Ansible 405 -- May 2021 [long]

[David Langford]

ANSIBLE(R) 406
MAY 2021

From DAVID LANGFORD, 94 London Road, Reading, Berks, RG1 5AU, UK. Website
news.ansible.uk. ISSN 0265-9816 (print); 1740-942X (e). Available for SAE
or nine half-crowns wrapped in grease-proof paper.

[NET NOTE. See https://news.ansible.uk/a406.html for the nice HTML version;
https://news.ansible.uk/pdf/a406.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]

CONFUSION. This year's virtual Eastercon suffered from many technical
problems but fun was nevertheless had. I myself carried out a careful
at-home simulation -- with no streaming software involved -- of my usual
convention practice of sitting in the bar drinking too much and missing all
the panels.
_Eastercon 2022:_ the unopposed Reclamation bid won with 98 votes, 3
abstentions. See the events list below.
_Eastercon 2023:_ decision held over by 69% of the vote (16%
Persistence 2023, 10% 'Alison Scott please' -- who argued for holdover and
to do so had to enter an unnamed bid because only bidders were allowed to
speak -- 4% abstain, 1% experimental error). [JB]
_BSFA Awards._ NOVEL N.K. Jemisin, _The City We Became_. NON-FICTION
Adam Roberts, _It's the End of the World: But What Are We Really Afraid
Of?_ SHORT Ida Keogh, 'Infinite Tea in the Demara Cafe' (_London Centric_).
ARTWORK Iain Clarke, 'Shipbuilding Over the Clyde' (Glasgow in 2024
Worldcon bid).
_Happy Daze_, official con newsletter, can be read at
confusion2021.uk/publications/newsletter/.
_Doc Weir Award:_ Alison Scott, who dedicated it to the 'awful lot of
people who've worked incredibly hard this weekend in ways they may not have
expected, and definitely weren't what they signed up for ...'


### THE BLOWPIPE LAUNDRY ###

GUILLERMO DEL TORO emerged triumphant when the US Ninth Circuit federal
court confirmed a lower court's decision that his film _The Shape of Water_
(woman bonds with sea chap vaguely reminiscent of the Creature from the
Black Lagoon) was not plagiarized from the1969 stage play _Let Me Hear You
Whisper_ (woman bonds with dolphin) by the late Paul Zindel, whose son's
attorney had claimed 69 points of similarity now accepted as coincidental.
(_Entertainment Weekly_, 5 April) [F770]

ALAN DEAN FOSTER is optimistic about his long-outstanding royalties (see
_A401_): 'The irritating imbroglio with Disney, which you may have read
about, is moving rapidly toward a mutually agreeable conclusion.'
(alandeanfoster.com, 1 April) [W] But SFWA has found several other creators
similarly defrauded by Disney of their contractual rights.

GEORGE R.R. MARTIN has been in the news, both for his boast that 'I wrote
hundreds and hundreds of pages of _The Winds of Winter_ in 2020' (blog, 2
February) and for being mentioned -- not in a good way -- in the Hugo
shortlist, where Best Related Work includes Natalie Luhrs's rant about his
Hugo MC performance: 'George R.R. Martin Can Fuck Off Into the Sun, Or: The
2020 Hugo Awards Ceremony (Rageblog Edition)' (pretty-terrible.com, 1
August 2020). It has been wickedly suggested that the 2021 Worldcon, by
having to publish this hurtful-to-GRRM title in the usual places, may thus
be in violation of its own Code of Conduct.

J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI opened up submissions to _The Last Dangerous
Visions_ to unpublished authors only, for just one day. Unfortunately for
eager _Ansible_ readers, the day is or was 30 April 2021. [F770]


### CONGOHELIUM ###

ONLINE. 6 May [] VIRTUAL FIRST THURSDAY, 6-10pm, replacing the usual London
pub meeting. See tinyurl.com/uow6hqn.

POSTPONED. 15-16 May [] HORRORCON UK, Magna, Sheffield. _New dates 18-19
September 2021._ See horrorconuk.com.

