Ansible 431 -- June 2023

[Ansible Newsletter]

ANSIBLE(R) 431
JUNE 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, Harzan's Monograph or the Incantation of Raaaee.

[NET NOTE. See https://news.ansible.uk/a431.html for the nice HTML version; https://news.ansible.uk/pdf/a431.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 MOVING FUR CASE ###

STEPHEN BAXTER was awarded an honorary doctorate by the Open University on 31 March for 'Services to the Arts and Sciences': that is, his 'extraordinary contribution to science fiction writing'. [PM-R]

NEIL CLARKE's struggle against a barrage of AI submissions at _Clarkesworld_ continues. The cover of issue 200 (May 2023) was criticized as AI-generated and hastily replaced with a 'No AI' logo; _Clarkesworld_ and the unnamed artist -- who'd signed a contract including 'a statement that the work was not generated or assisted' -- have decided without further comment 'to go our separate ways'. (Twitter.com/clarkesworld, 1-2 May)

CARRIE FISHER (1956-2016) was at last honoured with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on, of course, May the Fourth. [F770]

MARK HAMILL has recorded voice messages in character as Luke Skywalker for a Ukrainian air-raid warning app. The all-clear goes: 'The alert is over. May the Force be with you.' (_The Verge_, 29 March) [GF]

MIKE MOORCOCK on resurgent daft claims that 'Shake Spear' is an obvious pseudonym: 'Clearly More Cock is another invented name. One person could not have written so many books!' (Facebook, 16 May)

SFWA sends a worried release about the future of the Nebula conference, increasingly subsidized by SFWA itself to cover rising costs across the board. The May 2023 conference may perhaps be the last: 'Because there is absolutely nothing left in our funds to pass on to future events.' Donations are urgently requested at sfwa.org/donate. (Email, 4 May)


### CONCESSIBLE ###

Until 6 Jun [] SCI-FI LONDON (film festival); multiple London venues including Picturehouse Central. See sci-fi-london.com; showings listed and individually ticketed at sci-fi-london.com/2023-info/.

Until 11 Jun [] GERRY ANDERSON'S CENTURY 21, Cartoon Museum, London. Adults GBP9.50. See www.cartoonmuseum.org/whatson.

2-4 Jun [] CYMERA SF FESTIVAL 2023, Edinburgh and online. Weekend pass GBP80, or GBP50 digital only. See www.cymerafestival.co.uk.

2-4 Jun [] JODIWORLD (Jodi Taylor), Doubletree by Hilton, Coventry. GBP70 reg; GBP10 supporting; see www.jodiworld.org.

3-4 Jun [] PORTSMOUTH COMIC CON, Guildhall, Portsmouth. Weekend tickets GBP28; for day rates see portsmouthcomiccon.com.

8-11 Jun [] KONFLIKT (Eurocon), Uppsala, Sweden. Euro60 or 600 SEK reg; under-26s free but must register. See eurocon2023.wordpress.com.

10-11 Jun [] EM-CON (media), Motorpoint Arena, Nottingham. Weekend tickets GBP30 (11am entry) or GBP40 (10am) at www.em-con.co.uk.

17 Jun [] BSFA & SF FOUNDATION AGMS as part of online sf event. Zoom/agenda links emailed to BSFA members in late May; Foundation members should request links from grahamsleight [at] gmail.com.

24 Jun [] LEICESTER HORROR CON, Guildhall, Leicester. GBP6.66 reg; under-10s free (tickets 'very limited'). See linktr.ee/leicesterhorrorcon.

24-25 June [] THE TOWN THAT NEVER WAS (steampunk), Blists Hill, Telford. Further details at www.ministryofsteampunk.com.

27 Jun [] AN OUTSIDER IN THE CITY (on Colin Wilson), Century Club, London. 7pm. Tickets GBP12. See acuriousinvitation.com/colinwilson.html.

