Ansible 421 -- August 2022

[Ansible Newsletter]

ANSIBLE(R) 421
AUGUST 2022

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, words of Guru, a share of glory or the cosmic expense account.

[NET NOTE. See https://news.ansible.uk/a421.html for the nice HTML version; https://news.ansible.uk/pdf/a421.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]


### NOT THIS AUGUST ###

RON GOULART (1933-2020) was remembered in the latest San Diego Comic-Con souvenir book, where his full-page obituary is dominated by a large photo of -- still happily with us -- Joe Haldeman. [SE]

JOANNE HARRIS tweeted: 'I'm so honoured to have been made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature today....' (Twitter, 12 July) One familiar name in the lesser list of Honorary Fellows for 2022 was Julian May, who however is not _our_ Julian May. (Rsliterature.org)

GEORGE R.R. MARTIN appears in an _Onion_ spoof slideshow, 'Famous Authors Describe Their Biggest Rejections', where the unreliable quote beneath his photo is: 'I have two completed _Game of Thrones_ manuscripts on my computer, but I can't convince anyone to take them.' _Ansible_ also liked R.L. Stine's 'Nobody would publish my 40,000-page _Goosebumps_ manifesto, so I had to break it down into 235 smaller books.' [JG]

JOHN SCALZI tweeted BEHOLD MY FEARFUL POWER in response to a claim that 'The entirety of the whole culture war nonsense that plagues America today can be traced back to one article that John Scalzi wrote ...' (Twitter, 29 July) I'm not sure whether it was a definite or an indefinite article.

BETSY WOLLHEIM and SHEILA GILBERT, co-publishers at DAW Books (founded by Don Wollheim in 1971), announced the sale of the company -- with all current staff retained -- to the Beijing-based Astra Publishing House, formerly Thinkingdom Ltd. (_Clarkesworld_ via Twitter, 13 July)


### CONVENTICLE ###

Until 18 Sep [] IN THE BLACK FANTASTIC (Afrofuturist art), South Bank, London. 11am-7pm Wed-Sat, 10am-6pm Sun. See tinyurl.com/4uxfefuk.

5-8 Aug [] CONTINUUM (RPG), John Foster Hall, Manor Road, Leicester University, Oadby. GBP175 with single room (self-catering only); day pass GBP15; more rates at continuumconvention.co.uk, 'Other Stuff'.

6-7 Aug [] SURREY STEAMPUNK CONVIVIAL, Epsom. GBP20 plus booking fee. See bumpandthumper.wixsite.com/steampunkconvivials.

CANCELLED. 5-7 Aug [] TITANCON, Belfast. Cancellation first announced on Facebook, 27 May; memberships to be refunded. See titancon.com.

12-14 Aug [] TFNATION (_Transformers_), Birmingham NEC. Day rates only; e.g. Saturday is GBP45 or GBP80 for early access. See tfnation.com.

SOLD OUT. 19-22 Aug [] DISCWORLD CONVENTION, Hilton Metropole, Birmingham NEC. GBP85 reg, GBP60 concessions. Waiting list at dwcon.org.

23-28 Aug [] OUTDOOR CINEMA, Barbican, London. Includes sf and fantasy. See barbican.org.uk/whats-on/2022/series/outdoor-cinema-0.

25-29 Aug [] FRIGHTFEST (film), Leicester Square, London. GBP200 full festival; day passes and single-film rates at frightfest.co.uk/tickets.html.

26-29 Aug [] THE ASYLUM (steampunk), Lincoln. Weekend tickets GBP48 (child GBP24); for day rates see asylumsteampunk.co.uk.

28-29 Aug [] STARS OF TIME (media), Tropicana, Weston-super-Mare. 10am-5pm. GBP9; under-12s, OAP and disabled GBP5; under-4s free. Family of 2+2 kids GBP22; 2+3 kids GBP24. See www.starsoftime.co.uk.

