Ansible 140 [long]
David Langford
ANSIBLE 140
MARCH 1999
From DAVE LANGFORD, 94 London Road, Reading, Berkshire, RG1 5AU, UK. Fax
0118 966 9914. ISSN 0265-9816. E-mail ans...@cix.co.uk. Available for
SAE or an IBM PC to Ktistec Machine upgrade.
[NET NOTE. Please see the last section for subscribe/unsubscribe
information: such requests should NOT be sent to my personal e-mail
address. DRL]
GOSH. Spot the living sf author in the BBC News website poll's 10
Greatest Writers of the Millennium: Shakespeare (#1), Austen, Orwell,
Dickens, Banks, Tolkien, Joyce, Dostoyevsky, Cervantes and Twain.
### THE IMPALER OF DISTORTIONS ###
ARTHUR C.CLARKE's post-1998 `Egogram' has a little gloat about the recent
`unique tribute from my adopted country, when a stamp was issued showing
my portrait superimposed on the geostationary satellite configuration.
I certainly never imagined that this would happen, when I sorted the mail
in Bishops Lydeard post office 65 years ago.' [SB]
MICHAEL CONEY has evidently been distracted from sf writing by fiercer
pleasures, as indicated by his letter in _Railway Modeller_ (Feb 99)
debating a point of hobby theology. The author of _The Celestial Steam
Locomotive_ has Views on motorized tenders: `As a science fiction writer
I am accustomed to persuading my readers to suspend their natural
inclination to disbelief. Well I can swallow -- just about -- the fact
that the steam locomotives on my GWR 00 layout are actually driven by
electricity, but I could not swallow the knowledge that the same
locomotives were being pushed along by their tenders. It's ludicrous.'
[PB]
WILLIAM GIBSON has an even more thrilling hobby than Michael Coney's, and
spent several pages of _Wired_ (Jan 99) explaining his new addiction to
the eBay on-line auction market, which meets this former netphobe's
insatiable need for vintage Rolex watches. `[M]echanical watches partake
of what my friend John Clute calls the Tamagotchi Gesture. They're
pointless in a peculiarly needful way; they're comforting precisely
because they require tending.' [MMW] Ahhh.
STANISLAW LEM's four-year lawsuit against his former agent Franz
Rottensteiner was recently thrown out by a Viennese court. Lem was
reportedly required to pay the equivalent of $9,000 in legal costs.
ANNE MCCAFFREY won the American Library Association's 1999 Margaret
Edwards Award, for lifetime achievement in writing books popular with
teenagers. The announcement adds that `The ALA has created a beautiful
gold seal for placement on all Anne McCaffrey titles.' Unreliable sources
predict a new Pern book in which a spurned would-be dragonrider finds
consolation and telepathic intimacy with the beautiful gold seals not
previously noticed in Pernese oceans.
WILLIAM SHATNER denies everything: `I'd love to tell you that _Star Trek_
was one sexual olympiad, but I was working 15 hours a day. I can't say
I didn't try to, but I was always being called to the set at crucial
moments.' (_Guardian_, 13 Feb) [BB] Er, just _how_ crucial ...?
CONNIE WILLIS provided a tasty soundbite at Boskone 36, on the joy of
research: `You get to ask questions like "If you had the plague and tried
to lance one of the buboes, what exactly would come out of it? And how
far would it spurt?"' Also at Boskone, James Patrick Kelly said of her
first story `Santa Titicaca': `I happen to know that Connie Willis is
willing to spend big money for somebody who is willing to find one of the
few remaining copies and _destroy_ it in front of her.' [H] This should
boost the market for _Worlds of Fantasy_, Winter 70-71....
### CONAN ###
Until 27 Mar [] NAOMI MITCHISON: A Century of Achievement, The Writers'
Museum, Lady Stair's Close, Lawnmarket, Edinburgh. 10am-5pm, admission
free. Further details 0131 529 4901.
6-7 Mar [] MICROCON 19, Devonshire House, University of Exeter. GoH: me.
Free entry, with no advance booking, but members are asked to give to
University Rag charities. Contact 01626 888797.
11-12 Mar & 18-19 Mar [] ELEMENTS, Lincoln Central Library, `a festival
of science fact, fiction and phenomena.' With S.Baxter, C.Greenland,
R.L.Fanthorpe and others. Contact 01522 528753.
