• Ansible 410 -- September 2021 [long]

    From David Langford@21:1/5 to All on Wed Sep 1 17:05:37 2021
    XPost: uk.people.sf-fans

    ANSIBLE(R) 410
    SEPTEMBER 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, fayalin, or a really good Visualization of the Cosmic All.

    [NET NOTE. See https://news.ansible.uk/a410.html for the nice HTML version; https://news.ansible.uk/pdf/a410.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]


    ### THE HELL-HOLE IN SPACE ###

    MEL BROOKS of _Young Frankenstein_ fame 'is publishing his first memoir at
    the age of 95. _All About Me_ hits the shelves in November. Jonny Heller,
    his literary agent, says that Brooks felt that now "was the right time to
    do it -- mid-career".' (_The Times_, 6 August) [GA]

    ADAM ROBERTS shared one of his deeper thoughts: 'Today in SF writers
    dancing: Karel Capek dancing the Ca-Ca-Ca'. (Twitter, 26 August) A
    commenter was quick to suggest _Rossum's Universal Rumba_.

    J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI shows us how the professionals do submissions: 'Attention Publishers International and Domestic: by the end of this week I will be sending the *finished* manuscript for _The Last Dangerous Visions_
    to the agency that will be handling the sale. If you're a Real Deal
    Publisher, flag me down and I'll give you the deets.' (Twitter, 11 August)
    One suspects this means that Ansible Editions need not apply. Harlan
    Ellison's legendary unpublished anthology was noted for its hugeness at
    700,000 words or more, and remained substantial despite the many stories withdrawn and published elsewhere; but this final cut -- even with new
    fiction recently acquired -- runs to a mere 112,000 words. Several authors
    long loyal to the project have had their stories dropped.

    JEFF VANDERMEER revealed exclusively to all of Facebook that the Area X
    litany ('Where lies the strangling fruit that came from the hand of the
    sinner ...') was censored: 'There was actually a bit after this I cut that went, "So, anyways, the dead flowers are not like the living flowers and
    one shall come forth who shall try to wash a mouse, which you should not do because they can get respiratory infections."' (26 August)


    ### CONCRUDENCE ###

    HYBRID. 2-5 Sep [] OXONMOOT (Tolkien Society). GBP95 reg; GBP45 online;
    members GBP10 less: www.tolkiensociety.org/events/oxonmoot-2021.

    4 Sep [] WHOOVERVILLE 12 (_Doctor Who_), QUAD Centre, Derby, DE1 3AS.
    Tickets GBP50; concessions GBP33; under-12s GBP10; online booking at www.derbyquad.co.uk/whats-on/events/whooverville-12.

    ONLINE. 9-11 Sep [] ACTIVISM & RESISTANCE (LSFRC conference), GBP30 reg;
    other rates via www.lsfrc.co.uk/category/activism-resistance/.

    24-26 Sep [] FANTASYCON 2021, Jury's Inn, Broad Street, Birmingham. See www.fantasycon.org; www.hwsevents.co.uk/shop-2.

    25-26 Sep [] NOR-CON (media), Norfolk Showground Arena. Tickets GBP13
    (GBP16 early entry); child GBP9 (GBP10) from www.nor-con.co.uk.

    ONLINE. 26 Sep [] DIANA WYNNE JONES celebration, 7pm-8:15pm. GBP5-GBP10
    reg. See www.bristolideas.co.uk/attend/diana-wynne-jones/.

    ONLINE. 1-3 Oct [] OCTOCON, normally held in or near Dublin. Free;
    registration needed, donations encouraged. Physical event memberships
    carried over to 2022; refunds also available. See octocon.com.

    ONLINE. 8-10 Oct [] IRISH DISCWORLD CONVENTION, formerly Cork International Hotel, Cork. Euro30 reg; Euro40 with extras. See idwcon.org.

    15-17 Oct [] LAKES INTERNATIONAL COMIC ART FESTIVAL, Kendal, Cumbria. GBP25 reg; GBP15 concessions. See www.comicartfestival.com.

    29-31 Oct [] FESTIVAL OF FANTASTIC FILMS, Pendulum Hotel, Manchester. GBP99 reg. More at fantastic-films.com/festival/.

    30-31 Oct [] SURREY STEAMPUNK CONVIVIAL, Epsom. Weekend pass GBP20 plus fee
    at bumpandthumper.wixsite.com/steampunkconvivials.

    1-4 Nov [] HANDHELD PRESS WRITING RETREAT, Malvern. GBP395 with bed and
    board. See www.thedellhouse.co.uk/writingretreat.html.

    5-7 Nov [] ARMADACON 2021, Future Inns, Plymouth. GBP35 reg; GBP30
    concessions. More at www.armadacon.org.

    HYBRID. 5-7 Nov [] CORFLU 38, Mercure Holland Hotel, Bristol. GBP50/$60 reg _rising to GBP60/$75 on 1 October_; virtual (Zoom) membership free via robjackson60 at gmail dot com. Hotel booking form etc at corflu.org.

    ONLINE. 6 Nov [] TOLKIEN SOCIETY AUTUMN SEMINAR. Free. See www.tolkiensociety.org/events/tolkien-society-autumn-seminar/.

    26-28 Nov [] UK GHOST STORY FESTIVAL, Derby, presumably at the QUAD Centre
    as in 2019; details awaited. (_Brum Group News_, August)

    15-19 Dec [] DISCON III (Worldcon), Washington DC, USA. $225 reg; other
    rates at discon3.org. The committee announced in August that attendees must wear masks and show proof of completed vaccination.

    RUMBLINGS. _Reclamation_ (Eastercon 2022) is still unable to confirm its
    hotel venue, known to be in the south of England. Keep watching the skies
    at reclamation2022.co.uk .
    A bit of incidental gossip is that some other prospective Eastercon
    hotels now want a GBP200,000 event deposit.


