Ansible 289 -- August 2011

[Ansible Newsletter]

ANSIBLE 289
AUGUST 2011

From DAVID LANGFORD, 94 London Road, Reading, Berks, RG1 5AU, UK. Web
news.ansible.co.uk. ISSN 0265-9816 (print); 1740-942X (e). Available
for SAE or umbral revelations of sempiternal Galexis.

[NET NOTE. See http://news.ansible.co.uk/a289.html for the nice HTML
version. Mailing list subscribe/unsubscribe information appears below
-- please don't send such requests to my own e-mail address. DRL]


SCOOPED! That _SF Encyclopedia_ news, embargoed last issue, is now out
at www.sfgateway.com and sf-encyclopedia.com. Life is one big panic.


### THE FINAL ENCYCLOPEDIA ###

JONATHAN CARROLL, celebrated fantasy author, has turned up in DC's
rebooted _Superman_ comics continuity as Lois Lane's boyfriend.
Tuckerization or just coincidence? No one seems quite sure. [PDF]

CHRIS FOSS remembered the joys of working on the film _A.I._:
'"Kubrick used to come in with a page of script and I'd visualise what
he was doing. I told him that he'd got me started on my science
fiction career when he made 2001: A Space Odyssey. He said 'Yeah and
I'll finish you too' and he damn nearly did. He was a hard taskmaster.
I put a sign saying Prisoner Cell Block 8 on my office door." Still,
things weren't all bad during that period: "I was bonking [Kubrick's]
god daughter at the time, unbelievably. She was this naughty
model".' (Interview by Matilda Battersby, _Independent_, 29 July) [SG]

WALTER KOENIG will be honoured with a star on the Hollywood Walk of
Fame in 2012, rather later than his captain and other crew members
from the original _Star Trek_ series and related films. [NSFC]

TANITH LEE's story 'Snow-Drop' became controversial when its inclusion
in a Cairo University fantasy-fiction reading list was denounced,
supposedly for the lesbian scene: 'Teaching homosexuality at Cairo
University', ranted an Egyptian paper. The story was taught for a
whole term without complaint; the _Guardian_ (29 June) suggests a
'fabricated moral scandal' intended to discredit the CU English
department, whose staff is predominantly female and one of whose
professors was recently elected as Cairo University's first-ever
female dean. [MPJ]

SACI LLOYD's YA thriller _Momentum_ is yet another of those books that
Transcend Mere Genre despite containing skiffy stuff like 'carbon
rationing and environmental meltdown [...] augmented reality, police
brutality, surveillance, free running and secret codes hidden in a
global communications system called the Dreamline. Oh, and a forbidden
love story between privileged citizen Hunter and outsider-on-the-run
Uma. / Put baldly like that, it sounds like too much for one book to
pack in, too unlikely to be anything other than dystopian science
fiction. Yet one of the more exciting and chilling aspects of the book
is just how close to reality it comes.' (Michelle Pauli, _Guardian_,
15 July) The author herself caps this with the famous Atwoodian
clincher: 'It's not squids in outer space but just slightly removed
from today's reality ...' [WP]

J.K. ROWLING's split with her long-time literary agent Christopher
Little made news headlines; he's unhappy and may sue. JKR switched to
a new agency set up by Little's erstwhile business partner Neil Blair,
a lawyer rather than a literary agent. (_Independent_, 4 July) [MPJ]
Also: the daft _Willy the Wizard_ plagiarism claim against Bloomsbury
and JKR (see _A272_) has finally collapsed in the UK, where the judge
felt and the Court of Appeal agreed that its chance of success was so
low that Pounds1.5m must be paid into court as security for the
defendants' expected costs. This was not forthcoming. (BBC, 18 July)
[JS] Good result: but a proper drubbing in court -- as in the USA --
would have been more satisfying.

STEPH SWAINSTON decided to cancel her current two-book contract with
Gollancz and retrain as an A-level chemistry teacher (_Independent_,
10 July): 'I suffer terribly from isolation while writing. I really
need a job where I can be around people and learn to speak again. It's
much, much healthier to be around people. Human beings are social
animals.' Your editor muses: writing's a lonely business, but
teaching ... argh!