1-5 Sep [] CHICON 8 (80th Worldcon), Chicago, IL, USA. $240 reg; other rates at chicon.org. _Note that Hugo voting closes on 11 August._

1-4 Sep [] OXONMOOT (Tolkien Society), St Anne's, Oxford. GBP100 reg (members GBP90); child GBP50 (members GBP45); online GBP50 (members GBP40). See www.tolkiensociety.org/events/oxonmoot-2022.

3 Sep [] WHOOVERVILLE 13 (_Doctor Who_), QUAD Centre, Derby, DE1 3AS. Tickets GBP55; concessions GBP38; under-12s GBP10; online booking at www.derbyquad.co.uk/Whooverville13.

16-19 Sep [] FANTASYCON 2022, Radisson Red, Heathrow. Smaller replacement for former 17-19 September event. GBP65 reg (BFS members GBP55). See www.britishfantasysociety.org/fantasycon/fantasycon-2022.

1-22 Nov [] WRITING SCIENCE-FICTION (online course by Alex Davis), 6:30-8:30pm each Tuesday plus one-to-one session. GBP55. See eventbrite.com/e/writing-science-fiction-4-week-course-tickets-385656658447.

26-27 Nov [] OTHER WORLDS writing weekend, Nottingham Writers' Studio, Hockley, Nottingham. _New dates: postponed from 16-17 July._ GBP62.50 or GBP35/day plus booking fees. See tinyurl.com/2p983f9n.

7-10 Apr 2023 [] CONVERSATION (Eastercon), Hilton Metropole, Birmingham NEC -- venue revealed in July. GBP70 reg; GBP40 concessions; GBP35 supp or online only. _Rates will rise soon._ See conversation2023.org.uk.

8 Jul 2023 [] EDGE-LIT 9, QUAD, Market Place, Derby. GBP35 reg. See www.derbyquad.co.uk/EdgeLit9.


### INFINITELY IMPROBABLE ###

AS OTHERS INVOKE US. 'I do hope you're enjoying the triennial Conservative party leadership contest, which has frequently resembled tipping-out time at Arkham Asylum. Various insane claims have been made _[...]_ and the UK remains very much in search of a costumed vigilante to rescue it. ' (Marina Hyde, _Guardian_, 15 July)

AWARDS. _Arthur C. Clarke_ shortlist: _Deep Wheel Orcadia_ by Harry Josephine Giles; _Klara and the Sun_ by Kazuo Ishiguro; _A Desolation Called Peace_ by Arkady Martine; _A River Called Time_ by Courttia Newland; _Wergen: The Alien Love War_ by Mercurio D. Rivera; _Skyward Inn_ by Aliya Whiteley. Award ceremony on 26 October at the Science Museum.
     _Mythopoeic:_ ADULT LITERATURE _Or What You Will_ by Jo Walton. CHILDREN'S _Pahua and the Soul Stealer_ by Lori M. Lee. SCHOLARSHIP: INKLINGS _Tolkien's Modern Reading_ by Holly Ordway. SCHOLARSHIP: OTHER _The Modern Myths_ by Philip Ball.
     _Premois Kelvin_ for best translation into Spanish: _Piranesi_ by Susanna Clarke, translated by Antonio Padilla Esteban. [F770]
     _Prometheus_ (libertarian): _Rich Man's Sky_ by Wil McCarthy. HALL OF FAME _Citizen of the Galaxy_ (1957) by Robert A. Heinlein.

AS OTHERS SEE D&D. Russell Moore's view of what's wrong with the USA today is so last century: 'Fantasy role-playing is hurting America / How the cult of imagined heroism is bringing down our nation's institutions'. (Christianitytoday.com headline and subhead, 21 July)

