Ansible 436 -- November 2023

[Ansible Newsletter]

ANSIBLE(R) 436
NOVEMBER 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 first editions of the pamphlet _Why Should Salt Suffer?_

[NET NOTE. See https://news.ansible.uk/a436.html for the nice HTML version; https://news.ansible.uk/pdf/a436.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 PANTHEIST'S BOOTS ###

NINA ALLAN and CHRISTOPHER PRIEST were married on 30 September.

SERGEI LUKYANENKO, the controversial, Ukraine-bashing Russian guest of this year's Worldcon, mysteriously failed to turn up in Chengdu.

CHRISTOPHER PRIEST adds his name to the roster: 'Just for the record: nine of my novels, and one short story, have been illegally downloaded into the generative-AI systems set up by Meta, Bloomberg and others. (They include _Inverted World_, _The Affirmation_ and _The Prestige_.) I do not have the resources to sue these terrible people.' (Email, 4 October)

GEORGE TAKEI just wants the facts about the US emergency alert test: 'I'm seeing a lot of people share conspiracies about how the government is going to activate some vaccine virus using 5G technology today. If you are posting this nonsense, please stop and seek help. You are deep in some weird, dark place, and you don't even know it. (Also, it's not the U.S. government, it's the Romulans, and it's not 5G, it's transporter technology. Please get your conspiracies straight.)' (Xtwitter, 4 October)

SEAN WALLACE counts the cost of plug-pulling at Amazon: 'I'm going to make this public: for _The Dark_ the loss of Amazon Newsstand effectively resulted in ten thousand dollars of revenue going poof, for the entire year. (Yes, that much!) I've made some cost-saving changes, but I don't hold much hope for the monies from Kindle Unlimited to really make much of a difference. In fact, I imagine with every succeeding year the payments will increasingly crater, which amounts to a slow death by a thousand cuts. (Or sudden, who knows?) And I know for a fact that there were about six hundred subscribers left, near the end, numbers that haven't reflected in the increases seen at Patreon/Weightless. Mind you, even if a fraction of that moved over, right now, it would be life-saving, but here we are ... and if nothing changes, then I can see making more changes, but the magazine is pretty lean (and cheap) as it is.' (Facebook, 2 October) Not only _The Dark_ (www.thedarkmagazine.com) but _Interzone_, _Clarkesworld_ and others are suffering and could use your support.


### CONTERN ###

Until 2 June 2024 [] SET TO STUN (sf film/tv exhibition), Gunnersbury Park Museum, London. 10am-4:30pm. See tinyurl.com/4zdurx74.

3-4 Nov [] 16TH STARFLEET/KLINGON BANQUET, Peterborough Marriott Hotel. GBP68 reg; more at www.starbase24.co.uk/Banquet.html.

3-5 Nov [] ARMADACON 2023, Future Inns, Plymouth. GBP40 reg; GBP35 concessions; single day GBP25/GBP20. More at www.armadacon.org.

10-12 Nov [] NOVACON 52, Palace Hotel, Buxton. GBP52 reg; under-17s GBP12; under-13s free. _No at-the-door memberships._ See novacon.uk.

11-12 Nov [] COMIC CON, Harrogate Convention Centre.GBP30 reg; GBP22/day; under-12s, over-65s, carers free. See thoughtbubblefestival.com.

18 Nov [] CYMERA WRITERS' CONFERENCE, Edinburgh/online. GBP80 reg, GBP70 concessions; digital GBP45/GBP35. See www.cymerafestival.co.uk.

19 Nov [] EDINBURGH COMIC ART FAIR, Out of the Blue Drill Hall, Edinburgh. Free. See www.cymerafestival.co.uk (scroll down).

25-26 Nov [] STEAMPUNKS IN SPACE, National Space Centre, Leicester. See www.spacecentre.co.uk/whats-on/steampunks-in-space.

26 Nov [] STARS OF TIME (comics), Tropicana, Weston-super-Mare. GBP10 plus booking fee; other rates at www.starsoftime.co.uk.

26 Nov [] TOLKIEN SOCIETY SEMINAR on Tolkien and religion, free online. See www.tolkiensociety.org/events.

2 Dec [] DRAGONMEET (gaming), Novotel Hammersmith, London. 9am-11pm. Tickets GBP15.50 (under-18s GBP8) at www.dragonmeet.co.uk.