### CONISTERY ###

Until 27 Aug [] BRUCE PENNINGTON art exhibition, Atlantis Bookshop,
Museum St, London, WC1A 1LY. 10:30am-6pm, Mon-Sat.

24 Aug [] BSFA OPEN MEETING, The Antelope, 22 Eaton Terrace, London,
SW1W 8EZ. 5pm for 7pm. Free. With Kim Lakin-Smith.

17-21 Aug [] RENOVATION (69th Worldcon), Reno-Sparks Convention
Center, Reno, NV, USA. _Now $220 reg; $500 family (2 adults + n
under-17s); $120 under-21s._ Unchanged: $75 under-17s; under-7s free;
$50 supp. For day rates, see www.renovationsf.org. Contact PO Box
13278, Portland, OR 97213-0278, USA; or info at renovationsf dot org.

19-21 Aug [] FESTIVAL IN THE SHIRE: Tolkien art/book exhibition, 'mini-
festival'. 10am-6pm, Wynnstay Hotel, Machynlleth.

2 Sep [] HEARTWOOD (Rob Holdstock memorial discussion), British
Library. 6:30-8pm. Pounds7.50/Pounds5 concessions. Online booking
only? See www.bl.uk/whatson/exhibitions/outof/events (with other
events too).

2-8 Sep [] SF SPECTACULAR, Oxfam Bookshop, Reading: a second promotion
based on Brian Stableford's huge donation of sf texts.

15 Sep [] ROBERT RANKIN evening, Phoenix Square, Midland St,
Leicester, LE1 1TG. 7pm. Pounds5.50. Box office 0116 242 2800.

7-9 Oct [] SCI-FI LONDON OKTOBERFEST, Odeon Camden Town and other
Camden Town venues. Further details to follow.

15-16 Oct [] OCTOCON, Camden Court Hotel, Dublin 2, Ireland. Euro30
reg; under-18s/concessions Euro20; supp Euro10; accompanied under-12s
free. Contact: Apt 56 Shalimar, Monastery Rd, Clondalkin, Dublin 22.

6-9 Apr 2012 [] OLYMPUS 2012 (Eastercon), Heathrow, London. Pounds55
reg, Pounds45 unwaged, _rising on 1 September to Pounds65 and
Pounds55_. Pounds20 supp/under-17s, Pounds5 under-12s, Pounds1
under-5s. Contact 4 Evesham Green, Aylesbury, Bucks, HP19 9RX, or
enquiries at olympus2012 dot org.

25-27 Feb 2013 [] REDEMPTION '13 (multimedia sf), Britannia Hotel,
Coventry, CV1 5RP. Pounds60 reg, _rising to Pounds65 on 1 September
2011_; unwaged etc Pounds20 less; Pounds75 at door. Pounds15 supp and
under-18s; under-3s free. Contact 61 Chaucer Road, Farnborough,
Hampshire, GU14 8SP.

RUMBLINGS. _Worldcon 2015_. An Orlando, Florida bid has emerged to
challenge the existing bid for Spokane: see orlandoin2015.org.


### INFINITELY IMPROBABLE ###

NEWS HEADLINE. _Telegraph_, 29 July: 'Harry Potter dwarf spared jail
over juggler's hat sex act'. As usual the story (an everyday saga of,
ahem, dwarf-tossing) fails to match up to the headline's promise.

PUBLISHERS AND SINNERS. Pan Macmillan is encouraging sf artists! From
the promotional email: 'I wanted to flag up the Peter F. Hamilton
artwork competition we are running in conjunction with _SFX_ magazine.
Two lucky winners will see their jacket designs adorn special eBook
editions of two stories from the collection.' What rich rewards await
the successful creators? From the T&C: 'There are two prizes, the
prizes consist of each winner having their artwork used by Pan
Macmillan on the ebook format of a short story by Peter F. Hamilton
[...] There is no fee, royalty or cash prize attached to this
competition.' Because this is austerity Britain and we mustn't
encourage talent too much. [DVB]

