Ansible 386 -- September 2019

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Sep 2, 2019, 12:54:17 PM9/2/19
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ANSIBLE(R) 386
SEPTEMBER 2019 

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, youth sublime, or the fairy tales of science. 

[NET NOTE. See https://news.ansible.uk/a386.html for the nice HTML version; https://news.ansible.uk/pdf/a386.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]


DUBLIN 2019. A good time was reportedly had by some 5,800 attendees despite the too-small facilities which led to a great deal of queueing, fans being turned away from overcrowded panels, etc. The _Irish Times_ called this Worldcon 'an extraordinary event that has brought thousands of sci-fi enthusiasts to Ireland from all over the world' and -- switching into more traditional mode -- added 'If you see any strange-looking people wandering around Dublin this weekend, it's them.' (16 August) [SF2C]
     _Hugo Awards:_ NOVEL _The Calculating Stars_ by Mary Robinette Kowal. NOVELLA _Artificial Condition_ by Martha Wells. NOVELETTE 'If at First You Don't Succeed, Try, Try Again' by Zen Cho (B&N SFF Blog 29/11/18). SHORT 'A Witch's Guide to Escape: A Practical Compendium of Portal Fantasies' by Alix E. Harrow (_Apex_ 2/18). SERIES 'Wayfarers' by Becky Chambers. RELATED WORK Archive of Our Own (website). GRAPHIC STORY _Monstress, Volume 3: Haven_ by Marjorie Liu (writing) and Sana Takeda (art). DRAMATIC -- LONG _Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse_. DRAMATIC -- SHORT. _The Good Place_: 'Janet(s)'. EDITOR -- SHORT Gardner Dozois. EDITOR -- LONG Navah Wolfe. PRO ARTIST Charles Vess. SEMIPROZINE _Uncanny Magazine_. FANZINE _Lady Business_. FANCAST _Our Opinions Are Correct_. FAN WRITER Foz Meadows. FAN ARTIST Likhain (Mia Sereno). ART BOOK (one-off category this year) _The Books of Earthsea: The Complete Illustrated Edition_ by Ursula K. Le Guin (writing) and Charles Vess (art). _Non-Hugos:_ LODESTAR (YA): _Children of Blood and Bone_ by Tomi Adeyemi. JOHN W. CAMPBELL AWARD Jeannette Ng.
     _Retro Hugos_ for 1943 work: NOVEL _Conjure Wife_ by Fritz Leiber. NOVELLA _The Little Prince_ by Antoine de Saint-Exupery. NOVELETTE 'Mimsy Were the Borogoves' by 'Lewis Padgett'. SHORT 'King of the Gray Spaces' aka 'R is for Rocket' by Ray Bradbury. GRAPHIC STORY _Wonder Woman_ #5. DRAMATIC -- LONG _Heaven Can Wait_. DRAMATIC -- SHORT _Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman_. PRO EDITOR John W. Campbell. PRO ARTIST Virgil Finlay. FANZINE _Le Zombie_. FAN WRITER Forrest J Ackerman.
     _First Fandom Hall of Fame:_ Ray Faraday Nelson and (posthumous) Bob Shaw, James White and Walt Willis.
     _Moskowitz Archive Award:_ Dr Bradford Lyau.
     _Big Heart Award:_ Alice Lawson. [TSOK]
     _Worldcon 2021:_ inevitably the unopposed Washington DC bid won with 798 votes out of 878 valid ballots (36 No Preference; 18 None of the Above; 26 assorted write-ins including 3 for Minneapolis in '73). [GS] See DisCon III listing below.
     _Alfie Awards._ At the Hugo Losers' Party organized by CoNZealand and George R.R. Martin, the latter presented two more of his car-hood-ornament trophies to those he felt should have won Hugos: editors Malcolm Edwards, late of Gollancz, and Jane Johnson of Voyager.
     _Special Committee Award:_ George R.R. Martin and Parris McBride.