    ### INFINITELY IMPROBABLE ###

    AS OTHERS READ US. 'I don't think I'd ever read a book in which there was a Black character, period. Remember, I'm reading sci-fi _[in 1979]_, so I'd barely read anything in which there were human beings. I didn't understand reading as having a relationship to the actual world.' (Robert Reid-Pharr profile, www.radcliffe.harvard.edu, 25 May) [CH]

    AWARDS. _Arthur C. Clarke Foundation Imagination Award:_ Samuel R. Delany.
    _Cordwainer Smith Rediscovery Award:_ D.G. Compton.
    _Munsey Award_ (pulp community): Rich Harvey.
    _Shirley Jackson Awards_, best novel: _The Only Good Indians_ by
    Stephen Graham Jones.
    _Splatterpunk Awards_, best novel: _The Magpie Coffin_ by Wile E.
    Young.

    AS OTHERS DISCARD US. 'WE DON'T NEED SCIENCE FICTION TO AVERT CLIMATE CATASTROPHE'. (Headline in thenation.com, 14 June) [MMW]

    COURT CIRCULAR. The Tolkien estate will surely not be happy about the
    launch of a 'JRR Token' cryptocurrency advertised with _Lord of the Rings_ imagery, including the One Ring itself and a limping little verse that ends 'One Token To Hold For All / And In Market Bind Them'. (_The Verge_, 10
    August) [F770] Spend, spend to ruin and the world's ending!

    AS OTHERS SAW US. Dystopian horror in the Olympic women's gymnastics:
    'Because of a spiteful female chauvinist rule, male coaches are not allowed
    on the floor, and so it is like a science-fiction movie of a time when
    women have taken over. The judges are all women, as are the assistants, the messengers. The only men on the premises are the piano players -- men being built for that sort of quiet work -- who huddle together on a bench by the
    baby grand.' (Frank Deford, _Sports Illustrated_, August 1976; quoted in
    _The Washington Post_, 2 August) [PL]