AS OTHERS SEE US. On _Another Earth_: 'Mike Cahill's directorial
feature-film debut sounds like a science-fiction movie, but it's not.
Yes, it features the appearance in the sky of an Earth identical to
our own, one populated by doppelgangers [...] And yes, the dialogue
sometimes bandies about concepts like synchronicity (sometimes
annoyingly so). / But more than anything, the metaphysics function as
a metaphor ...' Which is of course unknown in sf. (_Globe & Mail_, 29
July) [AIP]

AWARDS. _John W. Campbell Memorial:_ Ian McDonald, _The Dervish
House_.
_Mythopoeic_ (fantasy) ADULT Karen Lord, _Redemption in Indigo_.
CHILDREN'S Megan Whalen Turner, 'Queen's Thief' series. SCHOLARSHIP:
INKLINGS Michael Ward, _Planet Narnia_. SCHOLARSHIP: OTHER Caroline
Sumpter, _The Victorian Press and the Fairy Tale_.
_Prometheus_ (libertarian): Sarah Hoyt, _Darkship Thieves_.
Prometheus Hall of Fame: George Orwell, _Animal Farm_.
_Rhysling_ (poetry): LONG C.S.E. Cooney, 'The Sea King's Second
Bride' (_Goblin Fruit_ Spring 2010). SHORT Amal El-Mohtar, 'Peach-
Creamed Honey' (_The Honey Month_, 2010) -- initially announced in
third place, after which the winner and runner-up were found to be
ineligible (published 2009).
_Sturgeon_ (short story): Geoffrey A. Landis, 'The Sultan of the
Clouds' (_Asimov's_ 9/10).
_Cordwainer Smith Rediscovery_ (unsung sf/fantasy authors):
Katherine MacLean.

ROLE MODEL. A rare sf moment in the UK phone-hacking scandal: James
Murdoch 'used to have a life-sized cardboard cut out of Darth Vader
outside his office'. As one does. (_Independent_, 11 July) [MPJ]

MEMORIES OF THE SPACE AGE. 'Email from someone who worked on the
Shuttle Trajectory Server for Atlantis: "[Navigation Co-worker] shut
down the Traj Server for the final time this morning. I'm told that
before doing so he added to the messages the final words of Hal 9000,
and then 'Will I dream?' Someone took video of this, and if they get
it up to YouTube I'll let you know."' (Jonathan Clements, 21 July)

R.I.P. _Hans Joachim Alpers_ (1943-2011), German sf author (sometimes
as Jurgen Andreas), editor, critic, anthologist, publisher and
literary agent, died on 16 February; he was 67. He co-edited the major
reference work _Lexicon der Science Fiction Literatur_ (1980). [GVG]
_Toyo'o Ashida_ (1944-2011), Japanese animator who founded Studio
Live in 1976 and presided over the 152-episode sf/martial arts anime
series _Fist of the North Star_, died on 23 July. [JC]
_Linda Christian_ (1923-2011), US actress who appeared with
Johnny Weissmuller in _Tarzan and the Mermaids_ (1948) and was the
first 'Bond girl' (_Casino Royale_, 1954 tv), died on 22 July aged 87.
[MPJ]
_Robert Ettinger_ (1918-2011), US cryonics advocate and founder
of the Cryonics Institute, who also published some stories (starting
1948) and articles in the sf magazines, died on 23 July and was of
course frozen. He was 92. [PDF]
_Sakyo Komatsu_ (1931-2011), leading Japanese sf author best
known in the West for his influential disaster novel _Japan Sinks_
(_Nippon Chinbotsu_, 1973; trans 1976) but also hugely prolific in
untranslated works, died on 26 July; he was 80. [JC] He was a guest of
honour at the 2007 Japanese Worldcon.
_Anna Massey_ (1937-2011), UK actress whose genre credits include
_The Vault of Horror_ (1973), _The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles_
(1992-1993 tv) and _The Return of the Psammead_ (1993 tv), died on 3
July aged 73. [AW]
_Philip Rahman_ (1952-2011), co-founder of the World Fantasy
Award-winning US weird fiction publisher Fedogan & Bremer, died on 23
July aged 59. [L]
_Theodore Roszak_ (1933-2011), US historian and cultural critic
who began publishing sf with _Bugs_ (1981), gained a cult following
for _Flicker_ (1991) and shared the Tiptree Award for _The Memoirs of
Elizabeth Frankenstein_ (1995), died on 5 July; he was 77.
_Googie Withers_ (1917-2011), UK-born actress best remembered for
Hitchcock's _The Lady Vanishes_ but with a few horror and fantasy
credits like _Dead of Night_ (1945) and _Miranda_ (1948), died on 15
July aged 94. [AW]
_Martin Woodhouse_ (1932-2011), UK author of scripts for Gerry
Anderson's _Supercar_ (1961-1962, with his brother Hugh) and other tv
sf including _The Avengers_, died on 15 May aged 78. He also wrote
five technothrillers full of sf gadgetry, beginning with _Tree Frog_
(1966). [CMJ]

