ANSIBLE 234
JANUARY 2007

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
(online). Available for SAE or _Nexialism for Dummies_.

[NET NOTE. See http://news.ansible.co.uk/a234.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]


MY SCIENCE FICTION LIFE. This BBC4 programme about those funny sf fans
was broadcast on 29 December. For readers who missed it or just couldn't
face watching, _Max_ provides a lightning summary -- 

`It was along these lines: _Narrator:_ Science fiction is largely about
escapism. See these people escape too far. _Daft woman:_ I like being a
Klingon called KickArse at the pub. _Narrator:_ But sometimes real things
come from SF. _Random contributor:_ Gosh, aren't mobile phones great.
_Narrator:_ Here's a man who had computer bits implanted in him. _Kevin
Warwick:_ I had computer bits implanted. Isn't that great. _Kevin
Warwick's wife:_ It's so great I did it too. _[etc ...]_

`They did actually go along to the Tun and filmed a bunch of decent
people. I think Roger Robinson, definitely Pete Young, Doug Spencer, new
girl on the scene Abi Brown. But clearly they were looking for weirdos
and disappointed at the clear, well read people they found.'


### THE WOODLAND TWEEZERS ###

D.G. COMPTON (David Guy Compton) will be made the SFWA `Author Emeritus'
for 2007 at the Nebula Awards event in May.

MICHAEL CRICHTON has discovered the age-old technique of taking revenge
on perceived enemies by writing them into fiction. So claims _New
Republic_ editor Michael Crowley, who last March grumbled about this
author's partisan handling of global warming issues in _State of Fear_
(`Crichton has relentlessly propagandized on behalf of one big idea: that
experts -- scientists, intellectuals, reporters, and bureaucrats -- are
spectacularly corrupt and spectacularly wrong.'). It could be sheer
coincidence that Crichton's latest, _Next_, introduces a character called
Mick Crowley who has no detectable plot function but just happens to be
a political writer/reporter who like his _NR_ namesake went to Yale.
`Mick' is described as a dickhead and a weasel, possesses a singularly
tiny penis, but has nevertheless raped his own two-year-old nephew.
Responding on the same lofty intellectual plane, the original Michael
Crowley published a response whose _New Republic_ website link read:
`Michael Crichton, Jurassic Prick'. Such is the Real Literary World.

JO FLETCHER of Gollancz has been somewhat out of things: `Just back
online after (non-elective) laser eye surgery. Steve thinks I just wanted
to a be a rock-chick; I did enjoy the whole Ray-Bans in the dark thing,
but let me tell you having lasers shot into your eyeball WHILST YOU ARE
AWAKE is not the fun it's cracked up to be ... however, lump's gone,
sight's restored and a month banned from reading anything particularly
computer screens has left me with an enormous backlog of emails. If you
use this in _Ansible_, please carry my apology to all those people who
think I'm deliberately ignoring them ...' (2 January)

MARGARET MAHY, award-winning New Zealand author of children's and YA
fantasies, has cancelled all her public appearances until further notice
owing to ill-health. She was to be a guest of honour at the 2007
Australian national sf convention (Convergence) in June. [AIP]

TERRY PRATCHETT remarked in a Metro.co.uk interview that fantasy has
transcended the shackles of genre: `It's been happening for years and
years, it's now so mainstream, people don't think of it as fantasy any
more. You could say it's disappearing as a genre. Once, fantasy and sci-
fi were always at the back of the shop, like a VD clinic -- those who
needed to knew where to find it. I went out of genre in the mid-1990s
because every Discworld book was getting to No. 1 and I was getting
readers who wouldn't shop at Forbidden Planet. I found out I had a bunch
of fans in a convent. The nuns sent a young lady to get their books
signed at a signing because they couldn't come themselves.' (15 December)
[LW] I suspect that `sci-fi' was supplied by the interviewer. A local
Reading paper recently interviewed me by email, and although I avoided
using such terms as `sci-fi', `obsession', `overwhelming passion', `sci-
fi', etc., the reporter kindly corrected all these omissions.

J.K. ROWLING confounded all the fans who'd placed their bets on the
unconvincingly rumoured _Harry Potter and the Mystic Kettle of
Nackledirk_, and announced that (as widely predicted by no one at all)
book seven would in fact be _Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows_. The
bookies are accepting bets on which character(s) will die....


### CONTENTO ###

24 Jan [] BSFA OPEN MEETING, The Star pub, West Halkin Mews, London, SW1.
6pm on; fans present from 5pm. With Paul Cornell.

