XPost: uk.people.sf-fans

ANSIBLE(R) 451
FEBRUARY 2025

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 the 17 volumes of _Euralia Past and Present_ by Roger Scurvilegs.

[NET NOTE. See https://news.ansible.uk/a451.html for the nice HTML version; https://news.ansible.uk/pdf/a451.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]


### ONCE ON A TIME ###

NEIL GAIMAN was publicly dropped by Dark Horse Comics (Xitter, 25 January) following more allegations of past sexual misconduct, which he denies
(blog, 14 January). [SF2C] He seems to have quietly disappeared from the
web pages of his UK film/tv/theatre agents, Casarotto Ramsay. [CE] See also Terry Pratchett below and January links at news.ansible.uk.

MARK HODDER is unhappy with the publishers who commissioned his novel _A
Dark and Subtle Light_ as a work-for-hire deal, paid for it and announced October 2024 publication -- but then cancelled the book when the relevant editor left the company, and 'forgot' to tell the author or remove the
Amazon listing. In response to fan enquiries, Hodder writes: 'I'm afraid Rebellion (I'm now naming and shaming) have not only taken the novel off
their schedule but they are also refusing to give it (or even sell it) back
to me. Their stance is that I got paid so I don't really have anything to complain about. A fucking atrocious attitude. [...] I consider it one of
the best novels I have written and I am royally PISSED OFF that no one will
get to read it.' (Reddit, 20 January) [F770]

DEMI MOORE won a Golden Globe as best female actor 'in a musical or comedy'
for her star part in that spectacularly gross body-horror film _The
Substance_, written and directed by Coralie Fargeat. _The Substance_ has
since picked up five Oscar nominations: best picture, director, screenplay, makeup/hairstyling and (Demi Moore again) lead actress.

KENNETH MORRIS, author of that fine Celtic fantasy _Book of the Three Dragons_,was archived at the Theosophical Society library in Altadena, California -- destroyed, alas, by the Eaton Fire on 8 January. A huge collection of Theosophy-related material, including some of Algernon Blackwood's papers, has been lost. (The Wild Hunt, 9 January) [DAA/MA]

LEE MURRAY, the New Zealand sf/fantasy/horror author, anthologist and
mentor, became an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to literature in the NZ New Year honours. [GP]

GEORGE ORWELL is commemorated by the UK Royal Mint's latest GBP2 coin
design, featuring a large eye/camera lens with the legend BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU. (_Manchester Evening News_, 13 January) [AL]

TERRY PRATCHETT's estate updated the official _Good Omens_ graphic novel fundraiser (nearly GBP2.5m raised) with a note saying _inter alia_ that
'Neil Gaiman will not receive any proceeds'. (Kickstarter, 30 January)

ROBERT SILVERBERG celebrated his ninetieth birthday on 15 January.

NORMAN SPINRAD announced the end of his long-running (since 1983)
_Asimov's_ column 'On Books', with a final forthcoming essay titled 'Speculative Literature?'. The decision to stop, he notes, was his. [PDF]


### CONOIDAL ###

Until 6 Apr [] SCI-FI GALACTIC ADVENTURES (_Star Wars_ exhibition),
Riverside Museum, Glasgow. 10am-5pm; 11am-5pm Friday and Sunday. Free. See www.glasgowlife.org.uk/event/1/sci-fi-galactic-adventures.

7-9 Feb [] CONTABILE 35 (filk), Wensum Valley Hotel, Norwich. GBP43 reg;
GBP33 concessions. More details at c35.contabile.org.uk.

7-10 Feb [] SCOTIACON (furry), Crowne Plaza Hotel, Glasgow. 'Magical
Mayhem' theme. GBP100 reg; day GBP45. See www.scotiacon.org.uk.

8-9 Feb [] THE GREAT CONJUNCTION (_Dark Crystal_), Elstree, London. Adult weekend passes start at GBP102.95, rising to Very Expensive with VIP
access; special rates for under-17s. See www.thegreatconjunction.com.

21-23 Feb [] UK GHOST STORY FESTIVAL, Museum of Making, Derby. In-person tickets GBP75 plus fee. Also online 14-16 February, GBP50 plus fee. See www.ukghoststoryfestival.co.uk.

22-23 Feb [] SURREY STEAMPUNK CONVIVIAL, Stoneleigh, Epsom. See bumpandthumper.wixsite.com/steampunkconvivials.