### THE LONG RESULT OF TIME ###

STEVE DAVIDSON had an 'As Others See Us' moment: '"I'm not into that _Star Trek_, _Star Wars_ stuff but I do believe in some crazy shit like alien abductions," said the customer standing in the AT&T store with me after I explained that I published _Amazing Stories_.' (Email, 6 August)

MALCOLM EDWARDS, having left Hachette/Orion/Gollancz (see _A383_), starts a new career this month as publisher of Andre Deutsch. His brief is to revive the fiction backlist and publish new genre titles -- crime fiction as well as sf/fantasy/horror. (_Publishers Lunch_, August) [AIP]

JENNELL JAQUAYS, US games designer, was interested to discover that the recent _Dungeons & Dragons_ expansion book _Xanathar's Guide to Everything_ (from Wizards of the Coast, 2017) copies various character generation tables from her _Central Casting Heroes of Legend_ (1988) with little modification and no acknowledgement. (Imgur.com, 14 August)

JEANNETTE NG's Campbell Award acceptance speech caused some controversy at Dublin 2019 and online, beginning as it did: 'John W. Campbell, for whom this award was named, was a fucking fascist! Through his editorial control of _Amazing Stories_, he is responsible for setting a tone of science fiction that still haunts the genre to this day....' Full text, corrected and without the f-word, at tinyurl.com/y4lwdtj3. Soon after, _Analog_'s editor Trevor Quachri announced that this award is to become The _Astounding_ Award for Best New Writer (blog, 27 August).

ART SPIEGELMAN of _Maus_ fame withdrew his introduction to a Folio Society collection of golden-age Marvel comics, because Marvel objected to the overly 'political' sentence 'In today's all too real world, Captain America's most nefarious villain, the Red Skull, is alive on screen and an Orange Skull haunts America.' (_Guardian_, 16 August)

J.R.R. TOLKIEN was remembered in an obituary of Anthony Price: 'Tolkien taught at Oxford, and Mr. Price sat down with him for what turned out to be Tolkien's first newspaper interview. "He wasn't very popular," Mr. Price recalled. Another Oxford scholar, he said, complained, "Yes, Tolkien: very clever fellow, dear boy. Didn't teach much. He used to bring that Elvish stuff, and I said, 'Don't let's have any more of this Elvish nonsense!'" (_Washington Post_, 23 June) [PL]


### CONGREVE ###

7-8 Sep [] FILM & COMIC CON CARDIFF, Motorpoint Arena, Cardiff. Tickets GBP8 or GBP15 for early entry. See filmandcomicconcardiff.com.

13-15 Sep [] OXONMOOT (Tolkien Society), St Antony's College, Oxford. GBP55 reg, or GBP45 for Tolkien Society members; day rates GBP35 and GBP30. More at www.tolkiensociety.org/events/oxonmoot-2019/. The 2020 Oxonmoot will be in St Anne's College, 3-6 September.

14-15 Sep [] OTHER WORLDS WORKSHOP WEEKEND, Nottingham. GBP27.50 plus GBP2.40 booking fee per day. See tinyurl.com/yy7fawgo.

28-29 Sep [] NOR-CON (media), Norfolk Showground Arena. Tickets inc fees: GBP31.03; GBP20.33 child; GBP96.30 family. See www.nor-con.co.uk.

3-6 Oct [] GRIMMFEST (horror/cult films), Odeon Manchester Great Northern cinema. GBP90 (GBP76 concessions) plus fees from grimmfest.com.

3 Oct - 1 Nov [] LONDON MONTH OF THE DEAD, various venues and events, a few of genre interest: see londonmonthofthedead.com.

11-13 Oct [] LAKES INTERNATIONAL COMIC ART FESTIVAL, Kendal, Cumbria. GBP35 reg; students and under-16s GBP25. Day passes: Saturday GBP22 (GBP17); Sunday GBP19 (GBP14). More at www.comicartfestival.com.

13 Oct [] OCTOCON, Crowne Plaza Hotel, Blanchardstown, Dublin 15, Ireland. (One day only. Venue is 12km from city centre.) Euro35 reg; Euro25 concessions; accompanied under-13s free. More at octocon.com.

18-20 Oct [] FANTASYCON, Golden Jubilee Conference Hotel, Clydebank, Glasgow. _Now GBP75 reg; GBP65 concessions;_ under-18s GBP30; all plus booking fees. See www.fantasycon.org. The 2020 venue is Sheffield.

2-3 Nov [] BRISTOL ANIME & GAMING CON, Bristol Future Inns. GBP18 reg; day rates GBP11 Sat, GBP9 Sun. See bristolanimecon.com.

CANCELLED 23-24 Nov [] LONDON FILM & COMIC CON, Olympia. Brexit uncertainty blamed: see Exhibition World, tinyurl.com/y6yyqpyt.