R.I.P. _Mary Alice_ (1941-2022), US actress who was The Oracle in _The Matrix Revolutions_ (2003) and videogame spinoffs, died on 27 July aged 80. [LP]
     _Rebecca Balding_ (1948-2022), US actress in _The Boogens_ (1981) and genre tv series including _Charmed_ (1998-2006), died on 18 July aged 73. [LP]
     _Jered Barclay_ (1930-2022), US actor with many genre credits from _War of the Satellites_ (1958) to _Howling VI: The Freaks_ (1991) -- including voice work for _Smurfs_ (1982-1989) and _Transformers_ (1986-1987) -- died on 23 July aged 91. [AIP]
     _Taurean Blacque_ (1940-2022), US actor in _Beyond Death's Door_ (1979) and _DeepStar Six_ (1989), died on 21 July aged 82. [LP]
     _Peter Brook_ (1925-2022), noted UK director whose films include _Lord of the Flies_ (1963, which he also scripted), died on 2 July aged 97.
     _James Caan_ (1940-2022), US actor in _Countdown_ (1967), _Rollerball_ (1975), _Alien Nation_ (1988) and _Sicilian Vampire_ (2015), died on 6 July aged 82. [SG]
     _Pat Carroll_ (1927-2022), US actress who voiced Ursula in _The Little Mermaid_ (1989) and many spinoffs, died on 30 July aged 95. [MMW]
     _Bernard Cribbins_ (1928-2022), long-time UK actor whose genre credits include _The Mouse on the Moon_ (1963), _Daleks -- Invasion Earth 2150 A.D._ (1966), _Jackanory_ (narrator, 1966-1995), _The Wombles_ (narrator, 1973-1975), _James and the Giant Peach_ (1976), _The Water Babies_ (1978) and several _Doctor Who_ stories (2007-2010), died on 28 July aged 93. [LW]
     _Tony Dow_ (1945-2022), US actor in _The Adventures of Captain Zoom in Outer Space_ (1995) and others, who directed multiple episodes of genre tv series including _Swamp Thing_ (1990-1993), _Harry and the Hendersons_ (1991-1992) and _Babylon 5_ (1997-1998), died on 27 July aged 77. [LP]
     _Al Evans_ (1946-2022), US creator of the 1980s Apple III and Mac sf videogame _Cap'n Magneto_ (released 2020 as freeware), died on 19 July aged 76. [LP]
     _Bruno Falcon_ (1964-2022), US breakdancer who acted in _Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey_ (1991) and choreographed _Thumbelina_ (1994), died on 2 July aged 58. [LP]
     _Eric Flint_ (1947-2022), prolific and popular US author whose first novel was _Mother of Demons_ (1997) and whose _1632_ (2000) launched Baen's now immense alternate-history 'Assiti Shards/1632' shared-world sequence -- with many contributors and collaborators, and the spinoff magazine _Grantville Gazette_ -- died on 17 July aged 75. He received a special Sidewise Award for alternate history in 2018. [RJS]
     _Herbert W. Franke_ (1927-2022), Austrian-born German author whose first sf books were the collection _Der grune Komet_ (_The Green Comet_, 1960) and the novel _Das Gedankennetz_ (1961, trans 1974 as _The Mind Net_), died on 16 July aged 95. A multiple Deutscher SF and Kurd Lasswitz award winner, he was honoured as ESFS Grand Master in 2016. [F770]
     _Geoffrey H. Goodwin_ (1971-2022), US author of genre stories for _Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet_ and elsewhere since 2002, died on 15 June aged 50. [PDF]
     _Alan Grant_ (1949-2022), UK comics writer best known for co-writing _Judge Dredd_, _Robo-Hunter_ and _Strontium Dog_ for _2000 AD_, died on 20 July aged 73. He also wrote for DC (_Batman_), Marvel and Dark Horse. [MC]
     _Alexander Gritsenko_ (1980-2022), Russian writer, journalist and theatre director who co-wrote the sf novel _Mustankery_ (2017) as by Nick Odintsov, died on 8 July. [AM]
     _Mona Hammond_ (1931-2022), Jamaica-born UK actress in _10,000 BC_ (2008) and genre tv series, died on 4 July aged 91. [SJ]
     _R.C. Harvey_ (1937-2022), US cartoonist and author of many books on comics and cartooning, a _Comics Journal_ columnist since 1976, died on 31 May aged 85. [F770]
     _Gregory Itzin_ (1948-2022), US actor in _Teen Wolf_ (1985), _Hi Honey -- I'm Dead_ (1991) and _Evolution_ (2001), died on 8 July aged 74. [SJ]
     _Brian Jackson_ (1931-2022), UK actor in _Quatermass and the Pit_ (1959), _Gorgo_ (1961), _Shadowchaser_ (1992) and various genre tv series, died on 2 July aged 91. [AIP]
     _Sid Jacobson_ (1929-2022), long-time US comics writer/editor who co-created _Casper the Friendly Ghost_ in 1952 for Harvey Comics (where he wrote for several titles including _Flash Gordon_), died on 23 July aged 92. [PDF]