13-14 Mar [] MECON 2, SCR, Queen's U of Belfast. GoH Michael Marshall
Smith. #10/#12I reg, to Queen's U SF Soc c/o Flat 2, 12 Ashley Avenue,
Belfast, BT9 7BT.
24 Mar [] BSFA OPEN MEETING, Florence Nightingale pub, on York Rd/
Westminster Bridge Rd roundabout. 7pm on. With Liz Holliday.
25 Mar [] MICHAEL MOORCOCK Q&A SESSION, Dulwich Library Hall (1st floor),
368 Lordship Lane, London, SE22. 7pm. No charge.
27-8 Mar [] MEMORABILIA (vast sf film, cult tv, pop and comic collectors'
fair), NEC, Birmingham. Box office 0121 767 4525.
2-5 Apr [] RECONVENE (Eastercon), Adelphi Hotel, Liverpool. #50 reg; #25
supp, children 5-14, over-60s. Under-5s free. #80 and #40 at the door.
Contact 3 West Shrubbery, Redland, Bristol, BS6 6SZ. _Ansible_ nervously
approached the ominous _Chris Bell_ to ask whether Reconvene might look
kindly on belated applications until, say, 13 Mar, since unfortunately
_A139_ did not carry hideous warnings about that 1 Mar cutoff date for
postal memberships.... Shifting a chewed matchstick from one side of her
mouth to the other, she answered: `Tell you what, Dave me old mucker....
Seeing it's you, and I wouldn't do it for anyone else mind, the
treasurer'll have my hide for it, but ... You tell 'em, if they want to
send in their bleedin' memberships on the pier'ead jump like, if they
send 'em with the _Ansible_ you say it in or what looks like it any'ow,
they can do it till 13 March, and for you, I'll even hold the rate to 50
smackers for 'em, I'm cutting me own throat to do it, right? Can't say
fairer than that, now can I?' (Printout/photocopy acceptable.)
3-5 Sep [] FESTIVAL OF FANTASTIC FILMS, Sacha's Hotel, Manchester. _Now
#50 reg_, rising 1 Jun. Tenth event in series. Contact 95 Meadowgate Rd,
Salford, Manchester, M7 3QP.
10-12 Sep [] MASQUE 7 (costumery), U of Wolverhampton, Dudley Campus,
W.Midlands. #25 reg to 14 Apr, #30 to 1 Aug, then #35. Contact 130
Hamstead Hall Rd, Handsworth Wood, Birmingham, B20 1JB.
17-20 Sep [] BREAKAWAY (Cult TV '99), Pontin's Sand Bay Holiday Village
(shudder), Weston-Super-Mare. Celebrates date of the Moon's escape from
orbit in _Space 1999_. #128 reg inc 3 nights' half board. Contact PO Box
1701, Peterborough, PE7 1ER. 01733 205009.
17-19 Sep [] FANTASYCON 23, Britannia Hotel, New St, Birmingham. #50/$100
reg, #25/$50 supp (BFS members #40/$80 and #20/$40). Contact (SAE) 46
Oxford Rd, Acocks Green, Birmingham, B27 6DT.
30-31 Oct [] M.R.JAMES WEEKEND, Royal Victoria & Bull Hotel, Rochester,
Kent. Linked to this year's 20th anniversary of _Ghosts and Scholars_,
the James appreciation magazine. #25 reg. Contact (SAE) 150 Elstree Park,
Barnet Lane, Borehamwood, Herts, WD6 2RP.
4-6 Feb 00, DIDGERI-12 (filk) Forte Posthouse, Milton Keynes. #22 reg,
#11 unwaged. GoH Brian Biddle, Urban Tapestry. (Supposed to be Didgeri-
Douze, ho ho, but they're stuck with the above name for arcane bank
reasons.) Contact 119 Whitehill Lane, Gravesend, Kent DA12 5LU.
_Rumblings_ [] RECONVENE: URGENT! If you joined but didn't get PR3,
contact Reconvene _now_. The PO ate part (10%?) of the Nov mailing....