2 Jul [] TOLKIEN SOCIETY SEMINAR, Leeds Hilton and online. Free. See www.tolkiensociety.org/events/seminar-2023/.

30 Jul [] PAPERBACK & PULP BOOK FAIR, Holiday Inn Bloomsbury, Coram St, London WC1N 1HT. 9:30am-3pm. GBP3 admission. Combined with the Bloomsbury Ephemera Fair: see etcfairs.com/ephemera-fairs/.

5 Aug [] SMALL PRESS DAY, all UK. See smallpressday.co.uk.

25-28 Aug [] ASYLUM-XII (steampunk), The Lawns and other Lincoln venues. GBP45 reg: sales and day rates at www.ministryofsteampunk.com.

2 Sep [] WHOOVERVILLE 14 (_Doctor Who_), QUAD Centre, Derby. Tickets GBP55; concessions GBP38; under-12s GBP10; book at www.derbyquad.co.uk/Whooverville14. (Former website now seething with malware.)

21-22 Oct [] FILM & COMIC CON CARDIFF, International Arena, Cardiff. Weekend GBP16; GBP32 for early entry. See filmandcomicconcardiff.com.

29 Mar - 1 Apr 2024 [] LEVITATION (Eastercon), Telford International Centre. GBP115 reg _(rising on 1 July)_; GBP50 concessions; GBP35 supporting; all memberships include virtual access. See eastercon2024.co.uk.

6 Apr 2024 [] BEDFORD WHO CHARITY CON (_Doctor Who_), King's House, Ampthill Road, Bedford, MK42 9AZ. 10am-5:30pm. Guests TBA; tickets 'available soon' at bedfordwhocharitycon.co.uk.

20-21 Apr 2024 [] SCI-FI SCARBOROUGH (multimedia), The Spa, Scarborough. GBP30 reg; students GBP20; 'kids' GBP10. See scifiscarborough.co.uk.

2-5 Aug 2024 [] DISCWORLD CONVENTION, Birmingham NEC Hilton. Prices to be announced at 2024.dwcon.org.

8-12 Aug 2024 [] GLASGOW 2024, Glasgow SEC. _Now GBP190 reg; concessions/Scots residents/first Worldcon GBP140; YA (under 26) GBP120; under-16s GBP80; under-11s GBP50; under-6s GBP5. These rates good to 30 September 2023; virtual memberships available January 2024._ See glasgow2024.org.

16-19 Aug 2024 [] ERASMUSCON (Eurocon), Rotterdam, Netherlands. Euro125 reg. Online registration is open at www.erasmuscon.nl.

18-21 Apr 2025 [] RECONNECT, Hilton Lanyon Place Hotel and ICC, Belfast. GBP60 reg; GBP45 under-18s and concessions; GBP25 supporting only. _Rates rise postponed from 1 June to 2 July._ See easterconbelfast.org.

RUMBLINGS. _The Ray Bradbury Experience Museum_ (2017-2023) in his home town Waukegan, Illinois, closed down in May. (Facebook, 26 May)
     _Eurocon 2026:_ the team that ran the recent Metropolcon (Berlin, May) now plans a Berlin bid with a likely date of late May or June 2026. [DH]


### INFINITELY IMPROBABLE ###

OUR NEW AI OVERLORDS. Researchers into ChatGPT and its underlying GPT-4 large language model confirmed the notion that it's all based on fuzzy plagiarism -- with a special fondness for sf/fantasy: 'GPT-4 was found to have memorized titles such as the _Harry Potter_ children's books, Orwell's _Nineteen Eighty-Four_, _The Lord of the Rings_ trilogy, the _Hunger Games_ books, _Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy_, _Fahrenheit 451_, _A Game of Thrones_, and _Dune_, among others.' (_The Register_, 3 May) [KF]
     One 'Sci-fi author' using ChatGPT and Midjourney brags of creating 97 heavily illustrated stories in nine months, earning 'nearly $2,000' from 574 sales. O brave new world, that has such people in it. (_The Register_, 22 May)
     Mark Lawrence's Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off competition is dropping the cover art category after the 2023 winner -- by Sean Mauss for M.V. Prindle's _Bob the Wizard_ -- was identified as AI-generated despite the artist's strenuous denials. (Blogspot and Twitter, 27-28 May) [F770]