     _Samanda b Jeude_ (1952-2022), US fan who was an early advocate for disabled access at conventions and founded Electrical Eggs for this purpose in 1986, died on 3 July aged 69. [WF] She received the 1992 Big Heart Award.
     _L.Q. Jones_ (1927-2022), US actor in _A Boy and His Dog_ (1975, which he also produced and directed), _The Beast Within_ (1982), _Timerider_ (1982) and others, died on 9 July aged 94. [GVG]
     _Alan Kubatiyev_ (1952-2022), Russian sf writer who received eight genre awards for short fiction and nonfiction died on 4 July. [AM]
     _Robert Lichtman_ (1942-2022), long-time US fan active since the late 1950s, winner of many FAAn awards -- several for his best known fanzine _Trap Door_ (34 issues 1983-2018) -- died on 6 July aged 79. [CP] Robert was the 1989 TAFF winner, a stalwart of FAPA and other apas, and a good friend who was endlessly helpful with research for TAFF's fanhistorical ebooks.
     _James Lovelock_ (1919-2022), UK scientist and environmentalist best known for the Gaia hypothesis in _Gaia: A New Look at Life on Earth_ (1979) -- inspirational for many sf authors -- died on 26 July, his 103rd birthday. His sf novel is _The Greening of Mars_ (1984) with Michael Allaby.
     _Pat McCallum_, US comics editor who co-founded the magazine _Wizard: The Guide to Comics_ in 1991 and worked for DC 2011-2019, died in July.
     _Ni Kuang_ (1935-2022), Chinese author of 300+ sf and _wuxia_ novels -- the sf including the long Wisely/Wesley series, 1963-2004 -- and 400+ film scripts, died on 3 July aged 87. [SF2C]
     _Nichelle Nichols_ (1932-2022), US actress unforgettably and inspirationally famous as Uhura in the original _Star Trek_ (1966-1969) and very many spinoffs, died on 30 July aged 89. [O] Other credits range from _Tarzan_ (1966 tv) to _Sharknado 5_ (2017) and the coming _Renegades: Ominara_.
     _Monty Norman_ (1928-2022), UK composer of the original James Bond theme for _Dr No_ (1962), died on 11 July aged 94; other soundtrack credits include _The Two Faces of Dr Jekyll_ (1960) and _The Day the Earth Caught Fire_ (1961). [SJ]
     _Jang-Sung Rak_ alias Dubu, Korean manga artist best known for the webtoon adaptation of Chu-Gong's online novel _Solo Leveling_, died on 23 July. [PDF]
     _Mickey Rooney Jr._ (1945-2022), US musician and actor in _The Mickey Mouse Club_ (1955-1957, as a 'Mouseketeer') and _Beyond the Bermuda Triangle_ (1975), died on 16 July aged 77. [LP]
     _Yoko Shimada_ (1953-2022), Japanese actress in _Kamen Rider_ (1971) and _Undiscovered Tomb_ (2002), died on 25 July aged 69.
     _Tony Sirico_ (1942-2022), US actor in _Innocent Blood_ (1992) and _A Muppets Christmas_ (2008), died on 8 July aged 79. [LP]
     _Paul Sorvino_ (1939-2022), US actor whose films include _The Day of the Dolphin_ (1973), _Oh, God!_ (1977), _The Rocketeer_ (1991),_ Repo! The Genetic Opera_ (2008), _The Devil's Carnival_ (2012) and the coming _My Jurassic Place_, died on 25 July aged 83. [AIP]
     _Sergey Sosnovskiy_ (1955-2022), Russian actor in the comedy series _Central Russia's Vampires_ (2021), died on 3 July aged 67. [AM]
     _Larry Storch_ (1923-2022), US actor in _The Monitors_ (1969), _Sabrina the Teenage Witch_ (1969-1972 plus spinoffs), _The Ghost Busters_ (1975), _Without Warning_ (1980) and _The Flight of Dragons_ (1982), died on 8 July aged 99. [AIP]
     _Kazuki Takahashi_ (1961-2022), Japanese writer/artist whose manga _Yu-Gi-Oh!_ (1996-2004) spawned a vast franchise of anime, videogame and trading card game adaptations, was found drowned on 6 July, wearing snorkelling kit; he was 60.
     _Joe Turkel_ (1927-2022), US actor in _Village of the Giants_ (1965), _The Shining_ (1980) and _Blade Runner_ (1982), died on 27 June aged 94. [LP]
     _Lenny von Dohlen_ (1958--2022), US actor in _Electric Dreams_ (1984), _Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me_ (1992) and _World's End_ (2010), died on 5 July aged 63. [PDF]
     _David Warner_ (1941-2022), UK actor whose many genre credits include _Time After Time_ (1979), _Time Bandits_ (1981), _Tron_ (1982), _The Man with Two Brains_ (1983), _Wild Palms_ (1993), _Planet of the Apes_ (2001), _Hogfather_ (2006), _Doctor Who_ ('Dreamland', 2009) and _Star Trek_ films, died on 24 July aged 80.
     _Patrick Watson_ (1929-2022), Canadian broadcaster, director and author whose sf novel is _Alter Ego_ (1978), died on 4 July aged 92. [JC]