AS OTHERS SEE US II. Laurie Penny struggles to find something sinister
in the crowds queueing for _Harry Potter 7_ part 2: 'Many of the fans
have drawn wobbly spectacles and lightning scars onto their faces as
they shout in chorus, and I am reminded of Christopher Hitchens'
observation that the lightning bolt on the forehead was also the
symbol of Oswald Mosley's fascits. Fanaticism, however twee, is always
disturbing.' And of course a cigar is never just a cigar. 'There is
something clumsily Freudian in the way these young women are clutching
their plastic and wooden wands ...' (_Independent_, 13 July) [MPJ]

WORLD FANTASY AWARD SHORTLIST. NOVEL Lauren Beukes, _Zoo City_; N.K.
Jemisin, _The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms_; Graham Joyce, _The Silent
Land_; Guy Gavriel Kay, _Under Heaven_; Karen Lord, _Redemption In
Indigo_; Nnedi Okorafor, _Who Fears Death_.
NOVELLA Elizabeth Bear, _Bone and Jewel Creatures_; Michael
Byers, _The Broken Man_; Elizabeth Hand, 'The Maiden Flight of
McCauley's Bellerophon' (_Stories_); Tim Lebbon, _The Thief of Broken
Toys_; George R.R. Martin, 'The Mystery Knight' (_Warriors_); Rachel
Swirsky, 'The Lady Who Plucked Red Flowers beneath the Queen's
Window' (_Subterranean_ Summer 2010).
SHORT Christopher Fowler, 'Beautiful Men' (_Visitants_); Karen
Joy Fowler, 'Booth's Ghost' (_What I Didn't See_); Kij Johnson,
'Ponies' (Tor.com 11/10); Joyce Carol Oates, 'Fossil-
Figures' (_Stories_); Mercurio D. Rivera, 'Tu Sufrimiento Shall
Protect Us' (_Black Static_ 8/10).
ANTHOLOGY John Joseph Adams, ed., _The Way of the Wizard_; Kate
Bernheimer, ed., _My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me_; Ellen
Datlow & Nick Mamatas, eds., _Haunted Legends_; Neil Gaiman & Al
Sarrantonio, eds., _Stories_; S.T. Joshi, ed., _Black Wings_; Jonathan
Strahan & Lou Anders, eds., _Swords & Dark Magic_.
COLLECTION Karen Joy Fowler, _What I Didn't See_; Caitlin R.
Kiernan, _The Ammonite Violin_; M. Rickert, _Holiday_; Angela Slatter,
_Sourdough_; Jeff VanderMeer, _The Third Bear_.
ARTIST Vincent Chong, Kinuko Y. Craft, Richard A. Kirk, John
Picacio, Shaun Tan. SPECIAL, PROFESSIONAL John Joseph Adams, editing
and anthologies; Lou Anders, editing at Pyr; Marc Gascoigne, Angry
Robot; Stephane Marsan & Alain Nevant, Bragelonne; Brett Alexander
Savory & Sandra Kasturi, ChiZine Publications.
SPECIAL, NON-PROFESSIONAL Stephen Jones, Michael Marshall Smith &
Amanda Foubister, _Brighton Shock!_; Alisa Krasnostein, Twelfth Planet
Press; Matthew Kressel, Sybil's Garage and Senses Five Press; Charles
Tan, Bibliophile Stalker; Lavie Tidhar, World SF Blog.
LIFE ACHIEVEMENT winners: Peter S. Beagle, Angelica Gorodischer.