### INFINITELY IMPROBABLE ###
NEBULAS. The latest novel shortlist: Catherine Asaro, _The Last Hawk_;
Joe Haldeman, _Forever Peace_; Jack McDevitt, _Moonfall_; Harry
Turtledove, _How Few Remain_; Martha Wells, _Death of the Necromancer_;
Connie Willis, _To Say Nothing of the Dog_. Also, Avram Davidson's and
Grania Davis's nifty short novel _The Boss in the Wall_ made the novella
shortlist.
PUBLISHERS AND SINNERS. Orion/Millennium mercilessly tested our Philip
K.Dick awareness by reissuing _Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?_
twice last month -- in B format, thus titled, as an SF Masterworks series
selection (#6.99), and in A format as _Blade Runner_ (#5.99).
RANDOM FANDOM. _Chris Evans_ and long-time girlfriend Fiona were married
on 27 Feb. Chris Priest and family were there: `a rather good thrash at
a large and excellent riverside pub overlooking Canada Tower and, from
the safety of the far side of the river, the Millennium Dome (the
children, of the latter: "Can we go there, Daddy, can we?, can we?" etc.;
the shame of it).' The usual sf suspects present included Dave Garnett,
Rob Holdstock and -- fannish nostalgia! -- the Charnock and Kettle
menages. [] _Ian Gunn_'s fannish comic _Space-Time Buccaneers_ has been
assembled as intended into a _circa_-100pp graphic novel, by Karen
Pender-Gunn. This will be sold for his memorial fund (aiding fan causes,
sponsoring an iguana in Melbourne zoo): price around #6. To get the print
run right, advance orders are begged -- no money as yet -- c/o 14
Northway Road, Croydon, Surrey, CR0 6JE. [CB/MP] [] _Bryan Talbot_,
plugging the launch of his Luther Arkwright comic epic _Heart of Empire_
in Apr, unwisely let slip that the `SF Writer Tavern Scene' (see
adumbrations in _A128_) isn't until issue 7 of 9, chiz chiz chiz.
THOG'S SCIENCE MASTERCLASS. NASA's Astronomy News website reveals the
remarkable powers of modern astronomers ... `An expanding universe "thins
out" what astronomers can see at the furthest reaches of their
instruments by moving galaxies further and further apart.' [JB]
GENDER-BENDER SPLENDOUR. _Tiptree Award_ ... Raphael Carter, `Congenital
Agenesis of Gender Ideation' (in _Starlight 2_). [] _Lambda Literary
Award_ (gay/lesbian) sf/fantasy category shortlist: Nichola
Griffith/Stephen Pagel (ed), _Bending The Landscape_; Ulysses Dietz,
_Desmond_; Elizabeth Brownrigg, _Falling to Earth_; Clive Barker,
_Galilee_; Lawrence Schimel (ed), _Things Invisible to See_. [LS]
R.I.P. _Robert `Buck' Coulson_ (1928-1999) died unexpectedly on 19 Feb.
He wrote some sf with Gene DeWeese -- notably the recursively fannish
novels _Now You See It/Him/Them_ (1975) and _Charles Fort Never Mentioned
Wombats_ (1977) -- but is far better known in fandom for his copious
correspondence and 259 issues of _Yandro_ (1953-86; winner of the 1965
fanzine Hugo). His wife Juanita, a more prolific author and the co-editor
of _Yandro_, survives him. For fans who'd like to make memorial
donations, she suggests the American Heart, Lung, and Diabetic
Associations. [] _Wayland Drew_ died 3 Dec 1998 in Canada, aged 65. John
Clute writes: `He was best-known for the Erthring Cycle, a post-
apocalypse sf series for Ballantine (1984-6); but his finest work is
probably _The Wabeno Feast_ (1973), published only in Canada.'
OH DEAR. _The Rev.Jerry Falwell_, famous US religious loon, has
notoriously been denouncing Tinky Winky of the Teletubbies as a gay icon.
This embarrassed journalist Michael Colton, who first outed TW in a joke
_Washington Post_ column claiming that besides carrying a handbag, this
Teletubby walks, or waddles, with sinister effeminacy. Irony-proof
Falwell then came up with his own clinching evidence -- TW's triangular
antenna and purple coloration are Gay Pride symbols! Colton: `Falwell
admits he's never watched the Teletubbies. But homosexuality obviously
excites the man....' Falwell has since denied something or other.
