_ 'We were hoping to get to LACon V, but there are now currently 150 Canadian citizens in detention somewhere, courtesy of ICE. I do not want to add to that number. Our foreign affairs department has been asking about our citizens, and there are no answers.' (Email, 3 September)
MAGAZINE SCENE. _The New York Review of Science Fiction_ had a long pause after #356 for February 2022, but in mid-September its online distributor invited me to download the new issue: #357 dated June 2025.
THOG'S MASTERCLASS. _The Suds of Tranquillity._ 'The all-embracing atmosphere of Nihvana which impregnated the deeper streaks of human minds, which spread a cloak of serenity over the budding conflicts of civilization and which bathed the personnel in the choice soap tolerance made it so that Jay almost forgot his slight brush with his wife.' (Graeme De Timms, _Split_, 1963)
_The Syllabus._ 'Do you understand the fundemental basis of Mathematics? Biochemistry? Bioradiology? Theomythology? Theoretics? Thermonuclearfission? Genetics? Psychophilosophy? Phycology? Theo-economics? Astrophysics? Transexology?' (_Ibid_)
_As They Do._ 'The hovercrafts hovered.' (_Ibid_)
_Jack of All Trades._ 'Have I not now mastered the dozen archaic languages. Am I not a master videotaponics. Am I not an atomist, a genetist and mechanic?' (_Ibid_) All spellings _sic_.
_King-Size Bed._ 'The thing's so big it swallows me at night like an amoeba swallowing a microbe!' (Harry Stephen Keeler, _The Case of the 16 Beans_, 1944)
### GEEKS' CORNER ###
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CONVENTION AND EVENT LINKS
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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://ansible.uk/books/index.html
GROUP THEORY.
16 October 2025, 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
RUMBLINGS II. The London First Thursday pub, The Bishop's Finger, has rented the upstairs room to another group on the evening of 2 October, and will instead set aside downstairs tables for the fan meeting.
There are whispers of a virtual First Thursday gathering on 1 January 2026, when the pub will not be open. More when I know it.
R.I.P. II -- LAST-MINUTE REPORTS. _Alexander Bushkov_ (1956-2025), bestselling Russian author whose 100+ novels include dozens of sf and fantasy titles, died on 29 September. [AM]
_Gennady Nilov_ (1936-2025), Russian actor who starred in the sf film _Prodavets vozdukha_ (_The Air Merchant_, 1967, based on Alexander Beliaev's novel of the same title) died on 29 September. [AM]
SOME LINKS from the _Ansible_ home page.
Tom Gauld interview
https://www.printmag.com/daily-heller/the-daily-heller-science-laughing-matter/
Hugo voting statistics (expanded version)
https://seattlein2025.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/2025-Hugo-Voting-Statistics-v3.pdf
_SF2 Concatenation_ Autumn 2025 Newscast
http://www.concatenation.org/news/news9~25.html
THOG'S GOLDEN OLDIES from _Ansible_ 219, October 2005. _Hot and Cold Running Dept._ 'Jean-Claude's sex ran over my skin while the fear ran like ice through the rest of me.' (Laurell K. Hamilton, _Cerulean Sins_, 2003)
_Beards Got Eyes._ 'She saw him murmur to Jair, and saw the big red beard turn in the lamplit dimness to stare almost incredulously at his leader.' (C.L. Moore, 'Judgment Night', 1943)
_Eyes Wide Shut_. 'The eyes that stared directly at her across the churchyard were closed, the face was pale and pasty in the faded moonlight.' (Justin Richards, _Doctor Who: Grave Matter_, 2000)
_Unusual Psi Powers._ 'Lucille Roman sat in a remote and lonely spot and mentally chewed her fingernails ...' (George O. Smith, _Fire in the Heavens_, 1958)
_Ansible_(R) 459 (C) David Langford, 2025. Thanks to Dev Agarwal, John Clute, _File 770_, Steve Green, Jukka Halme, Nicholas Jackson, Steve Jones, _Locus_, Bill Mallardi, Todd Mason, Andrey Meshavkin, Lawrence Person, Andrew I. Porter, _Private Eye_, Marcus Rowland, _SF2 Concatenation_, Doug Spencer, Andrew Wells, and as always our Hero Distributors: Durdles Books (Birmingham SF Group), SCIS/Prophecy, and Alan Stewart (Australia).
1 October 2025
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