OUTRAGED LETTERS. _Harry Bell_ on how Radio 4 comedy sees us: 'On
tonight's _Another Case of Milton Jones_: "Do you think some aliens
who have difficulty forming natural relationships go to conventions
where they all dress up as humans?" Maybe you had to be there.' (21
July)

COURT CIRCULAR. George Lucas's lengthy lawsuit against Andrew
Ainsworth, designer of the _Star Wars_ stormtrooper armour, was
finally defeated in the UK Supreme Court this July despite letters of
support in which Steven Spielberg, Peter Jackson, James Cameron and
Jon Landau tried to influence justice in Lucas's favour. The upheld
decision is that Ainsworth's designs were indeed just props --
copyright-protected for only 15 years, making it legal since 1992 for
him to sell replicas -- rather than artistic creations. Also
controversial in some quarters was the court's observation that 'The
_Star Wars_ films are set in an imaginary, science-fiction world of
the future ...' (_The Register_, 27 July) [DKMK]
Marvel Comics won its case against Jack Kirby's family, who
claimed to own the copyright on 1958-1963 comics work created by Kirby
despite the latter's own admission and signed agreement that it was
done on the usual work-for-hire basis. The Kirby estate plans to
appeal. (BBC, 29 July) [MPJ]

THE SONIC SCREWDRIVER OF INESCAPABILITY. An 'alternative census' poll
claims the typical British family watches tv for 9 hours daily, with
their favourite show being _Doctor Who_. (_Guardian_, 11 July) [MPJ]

THE DEAD PAST. _40 Years Ago:_ 'NEW BRUM BOOKSHOP: Rog Peyton has
formed the Andromeda Book Co. and has opened a shop at [...] Reddall
Hill Rd, Old Hill, Warley, Worcs. which will be open on Saturdays only
from August 7th.' (_Checkpoint_ 7, August 1971)

RANDOM FANDOM. _Fancyclopedia 3:_ this fan project has been revived by
Mark Olson and Joe Siclari and is now at the easier-to-update wiki
site fancyclopedia.wikidot.com. Knowledgable volunteer editors are
needed.
_First Fandom Hall of Fame_ nominees: Jay Kay Klein, Ray
Bradbury, Keith Stokes and (posthumous) Oliver Saari. [F770]
_Steve Green_ (Nova administrator) momentously reveals: 'Moves
are under way to open voting in the annual Nova Awards up to all fans
resident in Britain and Eire, not just those who are members of
Novacon. A formal announcement will be made shortly.'
_Matrix_ (1975-2011): the death of the long-running British SF
Association newsletter (nee _BSFA Newsletter_, 1975-1976) was
announced by its current editor Ian Whates in _Vector 267_ and a 23
July BSFA website editorial. He blamed general contributor apathy
(much increased since the 2007 shift from print to web publication)
and competition from rival sf news sites.

AS OTHERS SAW US. 'In her 1969 essay "The Pornographic
Imagination," [Susan] Sontag insisted that _Story of O_ could be
correctly defined as "authentic" literature. She compared the ratio of
first-rate pornography to trashy books within the genre to "another
somewhat shady subgenre with a few first-rate books to its credit,
science fiction." She also maintained that like science fiction,
pornography was aimed at "disorientation, at psychic
dislocation."' (_Guernica_, June 2011) [BH]

GLITTERING PRIZES. _James White Award:_ the current competition is
open to short story submissions from new writers until 31 January
2012. Further details from administrator at jameswhiteaward com. No
entry fee.
_Aeon Award:_ 2011 submissions are open to 30 November. Euro1000
first prize; other prizes; Euro7 entry fee. Send to 8 Bachelor's Walk,
Dublin 1, Ireland. See rules at www.albedo1.com/aeon_award.html.