    R.I.P. _Brad Allan_ (1973-2021), Australian stuntman/stunt co-ordinator in
    _The Chronicles of Riddick_ (2004), _Hellboy II_ (2008), _I Am Number Four_ (2011), _Mars Needs Moms_ (2011) and _Wonder Woman_ (2017), died on 7
    August aged 48. [F770]
    _Edward (Ed) Asner_ (1929-2021), multiple Emmy-winning US actor in _Pinocchio and the Emperor of the Night_ (1987), _Elf_ (2003), _Up_ (2009)
    and many genre tv series, died on 29 August aged 91. [LP]
    _Brick Bronsky_ (Jeffrey Beltzner, 1964-2021), US pro wrestler and
    actor in _Class of Nuke 'Em High Part II: Subhumanoid Meltdown_ (1991) plus
    two more films in that series, died on 23 August aged 57. [SJ]
    _Ed (E.D.) Buckley_ (1940-2021), long-time Scots fan (active in the Glasgow group), convention-goer and space artist, was found dead at home on
    25 August; he was 80. [MA] Ed was a guest of honour at Satellite 5
    (Glasgow, 2016); I was always cheered to meet him at cons.
    _Shin'ichi (Sonny) Chiba_ (1939-2021), Japanese martial-arts actor in _Wolf Guy_ (1975), _Legend of the Eight Samurai_ (1983), _Biohazard the
    Stage_ (2015) and others, died on 19 August aged 82. [PDF]
    _Alex Cord_ (1933-2021), US actor in _Chosen Survivors_ (1974) and _Airwolf_ (1984-1986) plus guest spots in various genre tv series, died on
    9 August aged 88. [LP]
    _Ian Dallas_ (1930-2021), Scots author -- and Islamic Shaykh of Instruction as Abdalqadir as-Sufi -- whose sf novel was _The Book of
    Strangers_ (1972), died on 1 August. [MJE]
    _Desmond Davis_ (1926-2021), UK film-maker whose many camera credits include _The Crawling Eye_ (1958) and _The Giant Behemoth_ (1959), and who directed _Clash of the Titans_ (1981), died on 3 July aged 95. [SJ]
    _Alastair Durie_ (1944-2021), UK book, magazine and early fanzine collector whose _Weird Tales_ (1979) reprinted cover art from 150+ issues
    of that magazine, died on 5 August aged 76. [MA]
    _Marilyn Eastman_ (1933-2021), US film-maker who worked on, acted in
    and helped finance _Night of the Living Dead_ (1968), died on 22 August
    aged 87. [LP]
    _Tom Flynn_ (1955-2021), US editor of _Free Inquiry_ and author of satirical sf beginning with _Galactic Rapture_ (2000), died on 23 August
    aged 66.
    _James Follett_ (1939-2021) , UK author of sf radio plays such as _Earthsearch_ (1981; 1982) -- which he also novelized -- died on 10 January aged 81. [GD]
    _Mary Frey_ (Osmanski), US SCA fan published in Marion Zimmer
    Bradley's 1990s _Sword and Sorceress_ anthologies, died on 18 August. [SS]
    _Saginaw Grant_ (1936-2021), US Native American actor in _It Waits_ (2005), _Beyond the Quest_ (2007) and _Wind Walkers_ (2015), died on 28
    July aged 85. [AIP]
    _Anna Gross_ (1952-2021), US production manager of _The NeverEnding
    Story_ (1984), died on 23 July aged 68. [AIP]
    _Elizabeth Anne Hull_ (1937-2021), US academic, author and critic long active in the SF Research Association -- as newsletter editor 1981-1984, president 1989-1990, and winning the 1998 SFRA Clareson Award -- died on 2 August aged 84. She was married to Frederik Pohl from 1984 to his death,
    and with him co-edited the World SF anthology _Tales from the Planet Earth_ (1986). [GVG]
    _Ken Hutchison_ (1948--2021), Scots actor in _Ladyhawke_ (1985) and various genre tv series, died on 9 August aged 72. [SJ]
    _Alvin Ing_ (1932-2021), US actor whose genre credits include _The
    Final Countdown_ (1980) and _Smilla's Sense of Snow_ (1997), died on 31
    July aged 89. [AIP]
    _Don Jones_ (1938-2021), US film-maker with crew credits for _The Astro-Zombies_ (1968), _Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women_ (1968)
    and _The Mighty Gorga_ (1969), died on 19 August aged 83. [SJ]
    _Erle Korshak_ (1923-2021), long-time US fan active from 1934, who attended the first Worldcon (New York 1939), co-chaired the 1940 Chicago Worldcon and co-founded the sf small press Shasta Publishers (1947-1957),
    died on 25 August aged 97. He entered the First Fandom Hall of Fame in 1996
    and was to be a guest of honour at the 2022 Chicago Worldcon. [L]
    _Fred Ladd_ (1927-2021), US producer and screenwriter who adapted
    Japanese anime for US tv -- beginning with _Astro Boy_ in 1963 -- died on 3 August aged 94. Film credits include _Pinocchio in Outer Space_ (1965) and _Journey Back to Oz_ (1972). [JC]
    _Peter A. Lees_, US producer whose credits include _An Accidental
    Zombie_ (2017), _Living Among Us_ (2018) and _Attack of the Unknown_
    (2020), died on 6 August aged 51. [SJ]
    _Lisa Mannetti_, US horror author who won two Bram Stoker awards --
    one for her debut novel _The Gentling Box_ (2008) -- died on 19 August.
    [SJ]
    _Jill Murphy_ (1949-2021), UK author and illustrator of children's
    books including the popular Worst Witch series opening with _The Worst
    Witch_ (1974) and adapted for film, tv and theatre, died on 18 August aged
    72.
    _Masaya Nihei_ (Masanori Nihei, 1940-2021), Japanese actor in the
    original _Ultraman_ tv series (1966-1967) plus later film compilations and sequels up to _Superior Ultraman 8 Brothers_ (2008), died on 21 August aged
    80. [PDF]
    _Scott Allen Nollen_ (1963-2021), US author of many books on the
    history of film -- subjects including Peter Cushing, Conan Doyle, Robin
    Hood, Boris Karloff, Vincent Price and Robert Louis Stevenson -- died on 12 August aged 58. [SJ]
    _Colette O'Neil_ (1937-2021), Scots actress in _The Pilgrim's
    Progress_ (1967), _Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed_ (1969) and _Dreams Lost, Dreams Found_ (1987), died on 11 July aged 84. [SJ]
    _Victoria Paris_ (1960-2021), US porn actress with genre credits for
    _The New Barbarians_ (1990), _Snatched to the Future_ (1991), _Time
    Barbarians_ (1991) and others, died on 10 August aged 60. [SG]
    _Eddie Paskey_ (1939-2021), US actor who was William Shatner's
    stand-in and body double for the original _Star Trek_ (1966-1968), died on
    17 August aged 81. [SJ]
    _Steve Perrin_ (1946-2921), US RPG designer who co-created _RuneQuest_ (1978) for Chaosium and worked on many other games, died on 13 August aged
    75. The Wild Cards shared world was inspired by his _Superworld_ game; he contributed to the WC 'mosaic novel' _Joker Moon_ (2021). [KAM]
    _Markie Post_ (1950-2021), US actress in _Transformers Prime_ (voice, 2010-2013), plus guest roles in various genre tv series, died on 7 August
    aged 70. [LP]
    _Zdenka Prochazkova_ (1926-2021), Czechoslovakian actress in _The Lost Face_ (1965), _Lady Dracula_ (1977) and _Ferat Vampire_ (1982), died on 25 August aged 95. [SJ]
    _Rosita Quintana_ (1925-2021), Argentina-born Mexican actress whose
    films include _Demon in the Blood_ (1964), died on 23 August aged 96. [SJ]
    _J.W. Rinzler_ (Jonathan Rinzler, 1962-2021), US author best known for nonfiction books about film franchises including _Star Wars_ and _Alien_,
    died on 28 July aged 58. [GVG] Mary Robinette Kowal added: '... he was one
    of the authors we were fighting for with #DisneyMustPay. / And no, they
    still haven't paid. Said they would, but... / And yes. They knew he had cancer.' (4 August) [F770]
    _Sompote Sands_ (1941-2021), Thai director of tokusatsu sf/horror
    films from _Tah Tien_ (1973) and _Hanuman vs. 7 Ultraman_ (1974) to
    _Kraithong 2_ (1985), died on 26 August aged 80. [SJ]
    _Clive Scott_ (1937-2021), South African actor in _Sumuru_ (2003) and various genre tv series, died on 28 July aged 84. [SJ]
    _L. Neil Smith_ (1946-2021), US author who founded the Prometheus
    Award for libertarian sf and won it several times, initially with _The Probability Broach_ (1980), died on 27 August aged 75. [PDF]
    _Una Stubbs_ (1937-2021), UK actress with genre credits for _The Water Babies_ (1978), _Worzel Gummidge_ (1979-1981 plus sequel) and _The Worst
    Witch_ (1998-2001), died on 12 August aged 84. [CM]
    _Lorna Toolis_ (1952-2021), Canadian librarian who was Head of
    Collection for the Merril SF Collection in Toronto 1986-2017, died on 11 August. [PH] With her husband Michael Skeet she edited _Tesseracts 4_
    (1992) in the series of Canadian sf showcase anthologies.
    _Jeanne Keyes Youngson_ (1924-2021), US academic and film-maker who founded the Count Dracula Fan Club (now the Vampire Empire) in 1965, the Dracula Museum in 1990, and published many vampire-themed anthologies and nonfiction works, died on 17 August aged 96. [PDF]

    THE WEAKEST LINK. '"Down with Big Brother" is a quote from which George
    Orwell novel?' _Contestant:_ '_1986.'_ (ITV, _The Chase_) [PE]

    MAGAZINE SCENE. _Amazing Stories_, having been repeatedly let down by NBC/Universal Television failing to pay the contracted fees for their tv
    show licensing of the name, is switching to annual digital-only publication with the option of a 'separately purchased' POD edition. (_Amazing_, 25
    August)
    _Curious Fictions_, the online stories platform run by Tanya
    Breshears, went on 'indefinite hiatus' from 27 August. [L]
    _ParSec_, the digital sf magazine from PS Publishing, launched in
    August with #1 dated Autumn 2021: see
    www.pspublishing.co.uk/parsec-79-c.asp.