CRITICAL ASIDES. `You say that having "a vision and a message" makes a
fine literary style. How about H.G.Wells, for example? _There's_ an
evangelist and a seer, indisputably. But his writing! Have you ever seen
a cold rice-pudding spilt on the pavement of Gower Street? I never have.
But it occurs to me as a perfect simile for Wells's writing.' (Max
Beerbohm, letter to Bernard Shaw, 1903) [] _Tom Holt_'s latest comic
fantasy _Only Human_ has an interesting Hell scene, where a chap is
incarcerated in fire for cruelty to authors (e.g. saying how good their
_early_ work was, and how the new stuff isn't a patch on it) and
suffering his 75 millionth rereading, so far, of some mysterious unnamed
text: `I've just got to the bit where the tourist meets the wizard....'
ONCE MORE ... _John Barnes_'s titles are again in a twist: `The reason
the US edition of my first story/essay collection is titled _Apostrophes
and Apocalypses_, and the UK edition _Apocalypses and Apostrophes_, is
neither because Americans don't see any point in punctuating after the
end of the world, nor a British insistence on alphabetical order, but
because the author, who is something of an idiot, never decided between
the two versions and used both in correspondence over a period of years.
Both publishers took their best guesses, and came out in opposite
directions; the blame rests solely upon the author, just as in US
editions of _Prejudice and Pride_, _Punishment And Crime_, and _A City
Of Two Tales_.'
GROUP GROPES. _Skeptics in the Pub_ brings yet another group to the
Florence Nightingale: the fan-infested UK sceptical movement. Bent spoons
and UFOs will doubtless abound. 3rd Thur monthly `usually' (but next is
11 Mar), 7:30pm on. 0171 862 8686. [] _Birmingham:_ `A bloody coup
amongst the war-torn ranks of the Brum Group saw young turk Yvonne Rowse
enthroned as chair/emperor, whilst holding on to the newsletter
editorship in order to stifle reports of her machinations. In other
words, she was daft enough to remain in the room when they took
nominations, and not run screaming into the street.' [SG]
SMALL PRESS. _M.J. `Simo' Simpson_ has assumed the awesome role of UK
correspondent for French fan Alain Nevant's `exciting, glossy new
venture, entitled, um, _Science Fiction Magazine_.' Interesting (`to our
Gallic chums') news solicited: 405 Saffron Lane, Leicester, LE2 6UF. []
_Fanzine Fanatique_, the reviews fanzine of which it was so often and so
loudly said since 1972, is back -- and wants fanzines for review: K&R
Walker, 6 Vine St, Lancaster, LA1 4UF. Now in glorious DTP, which may
clarify traditional _FF_ judgements like `_Asnib1e is u+t*r b0Lolcxs._'
OUTRAGED LETTERS ... _Kyle McAbee_ adds to the ever-thrilling mass of
Microsoft thesaurus apocrypha: `Unfortunately, typing "deaf Welsh fan"
into the Word 97 thesaurus produces the suggestion "Martin Hoare". A
Microsoft spokesman explained that this is acceptable, because Microsoft
anticipates that Mr Hoare will become at least slightly deaf as future
versions of Microsoft Word are released.' [] _David Garnett_ looks
askance at the new `fantasy sci-fi list' from Swift Publishers, all by
one Frank Ryan: `_Tiger Tiger_ ... _The Sundered World_ ... what next:
_Dune_? _Childhood's End_? _Foundation_?' [] _Simon R.Green_ wants to
make my flesh creep: `It used to be one of my minor claims to fame that
I was big in Lithuania. Just by being published in Lithuania, I was
automatically big there. But now my agent informs me that my Lithuanian
publisher has been found murdered in his own home. As yet, there appears
to be no connection between this and my work, but still, I can't help
feeling a bit like Salman Rushdie.' But not perhaps a whole _lot_ like
Salman Rushdie.... `More Disney smut: apparently, if you look very
closely, you can see the priest marrying the Little Mermaid has a hard-on
under his surplice. I personally cannot confirm this, as I have a life.'