12-13 Apr [] CONPULSION (games), The Pleasance, Edinburgh, EH8 9TJ. Tickets GBP20 or GBP10 each day, at the door only. See conpulsion.org.

25-27 Apr [] SPRINGMOOT (Tolkien Society), annual dinner and members-only
AGM, Leonardo Hotel, Cardiff. Room and dinner bookings at www.tolkiensociety.org/events/agm-and-springmoot-2025.

7-9 May [] GIFCON (University of Glasgow conference), 'Queering the
Fantastic', online. See tinyurl.com/yfdbvdwj.

5-6 Jul [] TOLKIEN SOCIETY SEMINAR: 'Arda's Entangled Bodies ...', Glasgow
and online. Free. See www.tolkiensociety.org/events/.

13-17 Aug [] SEATTLE WORLDCON 2025, Seattle, WA, USA. _Now $250 full adult registration, rising to $280 on 1 March 2025 and $300 on 1 May 2025._ For
the other rates see seattlein2025.org.

4-7 Sep [] OXONMOOT (Tolkien Society), St Anne's, Oxford. Registration
awaited at www.tolkiensociety.org/events/oxonmoot-2025.

24-26 Oct [] FESTIVAL OF FANTASTIC FILMS, Pendulum Hotel, Manchester.
GBP110 reg, _rising to GBP120 on 1 March_. Day rates: GBP30 Friday, GBP55 Saturday, GBP45 Sunday. See fantastic-films.uk.

RUMBLINGS. _Middle-earth Festival_ is to take place on the 'weekend after Oxonmoot', i.e. 11-12 September; UK field venue still not revealed.


### INFINITELY IMPROBABLE ###

AS WE SEE US. 'A science fiction convention, though, was definitely the
worst. The people were loud. And friendly. And interested in you,
themselves, each other, and the arts of rhetoric and personal adornment, in approximately that order.' Also, '... the only way female fantasy writers
could achieve respect was through bribery.' (both Rosemary Edghill [eluki
bes shahar], _The Cloak of Night and Shadows_, 1997) [BA]

AWARDS. _Philip K. Dick Award_ shortlist:_ City of Dancing Gargoyles_ by
Tara Campbell, _Your Utopia: Stories_ by Bora Chung translated by Anton
Hur, _Time's Agent_ by Brenda Peynado, _The Practice, the Horizon, and the Chain_ by Sofia Samatar, _Alien Clay_ by Adrian Tchaikovsky, _Triangulum_
by Subodhana Wijeyeratne.

PUBLISHERS AND SINNERS. Viking Classics (no connection with Penguin's
Viking Books, which is presumably not a problem for the beady-eyed Penguin legal department) reissues public domain works in which 'Spelling and
grammar are carefully edited', as for example on the tasteful cover of
their Kindle ebook _Around the World in 80 Days_ by H.G. Wells -- although,
to be fair, they do show the right author on the title page. [MA]