ONLINE. 16 May [] LAWLESS: THE BUNKER (comics). For further details see
www.facebook.com/groups/1417073338554565/.

ONLINE. 29-31 May [] GRIMMFEST MAY MADNESS (film), GBP23.50. Details and
other rates at grimmfest.com/2021/04/may-madness-event/.

ONLINE. 4-6 Jun [] CYMERA: Scotland's Festival of SF, Fantasy & Horror
Writing. See www.cymerafestival.co.uk.

ONLINE. 18-20 June [] PUNCTUATION 2. See punctuationcon.uk.

2-4 Jul [] LAVECON (sf/fantasy/gaming), Sedgebrook Hall Hotel,
Northants.Tickets are on sale at www.hwsevents.co.uk/shop-1.

ONLINE. 3-4 July [] TOLKIEN SOCIETY SUMMER SEMINAR. See
www.tolkiensociety.org/events/tolkien-society-summer-seminar/.

15-18 July [] EUROCON 2021, Fiuggi, Italy. Euro50 reg. Now confirmed as an
in-person event with COVID-19 vaccination or pre-testing required
(Facebook, 24 April). Further details awaited at eurocon2021.it.

POSTPONED. 25-29 Aug [] DISCON III (Worldcon), Washington DC, USA. _New
dates 15-19 December._ Physical event still planned, $200 reg; virtual
memberships $75 from 1 May; other rates at discon3.org.

24-26 Sep [] FANTASYCON 2021, Jury's Inn, Broad Street, Birmingham.
Memberships (various rates) at www.hwsevents.co.uk/shop-2.

ONLINE. 1-3 Oct [] OCTOCON, normally held in or near Dublin. Free? All
existing physical event memberships carried over to 2022; refunds also
available. Further details awaited at octocon.com.

10-13 Mar 2022 [] CHILLERCON UK (horror), Grand and Royal Hotels,
Scarborough.GBP130 reg; HWA members GBP120. Day rates GBP25 Thur or Sun,
GBP35 Fri, GBP55 Sat. See chillercon-uk.com.

15-18 Apr 2022 [] RECLAMATION (Eastercon), south-England venue not yet
named. GoH Zen Cho, Mary Robinette Kowal, Philip Reeve and Nicholas Whyte.
GBP70 reg; GBP40 concessions; accompanied under-18s GBP25; under-5s free;
GBP35 supporting. See reclamation2022.co.uk.

RUMBLINGS. _Worldcon 2023_. Kevin Standlee argued that DisCon III's failure
to reopen site bidding (closed in February) conflicted with the WSFS
constitution's bid filing deadline of 180 days before the con, now 18 June
2021. A new bid for Winnipeg, Canada, emerged in April -- see
winnipegin2023.ca -- and, 'Using our discretion' (that is, following the
rules), DisCon is allowing Winnipeg to appear on the site selection ballot.


### INFINITELY IMPROBABLE ###

AS OTHERS SEE _ALIEN_. Elle Hunt (a freelance features writer, mostly for
_The Guardian_) crushingly refutes the film's accepted classification: 'My
argument: horror cannot be set in space.' (Twitter, 6 April) [OP]

MAGAZINE SCENE. Steve Davidson of _Amazing Stories_ announced that the
print magazine is on hiatus because an unnamed licensee of the title has
failed to make required payments or honour other contractual obligations.
(8 April) This presumably refers to NBC, who had agreed in 2017 to pay for
the right to use the name for further instalments of the Spielberg-created
tv series _Amazing Stories_ (see _Ansible_ 364).
Andy Cox of TTA Press, after his first fiction-only double issue of
_Black Static_, decided against doing the same with _Interzone_: #290/#291
will be a double issue but, he hopes, with the usual nonfiction
departments.

A WARNING TO THE REVIEWER. Huge letters filling the front cover of the very
fat ARC of Jay Kristoff's _Empire of the Vampire_ (September): 'THOU SHALT
_suffer_ FOR THIS /// AND IT _shall_ BE LEGENDARY'.