WHERE ARE THEY NOW? 25 years ago, the _Checkpoint_ poll for Best British
Fanwriter was won by a certain Malcolm Edwards, with runners-up Greg
Pickersgill and John Brosnan. (_Checkpoint 46_, March 1974)
C.O.A. _Jonathan Coxhead_, 660 Gail Ave #A3, Sunnyvale, CA 94086-8160,
USA. _Mike Damesick_, 48 Galton Tower, Civic Close, Birmingham, B1 2NW.
_Stefan Dziemianowicz_, 41 Parkview Dr, Bloomfield, NJ 07003, USA.
_Donald Eastlake III_ and family, 65 Shindegan Hill Rd, RR #1, Carmel,
NY 10512, USA. _Tommy Ferguson_ has escaped the _Belfast Telegraph_ to
write software in Nottingham: new address to follow? _John Mansfield_,
516 Portage Ave, Winnipeg, Manitoba, S3C 0G2, Canada.
CONFIRMATION: THE HARD EVIDENCE OF ALIENS AMONG US. This hard-nosed NBC
tv survey of said `evidence' attained stupefying heights of impartiality
by using an expert source, interviewer, _and_ executive producer with no
possible financial interest in pushing alien abduction theories. Yes, you
guessed it: Whitley Strieber. Lawrence M.Krauss of _Physics of Star Trek_
fame was mystified that the alienness of a fragment of iron extracted
from someone's hand was considered proved when a geologist with a big
microscope `couldn't classify it.' God forbid they should risk taking it
to a metallurgist. Or a scrap-metal dealer. [AIP/NYT] [] Meanwhile _Dop_
noticed subtle sf influence in a Feb UK outbreak: `that C4 crap _Riddle
of the Skies_ ... Brilliant UFO footage. Silvery, conical, apparently
spinning. The guy from the MoD said it might have been a cloud, but to
saddoes like me it was blatantly obvious what it really was. It was a UFO
from Gerry Anderson's _UFO_. What a load of toss.' [] _Martin Morse
Wooster_ sends _Sedona: Journal of Emergence_, containing channeled words
from the disguised aliens among us. `Our representatives [...] are now
known (by your word) as penguins. [...] There is no mathematical problem
that has ever been dreamed up by your species that has not already been
long solved by these beings.' Fancy missing the opportunity to channel
their proof of, say, Goldbach's Conjecture.
THE PICOCON EXPERIENCE. _Imperial College, London, 6 Feb. Claire Brialey
and Mark Plummer were there ..._ `Notable features of Picocon 16
included: [] -- the presence of Stephen Lawhead, M.John Harrison and
Jane Johnson (and thus Gabriel King) as guests; [] -- the absence in
Ireland for the weekend of the key-holder for the cheap food bar; [] --
the old-fashioned but thus ultra-fannish positioning of the book dealers
in the corner of the main programme room; [] -- the funereal pace of the
team quiz, and the disgruntlement of ZZ9 Plural Z Alpha; [] -- efforts
to collect at least seven Imperial College SF Society Past Presidents to
complete the set, er, take a photograph; [] -- the extensively superior
knowledge of the pub quiz participants to the quiz master about capital
crimes, and the disgruntlement of the BSFA; [] -- the stunningly low
cost of Drink; [] -- the possibly related invasion of the bar by drunken
fuckwits -- or, if you prefer, respected members of one of the college's
ex-student drinking societies -- who were out in force, in drag and in
a state of severe intoxication for the rugby; [] -- the logical
inability of typical weedy student sf fans to evict typical drunken
aggressive adult rugby fans; [] -- the fact that it's unlikely to put
anyone off turning up next year either.' [CB/MP]
THOG'S MASTERCLASS. _Dept Of (Yet Again) Eyeballs In The Sky:_ `Rod's
eyes broke away from the ghost and wandered slowly about the great
chamber.' (Christopher Stasheff, _The Warlock in Spite of Himself_, 1969)
[PC] [] `Jack pulled back his fists in readiness, and eyed the druid
through clenched teeth.' (`Maze', _Pro-Am; The Serial_, on the web)
[CR]
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* 1999
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ENDNOTES.
Expressions of interest in Ian Gunn's collected _Space-Time
Buccaneers_ can be e-mailed to:
UK ... Claire Brialey, wom...@tragic.demon.co.cuk
USA ... Teddy Harvia, eus...@exu.ericsson.se
Australia ... Karen Pender-Gunn, fia...@ozramp.net.au
Copies will be produced locally in each country.