R.I.P. _Alma Rosa Aguirre_ (1929-2025), Mexican actress in _El fantasma de
la casa roja_ (1956) and _Los diablos del terror_ (1959), died on 27
January aged 95. [SJ]
_Britt Allcroft_ (1943-2024), UK tv producer and writer who created
the tv series _Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends_ -- later just _Thomas & Friends_ -- and wrote 579 episodes 1984-2020 (there were also many
spinoffs), died on 27 December aged 81.
_Laurel Amberdine_, US author, interviewer and member of the editorial teams at _Lightspeed_ and _Locus_, died on 21 January. [L]
_Mariano Antolin Rato_ (1943-2025), Spanish translator (of William S. Burroughs and others) and author of six sf novels beginning with _Cuando
900 mil mach aprox_ (_When 900 Thousand Mach Approx_, 1973) -- which
introduced New Wave-mode sf to Spain -- died on 10 January aged 81. [MV]
_Jeff Baena_ (1977-2025), who wrote and directed the zombie romantic comedy _Life After Beth_ (2014), committed suicide on 3 January aged 47.
[SJ]
_Christopher Benjamin_ (1934-2025), UK actor in _The Plague Dogs_
(1982), the _Jago & Litefoot_ podcast series (55 episodes spun off from the title characters' appearance in _Doctor Who_: 'The Talons of Weng-Chiang', 1977) and _The Legend of Tarzan_ (2016), died on 10 January aged 90.
_John Brunas_, US film historian who wrote extensively about horror
and with his brother Michael plus Tom Weaver published _Universal Horrors:
The Studio's Classic Films, 1931--1946_ (1990), died on 19 January aged 76. [SJ]
_John Capodice_ (1941-2024), Italian-US actor in _Q: The Winged
Serpent_ (1982), _Gremlins 2_ (1990), _Independence Day_ (1996), _The
Phantom_ (1996) and others, died on 30 December aged 83. [SJ]
_Leslie Charleson_ (1945-2025), US _General Hospital_ actress whose
films include _The Day of the Dolphin_ (1973), died on 12 January aged 79.
[SJ]
_Barbara Clegg_ (1926-2025), UK _Emergency Ward 10_ actress who moved
on to scriptwriting, adapting Wyndham's _The Chrysalids_ for Radio 4 (1981)
and becoming the first woman to write for _Doctor Who_ with her serial 'Enlightenment' (1983), died on 7 January aged 98. [SJ]
_Phyllis Dalton_ (1925-2025), Oscar-winning UK costume designer whose films include _Scrooge_ (1951), _The Water Babies_ (1978), _Unidentified
Flying Oddball_ (1979) and _The Princess Bride_ (1987), died on 9 January
aged 99. [SJ]
_Paul Danan_ (1978-2025), UK actor in _The Queen's Nose_ (3 episodes 2002), _Are We Dead Yet?_ (2019) and _Doll House_ (2022), was found dead on
15 January aged 46. [SJ]
_Yevgenia Dobrovolskaya_ (1964-2025), Russian actress who starred in
the children's sf film _Shchen iz sozvezdiya Gonchikh Psov_ (_Pup from
Canes Venatici_, 1991), died on 10 January aged 60. [AM]
_Jules Feiffer_ (1929-2025), Pulitzer-winning US cartoonist and author whose genre work included illustrations for _The Phantom Tollbooth_ (1961),
the pioneering comics study _The Great Comic Book Heroes_ (1965) and the screenplay for _Popeye_ (1980), died on 17 January aged 95. He entered the
Will Eisner Hall of Fame in 2004.
_Horst Janson_ (1935-2025), German actor in Hammer's _Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter_ (1974), died on 28 January aged 89. [SJ]
_Howard Andrew Jones_, US author of historical and other fantasies beginning in 2011 with the 'Chronicle of Sword and Sand' sequence, and
editor since 2017 of the magazine _Tales from the Magician's Skull_, died
on 16 January. [F770]
_Charles Kay_ (1930-2025), UK actor in various genre series including _Doctor Who_ ('Excelis Rising', 2002, as The Curator), died on 8 January
aged 94. [SG]
_Georgy Kuznetsov_ (1946-2025), Russian sf bibliographer, collector
and fan who was a founder of the Novosibirsk sf fan club Amalthea (1977)
and published _Soviet science fiction of Siberia and Far East_ (2018), died
on 18 January. [AM]
_Diane Langton_ (1947-2025), UK actress in _Percy's Progress_ (1974),
died on 15 January aged 77. [SJ]