2-3 Dec [] FOR THE LOVE OF SCI-FI (media), BEC Arena, Stretford, Manchester. GBP49.50; under-10s GBP19.25. More at fortheloveofsci-fi.com.

23 Jan 2024 [] A BILLION AND FIFTY YEAR SPREE (SFF symposium), Liverpool and online. See www.sf-foundation.org/fresh-about (26 October post).

24-25 Feb 2024 [] SURREY STEAMPUNK CONVIVIAL, Stoneleigh, Epsom. See bumpandthumper.wixsite.com/steampunkconvivials.

9-10 Mar 2024 [] DUBLIN COMIC CON, Convention Centre, Dublin. Various ticket prices (extra for early entry, etc.) at dublincomiccon.com.

30-31 Mar 2024 [] CONPULSION (games), _new venue:_ The Pleasance, Edinburgh, EH8 9TJ. Ticket sales awaited at conpulsion.org.

26-29 Jul 2024 [] CONTINUUM (RPG), Cranfield University CMDC _(new venue)_. Registrations open in 2024. See continuumconvention.co.uk.

8-12 Aug 2024 [] GLASGOW 2024 (Worldcon) Glasgow SEC. _Now GBP210 reg; first Worldcon GBP150; YA (under 26) GBP125; under-16s GBP85;_ under-11s GBP50; under-6s GBP5; other rates at glasgow2024.org.

9-11 Aug 2024 [] TFNATION (_Transformers_), Hilton Birmingham Metropole near the NEC. Ticket sales awaited at tfnation.com/2024.

23-26 Aug 2024 [] ASYLUM XIV (steampunk), The Lawns and other Lincoln venues. Details awaited at www.ministryofsteampunk.com.

27-29 Sep 2024 [] LAKES INTERNATIONAL COMIC ART FESTIVAL, Bowness-on-Windermere. Details to follow at www.comicartfestival.com.

28-29 Sep 2024 [] NOR-CON (media), Norfolk Showground Arena. Ticket prices awaited at www.nor-con.co.uk.

5-6 Oct 2024 [] OCTOCON, Gibson Hotel, Dublin. Further details and registration costs awaited at octocon.com.

11-13 Oct 2024 [] FANTASYCON, Queen at Chester Hotel, Chester. GBP85 reg. See britishfantasysociety.org/events-calendar/fantasycon-2024.

19-20 Oct 2024 [] FILM & COMIC CON CARDIFF, International Arena, Cardiff. GBP16; GBP32 early entry. See filmandcomicconcardiff.com.

13-17 Aug 2025 [] SEATTLE WORLDCON 2025, Seattle, WA, USA. GoH Martha Wells, Donato Giancola, Bridget Landry, Alexander James Adams. $175 reg; under-25s $100; under-18s $75; under-13s free; virtual $85. These rates are good until 17 January 2024. See seattlein2025.org.

30 Oct - 2 Nov 2025 [] WORLD FANTASY CONVENTION, _new venue:_ Metropole, Brighton. GBP125 reg; see worldfantasy2025.co.uk for discounts.

RUMBLINGS. _Worldcon 2026:_ the Los Angeles bid has announced its dates and venue, 27-31 August at the Anaheim Convention Center and Anaheim Hilton Hotel. See lain2026.org. The rival Cairo bid is suspended because the fans can't get permission from the Egyptian government. [DE]


### INFINITELY IMPROBABLE ###

THE WISDOM OF THE INTERNET. _Dethroning Mary Shelley:_ 'I actually came up with a Frankenstein creature before I knew about her one. Of course you won't hear about it because as a white cis male my voice will be drowned out.' 'Did you come up with a Frankenstein monster before 1817?' 'It's irrelevant because I came up with it independently, but sure, ignore that to suit your feminist narrative.' [A-TC]