2-9 Dec [] TALOS III: SF Theatre Festival of London, Omnibus Theatre, Clapham. More at www.cyborphic.com/talos-2019.

14-16 Feb 2020 [] LONDON ANIME & GAMING CON, London Met, N7 8DB. GBP29 reg; for day and other rates see londonanimecon.com.

4 Apr 2020 [] BEDFORD WHO CHARITY CON (_Doctor Who_), University Theatre, Bedford, MK41 9EA. 10am-5:30pm (doors open 9:30am or earlier). Tickets prices to follow at bedfordwhocharitycon.co.uk.

29 Jul - 2 Aug 2020 [] CONZEALAND (Worldcon 78), Wellington, New Zealand. NZD $400 reg, _rising to $425 on 1 October_. Other rates are unchanged: $250 YA, $225 unwaged, $105 child (born 2005+), infants (born 2015 +) free, $75 supporting. See conzealand.nz.

28-31 Aug 2020 [] THE ASYLUM (steampunk), Lincoln. Membership rates to follow at www.asylumsteampunk.co.uk.

2-4 Oct 2020 [] FUTURICON (Rikon/Eurocon), Rijeka, Croatia. Euro15 reg, rising on 1 June 2020; Euro5 supp; under 14s free. See futuricon.eu.

18-21 Mar 2021 [] EUROCON 2021, Fiuggi, Italy. Membership rates and other details awaited at eurocon2021.it.

25-29 Aug 2021 [] DISCON III (Worldcon), Washington DC, USA. GoH Nancy Kress, Malka Older, Sheree Renee Thomas, Toni Weisskopf, and Ben Yalow. $155 reg; YA (under 26) $80; under-13s $65; accompanied under-7s free. Rates held to 31 December 2019. See discon3.org.

RUMBLINGS. _Worldcon 2023._ The established bids for Chengdu and Nice now have a US rival: Memphis, Tennessee. Read all about it at www.memphis23.org.
     _Glasgow in 2024:_ this UK Worldcon bid was officially launched at Dublin 2019 and announced its planned dates as Thursday to Monday, 8-12 August 2024.GBP20 presupporting membership; GBP120 'friend' (GBP60 YA); GBP300 'super friend'. More at glasgow2024.org.


### INFINITELY IMPROBABLE ###

AS OTHERS FORGIVE US. On _Aniara_ by that mere Nobel Prize-winner Harry Martinson: 'In true epic fashion, its matter acquires authenticity through the persuasive force of its utterance, even the parts manifestly pasted together from old space adventure magazines.' (Geoffrey O'Brien, _New York Review of Books_, 15 August) [MMW]

AWARDS. _ESFS Hall of Fame._ AUTHOR Charles Stross (UK). ARTIST Nicolas Fructus (France). MAGAZINE _Windumanoth_ (Spain). PUBLISHER Future Fiction (Italy). PROMOTER Petra Bulic (Croatia). TRANSLATOR Mihai-Dan Pavelescu (Romania). [ESF]
     _Mythopoeic:_ ADULT Naomi Novik, _Spinning Silver_. CHILDREN'S Wendy Mass and Rebecca Stead, _Bob_. SCHOLARSHIP: INKLINGS Verlyn Flieger, _There Would Always Be a Fairy Tale: More Essays on Tolkien_. SCHOLARSHIP: OTHER Dimitra Fimi, _Celtic Myth in Contemporary Children's Fantasy: Idealization, Identity, Ideology_.
     _Splatterpunk_ (horror) best novel: Kristopher Triana, _Full Brutal_. [L]

ANCIENT ENGINEERS. 'I wonder what seagulls ate before humans arrived on the scene? Road kill, I expect.' (Steve Allen, LBC) [PE]