AWARDS. _Philip K. Dick_ (US paperback original): _Road Out of Winter_ by
Alison Stine; special citation to _The Book of Koli_ by M.R. Carey. [GVG]
_Hugo_ shortlists (selected): NOVEL _Black Sun_ by Rebecca Roanhorse;
_The City We Became_ by N.K. Jemisin; _Harrow the Ninth_ by Tamsyn Muir;
_Network Effect_ by Martha Wells; _Piranesi_ by Susanna Clarke; _The
Relentless Moon_ by Mary Robinette Kowal. SERIES The Daevabad Trilogy by
S.A. Chakraborty; The Interdependency by John Scalzi; The Lady Astronaut
Universe by Mary Robinette Kowal; The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells;
October Daye by Seanan McGuire; The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang. DRAMATIC: LONG
_Birds of Prey_; _Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga_; _The
Old Guard_; _Palm Springs_; _Soul_; _Tenet_. LODESTAR (YA, not a Hugo):
_Cemetery Boys_ by Aiden Thomas; _A Deadly Education_ by Naomi Novik;
_Elatsoe_ by Darcie Little Badger; _Legendborn_ by Tracy Deonn; _Raybearer_
by Jordan Ifueko; _A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking_ by T. Kingfisher.
See all the categories at
discon3.org/whats-on/hugo-awards-wsfs/hugo-awards/. Voting is now open and
will continue until 19 November.
_Oscars:_ _Soul_ for animated film and original score; _Tenet_ for
visual effects.
_Prometheus_ (libertarian) shortlist: _Who Can Own the Stars?_ by
Mackey Chandler; _Storm Between the Stars_ by Karl K. Gallagher; _The War
Whisperer, Book 5: The Hook_ by Barry B. Longyear; _Braintrust: Requiem_ by
Marc Stiegler; _Heaven's River_ by Dennis E. Taylor.

AS OTHERS RESPECT US. 'Once dismissed as frivolous children's literature,
science fiction now commands the attention of all kinds of enterprises
designed to profit from its popularity: film studios hungry for screenplay
fodder, universities setting up sci-fi research institutions, talent
agencies eager to jump on the bandwagon, tech companies keen to borrow the
genre's aura of profundity, and even government officials looking to
ennoble the national project of innovation. / It's not surprising, then,
that people are turning to shamans -- and science fiction.' (Profile of
Chen Quifan by Yi-Ling Liu in _Wired_, April.) [MMW]