Ansible 140 Copyright (c) Dave Langford, 1999. Thanks to Barbara
Barrett, Paul Beardsley, Sid Birchby, Claire Brialey, Peter Coleborn,
Jonathan Cowie, Steve Green, Wendy Grossman, Helmuth (Speaking For
Boskone), New York Times, Mark Plummer, Andrew I.Porter, Colette Reap,
Lawrence Schimel, Martin Morse Wooster, and our Hero Distributors:
Janice Murray (NA), SCIS, Alan Stewart (Oz), and Brum Group News.
4 Mar 99
--
David Langford
ans...@cix.co.uk | http://www.ansible.demon.co.uk/
James Nicoll
David Langford <ans...@cix.co.uk> wrote:
>
>NEBULAS. The latest novel shortlist: Catherine Asaro, _The Last Hawk_;
>Joe Haldeman, _Forever Peace_; Jack McDevitt, _Moonfall_; Harry
>Turtledove, _How Few Remain_; Martha Wells, _Death of the Necromancer_;
>Connie Willis, _To Say Nothing of the Dog_. Also, Avram Davidson's and
>Grania Davis's nifty short novel _The Boss in the Wall_ made the novella
>shortlist.
>
Few Remain_ worthy of a Nebula? Mass mailout?
James Nicoll
--
March 20, 1999: Imperiums To Order's 15th Anniversary Party. Guests include
Rob Sawyer [SF author], Jo Walton [game designer and soon to be published
fantasy author] and James Gardner [SF author]. DP9 is a definite maybe.
Imperiums is at 12 Church Street, Kitchener, Ontario, Canada.
Rich Horton
wrote:
>In article <36dfb436...@news.demon.co.uk>,
>David Langford <ans...@cix.co.uk> wrote:
>>
>>NEBULAS. The latest novel shortlist: Catherine Asaro, _The Last Hawk_;
>>Joe Haldeman, _Forever Peace_; Jack McDevitt, _Moonfall_; Harry
>>Turtledove, _How Few Remain_; Martha Wells, _Death of the Necromancer_;
>>Connie Willis, _To Say Nothing of the Dog_. Also, Avram Davidson's and
>>Grania Davis's nifty short novel _The Boss in the Wall_ made the novella
>>shortlist.
>>
> By what criteria are _Forever Peace_, _Moonfall_ or _How
>Few Remain_ worthy of a Nebula? Mass mailout?
I would ask the same question about the Finch and Gerrold novellas.
He said grumpily. Mileage varies, I suppose.
--
Rich Horton
P Nielsen Hayden
<36e2e432...@news.concentric.net>:
>On 5 Mar 1999 17:10:55 GMT, jam...@ece.uwaterloo.ca (James Nicoll)
>wrote:
>
>>In article <36dfb436...@news.demon.co.uk>,
>>David Langford <ans...@cix.co.uk> wrote:
>>>
>>>NEBULAS. The latest novel shortlist: Catherine Asaro, _The Last Hawk_;
>>>Joe Haldeman, _Forever Peace_; Jack McDevitt, _Moonfall_; Harry
>>>Turtledove, _How Few Remain_; Martha Wells, _Death of the Necromancer_;
>>>Connie Willis, _To Say Nothing of the Dog_. Also, Avram Davidson's and
>>>Grania Davis's nifty short novel _The Boss in the Wall_ made the novella
>>>shortlist.
>>>
>> By what criteria are _Forever Peace_, _Moonfall_ or _How
>>Few Remain_ worthy of a Nebula? Mass mailout?
>
>I would ask the same question about the Finch and Gerrold novellas.
>
>He said grumpily. Mileage varies, I suppose.
I thought HOW FEW REMAIN was pretty darn good, in its very traditional way.
There's a lot of solid intelligence there, and he gets some nineteenth-
century American detail very right. Teresa gave the Mormon passages a big
thumbs up.
I hardly think it would be a disgrace to the Nebulas. Anyway, the
"criteria" for the Nebulas is that enough SFWA members voted for it. This
is not news.
--
Patrick Nielsen Hayden : p...@panix.com : http://www.panix.com/~pnh