R.I.P. _Pedro Bell_ (?1950-2019), US artist whose Funkadelic album covers and liner notes made play with sf themes, died in late August. [PDF]
     _Tom Boardman_ (1930-2017), UK publisher whose family company was T.V. Boardman and who became sf adviser to Gollancz, Four Square, Macdonald and NEL, editing _Connoisseur's Science Fiction_ (1964) and other anthologies, died on 15 June 2017 aged 86. [MA]
     _Gordon Bressack_ (1951-2019), US screenwriter for _Animaniacs_ (1993-1997) and _Pinky and the Brain_ (1995-1998), died on 30 August aged 68. [BM]
     _Mike Brunton_ (1962-2019), UK magazine editor and writer of role-playing and computer games who edited _White Dwarf_ in the late 1980s, died on 25 July. [MG] He was my editor for many instalments of the 'Critical Mass' book review column.
     _Ernie Colon_ (1931-2019), Puerto Rico-born US comics letterer and artist perhaps best known for Marvel's _Damage Control_ and (as co-creator) DC's _Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld_, died on 8 August aged 88. [F770]
     _Nigel Dobbyn_ (1963-2019), UK comics artist who worked for _2000 AD_ on _Future Shocks_, _Medivac 318_, _Strontium Dog_,_ Ace Trucking Co._ and others, died in late August aged 56. [PH]
     _Susan Evans_, New Zealand fan, worker on conventions -- including the first NZ national sf con in 1982 -- and APA contributor, died on 25 July aged 58. [TC]
     _Peter Fonda_ (1940-2019), US actor, producer, screenwriter and director seen in _Spirits of the Dead_ (1968), _Future World_ (1976), _Spasms_ (1983), _Escape from L.A._ (1996), _Supernova_ (2005), _Ghost Rider_ (2007), _The Gathering_ (2007) and _Journey to the Centre of the Earth_ (2008), died on 16 August aged 79. [SG]
     _Cosmo Genovese_ (1923-2019), US script supervisor for tv series including _Star Trek: The Next Generation_ (176 episodes 1987-1994) and _Star Trek: Voyager_ (99 episodes 1995-2000), died on 30 July aged 95. [F770]
     _Lee Bennett Hopkins_ (1938-2019), prolific US children's author and editor whose vast output included some fantasy/horror anthologies, died on 8 August aged 81. [GVG]
     _Barry Hughart_ (1934-2019), author of the highly regarded mock-Chinese fantasy _Bridge of Birds_ (1984) and its sequels _The Story of the Stone_ (1988) and _Eight Skilled Gentlemen_ (1991), died on or before 1 August according to www.barryhughart.org; he was 85. _Bridge of Birds_ won World Fantasy and Mythopoeic Fantasy awards. [LP]
     _Kristin Landon_ (1958-2019), author of the 2007-2009 'Cold Minds' trilogy and _Windhome_ (2017), died on 5 March aged 60. [MKS]
     _Edward Lewis_, (1919-2019), US producer of _Spartacus_ whose films include _Seconds_ (1966), _Rhinoceros_ (1974) and _The Blue Bird_ (1976), died on 27 July aged 99. [AIP]
     _Brad Linaweaver_ (1952-2019), US libertarian sf author who won a Prometheus Award for _Moon of Ice_ (1988), died on 29 August aged 66. [PDF]
     _Rick Loomis_ (1946-2019), US game designer who created _Nuclear Destruction_ (1970) and _Starweb_ (1976) and co-founded Flying Buffalo -- publisher of _Tunnels & Trolls_ (1975) -- died on 23 August aged 72. [KR]
     _Barbara March_ (1953-2019), Canadian actress in _Star Trek: The Next Generation_ (1991-1994) and _Star Trek Generations_ (1994), died on 11 August aged 65. [PDF]
     _Melisa Michaels_ (1946-2019), US author whose sf includes the 'Skyrider' series opening with Skirmish (1985), died on 30 August aged 73. [PDF]
     _Barrington Pheloung_ (1954-2019), Australian composer who scored various genre films including _Sleep of Reason_ (1989), _The Mangler_ (1995) and _Ghosthunter_ (2000), died on 1 August aged 65. [SG]
     _Stu Rosen_ (1939-2019), US voice actor and voice director of many animated series including _MASK_ (1985), _Defenders of the Earth_ (1986-1989), _Attack of the Killer Tomatoes_ (1990-1991) and _Phantom 2040_ (1995-1996), died on 4 August aged 80. [F770]
     _Charles Santore_ (1935-2019), US illustrator of children's books including _Alice's Adventures Under Ground_, _Snow White_ and _The Wizard of Oz_, died on 11 August aged 84. [AIP]
     _J. Neil Schulman_ (1953-2019), US author of libertarian sf whose novels include the Prometheus-winning _The Rainbow Cadenza_ (1983), died on 11 August aged 66. [GVG]
     _Larry Siegel_ (1925-2019), US writer of humour for tv and for _Mad_ magazine 1958-1990, died on 20 August aged 93. [PDF]
     _Carl Slaughter_ (1958-2019), prolific US fan writer, reviewer and interviewer for _File 770_, _SF Signal_, _Tangent_ and others, died in a car accident on 11 August. [F770]
     _Robert N. Stephenson_ (1961-2019), Australian author, publisher (as Altair Australia) and editor of four _Worlds of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror_ anthologies since 2016, committed suicide on 14 August; he was 57.
     _Yasuhiro Takemoto_ (1972-2019), Japanese anime writer/director whose genre credits include _Gate Keepers_ (2000), _Beyond the Boundary_ (2013) and _Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid_ (2017), was confirmed as one of more than 30 victims of the arson attack on the Kyoto Animation studio on 18 July; he was 47. [AIP]
     _Richard Williams_ (1933-2019), Canadian-born animator whose work appeared in two Pink Panther films and who was animation director of the Hugo-winning _Who Framed Roger Rabbit_ (1988) -- for which he won two Oscars -- died on 16 August aged 86. [PB]