AWARDS. _Big Heart:_ Bobbi Armbruster.
     _Ditmar_ (Australia) novel category: _36 Street_ by T.R. Napper.
     _Hugos:_ NOVEL _Nettle and Bone_ by T. Kingfisher; NOVELLA _Where the Drowned Girls Go_ by Seanan McGuire; NOVELETTE 'The Space-Time Panther' by Hai Yu; SHORT 'Rabbit Test' by Samantha Mills; SERIES 'Children of Time' by Adrian Tchaikovsky; GRAPHIC _Cyberpunk 2077: Big City Dreams_; RELATED WORK _Terry Pratchett: A Life With Footnotes_ by Rob Wilkins; DRAMATIC -- LONG _Everything Everywhere All at Once_. DRAMATIC -- SHORT _The Expanse_: 'Babylon's Ashes'. EDITOR -- LONG Lindsey Hall. EDITOR-- SHORT Neil Clarke. PRO ARTIST Enzhe Zhao. SEMIPROZINE _Uncanny_. FANZINE _Zero Gravity Newspaper_. FANCAST _Hugo, Girl!_ FAN WRITER Chris M. Barkley. FAN ARTIST Richard Man. [PW]
     _Non-Hugo Awards_ presented with the Hugos: LODESTAR _Akata Woman_ by Nnedi Okorafor. ASTOUNDING Travis Baldree. [PW]
     _Ursula K. Le Guin Prize:_ _Arboreality_ by Rebecca Campbell. [F770]
     _Sidewise_ (alt-history): LONG _The Peace Keeper_ by B.L. Blanchard. SHORT (tie) 'A Sky and a Heaven' by Eric Choi (_Just Like Being There_) and 'A Dream of Electric Mothers' by Wole Talabi (_Africa Risen_). [SHS]
     _World Fantasy._ NOVEL _Saint Death's Daughter_ by C.S.E. Cooney. NOVELLA _Pomegranates_ by Priya Sharma. SHORT 'Incident at Bear Creek Lodge' by Tananarive Due (_Other Terrors_. ANTHOLOGY _Africa Risen_ ed. Sheree Renee Thomas, Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki and Zelda Knight. COLLECTION _All Nightmare Long_ by Tim Lebbon. ARTIST Kinuko Y. Craft. SPECIAL-- PROFESSIONAL Matt Ottley for _The Tree of Ecstasy and Unbearable Sadness_. SPECIAL -- NON-PROFESSIONAL Michael Kelly for Undertow Publications. [PDP]

ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE NEWS. 'Dead rat found in Middlesbrough shop selling illegal vapes and alcohol to children'. (Teesside Live, 6 October)