AS OTHERS FEEL US. On Chie Hayakawa's film _Plan 75_: 'The downplayed presentation sells the concept as something more tangible than science fiction.' (_The Movie Waffler_, May 2023) [JonC]

ROYAL ALT-HISTORY MASTERCLASS. 'The first to be crowned in the Abbey was Norman the Conqueror.' (Christiane Amanpour, CNN) [PE]

AWARDS. _British Book Awards ('Nibbies'):_ FICTION _Babel_ by R.F. Kuang. CHILDREN'S ILLUSTRATED _Tyger_ by SF Said and Dave McKean. FREEDOM TO PUBLISH Salman Rushdie.
     _Horror Writers Association Lifetime Achievement:_ Elizabeth Massie, Nuzo Onoh and John Saul.
     _HWA Specialty Press:_ Undertow Publications.
     _International Booker Prize:_ _Time Shelter_ by Georgi Gospodinov.
     _Nebulas:_ NOVEL _Babel_ by R.F. Kuang. NOVELLA _Even Though I Knew the End_ by C.L. Polk. NOVELETTE 'If You Find Yourself Speaking to God, Address God with the Informal You' by John Chu (_Uncanny_ 7-8/22). SHORT 'Rabbit Test' by Samantha Mills (_Uncanny_ 11-12/22). YA/MIDDLE GRADE _Ruby Finley vs. the Interstellar Invasion_ by K. Tempest Bradford. DRAMATIC _Everything Everywhere All at Once_. GAME WRITING _Elden Ring._
     _Peabody_ (media) entertainment category: _Andor_.
     _Kurd Lasswitz Preis_ (Germany) for best foreign novel: _The Galaxy and the Ground Within_ by Becky Chambers. [L]

SCIENCE CORNER. 'First animal to appear on Earth identified -- and its ancestors are now aquarium favourites' (_Sun_ headline, 17 May) [RJ]

