Ansible 266 [long]
ANSIBLE 266
SEPTEMBER 2009
From DAVE LANGFORD, 94 London Road, Reading, Berks, RG1 5AU. Web
news.ansible.co.uk. Fax 0705 080 1534. ISSN 0265-9816 (print) 1740-942X
(e). Available for SAE or full set of _Life_ by Baron Bodissey.
[NET NOTE. See http://news.ansible.co.uk/a266.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]
ANTICIPATION. You read it here last: the Montreal Worldcon happened.
HUGOS. NOVEL Neil Gaiman, _The Graveyard Book_. NOVELLA Nancy Kress,
'The Erdmann Nexus' (_Asimov's_ 10/08). NOVELETTE Elizabeth Bear,
'Shoggoths in Bloom' (_Asimov's_ 3/08). SHORT Ted Chiang, 'Exhalation'
(_Eclipse Two_). RELATED BOOK John Scalzi, _Your Hate Mail Will be
Graded_. GRAPHIC STORY Kaja & Phil Foglio (colours: Cheyenne Wright),
_Girl Genius, Volume 8: Agatha Heterodyne and the Chapel of Bones_.
DRAMATIC, LONG _WALL-E_. DRAMATIC, SHORT _Doctor Horrible's Sing-Along
Blog_. EDITOR, SHORT Ellen Datlow. EDITOR, LONG David G. Hartwell.
PROFESSIONAL ARTIST Donato Giancola. SEMIPROZINE _Weird Tales_. FANZINE
_Electric Velocipede_. FAN WRITER Cheryl Morgan. FAN ARTIST Frank Wu.
JOHN W. CAMPBELL AWARD (new writer) David Anthony Durham.
Steven H Silver brags: 'I accepted the Hugo for _WALL-E_. At the
Hugo Losers Party, when someone asked if she could hold it, I jokingly
told her it would cost a $5 donation to the fan funds. She went for her
wallet and by the end of the evening, I wound up raising $217 for the fan
funds.'
HUGO RULES attracted unusual attention. The semiprozine category had
sparked a campaign against its scheduled abolition -- whose ratification
by the business meeting was defeated, so the award continues. This buzz
may be why the perennial winner _Locus_ was toppled by _Weird Tales_. The
Graphic Novel Hugo was confirmed as a regular category. John Klima's
_Electric Velocipede_, a fiction magazine that pays its contributors but
was able to evade the semiprozine category, had deliberately campaigned
for the Fanzine Hugo as a soft target. Online fanzine activity was
confirmed as Hugo-eligible (will four blog posts count as the required
four published issues?). Jeremy Kratz won the competition to design an
official Hugo logo, now adopted.
ODDMENTS. Anticipation recorded 3,921 people present, 4,497 total
memberships. The _Plokta_ cabal did a fine job with the daily newsletter.
The Big Heart fan award went to Andrew I. Porter, who refused to confirm
that he will keep it pickled in alcohol in a jar on his desk.
RENOVATION (Reno) won the 2011 Worldcon bidding, unopposed.
### SEPTEMBER GOTHIC ###
ELLEN ASHER is this year's recipient of the World Fantasy Lifetime
Achievement Award, along with someone else whom I forget.
MARGARET ATWOOD told her Edinburgh Book Festival audience that she
doesn't write 'sci-fi' because her books don't contain (all together
now!) 'talking squid'. Rather more cunningly, Marina Lewycka stated that
she was not clever or imaginative enough to write 'sci-fi'. [JD]
J.G. BALLARD was awarded a posthumous doctorate (in literature) by the
Royal Holloway University of London on 15 July; Adam Roberts of RHUL
wrote and delivered a suitable citation.
RAY BRADBURY's interview in the summer _Strand_ opened with a touch of
_Fahrenheit 451_, or _Fahrenheit Silicon_: 'The Internet should be
destroyed! I hate the Internet! I hate computers!' And, warming further
to the computer theme: 'We should get rid of them, yeah!' [DL]
DIANA WYNNE JONES had a tumour and part of her left lung removed in July.