R.I.P. _Lena Bredin_ (1963-2023), Swedish fan and con-goer, died on 22 October aged 59. [J-HH]
     _Echo Brown_ (1984-2023), US performer and author whose YA novel _Black Girl Unlimited: The Remarkable Story of a Teenage Wizard_ (2020) mixes autobiography with magic realism, died on 16 September aged 39. [AIP]
     _Rock Brynner_ (Yul Brynner Jr, 1946-2023), US actor and musician whose sf novel was _The Doomsday Report_ (1998), died on 13 October aged 76. [JC]
     _Eve Bunting_ (1928-2023), prolific Northern Irish author of children's stories including retold fables like _The Two Giants_ (1971) and time-travel sf in the 'Dinosaur Machines' sequence, died on 1 October aged 94. [AIP]
     _Jeff Burr_ (1963-2023), US horror director whose films include _Pumpkinhead II_ (1993), _Puppet Master 4_ (1993 plus sequels), _Night of the Scarecrow_ (1995), _The Werewolf Reborn!_ (1998) and _The Boy with the X-Ray Eyes_ (1999), died on 10 October aged 60. [AIP]
     _Dick Butkus_ (1942-2023), US footballer and actor in _The Stepford Children_ (1987), _Spontaneous Combustion_ (1989), _Gremlins 2: The New Batch_ (1990) and others, died on 5 October aged 80. [LP]
     _Phyllis Coates_ (1927-2023), US actress who was Lois Lane in _Superman and the Mole-Men_ (1951) and the original tv _The Adventures of Superman_ (1952-1953), died on 11 October aged 96. Other credits include _I Was a Teenage Frankenstein_ (1957) and _The Incredible Petrified World_ (1959). [LP]
     _S.R. Cronin_ (1954-2023), US author of 12 self-published sf and historical fantasy novels, died on 23 October aged 68. [L]
     _Elaine Devry_ (1930-2023), US actress in _The Atomic Kid_ (1954) and _The Boy Who Cried Werewolf_ (1973), died on 20 September aged 93. [AIP]
     _Bertil Falk_ (1933-2023), Swedish author and publisher who amid much else resurrected the 1940s pulp magazine _Jules Verne-magasinet_ in 1969 and published _Faktasin_ (2020) -- a huge collection of essays on Swedish short sf -- died on 14 October aged 90. [J-HH]
     _Michael F. Flynn_ (1947-2023), US author active since 1984, whose first novel _In the Country of the Blind_ (1990) won the Compton Crook and Prometheus awards, died on 30 September. [GVG]
     _Keith Giffen_ (1952-2023), popular and prolific US comics writer and artist perhaps best known for his work on DC's _Legion of Super-Heroes_ and _Justice League_ titles, died on 9 October aged 70. He worked for many companies including Marvel, where he co-created Rocket Raccoon of _Guardians of the Galaxy_ fame.
     _Gennady Gladkov_ (1935-2023), Russian composer whose film score credits include _New Year Adventures of Masha and Vitya_ (1975), _An Ordinary Miracle_ (1978) and _To Kill a Dragon_ (1988), died on 16 October aged 88. [AM]
     _Louise Gluck_ (1943-2023), US academic, poet and author whose work includes the fantastical novella _Marigold and Rose_ (2022), died on 13 October aged 80. [JC]
     _Mark Goddard_ (1936-2023), US actor in _Lost in Space_ (1965-1968; also 1998 film) and _Strange Invaders_ (1983), died on 10 October aged 87.
     _Haydn Gwynne_ (1957-2023), UK actress in _Time Riders_ (1991) and _Beauty and the Beast_ (2017), died on 20 October aged 66. [SG]
     _Anthony Hickox_ (1959-2023), UK director of mostly horror films from _Waxwork_ (1988 plus sequel) to _Warlock: The Armageddon_ (1993) plus the comics-based _Prince Valiant_ (1997) and the sf _Martian Law_ (1998) -- scripting and appearing in many of these -- died on 8 October aged 64. [SG]
     _Elizabeth Hoffman_ (1926-2023), US actress in _Silent Night, Deadly Night 3_ (1989) and genre tv series including _Stargate SG-1_ (1997-1998) died on 21 August aged 97. [LP]
     _Hiroaki Ike_, Japanese translator of sf by James P. Hogan and Carl Sagan, died on 27 October aged 83. [F770]
     _Keith Jefferson_ (1970-2023), US actor in _Tank Girl_ (1995) and others, died on 5 October aged 53. [LP]
     _Piper Laurie_ (1932-2023), US actress in _Son of Ali Baba_ (1952), _Carrie_ (1976), _Dream a Little Dream_ (1989), _Twin Peaks_ (1998-1991) and _Possessed_ (2000), died on 14 October aged 91. [LP]
     _Mang Hoi_ (1958-2023), Chinese actor in _Zu: Warriors from the Magic Mountain_ (1983), _My Cousin the Ghost_ (1987), _The Gambling Ghost_ (1991) and others, died on 9 October aged 65. He was action choreographer for many more films including _Dragon Against Vampire_ (1985). [K]
     _Joanna Merlin_ (1931-2023), US actress in _The Ten Commandments_ (1956), _Prince of Darkness_ (1987) and _The Invasion_ (2007), died on 15 October aged 92. [LP]
     _Richard Moll_ (1943-2023), US actor in _House_ (1985), _100 Deeds for Eddie McDowd_ (1999-2002), _Evolution_ (2001), _Scary Movie 2_ (2001) and others, died on 26 October aged 80. [LP]
     _Hildegard Neil_ (1939-2023), South African-born UK actress in _The Man Who Haunted Himself_ (1970), _The Legacy_ (1978) and genre tv series including _Ace of Wands_ (1970), died on 19 September aged 84. [SJ]
     _Judy Nugent_ (1940-2023), US child actress in _Angels in the Outfield_ (1951) and a noted episode of _The Adventures of Superman_ (1954), died on 23 October aged 83. [LP]
     _Lara Parker_ (1938-2023), US actress in _Dark Shadows_ (1967-1971 plus spinoffs), _Doctor Mabuse: Etiopomar_ (2014) and genre tv series, died on 12 October aged 84. [LP]
     _Matthew Perry_ (1969-2023), US actor in _L.A.X. 2194_ (1994) and genre tv series, died on 28 October aged 54. [LP]
     _Richard Roundtree_ (1942-2023), US actor in _Q: The Winged Serpent_ (1982), _Amityville: A New Generation_ (1993), _Heroes_ (2006-2007) and _Haunting of the Mary Celeste_ (2020), died on 24 October aged 81. [LP]
     _Suzanne Somers_ (1946-2023), US actress in _Ants!_ (1977), _Seduced by Evil_ (1994) and _Devil's Food_ (1996), died on 15 October aged 76. [LP]
     _Shawna Trpcic_ (1966-2023), US costume designer whose credits include _Firefly_ (2002-2003), _The Cabin in the Woods_ (2011), _Torchwood_ (2011), _The Mandalorian_ (2022-2023) and _Ahsoka_ (2023), died on 4 October aged 57. [AIP]
     _Tim Underwood_ (1948-2023), US dealer and publisher whose World Fantasy Award-winning small press Underwood-Miller (with Chuck Miller) published well over 200 titles by Dick, Ellison, Vance, Zelazny and others from 1976 to 1994, died on 11 October. [F770]
     _Burt Young_ (1940-2023), US actor in _Twilight's Last Gleaming_ (1977), _Amityville II_ (1982, plus sequel) and _Pluto Nash_ (2002), died on 8 October aged 83. [SG]