R.I.P. _Lee Aaker_ (1943-2021), former US child actor in _Rin Tin Tin_
whose films include _Hans Christian Andersen_ (1952), died on 1 April aged
77. [SJ]
_Andrew Barton_ (1953-2021), UK fan, con-goer, filker and RPG player,
died on 13 March aged 67. All sympathy to his fellow-fan widow Kate Soley
Barton. [O]
_Anne Beatts_ (1947-2021), US _Saturday Night Live_ screenwriter with
a genre credit for the spoof porn animation _Tarzoon: Shame of the Jungle_
(1975), died on 7 April aged 74. [PDF]
_Margaret Wander Bonanno_ (1950-2021) US author whose first sf was the
_Star Trek_ tie _Dwellers in the Crucible_ (1985) and who wrote the
'Others' (1991-1993) and 'Preternatural' (1996-2002) series, died on 8
April aged 71. [GVG]
_Paul Campbell_, Northern Irish fan who published and edited _Extro_
magazine in its final glossy incarnation (3 issues, all 1982), died on 21
April aged 72. [TF]
_Dave Cunliffe_ (1941-2021), UK author and 1960s avant-garde poet who
published stories in _Back Brain Recluse_ and _New Visions_, died on 16
April aged 80. [AD]
_Giannetto De Rossi_ (1941-2021), Italian effects and make-up artist
whose films include _When Women Had Tails_ (1970), _Zombie_ (1979), _Conan
the Destroyer_ (1984), _Dune_ (1984) and _Asterix and Obelix vs Caesar_
(1999), died on 11 April aged 79. [SJ]
_Anish Deb_ (1951-2021), Bengali sf and crime writer, died on 28 April
aged 69. [L]
_DMX_ (Earl Simmons, 1970-2021), US rapper with soundtrack credits for
_Deadpool_ (2016, plus sequel), who acted in _The Bleeding_ (2009) and
others, died on 9 April aged 50. [LP]
_Phil Eason_, UK puppeteer whose credits include _Little Shop of
Horrors_ (1986), _Neverending Story III_ (1994), _Lost in Space_ (1998),
_The Phantom Menace_ (1999) and _The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy_
(2005), died on 5 April aged 60. [SJ]
_Julie Fallowfield_, literary agent at McIntosh & Otis (retired 1998)
whose authors included Peter S. Beagle and Ellen Kushner, died on 29 March.
[AIP]
_Derrick Ferguson_, US author of action-adventure novels and the
Bigfoot film novelization _Search for the Beast_ (2016), reportedly died in
April. [PDF]
_Gerard Filipelli_ (1942-2021), French actor/singer whose comic
musical group Les Charlots starred in various films including _Les Charlots
Contre Dracula_ (1980), died on 30 March aged 78. [SJ]
_Robert Fletcher_ (1922-2021), US costume designer for the first four
_Star Trek films_ (1979-1986), _The Last Starfighter_ (1984) and _Fright
Night_ (1985), died on 5 April aged 98. [F770]
_Myra Frances_ (1943-2021), UK actress in _Survivors_ (1975) and
_Doctor Who_ 'The Creature from the Pit' (1979), died on 30 March aged 78.
[SJ]
_Penny Frierson_ (1941-2021), US fan and convention-runner who was a
founder member of the Birmingham (AL) SF Club and chaired the 1986
Worldcon, died on 3 April aged 79. [GHL]
_Cleve Hall_ (1959-2021), US actor and special effects artist with FX
credits in _Metalstorm: The Destruction of Jared-Syn_ (1983), _Re-Animator_
(1985), _Eliminators_ (1986) and many more, died on 31 March aged 61. [PDF]
_James Hampton_ (1936-2021), US actor in _The Cat from Outer Space_
(1978), _The Time Crystal_ (1981), _Teen Wolf_ (1985, plus sequel and tv
series) and others, died on 7 April aged 84. [SJ]
_Monte Hellman_ (1929-2021), US director of _Beast from Haunted Cave_
(1959) and _Silent Night, Deadly Night 3: Better Watch Out!_ (1989), died
on 20 April aged 91. [PDF]
_Joye Hummel_ (1924-2021), former US comics writer who ghosted _Wonder
Woman_ stories for the character's creator William Moulton Marston from
1944 to 1947 -- receiving credit only much later -- died on 5 April aged
97. [MMW]
_Fred Jordan_, former editor at Grove Press -- where he published J.G.