Successful op and good prognosis -- but Diana's usual bad luck with
hospitals led to a catalogue of horrors including pneumonia, allergies,
infection and starvation, 'not helped by the mad woman in the next bed
who thought Diana was her private servant and called on her at all hours
for attention.... And she wasn't even a Fan! D couldn't escape, because
while the other patient was on the loose, D was tied down with tubes to
both her arms.' [CB] She is now recovering at home, with her sense of
humour steadily returning. Get well soon....
URSULA K. LE GUIN, reviewing Margaret Atwood's _The Year of the Flood_,
seizes on the key point which makes this novel Definitely Not Science
Fiction: 'It is no comfort to find that some of the genetic experiments
are humanoids designed to replace humanity. Who wants to be replaced by
people who turn blue when they want sex, so that the men's enormous
genitals are blue all the time? Who wants to believe that a story in
which that happens isn't science fiction?' (_Guardian_)
MICHAEL MOORCOCK reports more largesse: 'The committee awarding the Jack
Trevor Story Memorial Cup for humorous writing this year presented the
cup to an American for the first time. Meeting at its traditional venue,
L'Horizon, rue Saint Placide, Paris, the Committee [...] unanimously
agreed to give the Jack Trevor Story Memorial Cup, together with a $1000
prize, to Howard Waldrop.' Note that 'The usual conditions will apply:
that the money be spent within two weeks and the recipient have nothing
to show for it by the end of that period.'
JOHN WYNDHAM, if a fan campaign succeeds, could be voted the honour of
a place in the utterly famous Walk of Stars on Broad Street, Birmingham.
('Better than Hollywood!' -- Mayor of Birmingham.) [AS]
JANE YOLEN may just possibly not kill me if I hastily add that she too
is to receive a World Fantasy Lifetime Achievement Award this year.
### CONFETTER ###
5 Sep [] WE LOVE COMICS CON (comics), Travelling Man Leeds, 32 Central
Rd, Leeds, LS1 6DE. 1-4pm. Free. Contact 0113 2436461.
11-13 Sep [] THE ASYLUM (steampunk), Lincoln. _Now Pounds39 reg_ or
various day rates; there will probably be no memberships available at the
door. Online booking (Pounds1 surcharge): steampunk.synthasite.com.
11-13 Sep [] REUNION 7 (media), De Vere Staverton Park, Daventry. Advance
tickets Pounds87 standard, Pounds120 priority, plus usual day and child
rates (all may rise at the door). Bookings: www.sfball.com/reunion/.
23 Sep [] BSFA OPEN MEETING, Antelope, 22 Eaton Tce, London, SW1W 8EZ.
5pm for 6pm. With Claire Brialey & Mark Plummer.
25-27 Sep [] OXONMOOT (Tolkien Society), Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford.
Pounds40.50 reg; members Pounds35.50; discount for under-16s. _Advance
booking closes 4 September._ Contact 29 Tockley Rd, Burham, Bucks, SL1
7DQ; bookings at tolkiensociety dot org; www.oxonmoot.org.
26 Sep [] BRISTOLCON (sf) & BROWNCOAT CEILIDH (_Firefly_), Mercure
Holland House Hotel, Redcliffe Hill, Bristol, BS1 6SQ. General sf mini-
con 2:30-5:30pm, dances etc 5:30pm-1am. Tickets Pounds20 to Kumara
Conventions, c/o 5 Manor House Rd, Glastonbury, Somerset, BA6 9DE.
3-4 Oct [] BICS 2009 (comics), Thinktank, Curzon St, Birmingham. Tickets
Pounds20, child Pounds10; day Pounds12/Pounds6. Payment to International
Comic Shows, 30a Keelinge St, Dudley Port, Tipton, W Midlands, DY4 8UQ.