R.I.P. _Ed Ames_ (1927-2023), US actor in _Androcles and the Lion_ (1967), _Cricket on the Hearth_ (1967), and genre tv series, died on 21 May aged 95. [LP]
     _Martin Amis_ (1949-2023) , noted UK author whose best-known genre venture is the time-reversed novel _Time's Arrow_ (1991), died on 19 May aged 73. [JC] Other books played with near future and alternate history tropes; he also scripted the sf film _Saturn 3_ (1980). Jim Linwood reminisces: 'I remember the 11-year old Martin running up and down the stairs in the 1961 Gloucester Eastercon hotel where his father, Kingsley, was GoH.'
     _Kenneth Anger_ (1927-2023), US experimental/underground film-maker whose short works are often fantasy-themed -- e.g. _Lucifer Rising_ (1972) -- died on 11 May aged 96. [LP]
     _Lev Askerov_ (1940-2023), Azerbaijani author writing in Russian whose 15 books include four sf novels, died on 30 April. [AM]
     _John Beasley_ (1943-2023), US actor in _The Gift_ (2000), _Lost Souls_ (2000), _The Purge: Anarchy_ (2014), _Sinister 2_ (2015) and others, died on 30 May aged 79. [SJ]
     _Helmut Berger_ (1944-2023), noted Austrian actor with genre roles in _Dorian Gray_ (1970), _Faceless_ (1988) and _Timeless_ (2016), died on 18 May aged 78. [AIP]
     _Bard Bloom_, US co-creator of the _World Tree_ role-playing game whose novels in that setting include _A Marriage of Insects_ (2007), died on 29 April aged 60. [RB]
     _Jim Brown_ (1936-2023), US footballer and actor in _The Running Man_ (1987), _Mars Attacks!_ (1996) and _Small Soldiers_ (voice, 1998), died on 18 May aged 87. [SG/LP]
     _Barbara Bryne_ (1929-2023), UK actress in _Into the Woods_ (1987 Broadway), _Two Evil Eyes_ (1990) and _The Neverending Story_ (1995-1996 tv), died on 2 May aged 94. [LP]
     _Marty Cantor_ (1935-2023), long-time Los Angeles fan, APA-L contributor, publisher of fanzines including _Holier Than Thou_ (1979-1998; three Hugo nominations) with his then wife Robbie Cantor (now Bourget) and _No Award_ (1991-2008), died on 29 April aged 88. He and Robbie won DUFF in 1985. [F770] Another old pal gone.
     _Maths Claesson_ (1959-2023), Swedish fan active for over 40 years -- producing fanzines, attending cons, being a driving force of the Swedish SF Bookstore (and its second CEO) and publishing a well received juvenile sf trilogy 2014-2018, died on 7 May aged 64. [J-HH/B]
     _Marlene Clark_ (1937-2023), US actress in _Night of the Cobra Woman_ (1972), _Son of Blob_ (1972), _The Beast Must Die_ (1974), _Black Mamba_ (1974) and others, died on 18 May aged 85. [SJ]
     _Peter Day_ (1927-2023), UK visual effects designer who worked on several genre series including _Doctor Who_ (51 episodes 1967-1977) and _The Goodies_ (19 episodes 1975-1976), died on 13 March aged 95. [AIP]
     _Sergey Dreyden_ (1941-2023), Russian actor who starred in the fantasy comedy _Window to Paris_ (1993) and in _Russian Ark_ (2002) died on 8 May aged 81. [AM]
     _Warren Hammack_ (1934-2023), US actor in _The Eye Creatures_ (1967), _Zontar: The Thing from Venus_ (1967) and _Mars Needs Women_ (1968), died on 13 February aged 88. [LP]
     _Terrence Hardiman_ (1937-2023), UK actor who starred in _The Demon Headmaster_ (1996-1998 plus spinoff film), with other genre credits including _The Worst Witch_ (1998-2001) and _Fishtales_ (2007), died on 8 May aged 86. [AIP]
     _Karen Kelly_ (1966-2023), Cambridge UK fan, con-goer and committee member of Follycon (Eastercon 1988) and two Unicons, died on 24 May aged 57. [K]
     _Gary Kent_ (1933-2023), US actor, stuntman and stunt co-ordinator with credits for _The Mighty Gorga_ (1969), _Dracula vs. Frankenstein_ (1971), _The Incredible 2-Headed Transplant_ (1971), _Bubba Ho-Tep_ (2002) and others, died on 25 May aged 89. [SG/LP]
     _Mikhail Khleborodov_ (1967-2023), Russian director, screenwriter and producer whose film _Paragraph 78_ (2007) is sf, died on 5 May aged 56. [AM]
     _Sergey Kolesnikov_ (1955--2023), Russian actor in _Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II_ (2009, Russian dub) and _Land of Legends_ (2022), died on 29 April aged 68. [AM]
     _Jerry Lapidus_ (1948-2023), US fan active since the 1960s with many APA contributions (most recently to Slanapa), died on 19 April. [DGG]
     _Ralph Lee_ (1935-2023), US mask and puppet designer who created the 'Land Shark' that ate _Saturday Night Live_ cast members in the 1970s, died on 12 May aged 87. [AIP]
     _Angus McAllister_ (1943-2023), Scots author of _The Krugg Syndrome_ (1988) and other sf novels, died on 18 April aged 79. [JS]
     _George Maharis_ (1928-2023), US actor in _The Satan Bug_ (1965), _Death in Space_ (1974), _The Sword and the Sorcerer_ (1982) and _Doppelganger_ (1993), died on 24 May aged 94. [LP]
     _Lisa Montell_ (1933-2023), Polish-born US actress in _World Without End_ (1956), _Daughter of the Sun God_ (1962) and others, died on 7 March aged 89. [SJ]
     _Russ Nicholson_, UK fantasy artist who contributed to the early _White Dwarf_ and illustrated many Fighting Fantasy gamebooks -- beginning with the first, _The Warlock of Firetop Mountain_ (1982) -- and various _Warhammer_ products, died in May. [GW]
     _Giovanni Lombardo Radice_ (1954-2023), Italian actor -- also as John Morghen -- in _Cannibal Apocalypse_ (1980), _City of the Living Dead_ (1980) and other horror films, died on 27 April age 68. [SF2C]
     _John Refoua_ (1964-2023), film editor for _Avatar_ (2009 plus sequel), _Geostorm_ (2017), _Transformers: The Last Knight_ (2017) and others, died on 14 May aged 58. [AIP]
     _Gerald Rose_ (1935-2023), UK illustrator of children's books including Carroll, Lear, Ted Hughes's _Nessie the Mannerless Monster_ (1964) and several in Norman Hunter's 'Professor Branestawm' series, died on 5 May aged 87. [AIP]
     _Eileen Saki_ (1943-2023), _MASH_ actress whose genre films include _Meteor_ (1979) and _Splash_ (1984), died on 1 May aged 79. [AIP]
     _Inger Sandberg_ (1930-2023), Swedish children's author whose works include _Laban the Little Spook_ (1965, first of a long supernatural series illustrated by her husband Lasse Sandberg), died on 16 May aged 92.
     _Rickey Sheppard_ (1953-2023), US fan and book dealer, a charter member of the Western Kentucky University SF Society and a mainstay of Bowling Green Fandom, died on 28 April aged 69. [RL]
     _Ray Stevenson_ (1964-2023), Northern Irish actor in _Punisher: War Zone_ (2008), _Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant_ (2009), _Thor_ (2011 plus sequels), _Divergent_ (2014 plus sequels) and genre tv series, died on 21 May aged 58. [LP]
     _Roger Taylor_ (1938-2023), UK author of the 'Chronicles of Hawklan' fantasy sequence opening with _The Call of the Sword_ (1988), died on 25 March aged 85. [MF]
     _Tina Turner_ (1939-2023), noted US singer and actress in _Tommy_ (1975), _Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome_ (1985) and _Last Action Hero_ (1993), died on 24 May aged 83. [LP]
     _Ken Westbury_ (1927-2023), UK cinematographer who worked on _The Man in the White Suit_ (1951), _Adam Adamant Lives!_ (1966) and various _Doctor Who_ storylines (1966-1978), died on 28 April aged 96. [AIP]