31 Jan [] _FARTHING_ READINGS, Nell of Old Drury pub, 29 Catherine St,
London, WC2B 5JS (opposite Theatre Royal, Drury Lane). 7.30pm for 8pm.
With Wendy Bradley and a selection of the magazine authors.

2-4 Feb [] D'ZENOVE CONVENTION (filk), Basingstoke Hilton, Basingstoke.
Pounds27 reg; Pounds26 electronic publications only; Pounds13 unwaged.
No detectable postal address. See www.contabile.org.uk.

POSTPONED 3 Feb [] DAVID STEWART MEMORIAL EVENT, in or near Dublin: owing
to delays in cataloguing David's books for the intended charity auction,
this will probably happen at Octocon in October.

17 Feb [date correction] [] PICOCON 24, Imperial College, London. 10am-
7pm/8pm. Approx Pounds8 reg, Pounds6 concessions, Pounds4 ICFS members.
Contact ICSF, Beit Quad, Prince Consort Rd, London, SW7 2BB.

23-25 Feb [] REDEMPTION 07 (_B7_/_B5_), Hinckley Island Hotel, Leics.
Pounds55 to 9 Feb, when advance booking closes; Pounds60 at door. Day:
Pounds35, Pounds40 at door. Under 18s Pounds15; day Pounds10. Under 3s
free. Contact 26 Kings Meadow View, Wetherby, LS22 7FX.

3-4 March [] MICROCON, Exeter University. Further details TBA.

6-9 Apr [] CONTEMPLATION (Eastercon), Crowne Plaza Hotel, Trinity St,
Chester, CH1 2BD. Pounds45 reg, Pounds30 unwaged, Pounds20 supp/junior
(13-17), Pounds5 child (5-12), Pounds1 infant (under 5). Hotel rooms
Pounds85/night double or twin, Pounds75 single. Also slightly posher
`executive' rooms at Pounds20/night extra. Contact 18 Letchworth Ave,
Feltham, Middlesex, TW14 9RY.

3-5 Aug [] MECON 10, Queen's Elms Centre, 78 Malone Rd, Belfast. _Now
Pounds16 reg (Pounds14 unwaged)._ 115 Malone Rd, Belfast, BT9 6SP.

16 Jun - 30 Sep [] THE ART OF JOSH KIRBY, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool.
The first retrospective exhibition of paintings by the much loved genre
artist Josh Kirby (1928-2001).


### INFINITELY IMPROBABLE ###

AS OTHERS SEE US. Australia eagerly welcomes its own sf pay-tv channel:
`Sci-fi fans are strange animals. Their natural habitat is their parents'
basement and their traditional pastime is watching their favourite shows
on DVD. But on December 1 all this changed. Now we can watch our
favourite shows on Foxtel too. That's right, my pasty-faced friends _[...
etc, etc, "sci-fi geek", etc ...]_ So grab your Klingon costume, put up
an "I believe" poster in your parents' basement and veg out. The truth
is out there.' (Alice Clarke, _The Age_, 7 December) [FMcH]

R.I.P. _Joseph Barbera_ (1911-2006), US cartoonist who as half of Hanna-
Barbera created _The Flintstones_, _The Jetsons_, _Scooby-Doo_ and other
notable animated tv series, died on 18 December. He was 95.
     _Peter Boyle_ (1935-2006), US actor whose best known genre role was
the Monster in _Young Frankenstein_ (1974), and who won a 1996 Emmy for
his guest appearance in _The X-Files_, died on 12 December aged 71. [GW]
     _Hardin `Jack' Burnley_ (1911-2006), US comics artist who was the
first person other than their creators to draw Superman, Batman and
Robin, died on 19 December; he was 95. [PDF]
     _Jayge Carr_ (pen-name of Margery Krueger, 1940-2006), US author of
_Leviathan's Deep_ (1979) and other sf novels, died on 20 December aged
66. [SFWA]
     _David H. Charney_ (1923-2006), US fan who was active in New York
in the late 1930s (Science Fiction League, Fantasy Circle) and published
two sf stories in 1973, died on 12 December aged 83. [SJ]
     _Richard (Dick) Eney_ (1932-2006), US fan active ever since since
the 1950s, who edited/published the landmark _Fancyclopedia II_ (1959)
and was fan GoH at the 1984 Worldcon, died on 22 December following a
stroke. [MAW] He was 74; US state records and his own brother confirm a
birth year of 1932 despite his later preference for 1937.
     _Chris Hayward_ (1925-2006), US tv writer who worked on _Rocky and
Bullwinkle_ and co-created _The Munsters_, died on 20 November aged 81.
[SJD]
     _Patricia Matthews_ (1927-2006), author who also published novels
as by Pat A. Brisco and Laura Wylie, died on 7 December; she was 79.
[SFWA]
     _Martin Nodell_ (1915-2006), US comics artist who invented and drew
the original 1940 _Green Lantern_, died on 9 December at age 91. [PDF]
     _Philippa Pearce_ (1920-2006), UK children's novelist best known for
her classic timeslip fantasy _Tom's Midnight Garden_ (1958), died on 21
December. She was 86 and had been a popular figure at conferences. Though
it's non-fantastic, your editor is also very fond of her first novel
_Minnow on the Say_ (1955)....
     _Virgil Utter_ (1925-2006), US fan and critic who contributed sf
biographies to the Galactic Central bibliography series, died on 3
October aged 81. [SFWA]
     _Ursula Moray Williams_ (1911-2006), UK children's author whose
fantasies included _Gobbolino the Witch's Cat_ (1942), died on 17
October; she was 95. [JE]