THE WEAKEST LINK. _Ben Shephard:_ 'Solar wind is a term for a stream of particles emanating from which large celestial object in our solar system?' _Contestant:_ 'The Moon.' (ITV, _Tipping Point_) [PE]

MAGAZINE SCENE. _Sci-Fi Magazine_, official organ of the SyFy channel, has ceased publication with the Summer 2022 issue (Vol 28 #2). [GRM]

AS OTHERS ... A speechwriter for the 1980 US Libertarian Party campaign explained the choice of corporate lawyer Edward Cark as presidential candidate: 'to try to run somebody who looked like an actual politician, a normal person, not your typical _Star Trek_ convention wannabe like most party members were.' (_New York Times_, 18 May 2014). [MMW] Some attitudes never change: a July _Private Eye_ crossword clue went 'Brenda [the _Eye_ nickname for HM the Queen] squeezed by new heart-throb, like a Trekkie (7)', leading inexorably to the answer NERDISH. (15 July)

THE DEAD PAST. _40 Years Ago_, '_Brain of Britain_ (radio) lately featured strange questions -- eg about "_Reindeers of the Lost Ark_" -- and strange answers also. "_Billion Year Spree_. _New Maps of Hell_. What do these books have in common?" "Er ... Drug addiction."' (_Ansible_ 28, August 1982)