EXPLICATION. 'They are called the Super Mario Bros, even though "Mario" is not their surname -- like Dostoevsky inventing a videogame called The Brothers Dimitri.' (Peter Bradshaw, _Guardian_, 4 April) [PE]
     _Pedantry Corner:_ 'As any schoolboy knows, Mario IS the surname of Mario Mario and Luigi Mario, as confirmed by the creator, Shigeru Miyamoto, in 2015.' (Letters, _Private Eye_, 19 May)

RANDOM FANDOM. _Ahrvid Engholm_ is crowdfunding a Swedish-language space opera award in honour of long-time author, editor and translator Bertil Falk, who was 90 in May. Details from spaceoperaprize [at] rocketmail.com.
     _Alva C. Rogers_'s Cthulhu cover art for _The Acolyte_ #9 (Winter 1945, ed. Francis T. Laney and Samuel D. Russell), was sold through Heritage Auctions on 25 April for $25,000. [MW]

IN TYPO VERITAS: CHEESECAKE DEPT. '_Burroughs Bulletin_ ... The free fanzine devoted entirely to Edgar Rice Burroughs' looks.' (Rog Phillips, 'The Club House', January 1950 _Amazing Stories_) [CR]

MAGAZINE SCENE. Further markets which like _Clarkesworld_ have announced a ban on AI-created submissions include _Uncanny Magazine_ (Twitter, 21 May) and _The Dark_ (Facebook, 23 May).