AS OTHERS SEE US II. Caryn James of the _New York Times_ discusses P.D.
James's book as well as the film: `"The Children of Men" is not another
of Ms. James's famed detective novels, and it is not, as it has sometimes
sloppily been described, science fiction. It is a trenchant analysis of
politics and power that speaks urgently to this social moment, a 14-year-
old work that remains surprisingly pertinent. [...] In both forms
"Children of Men," which opened Monday, is a story of redemption, set in
England just decades in the future (the film takes place in 2027), when
women have inexplicably lost the ability to become pregnant.' (28
December) [NH] No nasty future speculation there!

THE FAST SHOW. The _Guardian_ list of the top 100 UK bestsellers
(`fastsellers') for 2006 contains rather few genre titles. The most
popular sf book of the year would seem to be the _Doctor Who Annual 2007_
in 31st place, followed by Kazuo Ishiguro's _Never Let Me Go_ at 44.
Further down we find Audrey Niffenegger's _The Time Traveller's Wife_
(61) closely pursued by Lemony Snicket's _A Series of Unfortunate Events:
The End_ (62), _The Beano Annual_ (64) and _Hannah the Happy Ever Fairy:
Rainbow Magic_ (65) by Daisy Meadows (who?). Slower-moving genre work
forms another little cluster in the 80s: J.K. Rowling's _Harry Potter and
the Half-Blood Prince_ (80) plus two Terry Pratchetts, _Wintersmith_ (82)
and _Thud!_ (84). By way of perspective, the great Dan Brown has no fewer
than five books positioned higher than all the above.

SCIENCE DEPARTMENT. BBC website coverage of the NASA moonbase plan led
to a reader comment grounded in the legendary scientific tradition of
_Space 1999_: `I feel space exploration is great, as is our amazing
progress in science and technology, but erecting a facility on the moon
is quite simply mad. It is playing with fire. Consider the incredible
dependence of life on earth on the moon. The moon is responsible for the
stability of this amazing planet. Suppose there is some accident on this
facility or perhaps a mistake during construction that results in
damaging the fragile satellite. That could destroy the stability of our
planet. As if the American government isn't doing enough to contribute
to our potential doom with their militarism, nuclear weapons and horrible
record on climate, now they want to mess around with the moon. What is
wrong with these people?' [PB]

PUBLISHERS AND SINNERS. Can any reader guess whom Marc Gascoigne of BL
Publishing could possibly be talking about? `Setting up a new science
fiction imprint isn't all about the high concept stuff. As we get ready
for the launch of Solaris next February, we're also learning lots about
human nature. We had a manuscript sent over from A Notable American Agent
for the third novel by one of his authors. When we rejected it on the
grounds that her sales history was nowhere near strong enough for her
future prospects, we were bemused to get this reply: "Well in that case,
I'm going to resubmit it to you under a pseudonym."' (_The Bookseller_,
8 December) [RD]

THOG'S NATURAL HISTORY MASTERCLASS. `Swallows certainly sleep all winter.
A number of them conglobulate together, by flying round and round, and
then all in a heap throw themselves under water and lie in the bed of the
river.' (Dr Samuel Johnson, quoting received wisdom)