WHY THE _DAILY MAIL_ HATES PETER PAN. 'Feeling that Peter was on his way back, the Neverland had again woke into life. We ought to use the pluperfect and say wakened, but woke is better and was always used by Peter.' (J.M. Barrie, _Peter and Wendy_, 1911)

INKLINGS PUB SAVED. The famous Eagle and Child in Oxford, closed since 2020, has now been bought by the Ellison Insitute of Technology and (they say) will be refurbished and reopened. (BBC, 25 October)

AS OTHERS SEE UFO SIGHTERS. 'He was strenuously honest -- a county judge noted he neither drank nor read science fiction -- but reporters ridiculed him ...' (_Harper's Magazine_, November 2023) [DMK]

RANDOM FANDOM. _Chengdu Worldcon_ statistics set new records: 'Worldcon 81st has successfully completed. We have had about 1500 guests and estimated 20k attending members.' (Facebook, 26 October)

THE DEAD PAST. _70 Years Ago:_ 'In contrast to the gloomy picture of the US science-fiction field which is painted by recent news stories -- mags folding, issues delayed for months, pages cut, publishing schedules curtailed to bi-monthly or quarterly, and a general heavy drop in circulation -- news from Great Britain indicates that publishers there are moving briskly about in an atmosphere of rising public interest and acceptance of science-fiction, rapidly expanding readership, and a relaxation of the materials and production problems which have beset them since the beginning of WWII.' (_Fantasy-Times_ 190, November 1953)

MAGAZINE SCENE. _Interzone_ intends henceforth to be regular and bimonthly but digital only. See interzone.press. I hope it does very well; but I've been feeling badly overstretched, and this seems a good time to retire the long-running (1992-2023) _IZ_ 'Ansible Link' column of news snippets from _Ansible_.
     _Worlds of IF_, originally published 1952-1974, is to relaunch in February 2024 with Justin Sloane of Starship Sloane Publishing as editor-in-chief and publisher. More at worldsofifmagazine.com.

_SFE_ MEETS AI. A correspondent pointed out that the _SF Encyclopedia_ author entry for Haakon Chevalier doesn't mention his novel _For Us the Living_ (1949), described on its Amazon page as a sleeper-awakes sf classic whose hero is cryogenically frozen and finds himself in the socialist future world of 2086. In fact it's a nonfantastic story set in 1929-1941. My first thought was that the blurb must have strayed from Robert A. Heinlein's _For Us, the Living_ (written _circa_ 1938; published 2004), whose hero Perry Nelson has a car crash and awakes in 2086. But Amazon names the protagonist as Julian West, who visits the future via mesmerism in Edward Bellamy's _Looking Backward 2000-1887_ (1888). Looks as though the dodgy text was produced by an AI whose training included Bellamy, Heinlein and other sf, but not the book supposedly being described....