Ballard's _The Atrocity Exhibition_ as _Love and Napalm: Export USA_ -- and
publisher at Pantheon, died on 19 April aged 95. [PDF]
_Bernie Kahn_ (1930-2021), US writer for many genre tv series
including _Bewitched_ (1967-1972) and _Super Friends_ (1973), died on 21
April aged 90. [AIP]
_Ira Keeler_ (1940-2021), special effects model maker for _Innerspace_
(1987), _Jurassic Park_ (1993), _Star Trek: First Contact_ (1996), _Men in
Black_ (1997), _A.I._ (2001) and many more, died on 15 April aged 80. [SJ]
_Osamu Kobayashi_, Japanese anime creator who worked on both cult and
mainstream productions, with genre credits including the Tove Jansson
adaptation _Mumin_ (1969-1970), died on 17 April aged 57. [PDF]
_Helen McCrory_ OBE (1968-2021), UK actress whose genre credits
include _Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles_ (1994), the
Harry Potter films _Half-Blood Prince_ (2009) and _Deathly Hallows_ (2010,
2011), _Penny Dreadful_ (2014-2016), _The Woman in Black 2: Angel of Death_
(2014) and _His Dark Materials_ (2019-2020), died on 16 April aged 52.
[PDF]
_John McGlashan_ (1934-2021), NZ cinematographer whose credits include
BBC M.R. James adaptations (1971-1972), _Doctor Who_ (1975-1977), _The
Green Man_ (1990) and _The Infinite Worlds of H.G. Wells_ (2001), died on 1
April aged 86. [AIP]
_Biff McGuire_ (1926-2021), US actor/writer who scripted _Quillow and
the Giant_ (1961, from a James Thurber fairytale) and _Firebird 2015 AD_
(1981), and appeared in _The Werewolf of Washington_ (1973), died on 3
April aged 94. [SJ]
_John Pelan_ (1957-2021), US author, editor and publisher of sf,
horror and weird fiction, who founded several small press imprints
including Axolotl Press, died on 12 April aged 63. His novels include _The
Colour out of Darkness_ (1998) and his anthologies the IHG award winner
_Darkside: Horror for the Next Millennium_ (1996). [PDF]
_Anthony Powell_ (1935-2021), Oscar-winning UK costume designer whose
credits include _Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom_ (1984; also _Last
Crusade_ 1989), _Hook_ (1991), _101 Dalmatians_ (1996) and _102 Dalmatians_
(2000), died on 16 April aged 85. [AIP]
_Carlos Rasch_ (1932-2021), Brazilian-born German author whose sf was
mostly published in pre-unification East Germany, died on 7 January aged
88. [CB/F770]
_Paul Ritter_ (1967-2021), UK actor in _The Nine Lives of Tomas Katz_
(2000), _Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince_ (2009) and others, died on
5 April aged 54. [IS]
_Richard Rush_, US director and writer whose films include the near-sf
spy thriller _A Man Called Dagger_ (1968), died on 8 April aged 91. [SJ]
_Evelyn Sakash_, US production designer whose credits include _The
Langoliers_ (1995), died last October; her body was found in her home in
March. [SJ]
_Liam Scarlett_ (1986-2021), UK choreographer of _Frankenstein from
the Royal Ballet_ (2016) -- of which a 2022 Danish production had been
cancelled owing to allegations of his sexual misconduct -- died on 16 April
aged 35. [AIP]
_Felix Silla_ (_1937-2021_), Italian-born US actor in _The Addams
Family_ (1965-1966, as Cousin Itt), _Demon Seed_ (1977), _Buck Rogers in
the 25th Century_ (1979-1981), _Return of the Jedi_ (1983), _Spaceballs_
(1987), _Batman Returns_ (1992) and others, died on 16 April aged 84.
[F770]
_Jim Steinman_ (1947-2021), US composer who scored the Polanski
musical _Dance of the Vampires_ (1997) and had genre film credits for _The
Shadow_ (1994), _Shrek 2_ (2004) and others, died on 18 April aged 73. [LP]
_Robin Wood_ (1953-2021), US fan and artist who created several
_Dragon Magazine_ covers and illustrated Anne McCaffrey's _People of Pern_
(1988), died on 19 April aged 68. [PDF]