    SCIENCE MASTERCLASS. _Dept of 165 Gravities._ 'The ship's relative velocity
    was now in the region of 173,000 miles per second, increasing at the rate
    of almost exactly one mile per second per second _[...]_ The constant acceleration rate had some drawbacks, however. None of the men was able to
    move without considerable muscular effort ...' (Lee Elliot, _Overlord New York_, 1953) [BA]
    _Astronomy Dept._ 'She was like a meteor coming back to dazzle the
    very world from which it had flown for a while into space.' (John Fox Jr.,
    _The Trail of the Lonesome Pine_, 1908) [PL]

    RANDOM FANDOM. _Triffid Alley_, that John Wyndham memorial site, closed
    last year and has been usurped by a porn merchant. See the Internet Archive
    for an August 2020 snapshot: tinyurl.com/es82pvy8. [RP]
    _TV and Fandom._ A new source of con-going paranoia: '_Law & Order_: Criminal Intent. Detectives Goren and Eames discover that a victim may have fallen prey to a woman who trawls sci-fi and vampire conventions for lonely men.' (Freeview electronic programme guide, August) [CM]

    THE DEAD PAST. _70 Years Ago_, an early As Others See Us: ' "To rival Wells
    in this line is not an uncommon ambition, and it seems curious that both authors and public fail to realise that the bottom dropped out of the
    market in 1914. The element of 'science-fantasy' really played quite a
    small part in the success of Wells's novels; the real point of them was a wrenching disturbance of ordinary life.... Wells's success ... has never
    been repeated, and can now never be approached." (_New Statesman_
    Reviewer)'. (_Science Fantasy News_ 9, September 1951)

    GROUP GROPES. _London First Thursday Pub Meetings_ at The Bishop's Finger resume on 2 September (all evening), with further bookings for 7 October, 4 November, 2 December and the usual extra Christmas meeting on 16 December.
    [RR] Please check news.ansible.uk/london.html for any updates. Virtual
    meetings are moving to third Thursdays beginning with 16 September: as
    before, see tinyurl.com/uow6hqn for details.
    _Northumberland Heath DA8 SF_ plans its first live pub meeting for
    ages on 9 September. See www.concatenation.org/n-heath-sf.html. [SF2C]

    AS OTHERS IDENTIFY US. Repeating a 1989 _Face to Face_ interview: 'Jeremy Isaacs talks to science writer JG Ballard ...' (BBC, August)

    FANFUNDERY. _TAFF:_ SCIFI Inc (Southern California Institute for Fan
    Interests) has sent the traditional $500 bounty to mark the publication of
    Anna Raftery's report within 5 years of her trip.
    _DUFF:_ in 2022 it'll be 50 years since the first Down Under Fan Fund trip, when winner Lesleigh Luttrell travelled from the USA to Australia. Celebrations are expected.

    THOG'S MASTERCLASS. _Lockdown Hair Dept._ '... he grimaced perpetually in a manner that caused his unclean beard to toss and curl like seaweed on a
    boiling whirlpool.' (Clark Ashton Smith, 'The Voyage of King Euvoran',
    1933) [BA]
    _Mysteries of Female Anatomy._ 'She was the perfect picture of a
    beautiful Japanese girl. Small feet, small nose, wide eyes, narrow hips
    that showed she was a virgin.' (Larry Correia and John Ringo, _Monster
    Hunter Memoirs: Grunge_, 2016) 'Her legs, he thought, were almost certainly
    the legs of a virgin, dry and without hair ...' (Tim O'Brien, _The Things
    They Carried_, 1991) (boredpanda.com, 6 August)
    _Secrets of Female Characterization._ 'At Bristol University, she had already achieved a reputation as a sex scientist. In her first year she had gone through the men like an enema.' 'Her curved breasts were tense with concentration.' 'She moved towards the village, allowing her hips to
    continue the conversation.' 'She stopped, pursing her nipples towards him
    and then swung on.' 'The left breast was fractionally larger than its
    sister. It was Anna's favourite. She flexed it towards the wall.' (All from David Pinner, _Ritual_, 1967 -- inspiration for _The Wicker Man_) (_Ibid_)


    ### GEEKS' CORNER ###

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    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):
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    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. Donate to 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. _20 Years Ago_: '_Take That, Joe Haldeman!_ "The
    best-known example of 'future war' fiction is _The Invasion of 1910_ by
    William Tufnell Le Queux, a rich slice of scaremongering which was a sensational success when published in 1906." (Rupert Forbes, _The London
    Review of Books_, 6 September)' (_Ansible_ 170, September 2001)

    EDITORIAL. Nothing much is happening here apart from the regular _SF Encyclopedia_ update routine -- not even a new ebook at the TAFF free
    library this month. But here's a happy discovery in an old book from the Langford shelves:
    https://news.ansible.uk/images/misc/KarloffPlate.jpg

    OUTRAGED LETTERS. 'Dear Mr. Langford / I wish to complain in the strongest possible terms about the number of R.I.P.s in _Ansible_. It is obviously
    quite impossible for there to be so many in the SF field each month, so
    this must be a work of fiction. Since I was born in 1936 I just hope that I
    do not find my name there. (Or do I? If I can read it....) / Yours
    sincerely, David A. Hardy.' (1 September)

    VIRTUAL MEETINGS.
    16 September 2021, evening: the virtual London First Thursday meeting moves to the third Thursday. '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
    19 September 2021 (every 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.