MORE AWARD SHORTLISTS. _Booker_ longlist works of genre interest: _Glory_ by NoViolet Bulawayo; _Maps of Our Spectacular Bodies_ by Maddie Mortimer; _Treacle Walker_ by Alan Garner; _The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida_ by Shehan Karunatilaka. Karen Joy Fowler also appears, with a historical novel. [F770]
     _British Fantasy_ novel categories: FANTASY (Holdstock) _The Black Coast_ by Mike Brooks; _The Jasmine Throne_ by Tasha Suri; _She Who Became the Sun_ by Shelley Parker-Chan; _Sistersong_ by Lucy Holland; _This is Our Undoing_ by Lorraine Wilson; _The Unbroken_ by C.L. Clark. HORROR (Derleth) _The Book of Accidents_ by Chuck Wendig; _A Broken Darkness_ by Premee Mohamed; _A Dowry of Blood_ by S.T. Gibson; _The Last House on Needless Street_ by Catriona Ward; _My Heart Is a Chainsaw_ by Stephen Graham Jones; _Nothing but Blackened Teeth_ by Cassandra Khaw. Full list at tinyurl.com/y9bhjs5s.
     _Ursula K. Le Guin_ (inaugural award for book-length fiction): _A Snake Falls to Earth_ by Darcie Little Badger; _The House of Rust_ by Khadija Abdalla Bajaber; _Appleseed_ by Matt Bell; _Summer in the City of Roses_, by Michelle Ruiz Keil; _How High We Go in the Dark_ by Sequoia Nagamatsu; _The Employees_ by Olga Ravn, translated by Martin Aitken; _Elder Race_ by Adrian Tchaikovsky; _The Past Is Red_ by Catherynne M. Valente; _After the Dragons_, by Cynthia Zhang.
     _Sidewise_ (alternate history): SHORT 'Hitchcock's Titanic' by Matt Kresal (_Tales from Alternate Earths III_); 'Gunpowder Treason' by Alan Smale (_Ibid_); 'Billie the Kid' by Rick Wilber (_Asimov_'s 9/21). LONG _Civilizations_ by Laurent Binet, translated by Sam Taylor; _Broadway Revival_ by Laura Frankos; _The Apollo Murders_ by Chris Hadfield; _The Kingdoms_ by Natasha Pulley.
     _World Fantasy_ novels: _Black Water Sister_ by Zen Cho; _A Master of Djinn_ by P. Djeli Clark; _The City Beautiful_ by Aden Polydoros; _The Jasmine Throne_ by Tasha Suri; _The Last House on Needless Street_ by Catriona Ward. For all 43 nominees in eight categories see www.wfc2022.org/world-fantasy-award.

KING KONG has returned to Birmingham after 50 years. On 22 July, vaguely in honour of the Commonwealth Games, they unveiled a 23-foot version of the long mourned 18-foot ape statue that was a popular landmark in 1972 and achieved the ultimate skiffy accolade of appearing on the front cover of Peter Weston's fanzine _Speculation_. (_i_, 23 July)

THOG'S MASTERCLASS. _UK Railway Terminology._ 'The first time Eliza Grey laid eyes on the baby was at dusk in a slow-moving boxcar on a rain-swept stretch of the line three miles west of Bury St Edmunds, in Suffolk, England.' (J.M. Miro, _Ordinary Monsters_, 2022) [PO]
     _Or All the Seas with Oysters._ 'In the history of the bicycle, ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny.' (Jill Lepore, _The New Yorker_, 23 May) [PE]
     _Doc Savage Battles Striking Similes and Magical Metaphors._ 'Soon he was hurrying along in a wild, devil-ridden way, as if on a carpet of sticky spider silk.' 'Doc read disquiet on his features as if it were written there in Braille.' 'A few hairs grew out of his chin like wheat.' 'Perspiration was appearing on Gahs's head like droplets of nasal secretion.' 'Waves traveled across the sea toward the vessel like puffs of air moving under a soiled bedsheet.' (Kenneth Robeson [Lester Dent with Will Murray], _Flight Into Fear_, 1993 [drafted 1952]) [BA]
     _Explosive Dept._ 'The abruptness of his erecting caused the snow to explode about him.' (_Ibid_) [BA] '"I think these must be the first wild strawberries of Spring," I said as her breasts burst into my eager hands.' (Edison Marshall, _The Viking_, 1951) [MMW]


### 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://ae.ansible.uk/ebooks.php
https://ansible.uk/books/index.html

THE POD PEOPLE. _Genre Fiction: The Roaring Years_, the collected essays and reviews of _SF Encyclopedia_ founder Peter Nicholls, will be released very soon as a fat trade paperback and ebook with all proceeds going to the _SFE_. See ae.ansible.uk/?t=roaring for details, contents, plugs and a sample essay. Review copy requests to David Langford.
     The third Little TAFF Library ebook to be reissued in paperback (all proceeds to TAFF) is the scurrilous _True Rat: The Beast of Leroy Kettle_, by kind permission of Leroy. See ae.ansible.uk/?t=truerat.