FANFUNDERY. _TransAtlantic Fan Fund._ The next race, from North America to the 2024 Glasgow Worldcon, should be announced very soon at taff.org.uk. [SB]
     _The Susan C. Petrey Clarion Scholarship Fund_, set up in memory of the author following her death in 1980, is closing down after nearly 43 years of operation. [DC/PMW]
     _TAFF Ebooks._ Latest free download: _The Harp Remembered_, collecting some 182,000 words of Walt Willis's fan writing not formerly available in TAFF ebooks. See taff.org.uk/ebooks.php?x=HarpRem. Forthcoming: Rob Hansen's _Beyond Fandom: Fans, Culture & Politics in the 20th Century_, telling the stories of sf fans who variously made their impact on the mundane world.

THOG'S MASTERCLASS. _Cult of Personality._ 'He sensed in him something not quite whole -- an absence -- but otherwise, nothing.' (Liam Sharp, _God Killers_, 2008) [BA]
     _Watch That Metaphor._ 'He gave her the most dazzling good-natured smile that he could achieve with his heart in his mouth, without letting it fall out.' (Leslie Charteris, 'The Uncured Ham' in _Trust the Saint_, 1962) [BA]
     _Mysteries of Anatomy._ 'Even in the midst of this nightmare you can't help but notice she has a rear end like a perfectly inflated basketball.' (Max Brallier, _Can You Survive the Zombie Apocalypse?_, 2011)


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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 November 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

BUT IS IT ART? Another edition of _Nineteen Eighty-Four_ is hardly news, but artist David Shrigley offers an unusual twist. Inspired by the discovery that an Oxfam charity shop in Swansea no longer accepts donations of _The Da Vinci Code_, he acquired and pulped 6,000+ copies to create the paper for this reprint of Orwell's now public-domain novel. A snip at GBP495 for the first 250 customers only; thereafter, GBP795. (BBC, 26 October)
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-67218454

R.I.P II -- LATE REPORT. _Patricia Warrick_ (1925-2023), US academic who co-edited many instructive sf anthologies and published the nonfiction _The Cybernetic Imagination in Science Fiction_ (1980) and _Mind in Motion: The Fiction of Philip K. Dick_ (1987), died on 23 February aged 98. [JE]

SOME LINKS from the _Ansible_ home page.
     BSFA Awards longlist nominations
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc_ox-ulD5oD_HsI1ob1nGUnyzcun71llMYgCiIPZ5YVrTuuw/viewform
     'The Man Who Invented Fantasy'
https://slate.com/culture/2023/10/lester-del-rey-invention-fantasy-book-publishing.html
     _NATO 2099: A Graphic Novel_ -- call for submissions
https://www.ndc.nato.int/news/news.php?icode=1872
     Charles Saunders (1946-2020) remembered
https://wapo.st/45ewgE7

THOG'S GOLDEN OLDIES from _Ansible_ 196, November 2003. _Metaphor Dept._ 'Long-since dusty hopes are about to float away on the invisible ink of time, he thought.' (Robert Newcomb, _The Fifth Sorceress_, 2002.)
     _Neat Tricks._ 'A minute later, he was vomiting up the breakfast he had not eaten.' (Peter Straub, _lost boy lost girl_, 2003)
     _Dept of Platonic Solids._ 'The Arena itself was tiny, a fist-sized dodecahedron, its triangular sides so glossily black that they shimmered with faint pastels.' (Bruce Sterling, _Schismatrix_, 1985)
     _Brain Race Dept._ 'A pair of bushy eyebrows jutted out above his _[Francis Galton's]_ orbits like two hands cupped over the brow of a man peering into an unfathomable distance. At the same time, his dense windswept sideburns swerved back dramatically behind his earlobes, as though his mind was speeding faster than the rest of his head.' (Edwin Black, _War Against the Weak_, 2003)


_Ansible_(R) 436 (C) David Langford, 2023. Thanks to Brian Ameringen, Sandra Bond, Adam-Troy Castro, John Clute, Debbie Cross, Donald Eastlake, Jason Ellis, _File 770_, Steve Green, John-Henri Holmberg, Steve Jones, Kari, Daniel M. Kimmel, _Locu_s, Andrey Meshavkin, Peter Dennis Pautz, Lawrence Person, Andrew I. Porter, Steven H Silver, Gordon Van Gelder, Peter Wilkinson, Paul M. Wrigley, and as always our Hero Distributors: Durdles Books (Birmingham SF Group), SCIS/Prophecy and Alan Stewart (Australia).

1 November 2023