    RUMBLINGS II. ScotiaCon, the Scots furry convention (3-5 September
    Glasgow), was cancelled with the next event expected on 11-13 February
    2022. See ...
    https://www.scotiacon.org.uk/

    SOME LINKS from the _Ansible_ home page.
    Mythopoeic Awards shortlists http://file770.com/2021-mythopoeic-awards-shortlists/
    Shirley Jackson Awards: all winners https://locusmag.com/2021/08/shirley-jackson-awards-winners-3/
    Splatterpunk Awards winners https://locusmag.com/2021/08/2021-splatterpunk-awards-winners/

    THOG'S GOLDEN OLDIES from _Ansible_ 170, September 2001. 'I looked at
    Norathar, who was staring at Aliera with eyes like mushrooms.' (Steven
    Brust, _Yendi_, 1984)
    'Despite his slant eyes and yellow skin, he proved to be quite a
    likeable fellow as well as an erudite scientist.' (Captain S.P. Meek, 'Awlo
    of Ulm', 1931)
    'Fear exploded in her mouth like a drug.' (Linda Nagata, _Limits of Vision_, 2001)
    'Then a horrid, unforgettable giggle bit at his unbelievable left
    ear.' (Charles Harness, _The Paradox Men_, 1953)


    _Ansible_(R) 410 (C) David Langford, 2021. Thanks to Brian Ameringen,
    Graham Andrews, Michael Aries, Jonathan Clements, Gordon Davie, Paul Di Filippo, Malcolm Edwards, _File 770_, Steve Green, Peter Halasz, Chip Hitchcock, Steve Jones, _Locus_, Pamela Love, Chris Moore, Kevin Andrew
    Murphy, Lawrence Person, Rog Peyton, Andrew I. Porter, _Private Eye_, Roger Robinson, SCIFI Inc, SF2 Concatenation, Susan Shwartz, Gordon Van Gelder, Martin Morse Wooster, and as always our Hero Distributors: Durdles Books (Birmingham SF Group), SCIS/Prophecy, and Alan Stewart (Australia).

    1 September 2021

    --
    David Langford | http://ansible.uk/ | http://news.ansible.uk/

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From John Hall@21:1/5 to ansible@cix.co.uk on Wed Sep 1 18:44:23 2021
    XPost: uk.people.sf-fans

    In message <f49vigtsojmoufa1vretj5dpao4sk15uio@4ax.com>, David Langford <ansible@cix.co.uk> writes
    <snip>
    _Secrets of Female Characterization._ 'At Bristol University, she
    had already achieved a reputation as a sex scientist. In her first year
    she had gone through the men like an enema.' 'Her curved breasts were
    tense with concentration.' 'She moved towards the village, allowing her
    hips to continue the conversation.' 'She stopped, pursing her nipples
    towards him and then swung on.' 'The left breast was fractionally
    larger than its sister. It was Anna's favourite. She flexed it towards
    the wall.' (All from David Pinner, _Ritual_, 1967 -- inspiration for
    _The Wicker Man_) (_Ibid_)

    Based on those quotations, one is thankful that the film was evidently
    far better than the book.
    --
    John Hall "Hard work often pays off after time, but laziness always
    pays off now." Anon

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Dorothy J Heydt@21:1/5 to ansible@cix.co.uk on Wed Sep 1 17:46:07 2021
    XPost: uk.people.sf-fans

    In article <f49vigtsojmoufa1vretj5dpao4sk15uio@4ax.com>,
    David Langford <ansible@cix.co.uk> wrote:

    ANSIBLE(R) 410
    SEPTEMBER 2021

    ...

    ### INFINITELY IMPROBABLE ###

    AS OTHERS READ US. 'I don't think I'd ever read a book in which there was a >Black character, period. Remember, I'm reading sci-fi _[in 1979]_, so I'd >barely read anything in which there were human beings. I didn't understand >reading as having a relationship to the actual world.' (Robert Reid-Pharr >profile, www.radcliffe.harvard.edu, 25 May) [CH]

    Does he mean that he was reading *only* SF written in 1979? Or
    can we make that assumption? Because Robin Wednesbury, the
    projective telepath in Bester's _The Stars My Destination_ (1956)
    is Black. (Described as "Negro," but that was the polite word
    back then.)

    --
    Dorothy J. Heydt
    Vallejo, California
    djheydt at gmail dot com
    Www.kithrup.com/~djheydt/

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  • From Dorothy J Heydt@21:1/5 to john@jhall.co.uk on Wed Sep 1 19:03:30 2021
    XPost: uk.people.sf-fans

    In article <oleA8TC3v7LhFwxF@jhall_nospamxx.co.uk>,
    John Hall <john@jhall.co.uk> wrote:
    In message <f49vigtsojmoufa1vretj5dpao4sk15uio@4ax.com>, David Langford ><ansible@cix.co.uk> writes
    <snip>
    _Secrets of Female Characterization._ 'At Bristol University, she
    had already achieved a reputation as a sex scientist. In her first year
    she had gone through the men like an enema.' 'Her curved breasts were
    tense with concentration.' 'She moved towards the village, allowing her >>hips to continue the conversation.' 'She stopped, pursing her nipples >>towards him and then swung on.' 'The left breast was fractionally
    larger than its sister. It was Anna's favourite. She flexed it towards
    the wall.' (All from David Pinner, _Ritual_, 1967 -- inspiration for
    _The Wicker Man_) (_Ibid_)


    Holy Cat. If anyone were previously unaware, a human breast is a
    sack of meat, loosely held in a sling of skin, with no
    musculature except, I should think, some very small muscles that
    hold in, and let down, the milk during lactation. They can't go
    tense, the nipples can't be voluntarily "pursed," and they can't
    be flexed in any direction.

    Based on those quotations, one is thankful that the film was evidently
    far better than the book.

    And the film was _The Wicker Man_? Yeesh.

    First Panel. Opus types:

    George Phblat's new film, "Benji Saves the Universe," has
    brought the word "bad" to new levels of badness.

    Second Panel. Opus types:

    Bad acting. Bad effects. Bad everything. This film
    just oozed rottenness from every bad scene... Simply bad
    beyond all infinite dimensions of possible badness.