AS OTHERS QUOTE US. 'When the crew needed to get somewhere fast, Captain
Kirk gave his famous command ("Mr. Sulu, execute"), and the ship was pushed
swiftly to another distant destination.' (Phys.org article 'A potential
model for a real physical warp drive', 4 March) [EW]

THE DEAD PAST. _20 Years Ago:_ 'Despite advance worries about a hotel on a
remote motorway junction surrounded by foot-and-mouth quarantine, the 2001
UK Eastercon seemed rather successful. The sheer weirdness of the Hanover
Hotel helped, with its window displays of extraordinary kitsch ("Have you
seen the garrotted baby, the sperm balloons, the Marilyn Monroe with a
rooster on her head?" -- Cheryl Morgan) and oddities like the
mirror-ceilinged lobby with a statue of Poseidon to whose mighty trident
fans surreptitiously affixed a giant slice of toast.' (_Ansible_ 166, May
2001) We also remember the Cannibal Pig Clock....

RANDOM FANDOM. _Baen's Bar_, the Baen Books online forum shut down after
some violence-inciting posts gained widespread publicity (see _A404_),
re-opened on 9 April at a new web home under a new holding company, SFF
Forums LLC, with slightly restricted access (Baen purchase now required)
and offending content courageously not removed. [ML]
_The Brum Group_ may run a special online event in June to mark the
50th anniversary of its first ever meeting in 1971. [DB]
_Peter Mabey_ wrote to reassure Michael Moorcock (see _A405_) that he
too was a survivor of the 1957 London Worldcon, Peter's first convention.
(Email, 3 April)

TASTY. 'The story of how our food arrived on our plates is a living,
breathing sci-fi epic.' (Simon Ings, _Financial Times_, 24 April). [MMW]

EDITORIAL. The _SF Encyclopedia_ had access problems on 9-13 April, leading
to worries that Gollancz had prematurely pulled the plug; but my contact in
the IT department poked the web server with a big stick, and all was well
again. This panic accelerated our development work on a replacement 'clone'
website, to be unveiled in the post-Gollancz era. All thanks for the
various donations and offers of help or sponsorship!

THOG'S MASTERCLASS. _Private Session Dept._ 'Swales had several dozen Xerox
copies made of the lecture and distributed them in the men's room of the
Waldorf-Astoria, where the American Psychoanalytic Association was holding
its annual winter meeting.' (Janet Malcolm, _In the Freud Archives_, 1984)
[DW]
_Dept of Harsh Words._ '"Keep away from each other," Daleked the
splodge.' (Fiona Richmond, _Galactic Girl_, 1980) [RGJ]
_Hamfisted Dept._ 'Superintendent Battle held up a large hand rather
like a cardboard ham ...' (Agatha Christie, _Towards Zero_, 1944)
_Party Trick._ 'Gloom squirted out of his ears and nose like octopus
ink.' (Kim Newman, _Anno Dracula: Johnny Alucard_, 2013) [BA]
_Your Character: The Grim Toper._ 'Your armpits are lakes; a scythe of
booze precedes you.' (_Disco Elysium_ role-playing game, 2020) [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. 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 DEAD PAST II. _70 Years Ago_, an observation from the London
'Festivention' in May 1951: 'Also, rare items at the Auctions brought
fabulously low prices. There were no large bids, and little cut-throat
competition. Van Vogt's personal copy of _Slan_, in which he made all
additions or corrections for a forthcoming edition, the only item of its
type in the world, sold for approximately ten dollars -- the highest price
paid for any article.' (Forrest J Ackerman, _Fantasy Times_ 130, May 1951)

LATE REPORT. _Mark S. Williams_, US author of _Transformers: Retribution_
(2014) with David J. Williams, died on 3 September 2020 aged 48. [DB]

MORE FROM SFWA. Jeffe Kennedy has been elected as the new SFWA President,
taking office on 1 July. (SFWA, 26 April)
https://www.sfwa.org/2021/04/26/2021-officer-election-results/

VIRTUAL MEETINGS.
6 May 2021, evening: Alison Scott has set up this alternative to the
physical London First Thursday meeting: 'Please share this with people who
you know typically come to the Bishop's Finger, but aren't on Facebook.'
https://medium.com/@BohemianCoast/first-thursday-london-sf-fan-virtual-drinks-5232021e961f
11 May 2021, from 7:30pm: Handheld Book Club. Free.
https://www.handheldpress.co.uk/the-handheld-book-club/
16 May 2021 (and every other third Sunday of the month),
afternoon/early evening: Sheffield SF and Fantasy Society online meeting
using Zoom. For access details contact Fran Dowd, thesofa [at] gmail dot
com.