12 Oct [] BEYOND OUR KEN: THE MULTIVERSE OF KEN CAMPBELL: tribute show,
National Theatre. Pounds5. Box office 020 7452 3000.
16-17 Jan 10 [] CONRUNNER 2, Mecure St Paul's Hotel, Sheffield. Pounds35
reg, _rising to Pounds40 on 1 October_; Pounds45 in 2010. B&B Pounds70
double, Pounds65 single. Contact 56 Jackmans Place, Letchworth GC, Herts,
SG6 1RH.
2-6 Sep 10 [] AUSSIECON 4 (68th Worldcon), Melbourne Convention &
Exhibition Centre. _New rates from 1 September 2009:_ $A275/$US225/
$CAN255/Euro165/Pounds140/Yen22,500 full adult reg; $A70/$US50/$CAN50
/Euro35/Pounds25/Yen4,900 supp as before. Contact GPO Box 1212,
Melbourne, Vic 3001, Australia; info at aussiecon4 org au.
17-21 Aug 11 [] RENOVATION (69th Worldcon), Reno-Sparks Convention
Center, Reno, NV, USA. GoH Ellen Asher, Charles N. Brown (_in memoriam_),
Tim Powers, Boris Vallejo. $140 reg, $50 supp, under-17s $75, under-7s
free; see www.renovationsf.org for presupp/site selection voter
discounts. All rates good to 30 April 2010. Contact PO Box 13278,
Portland, OR 97213-0278, USA; or info at renovationsf dot org.
16-20 Aug 12 [] RETURN OF THE RING (Tolkien Society), Loughborough
University. Pounds60 reg, Pounds50 child/concessions, Pounds20 supp,
Pounds1 babes in arms. Online registration only: www.returnofthering.org.
Contact 2012 dot bookings at tolkiensociety dot org.
### INFINITELY IMPROBABLE ###
AS OTHERS SEE US. 'Vampire-lust tales will rot your brain' is the subhead
of a _Register_ story on how the press misinterprets US Navy research as
'making jet fuel from seawater' since no one now reads hard sf authors
like H. Beam Piper: 'People would have known all this in the old days,
because they read proper science fiction [...] Sci-fi fans used to read
writers like Piper: now they mainly read about vampire lust, seemingly.'
(Lewis Page, 20 August) [PM] Have writers simply learned to disguise
their terrifying hardness? 'Connie Willis is a brilliant science fiction
writer -- one so brilliant that readers are only gradually aware that
they are reading Hard Science.' (_Finding Wonderland_ blog) [RF]
MAGAZINE SCENE. _Jim Baen's Universe_, after four years of publication,
is to fold with the April 2010 issue. Editor Eric Flint reports sadly
that although 'we came close', there were never enough paying subscribers
to achieve stability. _JBU_ is now closed to submissions.
_Thrilling Wonder Stories_, revived in book format by Winston Engle
two years ago, has closed again after just two issues (2007 and 2009).
BIG BIZ. Disney hopes to buy Marvel Entertainment for $4 billion.
R.I.P. _Anne Braude_, US fan, co-editor of Ed Meskys' Niekas, early SCA
member and author of several published stories, died on 25 August. [AIP]
_Harvey Frand_ (1940-2009), US tv producer of the recent _Battlestar
Galactica_, the 1980s _Twilight Zone_ and much else, died on 23 July; he
was 68. [AIP]
_Donald M. Grant_ (1927-2009), US small-press publisher and editor
of early sf bibliography, critical anthologies and handsome editions of
Robert E. Howard, Lovecraft and others, died on 19 August. He was 82.