WE ARE EVERYWHERE. Chuck Sullivan, developer of a Gaithersburg, Maryland, neighbourhood, namechecked _Star Trek_ spaceships in Antares Drive, Intrepid Lane and Reliant Drive. '"I'm a Trekkie." Chuck said. "They wouldn't let me do Spock Court, but they did allow me to do Tribble Way, which I was surprised at."' (_Washington Post_, 31 May) [PL]

FANFUNDERY. _TAFF:_ Ted White's collected editorials and reviews for _Amazing_ and _Fantastic_ during his decade as editor are now available as trade paperbacks -- one for each magazine -- with all proceeds to TAFF. Book pages are linked from his author page at ae.ansible.uk/?a=white. Free ebooks: the latest from Rob Hansen is _British SF Conventions Volume 1: 1937-1951_. Download page at taff.org.uk/ebooks.php?x=UKcons1.
     Sue Mason's TAFF report _Into the Wide Purple Yonder_ costs GBP5 as a PDF; GBP5 plus postage for the print edition. UK: GBP5 or GBP8 by Paypal to eutaff [at] gmail.com. USA: $6 or $15 by Paypal to taff [at] toad-hall.com. Elsewhere, contact the eutaff address 'and we'll sort it out'. TAFF thanks FANAC for its $100 'bounty' to the fund on publication of this report.

THE DEAD PAST. _30 Years Ago_, Karl Edward Wagner wrote to _Ansible_: 'U fergot to mention that the highlight of the Author C. Burk Award Bash was when yer man stood up to say he wasn't going to make a speech and then spoke for seven hours nonstop, whilst we peons drank funny beers and only ten quid a bottle. Dave Carson and I found a dish of olives before passing out from boredom. We ate them. I had to tell Dave about the pits. The ones in the olives.' (_Ansible_ 71, June 1993)

THOG'S MASTERCLASS. _Ripping Yarns._ 'He crushed her roughly against his doublet. Silk tore like the scream of a small animal.' (Janny Wurts, _Curse of the Mistwraith_, 1993) [AR]
     _Noise Level Dept._ 'Could Asandir close his ears, he would have.' (_Ibid_) [AR]
     _Very Like a Simile._ 'Dakar slapped the reins, swaddled like a vegetable in wet cloaks.' (_Ibid_) [AR]
     _Greasy Dept._ 'The city apothecaries fattened their purses on profits wrung from unguents.' (_Ibid_) [AR]
     _As Bear Traps Do._ '... a bear trap mouth that writhed, pursed, stretched, and compressed itself ceaselessly when he wasn't talking -- which was most of the time.' (James P. Hogan, _Out of Time_, 1993) [BA]
     _Double Entendre._ 'In the end, the wedding went off without a hitch.' (Eric Flint, _1632_, 2000) [BA]
     _Sequitur Dept._ 'With his light brown hair and blue eyes, Roland stood tall for his age.' (Raymond E. Feist, _Magician_, 1982) [AR]
     _Calendar-Fi._ 'Did you realize this is the driest November in sixteen and a half years?' (David E. Fisher, 'You Don't Make Wine Like the Greeks Did', April 1960 _Amazing Stories_) [CR]


### GEEKS' CORNER ###

SUBSCRIPTIONS. To receive _Ansible_ monthly via email, send a message to:
ansible-news+subscribe [at] googlegroups.com
You will be asked to confirm by email that you want to join the group. To resign from the Google Groups list, send email to:
ansible-news+unsubscribe [at] googlegroups.com
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/
Back issues -- https://news.ansible.uk/aseries2.html
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://ansible.uk/books/index.html