    Third Panel. Opus just sits there, thinking penguin thoughts.

    Fourth Panel. Opus types:

    Well, maybe not that bad, but lord, it wasn't good.

    --
    Dorothy J. Heydt
    Vallejo, California
    djheydt at gmail dot com
    Www.kithrup.com/~djheydt/

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  • From John Hall@21:1/5 to djheydt@kithrup.com on Wed Sep 1 19:52:36 2021
    XPost: uk.people.sf-fans

    In message <qyro0v.24En@kithrup.com>, Dorothy J Heydt
    <djheydt@kithrup.com> writes
    In article <f49vigtsojmoufa1vretj5dpao4sk15uio@4ax.com>,
    David Langford <ansible@cix.co.uk> wrote:

    ANSIBLE(R) 410
    SEPTEMBER 2021

    ...

    ### INFINITELY IMPROBABLE ###

    AS OTHERS READ US. 'I don't think I'd ever read a book in which there was a >>Black character, period. Remember, I'm reading sci-fi _[in 1979]_, so I'd >>barely read anything in which there were human beings. I didn't understand >>reading as having a relationship to the actual world.' (Robert Reid-Pharr >>profile, www.radcliffe.harvard.edu, 25 May) [CH]

    Does he mean that he was reading *only* SF written in 1979? Or
    can we make that assumption? Because Robin Wednesbury, the
    projective telepath in Bester's _The Stars My Destination_ (1956)
    is Black. (Described as "Negro," but that was the polite word
    back then.)


    I'd assumed that 1979 must be when he was reading SF. I could understand
    his not having read the particular book that you mention, and it's
    probably true that black characters have been underrepresented in SF
    until recently (but then that's the case for pretty much all fiction).
    But it's strange that he should write that he'd "barely read anything in
    which there were human beings". Did he only read SF in which all the
    characters were aliens? Or did he mean that the characters were poorly
    fleshed out, which has been a traditional complaint about SF by those
    who don't like the genre? But why did he keep on reading SF if he found
    the experience so unsatisfactory?
    --
    John Hall "Hard work often pays off after time, but laziness always
    pays off now." Anon

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  • From Peter Trei@21:1/5 to Dorothy J Heydt on Fri Sep 3 10:32:45 2021
    On Wednesday, September 1, 2021 at 3:15:01 PM UTC-4, Dorothy J Heydt wrote:
    In article <oleA8TC3v7LhFwxF@jhall_nospamxx.co.uk>,
    John Hall <jo...@jhall.co.uk> wrote:
    In message <f49vigtsojmoufa1v...@4ax.com>, David Langford ><ans...@cix.co.uk> writes
    <snip>
    _Secrets of Female Characterization._ 'At Bristol University, she
    had already achieved a reputation as a sex scientist. In her first year >>she had gone through the men like an enema.' 'Her curved breasts were >>tense with concentration.' 'She moved towards the village, allowing her >>hips to continue the conversation.' 'She stopped, pursing her nipples >>towards him and then swung on.' 'The left breast was fractionally
    larger than its sister. It was Anna's favourite. She flexed it towards >>the wall.' (All from David Pinner, _Ritual_, 1967 -- inspiration for
    _The Wicker Man_) (_Ibid_)
    Holy Cat. If anyone were previously unaware, a human breast is a
    sack of meat, loosely held in a sling of skin, with no
    musculature except, I should think, some very small muscles that
    hold in, and let down, the milk during lactation. They can't go
    tense, the nipples can't be voluntarily "pursed," and they can't
    be flexed in any direction.
    Based on those quotations, one is thankful that the film was evidently
    far better than the book.
    And the film was _The Wicker Man_? Yeesh.

    What version did you see?

    The 2006 Nicholas Cage remake is, by all accounts, garbage.

    The original 1973 version, not so. But again, what version?

    The original cut was about 100 minutes long. The version seen in US theatres was hacked down to 87 minutes, and is much less coherent - a whole day
    on the island is removed.

    There have been various attempts at restoration (not all footage still exists). I have a wooden boxed, limited edition 'Directors Cut' at 99 minutes, which
    is far, far better than the theatrical release. Christopher Lee considers the role of Lord Summerisle one of his best.

    pt

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  • From Kevrob@21:1/5 to Dorothy J Heydt on Fri Sep 3 14:43:54 2021
    On Wednesday, September 1, 2021 at 1:55:01 PM UTC-4, Dorothy J Heydt wrote:
    In article <f49vigtsojmoufa1v...@4ax.com>,
    David Langford <ans...@cix.co.uk> wrote:

    ANSIBLE(R) 410
    SEPTEMBER 2021

    ...
    ### INFINITELY IMPROBABLE ###

    AS OTHERS READ US. 'I don't think I'd ever read a book in which there was a >Black character, period. Remember, I'm reading sci-fi _[in 1979]_, so I'd >barely read anything in which there were human beings. I didn't understand >reading as having a relationship to the actual world.' (Robert Reid-Pharr >profile, www.radcliffe.harvard.edu, 25 May) [CH]
    Does he mean that he was reading *only* SF written in 1979? Or
    can we make that assumption? Because Robin Wednesbury, the
    projective telepath in Bester's _The Stars My Destination_ (1956)
    is Black. (Described as "Negro," but that was the polite word
    back then.)

    --

    We'd need to know when he discovered writers like Butler and Delany.
    "Kindred" is from 1979, "Dhalgren" from 1975. The man has written
    a foreword to at least one Delany, and an afterword to another. Did he discover Delany after `79? Delany wrote an introduction to one of his
    books. Depending on where one grew up, the vagaries of book and
    magazine distribution and retailing, and the acquisition policies of
    local libraries one had access to, one could miss out on stories and
    books with black or other non-white characters. But "Tunnel In The Sky"
    or "Farnham's Freehold?" Ged of Earhsea isn't "white."