[RB]
_John Hughes_ (1950-2009), US film-maker who wrote and directed
_Weird Science_ (1985), died on 6 August aged 59. Other genre credits
include the remakes _Miracle on 34th Street_ (1994), _101 Dalmatians_
(1996) and _Flubber_ (1997). [PDF]
_Stephen Robinett_ (1941-2004), whose 1969 _Analog_ debut story and
other early work was published as by Tak Hallus, is reported to have died
on 16 February 2004. His sf novels are _Stargate_ (1976) and _The Man
Responsible_ (1978). [AIP]
_Harry Alan Towers_ (1920-2009), UK-born producer and screenwriter
(sometimes writing as Peter Welbeck) whose genre work included _Night of
the Blood Monster_ (1970), several _Fu Manchu_ films and the 1989
_Phantom of the Opera_, died on 31 July. He was 88. [AIP]
_Gene Van Troyer_ (1950-2009), US teacher, author, translator and
poet active in SFWA and the SF Poetry Association, died on 17 July aged
58. He edited the 2007 anthologies _Collaborations_ (poetry) and
_Speculative Japan_ (translated sf, with Grania Davis). [SFWA]
IN TYPO VERITAS. The Anticipation programme book listed David Hartwell's
interview as 'On Editiing'. [JW]
OUTRAGED LETTERS. _THE David A. Hardy_ dissociates himself from a David
A Hardy who writes stories for _Dark World_ magazine. 'A _fake_ David A.
Hardy? I've had this name for 73 years; who _is_ this pretender? Can any
of your readers throw any light upon this travesty?' (Your editor's
Cosmic Mind is quite able to imagine a real David A. Hardy II. The net
is littered with other David Langfords.)
_Jim Steel_ covers the sf angle on a nasty current news story: 'The
Garrido kidnapping is fascinating the newspapers and the _Guardian_ is
no exception. Today's (Monday) has all the expected stuff about Stockholm
syndrome, etc, and naturally has a fair number of photographs. One of
them is of Jay-cee's book case. There are a couple by Asimov, a couple
by Greg Bear, a couple by Brian Lumley, a Dan Brown, a David Eddings and
quite a few that I can't make out but most look like well-thumbed genre
paperbacks. Most revealing are the dozens of copies of Dean R. Koontz's
books. Given that most of Koontz's plots seem to feature a youngster in
danger who has to be rescued by the protagonist, one has to wonder who
supplied Jay-cee with the books.'
_Dr Bryan Talbot_ cannot be doing with mere stethoscopes: 'Thanks
for the mention of the doctorate. Becoming a doctor does have a
noticeable effect. At the San Diego Comicon last week I felt compelled
to buy a sonic screwdriver.'
AS OTHERS SEE FORBIDDEN PLANET. _Hannah Pool:_ Do you think radio is
sexist? _Lauren Laverne:_ Radio's not really sexist. It's just run by
boys so it's the most socially maladjusted industry that you could ever
wish to be involved in. I love it. [...] It's for geeks and I'm a geek
so it completely resonates with me and I've loved it from day one. But
it's run by people who haven't left a studio in decades. Those kinds of
boys just don't know what to do with girls; it's just a bit like [comic
shop] Forbidden Planet. Would you want to go in there? It smells weird
and sells funny stuff. That's what radio studios are like. Ladies just
walk past.' (_Guardian_ interview, 13 August) [JG]
C.O.A. _Analog_, _Asimov's_, _Alfred Hitchcock's_ and _Ellery Queen's_,
Dell Magazines, 267 Broadway, 4th Floor, New York, NY 10007-2352, USA.
THE HERO WITH A THOUSAND FACEBOOKS. I was intrigued to find a 'Greg Egan'
Facebook page with the sf author's bibliography but a photo of the Other
Greg Egan (see _A265_). 'Our' Egan was not amused. Then Ray Bradbury --
whose love of the net is so notorious -- asked me to become his Facebook
friend. So did a second Ray Bradbury, using a different photo of the real
Bradbury.... Now I await an impassioned Facebook friendship plea from
eager social networker Harlan Ellison.