GROUP THEORY.
     15 June 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 OR LAST-MINUTE REPORTS. _Maurice C. Horn_ (1931-2022), French comics historian, author, editor and exhibition curator whose books include _A History of the Comic Strip_ (1968) with Pierre Couperie and, as editor, _The World Encyclopedia of Comics_ (1976), died on 30 December aged 91. [AIP]
     _Joseph P. (Joe) Martino_ (1931-2022), US author of stories in _Analog_ and other magazines 1960-2007, died on 29 July 2022 aged 91. He entered the First Fandom Hall of Fame in 2010. [GVG]
     _Mikhail Shalamov_ (1958-2023), Russian sf/fantasy author most active in the 1980s, whose sf collection is _Seraya khrizantema_ (_Grey Chrysanthemum_, 1990), died on 31 May. [AM]

EDITORIAL. Personal news: my nice publishers at Gollancz SF Gateway and NewCon Press -- to whom thanks -- have on request reverted rights to various titles. _All Good Things_, the final collection of my _SFX_ magazine columns (plus extras) published in 2017 by NewCon, will definitely become an ebook companion to the previous collections _The SEX Column_ and _Starcombing_. Maybe I'll even reissue the Discworld quizbooks....

SOME LINKS from the _Ansible_ home page.
     After Escher
https://www.printmag.com/daily-heller/the-daily-heller-a-visual-magician/
     The Citogenesis of Adam Roberts
http://drittlings.blogspot.com/2021/05/the-citogenesis-of-adam-roberts.html
     Kitschies finalists
https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/editorial/Kitschies
     _Locus_ Awards finalists
https://locusmag.com/2023/04/2023-locus-awards-top-ten-finalists-2/
     Harry Potter and the Cruciverbal Inquisitor
http://www.fifteensquared.net/2023/05/09/inquisitor-1801-good-spelling-essential-by-kruger/
     Mythopoeic Awards finalists
https://www.mythsoc.org/assets/2023-Finalists-Press-Release.pdf

THOG'S GOLDEN OLDIES from _Ansible_ 191, June 2003. _Dept of What Does He Call It Now?_ 'Fate has just laid its freezing hand around that ancient organ he once called his heart, and squeezed it tenderly ...' (Jude Fisher, _Sorcery Rising_, 2002)
     _Space Drive Dept._''Reaction rays many times faster than light, pushing back against the cosmic dust of space ...' (Edmond Hamilton, _City At World's End_, 1951)
     _Explaining the Big Bang._ 'Einstein's equations proved that if matter moved faster than light, it would expand indefinitely ...' (_Ibid_)
     _Dept of Striking Features._ 'The headshot was of a fair-haired man with a dazzling smile and dark, piercing eyes above thick, dark eyebrows.' (Selma Eichler, _Murder Can Rain on Your Shower_, 2003)
     _Vacuum Physics Dept._ 'The pilot fired a bright beam from the shuttle's laser. The appalling flare of light and energy snatched the words from his mouth. Even in the silence of space, the shockwave seemed louder than a crack of thunder.' (Brian Herbert & Kevin J. Anderson, _Legends of Dune: The Butlerian Jihad_, 2002)


_Ansible_(R) 431 (C) David Langford, 2023. Thanks to Brian Ameringen, Bellis, Richard Bleiler, Jonathan Clements, John Clute, Gary Farber, _File 770_, Martyn Folkes, Keith Freeman, D. Gary Grady, Steve Green, David Hodson, John-Henri Holmberg, Kari, Rob Jackson, Steve Jones, _Locus_, Pamela Love, Rich Lynch, Paul March-Russell, Andrey Meshavkin, Lawrence Person, Andrew I. Porter, _Private Eye_, Adam Roberts, Christopher Rowe, _SF2 Concatenation_, Jim Steel, Gordon Van Gelder, Michael Ward, Gary Wilkinson, and as always our Hero Distributors: Durdles Books (Birmingham SF Group), SCIS/Prophecy and Alan Stewart (Australia).

1 June 2023