SOME LINKS from the _Ansible_ home page.
ConFusion newsletters
https://confusion2021.uk/publications/newsletter/
#DisneyMustPay, continued
https://www.writersmustbepaid.org/
Doc Weir Award acceptance speech
https://news.ansible.uk/misc/ConFusion-AS-DocWeir.html
FAAn Lifetime Achievement presentation speech (I'm still blushing)
https://news.ansible.uk/misc/FAAnLife-JK.html
Hugo finalists (full list)
https://discon3.org/whats-on/hugo-awards-wsfs/hugo-awards/
Farah Mendlesohn on ConFusion
https://news.ansible.uk/misc/ConFusion-FM.html
_Prisoner_-themed Inquisitor crossword
https://www.fifteensquared.net/2021/04/06/inquisitor-1692-clue-two-v-by-external/
Alison Scott's Eastercon bid session speech
https://news.ansible.uk/misc/ConFusion-AS.html
Seiun Awards shortlist
https://locusmag.com/2021/04/2021-seiun-awards-nominees/
Unpublished 'Ansible Link' column for _Interzone_
https://ansible.uk/writing/aiz290.html

THOG'S GOLDEN OLDIES from _Ansible_ 166, May 2001. _Dept of Longevity._
'"Peters, we are over a million years old!" he announced quietly. "When we
were caught up in that double-sun explosion, we must have been carried
along in its giddy orbit for over a million years! We were kept alive
simply because we were in an air-locked compartment and did not do anything
but sleep for most of the time, thus conserving our energy and our bodies
to allow us to behave now as if we were normal men."' (Terence Haile,
_Galaxies Ahead_, 1963)
_Dept of Geophysics._ 'I was now aware of the detailed history of Mu,
from its beginnings as a continent sucked from under the sea by a moon that
hovered over it, (revolving at the same speed as the earth's rotation, so
that it appeared stationary) ...' (Colin Wilson, _The Philosopher's Stone_,
1969)
_Dept of Nebula Winners._ 'Kaye could hardly stand sitting.' (Greg
Bear, _Darwin's Radio_, 1999)


_Ansible_(R) 406 (C) David Langford, 2021. Thanks to Brian Ameringen, John
Bray, Dirk Broer, Cora Buhlert, Andy Darlington, Paul Di Filippo, Tommy
Ferguson, _File 770_, Richard Glyn Jones, Steve Jones, Guy H. Lillian,
_Locus_, Mike Lowrey, @OceanPlanet, Omega, Lawrence Person, Andrew I.
Porter, Chris Priest, Ian Shuttleworth, Gordon Van Gelder, The Wertzone,
Edward Willett, Dave Woolaway, Martin Morse Wooster, and as always our Hero
Distributors: Durdles Books (Brum Group), SCIS/Prophecy, and Alan Stewart
(Australia).

30 April 2021
--
David Langford | http://ansible.uk/ | http://news.ansible.uk/

[Gary McGath]

On 4/30/21 12:04 PM, David Langford wrote:
> GEORGE R.R. MARTIN has been in the news, both for his boast that 'I wrote
> hundreds and hundreds of pages of _The Winds of Winter_ in 2020' (blog, 2
> February) and for being mentioned -- not in a good way -- in the Hugo
> shortlist, where Best Related Work includes Natalie Luhrs's rant about his
> Hugo MC performance: 'George R.R. Martin Can Fuck Off Into the Sun, Or: The
> 2020 Hugo Awards Ceremony (Rageblog Edition)' (pretty-terrible.com, 1
> August 2020). It has been wickedly suggested that the 2021 Worldcon, by
> having to publish this hurtful-to-GRRM title in the usual places, may thus
> be in violation of its own Code of Conduct.

This sort of nastiness isn't unusual anymore.

--
Gary McGath http://www.mcgath.com

[Keith F. Lynch]

I doubt that would bother the 2021 Worldcon's chair, who, as I publicly
predicted he'd do nearly a year ago, publicly expelled his own guest of
honor on some pretext, something that had never before been done in the
Worldcon's 82-year history. He thrives on humiliating people.

As for the Hugos, I lost interest in them when someone's embarrassing
anti-Campbell rant while accepting the Campbell Award won a Hugo Award,
rather than causing her to be shunned by all fandom.

Did Tesla denounce Edison while accepting the Edison award? Of course not.
Due to his feelings about Edison, he quite rightly refused the award.
--
Keith F. Lynch - http://keithlynch.net/
Please see http://keithlynch.net/email.html before emailing me.