THOG'S MASTERCLASS. _Subtle Clues Dept._ 'Inside lay a gleaming
sapphire and in its center rested a spider! "This is it!" Nancy
whispered excitedly. "The gem's not synthetic! See, the spider has no
spinnerets!"' (Carolyn Keene, _The Spider Sapphire Mystery_, 1968. Our
researcher explains: 'This is a Nancy Drew novel, and the stolen
sapphire was formed around an actual, primitive, and presumably
extremely durable spider.') [PL]
_Dept of Art Appreciation._ 'The magic of this piece of Tom
Gainsborough's art never failed to have a profound effect on Professor
Moriarty. He often thought that had his brain been equipped with taste
buds, it would have been as though his mind had bitten into the most
refreshing, deliciously ripe fruit, flooding his brain with juices
that brought together all the great, exotic tastes -- more than could
ever be experienced in a lifetime.' (John Gardner, _Moriarty_, 2008)
[BA]
_Amphiboly Dept._ 'Walking the street, Jones slipped on a pair of
dark sunglasses.' (Jeffrey Thomas, 'Immolation', in _Punktown_, 2000)
[GM]

### GEEKS' CORNER ###

SUBSCRIPTIONS. New procedure from October 2010: to receive _Ansible_
monthly via email, send a message to:
ansible-news+subscribe [at] googlegroups.com
You will be asked to confirm that you want to join the group. To
resign, send email to:
ansible-news+unsubscribe [at] googlegroups.com
More details here:
http://news.ansible.co.uk/asubs.html
RSS feed -- http://news.ansible.co.uk/rss.html
LiveJournal syndication -- http://www.livejournal.com/users/ansiblezine/
Back issues -- http://news.ansible.co.uk/
Links and archive -- http://links.ansible.co.uk/
Email the editor -- http://news.ansible.co.uk/contact.php
Books Received -- http://ansible.co.uk/books.php

CONVENTION AND EVENT LINKS
[] British Isles (plus Eurocon, Worldcon) -- http://links.ansible.co.uk
[] London meetings/events -- http://news.ansible.co.uk/london.html
[] Overseas -- http://news.ansible.co.uk/conlisti.html


### ENDNOTES ###

APPARITIONS.
[] 12 August 2011: Brum Group, Summer Social at Black Eagle pub:
advance booking required. Normal meetings are at the Briar Rose Hotel,
Bennett's Hill, Birmingham city centre, 7:30pm for 8pm; Pounds4 or
Pounds3 for members. Contact bhamsfgroup at yahoo co uk or rog.peyton
at btinternet com. Further meetings: 9 September, Stan Nicholls &
Peter Weston; 14 October, David Wingrove; 4 November, TBA.
[] 6 September 2011: Frances Hardinge reading, Oxfam Bookshop, Market
Place, Reading, RG1 2EA. 6:30pm. Free, I think.

EDITORIAL. Well, apart from huge and increasing _SF Encylopedia_
pressures, the long struggle to clear Hazel's late father's house for
sale (with much welcome help from Freegle) and the recurring pains in
my fingers, things aren't going too badly. I'm getting a bit worried,
though, about my ability to keep _Ansible_ to its relentless monthly
schedule without arranging for extra hours in the day. Are there any
good eBay deals on devices that produce useful TIME DISTORTION (a new
_SFE_ entry, by the way)? [] Meanwhile, in July they melded my mind:
http://tinyurl.com/BDO-mindmeld

PAYPAL TIP JAR. Support _Ansible_, cover website costs and keep the
editor happy! Or just buy his books.
http://ansible.co.uk/paypal.html
http://ansible.co.uk/books/index.html
http://ansible.co.uk/books/starcomb.html

THOG'S SECOND HELPING. _Troublingly Hirsute Dept._ 'His nose was long
and sharp, his eyes deep-set, and a prehensile mustache dipped and
clung to his chin below his lower lip.' (Sara Wheeler, _Too Close to
the Sun. The Audacious Life and Times of Denys Finch Hatton_, 2007)
[MH]


Ansible 289 Copyright (c) David Langford, 2011. Thanks to Brian
Ameringen, David V. Barrett, Jonathan Clements, Paul Di Filippo, File
770, Steve Green, Bob Ham, Margaret Hoyt, Martyn P. Jackson, Claire M.
Jordan, David K.M. Klaus, Locus, Pamela Love, Gregg Marchese,
Nashville SF Club, Will Plant, Andrew I. Porter, Jim Steel, Gordon Van
Gelder, Andrew Wells, and our Hero Distributors: Dave Corby (Brum
Group), SCIS/Prophecy, Alan Stewart (Australia).

1 August 2011