    --
    Kevin R

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  • From Scott Dorsey@21:1/5 to kevrob@my-deja.com on Sat Sep 4 01:28:25 2021
    Kevrob <kevrob@my-deja.com> wrote:
    We'd need to know when he discovered writers like Butler and Delany. >"Kindred" is from 1979, "Dhalgren" from 1975. The man has written
    a foreword to at least one Delany, and an afterword to another. Did he >discover Delany after `79? Delany wrote an introduction to one of his
    books. Depending on where one grew up, the vagaries of book and
    magazine distribution and retailing, and the acquisition policies of
    local libraries one had access to, one could miss out on stories and
    books with black or other non-white characters. But "Tunnel In The Sky"
    or "Farnham's Freehold?" Ged of Earhsea isn't "white."

    I am sad to report that even today in 2021, there are people who have not
    yet discovered Delany. I attempt to remedy this whenever possible and I
    have given out many copies of Triton over the years.

    Farnham's Freehold has some non-white characters but they are not shown in
    a very good light.
    --scott
    --
    "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

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  • From Scott Dorsey@21:1/5 to petertrei@gmail.com on Sat Sep 4 01:26:17 2021
    Peter Trei <petertrei@gmail.com> wrote:
    And the film was _The Wicker Man_? Yeesh.

    What version did you see?

    The 2006 Nicholas Cage remake is, by all accounts, garbage.

    The original 1973 version, not so. But again, what version?

    The original cut was about 100 minutes long. The version seen in US theatres >was hacked down to 87 minutes, and is much less coherent - a whole day
    on the island is removed.

    If you saw it at Arisia, you saw a still different version, which was a television print... it was the 87 minute version with a few minutes removed
    to allow enough commercials for a 90 minute show (and also a nude bit cut
    I believe). (Being a TV print it was a little flatter-looking than the
    prints made for theatres too.)
    --scott

    --
    "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

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  • From Peter Trei@21:1/5 to Kevrob on Fri Sep 3 20:41:30 2021
    On Friday, September 3, 2021 at 5:43:55 PM UTC-4, Kevrob wrote:
    On Wednesday, September 1, 2021 at 1:55:01 PM UTC-4, Dorothy J Heydt wrote:
    In article <f49vigtsojmoufa1v...@4ax.com>,
    David Langford <ans...@cix.co.uk> wrote:

    ANSIBLE(R) 410
    SEPTEMBER 2021

    ...
    ### INFINITELY IMPROBABLE ###

    AS OTHERS READ US. 'I don't think I'd ever read a book in which there was a
    Black character, period. Remember, I'm reading sci-fi _[in 1979]_, so I'd >barely read anything in which there were human beings. I didn't understand >reading as having a relationship to the actual world.' (Robert Reid-Pharr >profile, www.radcliffe.harvard.edu, 25 May) [CH]
    Does he mean that he was reading *only* SF written in 1979? Or
    can we make that assumption? Because Robin Wednesbury, the
    projective telepath in Bester's _The Stars My Destination_ (1956)
    is Black. (Described as "Negro," but that was the polite word
    back then.)

    --
    We'd need to know when he discovered writers like Butler and Delany. "Kindred" is from 1979, "Dhalgren" from 1975. The man has written
    a foreword to at least one Delany, and an afterword to another. Did he discover Delany after `79? Delany wrote an introduction to one of his
    books. Depending on where one grew up, the vagaries of book and
    magazine distribution and retailing, and the acquisition policies of
    local libraries one had access to, one could miss out on stories and
    books with black or other non-white characters. But "Tunnel In The Sky"
    or "Farnham's Freehold?" Ged of Earhsea isn't "white."

    I confess that about 20 years passed between my first encountering
    Delaney's work, and my realizing that he wasn't white. I think it was when
    I met him at a Readercon.

    pt

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  • From Dorothy J Heydt@21:1/5 to petertrei@gmail.com on Sat Sep 4 03:18:27 2021
    In article <ff4c025a-1c7f-4c43-aef0-138a2b6e6769n@googlegroups.com>,
    Peter Trei <petertrei@gmail.com> wrote:
    On Wednesday, September 1, 2021 at 3:15:01 PM UTC-4, Dorothy J Heydt wrote:
    In article <oleA8TC3v7LhFwxF@jhall_nospamxx.co.uk>,
    John Hall <jo...@jhall.co.uk> wrote:
    In message <f49vigtsojmoufa1v...@4ax.com>, David Langford
    <ans...@cix.co.uk> writes
    <snip>
    _Secrets of Female Characterization._ 'At Bristol University, she
    had already achieved a reputation as a sex scientist. In her first year
    she had gone through the men like an enema.' 'Her curved breasts were
    tense with concentration.' 'She moved towards the village, allowing her
    hips to continue the conversation.' 'She stopped, pursing her nipples
    towards him and then swung on.' 'The left breast was fractionally
    larger than its sister. It was Anna's favourite. She flexed it towards
    the wall.' (All from David Pinner, _Ritual_, 1967 -- inspiration for
    _The Wicker Man_) (_Ibid_)
    Holy Cat. If anyone were previously unaware, a human breast is a
    sack of meat, loosely held in a sling of skin, with no
    musculature except, I should think, some very small muscles that
    hold in, and let down, the milk during lactation. They can't go
    tense, the nipples can't be voluntarily "pursed," and they can't
    be flexed in any direction.
    Based on those quotations, one is thankful that the film was evidently
    far better than the book.
    And the film was _The Wicker Man_? Yeesh.

    What version did you see?

    I never saw it; discussions online convinced me that I didn't
    want to.