_Lily Li Li-Li_ (1950-2024), prolific Hong Kong actress whose many
genre credits include _The Bride with White Hair_ (title role, 1978), _The
Gods and Demons of Zu Mountain_ (1990) and _Dark Tales_ (1996), died on 27 October 2024. [K]
_David Lynch_ (1946-2025), noted US film and tv writer/director whose genre credits include _Eraserhead_ (1977), _Dune_ (1984), _Twin Peaks_ (1990-1991) -- with many spinoffs including the feature film _Twin Peaks:
Fire Walk With Me_ (1992) -- and _Inland Empire_ (2006), died on 15 January aged 78. [LP] He had accepted, and will receive posthumously, the Writers
Guild of America West 2025 Laurel Award for Screenwriting Achievement.
_Pritish Nandy_ (1951-2025) Indian poet, journalist, parliamentarian
and producer of the Hindi-language supernatural horror film _Click_ (2010), died on 8 January. [AM]
_Dame Joan Plowright_ (1929-2025), UK stage and screen actress whose
genre films include _Last Action Hero_ (1993), _101 Dalmatians_ (1996),
_Tom's Midnight Garden_ (1999), _George and the Dragon_ (2004) and _The Spiderwick Chronicles_ (2008), died on 16 January aged 95.
_Roger Pratt_ (1947-2024), UK cinematographer whose many credits
include _The Crimson Permanent Assurance_ (1983), _Brazil_ (1985), _Batman_ (1989), _12 Monkeys_ (1995), _102 Dalmatians_ (2000) and two Harry Potter films, died in December aged 77. [AIP]
_Andrew Pyper_ (1968-2025), Canadian author whose thrillers --
beginning with the bestselling _Lost Girls_ (2000) -- have varying elements
of supernatural horror, died on 3 January aged 56. [PDF] His novel
_William_ (2024, as by Mason Coile) is sf. [JC]
_Gloria Romero_ (1933-2025), Filipino-US actress in _Living Dead_
(1972), _Fight! Batman, Fight!_ (1973), _Rubberman_ (1996) and many others, died on 25 January aged 91. [SJ]
_Johnny Russell_ (1933-2024), US former child actor with Shirley
Temple in _The Blue Bird_ (1940), died on 14 December aged 91. [SJ]
_Al Sarrantonio_ (1952-2025), US author and anthologist whose first
novel _The Worms_ (1985) was horror and who moved into sf with the 'Five
Worlds Saga' trilogy (1996-1998), died on 28 January aged 72. [GVG]
_Jan Shepard_ (1928-2025), US actress in _Attack of the Giant Leeches_ (1959) and genre tv series including _Science Fiction Theatre_ (3 episodes 1955-1957), died on 17 January aged 96. [LP]
_Tony Slattery_ (1959-2025), UK actor/comedian in _Carry on Columbus_ (1992) and _The Rocky Horror Tribute Show_ (as narrator, 2006), died on 14 January aged 65. [SB]
_Norman Chui Sui-Keung_ (1950-2024), Hong Kong actor in _Zu: Warriors
from the Magic Mountain_ (1983), _Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils_ (1984) and
_Legend of the Liquid Sword_ (1993), died on 1 September 2024. [K]
_Jeannot Szwarc_ (1939-2025), French-born US director of _The Devil's Daughter_ (1973), _Bug_ (1975), _Jaws 2_ (1978), _Somewhere in Time_
(1980), _Supergirl_ (1984), _Smallville_ (14 episodes 2003-2011) and more,
died on 15 January aged 85. [SJ]
_Bob Uecker_ (1934-2025), former US baseball player and broadcaster
who voiced versions of himself in _Homeward Bound II: Lost in San
Francisco_ (1996) and animated genre series, died on 16 January aged 90.
[LP]
_Wally (Wallace) Weber_ (1929-2025), US fan since 1947 who was a 1950s founder member of the Seattle 'Nameless Ones' fan club, coedited their _Cry
of the Nameless_ (1960 fanzine Hugo winner), chaired the 1961 Seattle
Worldcon, won TAFF in 1963 and remained active in SAPS until 2021, died on
23 January aged 95. [AH/JK]
_Dale Wilson_ (1950-2025), Canadian actor whose many genre credits
include _Watchers_ (1988), _I Still Dream of Jeannie_ (1991), _Stay Tuned_ (1992), _Hellraiser: Hellseeker_ (2002) and _Killer Mountain_ (2011), died
on 6 January aged 74. [SJ]
_Peter Yarrow_ (1938-2025), US singer/songwriter who co-wrote and --
as part of the folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary -- sang 'Puff the Magic
Dragon' (1963), died on 7 January aged 86. [AIP]