THE WEAKEST LINK. _Host:_ 'What Indian yogurt drink sounds like a famous TV dog?' _Contestant:_ 'Scooby-Doo.' (ITV, _The Chase_) [PE]

THE COMPANY THEY KEEP. The British Fantasy Society, incorporated in 2017 as Brit Fantasy Soc Ltd, is to be struck off the register -- presumably for not filing its returns -- unless action is taken soon. [ST]

OUTRAGED LETTERS. _Mike Ashley_ poses a pub quiz question. 'Apparently only one play has ever been performed in the House of Commons and it happens to be sf.' Can you guess it? See 'The Dead Past' below.

AWARD SHORTLISTS. _Sidewise:_ LONG Mary Robinette Kowal, _The Calculating Stars_; Hannu Rajaniemi, _Summerland_; Charles Rosenberg, _The Trial and Execution of the Traitor George Washington_; Lavie Tidhar, _Unholy Land_. SHORT Rick Wilber, 'The Secret City' (_Asimov's_ 9/18); Oscar (Xiu) Ramirez and Emmanuel Valtierra, _Codex Valtierra_.

RANDOM FANDOM. _Martin Hoare_ was celebrated with a toast at the London First Thursday meeting in August, and at Dublin 2019 with a memorial pub crawl and the naming of the fan bar as Martin's [JB] ... though he would hardly have approved of 'his' bar serving only keg beer and no real ale. Martin's crowded funeral was on 29 August; his TARDIS coffin was tearfully admired; a larger celebration (with fireworks?) should follow. To donate to his favourite cause, the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, see memorygiving.com/martinanthonyhoare.
     _Worldcon Business._ From the traditional hoax newsletter: 'Under-50s in the WSFS Business Meeting must be accompanied by an adult at all times.' Discussion of a proposed Hugo for Best Translated Novel was postponed indefinitely; Best Series was ratified as a permanent category; the proposed Best Game or Interactive Experience was referred to a committee for consideration; less momentous decisions were also made.

THE DEAD PAST. _40 Years Ago_, in the wake of the first Brighton Worldcon, _Ansible_ had its finger on the fannish pulse: 'Useless Facts Dept: 19,000 pints were drunk at Seacon by the time of the closing ceremony....' (_Ansible_ 2/3, September 1979)
     _Much Longer Ago_, the only play ever performed in the House of Commons was Lionel Britton's J.W. Dunne-inspired time fantasy _Spacetime Inn_, in 1931. A UK theatre licence had been refused because the characters include Queen Victoria. [MA]

FANFUNDERY. The fan funds auction at Dublin 2019, together with table sales of left-over auction material, raised some Euro3,345. [CB]
     _TAFF Ebooks._ New additions at taff.org.uk/ebooks.php?all are _Hyphen_ 37 (the 1987 revival issue) and the deeply esoteric _The Astral Leauge Dossier_ (donot impinge copyright or THE ASTRAL LEAUGE WILL TAKE MEASURES).