    --
    Dorothy J. Heydt
    Vallejo, California
    djheydt at gmail dot com
    Www.kithrup.com/~djheydt/

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  • From Kevrob@21:1/5 to pete...@gmail.com on Fri Sep 3 22:13:03 2021
    On Friday, September 3, 2021 at 11:41:31 PM UTC-4, pete...@gmail.com wrote:
    On Friday, September 3, 2021 at 5:43:55 PM UTC-4, Kevrob wrote:
    On Wednesday, September 1, 2021 at 1:55:01 PM UTC-4, Dorothy J Heydt wrote:
    In article <f49vigtsojmoufa1v...@4ax.com>,
    David Langford <ans...@cix.co.uk> wrote:

    ANSIBLE(R) 410
    SEPTEMBER 2021

    ...
    ### INFINITELY IMPROBABLE ###

    AS OTHERS READ US. 'I don't think I'd ever read a book in which there was a
    Black character, period. Remember, I'm reading sci-fi _[in 1979]_, so I'd
    barely read anything in which there were human beings. I didn't understand
    reading as having a relationship to the actual world.' (Robert Reid-Pharr
    profile, www.radcliffe.harvard.edu, 25 May) [CH]
    Does he mean that he was reading *only* SF written in 1979? Or
    can we make that assumption? Because Robin Wednesbury, the
    projective telepath in Bester's _The Stars My Destination_ (1956)
    is Black. (Described as "Negro," but that was the polite word
    back then.)

    --
    We'd need to know when he discovered writers like Butler and Delany. "Kindred" is from 1979, "Dhalgren" from 1975. The man has written
    a foreword to at least one Delany, and an afterword to another. Did he discover Delany after `79? Delany wrote an introduction to one of his books. Depending on where one grew up, the vagaries of book and
    magazine distribution and retailing, and the acquisition policies of
    local libraries one had access to, one could miss out on stories and
    books with black or other non-white characters. But "Tunnel In The Sky"
    or "Farnham's Freehold?" Ged of Earhsea isn't "white."
    I confess that about 20 years passed between my first encountering
    Delaney's work, and my realizing that he wasn't white. I think it was when
    I met him at a Readercon.



    I don't remember when I first learned "Chip" was black, but it can't
    have been later than 1977, when he had an academic position at
    /D/o/w/n/e/r/ /C/o/l/l/e/g/e/ the University of WI-Milwaukee.
    I was downtown at Marquette, but was close to fans enrolled at UWM.
    They had the award-winning novelist. We had the Tolkien MSs, and
    still do.

    Found this essay by SRD on being "the first" black sf writer, with
    a Readercon anecdote.

    https://www.nyrsf.com/racism-and-science-fiction-.html

    --
    Kevin R

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  • From Gary McGath@21:1/5 to Scott Dorsey on Sat Sep 4 05:53:18 2021
    On 9/3/21 9:28 PM, Scott Dorsey wrote:
    Farnham's Freehold has some non-white characters but they are not shown in
    a very good light.

    It's been ages since I read it, but wasn't the point to show that a
    society where whites are on top could easily be flipped on its head,
    that there's no racial hierarchy decreed by nature?

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

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  • From Peter Trei@21:1/5 to Kevrob on Sat Sep 4 19:16:24 2021
    On Saturday, September 4, 2021 at 1:13:05 AM UTC-4, Kevrob wrote:
    On Friday, September 3, 2021 at 11:41:31 PM UTC-4, pete...@gmail.com wrote:
    On Friday, September 3, 2021 at 5:43:55 PM UTC-4, Kevrob wrote:
    On Wednesday, September 1, 2021 at 1:55:01 PM UTC-4, Dorothy J Heydt wrote:
    In article <f49vigtsojmoufa1v...@4ax.com>,
    David Langford <ans...@cix.co.uk> wrote:

    ANSIBLE(R) 410
    SEPTEMBER 2021

    ...
    ### INFINITELY IMPROBABLE ###

    AS OTHERS READ US. 'I don't think I'd ever read a book in which there was a
    Black character, period. Remember, I'm reading sci-fi _[in 1979]_, so I'd
    barely read anything in which there were human beings. I didn't understand
    reading as having a relationship to the actual world.' (Robert Reid-Pharr
    profile, www.radcliffe.harvard.edu, 25 May) [CH]
    Does he mean that he was reading *only* SF written in 1979? Or
    can we make that assumption? Because Robin Wednesbury, the
    projective telepath in Bester's _The Stars My Destination_ (1956)
    is Black. (Described as "Negro," but that was the polite word
    back then.)

    --
    We'd need to know when he discovered writers like Butler and Delany. "Kindred" is from 1979, "Dhalgren" from 1975. The man has written
    a foreword to at least one Delany, and an afterword to another. Did he discover Delany after `79? Delany wrote an introduction to one of his books. Depending on where one grew up, the vagaries of book and
    magazine distribution and retailing, and the acquisition policies of local libraries one had access to, one could miss out on stories and books with black or other non-white characters. But "Tunnel In The Sky" or "Farnham's Freehold?" Ged of Earhsea isn't "white."
    I confess that about 20 years passed between my first encountering Delaney's work, and my realizing that he wasn't white. I think it was when I met him at a Readercon.


    I don't remember when I first learned "Chip" was black, but it can't
    have been later than 1977, when he had an academic position at
    /D/o/w/n/e/r/ /C/o/l/l/e/g/e/ the University of WI-Milwaukee.
    I was downtown at Marquette, but was close to fans enrolled at UWM.
    They had the award-winning novelist. We had the Tolkien MSs, and
    still do.

    Found this essay by SRD on being "the first" black sf writer, with
    a Readercon anecdote.

    https://www.nyrsf.com/racism-and-science-fiction-.html

    Interesting, thanks. I was at the Readercon mentioned.

    pt

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  • From Keith F. Lynch@21:1/5 to Gary McGath on Sat Sep 11 18:19:47 2021
    Gary McGath <garym@REMOVEmcgathREMOVE.com> wrote:
    Scott Dorsey wrote:
    Farnham's Freehold has some non-white characters but they are not
    shown in a very good light.

    It's been ages since I read it, but wasn't the point to show that a
    society where whites are on top could easily be flipped on its head,
    that there's no racial hierarchy decreed by nature?

    That was certainly my interpretation.

    And it had plenty of sympathetic black characters. Just not the black
    rulers of that future empire.
    --
    Keith F. Lynch - http://keithlynch.net/
    Please see http://keithlynch.net/email.html before emailing me.

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