VANITY OF VANITIES. Robert M. Fletcher, dodgy agent and vanity publisher,
lost his nuisance lawsuit against Victoria Strauss and Ann Crispin of
Writer Beware, who had warned would-be authors against his Literary
Agency Group and other fronts. The action was dismissed with prejudice
on 31 July; the judge noted: 'The plaintiffs have exhibited extreme bad
faith in bringing this frivolous lawsuit for the sole purpose of causing
great expense and harassment to Crispin and Strauss.'
RANDOM FANDOM. _Karen Anderson_ evacuated from her Tujunga house to a
Burbank hotel owing to the Station Fire, one of several LA-area
wildfires. [AIP]
_Charles N. Brown_'s death during an air flight had an aftermath he
would have relished: '... the most Charles-worthy ironic twist of the
whole week: an e-mail from Virgin Airways -- addressed to Charles --
apologizing for the inconvenience caused by the delay in deplaning
following the recent flight from Boston, explaining that a passenger had
become seriously ill, and hoping his plans worked out well anyway.'
(_Locus Roundtable_, 27 July) [DM]
_David Langford_, miffed that BeWrite planned to put his and John
Grant's _Earthdoom!_ out of print, muttered on Facebook about 'bastard
scum publishers' and very soon learned that his Facebook friends include
'Neil Scum Marr (Bastard in Chief. BeWrite Books)'. Oops.
_Andrew Stephenson_ has what I hope will be the last word on
_A265_'s cover story: 'Is it entirely uncoincidental that "JUSTINE
LARBALESTIER" can be anagrammatized as "TUT" ANSIBLE LIAR JEERS? Is such
a mephitic and possibly flagitious insight even useful?' Let's just add
that Bloomsbury US later revamped the offending jacket to make JL's
protagonist black (though not short-haired) as in the text.
_Pete Young_ reports glad news: 'Miles Tanat Young was born on 4
August 2552 (that's not the distant future, that's the Thai calendar),
in Bangkok, weighing 3.75kg. Named after Miles Davis and not Miles
Vorkosigan, no matter what Del Cotter thinks.'
MORE AWARDS. _Sidewise_ (alt-history): LONG Chris Roberson, _The Dragon's
Nine Sons_. SHORT Mary Rosenblum 'Sacrifice' (_Sideways in Crime_).
_The Age Book of the Year_ ($A20,000 Australian non-genre prize):
Steven Amsterdam's post-apocalypse novel _Things We Didn't See Coming_.
_First Fandom Hall of Fame:_ Ben Indick, James Gunn and (posthumous)
Walter Daugherty.
_Seiun_ (Japanese translation): NOVEL Robert Charles Wilson, _Spin_,
trans Mogi Takeshi. SHORT Ted Chiang, _The Merchant and the Alchemist's
Gate_, trans Nozomi Ohmori.
BLURBISMO. _Longevity Dept._ Press release for _The Natural History of
Unicorns_ (Chris Lavers, 2009): 'Initially appearing in Mesopotamian art
in the first millennium BC, Lavers illustrates how unicorns soon became
immortalized in the speculative writings of Greek philosophers.' [PB]
GROUP GROPES. Tony Cullen on a former London First Thursday venue: 'It's
day 1650 of the Florence Nightingale Demolition Watch. I had occasion to
cycle past the place at lunchtime today and yes, the structure still
appears to be intact.' (11 August)
AS OTHERS MARKET TO US. Greenpeace explained its subtle choice of voice
actor for an automated phone call to all Hewlett-Packard employees
(urging the phasing-out of various alleged carcinogens): 'We were trying
to drive some internal conversation at the company, and the stereotype
of all tech workers is someone with a science fiction background. Who
doesn't want to listen to William Shatner for 30 seconds?' (_Financial
Times_, 30 July) [MMW] Well, um ...
FANFUNDERY. _Lloyd Penney_ has many surplus fanzines from the
Anticipation fanzine lounge: samples can be had for a donation to the fan
fund of your choice. List available from penneys at allstream dot net.