FOLLOW-UP. Defying the wrath of planners, the shed protecting the Dalek at the Museum of Classic Sci-Fi in Allendale (see _A383_) was given a year's reprieve by Northumberland County Council. (BBC, 13 August)

THOG'S MASTERCLASS. _Dept of Wokeness._ 'Now even the primitive villagers knew that psychological disturbances were simply a byproduct of the mind, and that Ticky George was not "different". Just inferior.' ('Leo Brett', _March of the Robots_, 1961)
     _Fun for Young and Old Alike._ 'The Men, who'd spent the last long hour with their heads between their legs, renewed their favorite pastime ...' (Neal Barrett, Jr., _Aldair: The Legion of Beasts_, 1982) [BA]
     _True Romance Dept._ 'Capitulating from their combined sexual efforts, the two spent forms separated from whence they were joined, their genitalia virtually licking their proverbial wounds!' (Vince Laurie, _Dial 'O' for Orgy_, early 1970s) [KL]


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### ENDNOTES ###

APPARITIONS.
     13 September 2019: Catherine Webb (aka Kate Griffin, Claire North) talks to the Brum Group. 7:30pm for 8pm at the Bull pub -- not the usual venue, which is the Briar Rose Hotel, Bennett's Hill, Birmingham city centre. GBP6 or GBP3 for members. Contact bhamsfgroup at yahoo co uk. Future events/speakers: 11 October 2019, Dr Amaury Triaud; 1 November 2019, TBA; 6 December 2019, Christmas social.
     25 September 2019: BSFA Open Meeting, Central Station, 37 Wharfdale Road, King's Cross, N1 9SD. 6pm for 7pm. Guest(s) TBA. Free. Date or venue changes may be announced after _Ansible_ has gone to press: always check bsfa.co.uk for the latest information.

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

COMPLAINTS DEPT. _Ahrvid Engholm_ was so affronted by Jeannette Ng's above-cited Campbell Award acceptance speech that he formally reported it as a supposed violation of the Dublin 2019 Code of Conduct.
     _Simon R. Green_ writes: 'I had a great time at the Worldcon in Dublin, though regretfully I have to report that there was an official complaint made to the Con committee, concerning a panel I was on. Saying that I had interrupted the discussion with flippant remarks. / Me? Really?'

R.I.P. II. Stop press: _Terrance Dicks_ (1935-2019), UK author and screenwriter who was script editor for _Moonbase 3_ (1973), 156 episodes of _Doctor Who_ (1968-1974) and _The Invisible Man_ (1984) -- also writing several _Doctor Who_ serials and scores of novelizations -- died on 2 September aged 84. He received the 2015 Scribe Grandmaster career award for tie-in works.
     Late notices, recently reported: _Boris Beizer_ (1934-2018), Belgian-born US software engineer who as Ethan I. Shedley wrote _Earth Ship and Star Song_ (1979) and _The Medusa Conspiracy_ (1980), died on 7 October 2018. [DB]
     _Pat Gorman_ (1933-2018), UK character actor in _The Tomorrow People_ (1975-1979) and 105 episodes of _Doctor Who_ (1964-1985), died on 9 October 2018 aged 85. [GC]

MAGAZINE SCENE. _Science Fiction Trails_, specializing in weird sf Western fiction, has ceased; the final issue was #14 for April 2019. [L]

SOME LINKS from the _Ansible_ home page.
     Martin Hoare's funeral
     Dublin 2019 newsletter, _The Salmon of Knowledge_
     Hugo and Retro Hugo winners in full detail
     Hugo statistics and administrator's comments

RUMBLINGS II. _Middle-Earth Festival_ (Sarehole Mill, Birmingham): no date was ever announced for the 2019 event expected in September, whose status on the website quietly shifted to 'cancelled' at some point in August. According to middleearthfestival.wordpress.com, the next one will be in September 2020.

FIFTEEN NANOSECONDS OF FAME. _Private Eye_ 1502, dated 9 August, surprised me by publishing my comment on their big sf scoop from the previous issue (see also _A385_):


_Ansible_(R) 386 (C) David Langford, 2019. Thanks to Brian Ameringen, Mike Ashley, James Bacon, Paul Barnett, Claire Brialey, Dirk Broer, Tom Cardy, Gary Couzens, Paul Di Filippo, Europa SF, _File 770_, Marc Gascoigne, Steve Green, Peter Hogan, Kessily Lewel, _Locus_, Pamela Love, Beth Meacham, Lawrence Person, Andrew I. Porter, _Private Eye_, Kevin Redfern, _The Salmon of Knowledge_, _SF2 Concatenation_, Maureen Kincaid Speller, Stephen Theaker, Gordon Van Gelder, Martin Morse Wooster, and as always our Hero Distributors: Durdles Books (Birmingham SF Group), SCIS/Prophecy and Alan Stewart (Australia).

2 September 2019

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