SUPERFLUOUS TECHNOLOGY. The tradition of porting the elderly sf first-person-shooter game _Doom_ (1993) to unlikely platforms continues
with a version that runs in a PDF (Portable Document Format) file, albeit rather slowly and in monochrome. Why? Because it was there, of course; or rather, because until now it wasn't. (_The Register_, 14 January)

CANCEL CULTURE. Harry Potter replica 'Gryffindor Swords' sold at a Japanese theme park have been recalled for being 'too authentic' -- i.e. long
(85cm), sharp and pointy -- and thus running afoul of the country's weapons control laws. (_Herald Sun_, Australia, 6 December) [DLR]

MAGAZINE SCENE. From the March issue, '_Science Fiction Studies_ will be published under the auspices of the University of California Press
consortium.' This is a happy rescue, since the previous _SFS_ academic host DePauw University reduced its budget to zero in 2024. [IC-R]
Andy Cox -- former publisher of _Interzone_ and _Black Static_ -- and Richard Wagner have launched the quarterly printed horror magazine
_Remains_, whose first issue appeared in January. Further details at remains.uk. [PDF]

RANDOM FANDOM. _FAAn Awards 2024._ Voting on these awards for fanzine
activity opened in January and closes on 29 March. Anyone can vote: for
further details see the latest issue of administrator Nic Farey's _The Incompleat Register_ at efanzines.com/TIR/Incompleat2024.pdf.
_Glasgow 2024 Worldcon Souvenir Book Secrets._ 'Despite a membership
of 8,000, only 5,000 were printed on the assumption that not everyone would want to pick theirs up. This was even more true than the committee thought,
and only 4,200 went -- sadly 800 were recycled after the con.' (Rob
Jackson, _Inca_ 25, December)

KARMA'S A BITCH is the Writer Beware headline for a report on the arrest in California of the CEO and VP of the notorious Phillipines-based PageTurner Press and Media aka Innocentrix, whose fleecing of would-be authors has
been generating anguished complaints since 2018. According to the US DoJ,
'the FBI identified more than 800 victims of the scheme who collectively
lost more than $44 million....' (Writer Beware, 3 January)

THE DEAD PAST. _60 Years Ago_, fandom learned that the new Tarzan series
novels by 'Barton Werper', beginning with _Tarzan and the Silver Globe_
(1964), were not only unauthorized -- legal action from the Edgar Rice Burroughs estate was soon to follow -- but partly plagiarized, with
paragraphs lifted verbatim from ERB's _Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar_.
(_The Barsoomian Times_ 4, February 1965)
_20 Years Ago_, the _Independent_ gave us a _Lord of the Rings_ plot summary: 'The plucky hobbits cross treacherous mountains to stop the evil
Lord Sarumon obtaining the ring he needs for world domination.' (_Ansible_
211, February 2005)

FANFUNDERY. _TransAtlantic Fan Fund._ Voting continues in the 2025
westbound TAFF race to the Seattle Worldcon, and will close on 23 April.
See taff.org.uk for the ballot, candidates, and online voting form. While updating that site I found a strangely Douglas Adamsish name in a 1964 list
of voters: Vov Ailcwevwef. Deep analysis of likely typewriter mishits
suggested 'Bob Silverberg'.
_Canadian Unity Fan Fund._ Garth Spencer, the 2023 CUFF winner and
current administrator, has given up in response to widespread apathy. 'If
fans in Canada just don't know or care what a fan fund is, there is not
much point in doing this anymore.' [F770]
_The Corflu Fifty_ will bring Nic & Jen Farey to the UK for his last
and her first visit, to Corflu 42 in April (corflu.org). There's also a
one-off fund to cover further travel to Eastercon etc.: the title Nic Farey
Fan Fund, or N3F, was rejected in favour of the Far-flung Farey Safari, or
FFS! GoFundMe details are at www.gofundme.com/f/the-farflung-farey-safari.

EDITORIAL. It's suggested that issue 451 would be an appropriate point for _Ansible_ to cease in a blaze of glory. Do I hear the Mechanical Hound?

OUTRAGED LETTERS. _Sue Jones_ on _A450_: 'I am pleased to report that
Scrooge's gravestone (a real old, illegible, gravestone wearing a false
name added for the George C. Scott film in 1984) has been repaired and
replaced in St Chad's Churchyard. It was already in two pieces and only has
two more breaks, well away from the name.'

THOG'S MASTERCLASS. _Slim Fingers Dept._ '... his hands clutching at the
king's pimply throat as though ten piano wires were being tightened around
that fleshy column.' (Ron Miller, _Hearts and Armour_, 1992) [BA]
_The Lorentz-FitzGerald Expansion._ '''By the general theory of relativity," I said, "a body travelling at the speed of light would acquire infinite size and mass."' (Rex Gordon, _First to the Stars_, 1959)
_Neat Tricks._ 'He slid back, flattened himself against the aluminum
side of the stairwell, and stretched his ears.' (Poul Anderson, 'Brake',
August 1957 _Astounding_) [CG]
_Say That Again?_ 'Our strange and self abuse is the initiate fear
that wants hard use.' (M.J. Engh, _Arslan_, 1976)
_Fine Writing: Nonfiction Dept._ 'It melted like silk. The flavor dove into a deep, dark place, and then, just when I thought I had a handle on
it, the bottom fell out of it and it dove some more.' (Rowan Jacobsen,
_Wild Chocolate_, 2024) [PE]