THOG'S MASTERCLASS. _Taste of Fears Dept._ 'Dorian swallowed a froth of
fear that rose in his throat.' (Rena Vale, _Taurus Four_, 1970) [AR]
_Dept of Logical Naming._ '... a creature which he put in his diary
as a "kangarabbit". Its head was like that of the tiny lizards that
darted over the rocks, its eyes hooded with a bony protuberance and its
skin scaly.' _(Ibid)_
_Comparative Anatomy Dept, or Attack of the Vampire Lizard Birds._
'He threw himself on the ground ... flayed at the huge body slung under
the great wings -- large as a six year old child's -- got off a series
of shots ...' _(Ibid)_
_Dept of That Word Does Not Mean What You Think It Means._ '"They
must not know I here." She had slipped back into the illiterate speech
of her tribe.' _(Ibid)_
_Something Nasty in the Fridge Dept._ 'An oppression of mortuary
mystery thickened the air, and stifled him like the noisome effluvia of
catacombs.' (Clark Ashton Smith, _Zothique_, 1970) [BA]
_Dept of Lumpy Simile._ 'From Ujuk, however, a heavy, misshapen
umbrage fell and lay like a prone incubus beside his chair.' _(Ibid)_
_Neat Tricks Dept._ 'He chose to ignore the violent purple stain
splashing down the white robe as Lurz's hand continued a motion his gaped
mouth forgot.' (Joan Cox, _Star Web_, 1980) [NR]
### GEEKS' CORNER ###
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### ENDNOTES ###
APPARITIONS.
[] 11 September 2009: Brum Group, Briar Rose, Bennett Hill, Birmingham
city centre. With Justina Robson. 7:30pm for 8pm. Pounds4; members
Pounds3. Contact 07845 897760 or bhamsfgroup at yahoo co uk. Future
meetings: Alastair Reynolds (TBC), 9 October; 6 November TBA;
Christmas Social, 4 December.
PAYPAL DONATION. Support _Ansible_ and keep the editor happy! Or just
buy his books ... please.
http://ansible.co.uk/paypal.html
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EDITORIAL. Last month I clean forgot to uncork a few bottles of
champagne and celebrate the thirtieth anniversary of _Ansible_'s
launch at the Brighton Worldcon on 23 August 1979. It never occurred
to me that I'd still be churning out issues in the next century. My
predecessor Peter Roberts had the sense to kill his newsletter
_Checkpoint_ at its 100th issue, also in 1979, and pass the grim
responsibility to me. Thirty years. Bloody hell.
HUGOS AGAIN. One proposed rule change was rejected: the 'Joanna Russ
Amendment', requiring a female nominee -- if present in the top 15
nominations -- to be added to any otherwise all-male shortlist in the
written fiction categories.
VANITY OF VANITIES II. Jim Macdonald has been posting gleefully and
copiously about the legal defeat of 'Robert M. Fletcher, Literary
Scammer'. Learn more than you ever wished to know about the Curse of
Boca Raton, Florida:
http://nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/archives/011510.html
http://nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/archives/011525.html
http://nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/archives/011543.html
http://nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/archives/011568.html
Ansible 266 Copyright (c) David Langford, 2009. Thanks to Brian
Ameringen, Chris Bell, Rusty Burke, Jim Darroch, Paul Di Filippo, Rose
Fox, Joe Gordon, Denny Lien, Dennis McCunney, Petrea Mitchell, Andrew
I. Porter, Nonie Rider, Adam Roberts, Andy Sawyer, Jo Walton, Martin
Morse Wooster, and of course our Hero Distributors: Dave Corby (BSFG),
Janice Murray (North America), SCIS/Prophecy, and Alan Stewart
(Australia).
1 Sep 09
--
David Langford | http://ansible.co.uk/ | http://news.ansible.co.uk/
See http://ansible.co.uk/bibcent.html for bibliographical horrors.
date: Tue, 01 Sep 2009 18:38:37 +0100
author: David Langford
|