JEFF VANDERMEER revealed another of his lovable eccentricities: 'i just incubate the maggots, mosquitoes and bot flies in my own body and it's quite eye opening the processes and sensations oh my ... anyways, not for everyone but if you want to become an ecosystem highly educational.' (Facebook, 30 July) I suppose it makes a change from all those spores and hyphae.

R.I.P. -- LATE REPORTS. _Paul Coker Jr._ (1929-2022), US cartoonist and animator known for his work on Rankin/Bass holiday special films featuring Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny et al, and for illustrating _Mad_ spoofs including _Star Trek_ and _Jurassic Park_, died on 23 June aged 93. [AIP]
     _Akira Ishihama_ (1935-2022), Japanese actor whose credits include _The Snow Woman_ (1986), _Kamen Rider Black: Terrifying! The Phantom House of Devil Pass_ (1988) and the tokusatsu series _Supernova Flashman_ (1986-1987) and _Mobile Sheriff Jiban_ (1989-1990), died on 26 July aged 87. [SJ]
     _Stuart Woods_ (1938-2022), US thriller author whose _Under the Lake_ (1987) has elements of supernatural horror, died on 22 July aged 84. [LP]
     _Ron Zimmerman_, US comedian, tv producer, actor in _The One_ (2001) and Marvel Comics writer (Captain Marvel, Spider-Man, others), died on 28 July. [PDF]

VIRTUAL MEETINGS.
     18 August 2022, 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

SOME LINKS from the _Ansible_ home page.
     Chicon Fringe Programme
https://chicon.org/home/whats-happening/chicon-fringe/
     Chicon WSFS business meeting agenda
https://chicon.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/2022-WSFS-Agemda-as-of-20220719.pdf
     Fifteen Thousand Useful Phrases
https://ansible.uk/misc/15K-Contents.html
     Inaugural Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction
https://electricliterature.com/announcing-the-shortlist-for-the-inaugural-ursula-k-le-guin-fiction-prize/
     Robert Lichtman (1944-2022)
https://file770.com/robert-lichtman-1942-2022/
https://fancyclopedia.org/Robert_Lichtman
https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/lichtman_robert

THOG'S GOLDEN OLDIES from _Ansible_ 181, August 2002. _Dept of True Romance, or Smoking In Bed._ 'Tita timidly touched the hard muscles on Pedro's arms and chest; lower down, she felt a red-hot coal that throbbed through his clothes.' (Laura Esquivel, _Like Water for Chocolate_, 1992)
     _Dept of Athletics._ 'His stomach leaped with hunger.' 'Her eyebrows leaped at him.' (Megan Lindholm, _The Wizard of the Pigeons_, 1986)
     _Purple Prose of Cairo Dept._ 'Yes. Unable to press her tongue against the word, Briony could only nod, and felt as she did so a sulky thrill of self-annihilating compliance spreading across her skin, ballooning outwards from it, darkening the room in throbs.' (Ian McEwan, _Atonement_, 2001)


_Ansible_(R) 421 (C) David Langford, 2022. Thanks to Brian Ameringen, Michael Carroll, John Clute, Paul Di Filippo, Scott Edelman, _File 770_, William Francis, Janice Gelb, Steve Green, Steve Jones, Andrey Meshavkin, George R. Morgan, Paul Oldroyd, Omega, Lawrence Person, Curt Phillips, _Private Eye_, Andrew I. Porter, Robert J. Sawyer, _SF2 Concatenation_, Gordon van Gelder, Liz Williams, Martin Morse Wooster, and as always our Hero Distributors: Durdles Books (Birmingham SF Group), SCIS/Prophecy, and Alan Stewart (Australia).

1 August 2022