### 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:
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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):
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. 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://ansible.uk/books/index.html

GROUP THEORY.
20 February 2025, evening: London Zoom meeting, third Thursday of each month. 'Please share this with people who you know typically come to the Bishop's Finger, but aren't on Facebook.' https://bohemiancoast.medium.com/first-thursday-london-sf-fan-virtual-drinks-5232021e961f

RUMBLINGS II. _Picocon 42_ (Imperial College, London), normally in
February, is reportedly to be held on 1 March. As _Ansible_ goes to press
there is no confirming Picocon web presence and it's been hinted by one of
the as yet unnannounced speakers that the date might change. [DH]

THE RELENTLESS PUBLISHING PROGRAMME. The Ian Watson nonfiction collection _Watto's Wisdom_ is on course for ebook and paperback release on 1 March,
with Sandra Bond hoping to sell the latter (all proceeds to TAFF) in the Eastercon dealers' room and Ian intending to be there to sign them. _The Incomplete GUFF Chronicles_, a GUFF equivalent of the 2017 _TAFF Trip
Report Anthology_ ebook (taff.org.uk/ebooks.php?x=TAFFanth), is even now
being proofread. No idea of what comes next....

R.I.P. II: LATE REPORT. _Marianne Faithfull_ (1946-2025), UK singer,
songwriter and actress in _Ghost Story_ (1974) and _Absolutely Fabulous_ (3 episodes 1996-2001, as God) -- plus voice parts in _The Turn of the Screw_ (1992, as narrator) and _Dune: Part One_ (2021) -- died on 30 January aged
78. [LP]

SOME LINKS from the _Ansible_ home page.
Neil Gaiman allegations continue https://news.ansible.uk/misc/link25.html#Jan
Steve Holland on Barry Malzberg (_Guardian_) https://www.theguardian.com/books/2025/jan/09/barry-malzberg-obituary
_The Incompleat Register 2024_ (re FAAn awards) https://efanzines.com/TIR/Incompleat2024.pdf
TAFF online voting form
https://taff.org.uk/vote.php
_TLDV_: 'The Last Orphan Stories' https://amazingstories.com/2025/01/the-last-orphan-stories/
George Zebrowski obituary (_Times Union_) https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/grondahl-george-zebrowski-prolific-sci-fi-20008416.php

THOG'S GOLDEN OLDIES from _Ansible_ 211, February 2005. _Understatement
Dept._ 'Kassad was aware of the pain as a great sound beyond hearing, a
huge, incessant foghorn of pain, as if thousands of untrained fingers were falling on thousands of keys playing a massive pipe organ of pain.' (Dan Simmons, _The Fall of Hyperion_, 1990)
_Magical Physics Dept (or, the Bounceless Bounce)._ 'Satellites
watched the residue of gas and energized particles strike the surface and rebound. There was no heat or momentum transfer.' (Peter F. Hamilton, _Pandora's Star_, 2004)
_Solid Geometry Dept._ 'The capsule was a truncated cylinder, perhaps
four meters in diameter at the base and three at the top ...' (Charles
Stross, _Singularity Sky_, 2003)


_Ansible_(R) 451 (C) David Langford, 2025. Thanks to Brian Ameringen,
Douglas A. Anderson, Mike Ashley, Sandra Bond, John Clute, Istvan Csicsery-Ronay, Cat Eldridge, Paul Di Filippo, _File 770_, Carl Glover,
Steve Green, David Haddock, Andy Hooper, Kari, Jerry Kaufman, Steve Jones, _Locus_, Art Lortie, Andrey Meshavkin, Lawrence Person, Gillian Polack,
Andrew I. Porter, _Private Eye_, David L. Russell,_SF2 Concatenation_,
Gordon Van Gelder, Mariano Villarreal, and our Hero Distributors: Durdles
Books (Brum Group), SCIS/Prophecy and Alan Stewart (Australia).

31 January 2025
--
David Langford | http://ansible.uk/ | http://news.ansible.uk/

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)