RANDOM FANDOM. _Kim Huett_'s memorial collection of fanzine writings by
the late John Brosnan was delayed by hardware trouble but should appear
Real Soon Now.
     _Las Vegas Fandom_ may have affected the mind of A.A. Gill, whose
in his new book _Assignments from Here and There_ insists that the Las
Vegas skyline `looks like the cover of a schlock science-fiction novel'.
[FS]
     _Jim Meadows_ on _A233_: `Noting the obit for Dave Cockrum -- I'm
not quite certain, but I think Cockrum also did some cartooning for
fanzines. I remember his work appearing in the early 1970s, in very
faanish fanzines of New York fans such as Arnie and Joyce Katz, rich
brown, Bill Kunkel and others. [...] Also, I believe Cockrum did some
professional illustration in the 70s for _Amazing_ and _Fantastic_ under
Ted White's editorship.' _Confirmed by on-line bibliographies -- Ed._
     _Lloyd Penney_, relentless contributor to a million fanzine letter
columns, underwent eye surgery for a detached retina on 5 December; he
reports that all is well.
     _Andrew I. Porter_, founding editor of _SF Chronicle_, has been
diagnosed with a cancerous ampullary (bile-duct) lesion and awaits a date
for major surgery. Prospects are good, the doctors say; fingers crossed
for success and speedy recovery.

AS OTHERS SEE US III. A temporally challenged publishing snippet:
`Fifteen years after his death, Philip K Dick is one of Hollywood's
biggest ideas men [...] His publisher Gollancz is marking the 25th
anniversary of his death with a new look for six key titles, which they
hope will catapult him outside his core readership of science fiction
fans.' (Alison Bone, _Guardian_, 16 December 2006) [AC] Strange to think
that word of Dick's existence could spread beyond our hermetic, cultish
circle. Who knows, one day he may be discovered by the academics....
     Among the `most overrated' books of 2006: `_The Road_, Cormac
McCarthy (Picador). Critics loved it, but it is a slightly more earnest
version of good genre fiction.' (Tyler Cowen, _Prospect_ magazine,
January 2007) [CL] And as we all know, even good genre fiction can't in
a real sense be _good_.

EYEBALLS OF CIRCUMSPECTION. Some authors can take immense pains to avoid
Thog's department of Eyeballs in the Sky: `She just played with it _[a
cigarette]_ slowly, and then pointed a pair of grey eyes at me. I say _a_
pair. I mean her pair. She didn't get a pair of someone else's out from
a drawer and point them at me.' (Hugh Laurie, _The Gun Seller_, 1996)
[MMcA] Thog stumbles offstage, cheated of his prey....
 
OUTRAGED LETTERS. _Jo Fletcher_ continues while Langford cowers: `If
you're really short of text I can describe the ramming on of the plastic
eye-poppie-out-thingie and the Ozzie nurse with the enormous specs who
told me cheerily she wouldn't dream of having eye surgery just as the
surgeon started swearing because my pupil wouldn't dilate properly for
the iris recognition-thingie to do its bit, and the smell of burning
eyeball ... on second thoughts, maybe not ...'
     _Stephen Gallagher_ on _A233_ tv coverage: `Oh, don't get me
started. Working on _Eleventh Hour_ was like having a window seat in a
slow-motion zeppelin crash. Apparently if you insist on checking with
your science consultant to determine what might feasibly happen in a
given circumstance, that's "letting the tail wag the dog". How I came to
yearn for the scientific rigour of _Bugs_.'
     _Steve Green_ offers well-matured news: `I wonder if J K Rowling's
lawyers are aware of the movie _Troll_, wherein the youngster Harry
Potter battles the eponymous magical beastie. The fact that it was
released in 1986, four years before Ms Rowling began writing _HP and the
Philosopher's Stone_, shouldn't prove too much of a problem.'
     _Simo_ mourns the once well-loved UK comedian Charlie Drake (1925-
2006), who died on 24 December aged 81, and `actually had a little-known
SF credit. He starred in an SF-themed revue at the London Palladium in
1963 entitled _The Man in the Moon_. I used to own an EP of this with a
photo of CD in a space-suit. I should probably get out more.'
     _Jim Young_ complains: `You must stop publishing all these
obituaries. It's giving people the horrible idea that they should ...
stop living. Really, this business of time waiting for no one is just
ridiculous; before you know it, we'll be declared First Fans, and then
where will we be?'

FAAN AWARDS. The Fanzine Activity Achievement Awards ballot is on line
at efanzines.com: vote via mail or email by 31 January 2007.

THE DEAD PAST. _70 Years Ago:_ the first true sf convention (in the sense
of being pre-organized and using a public venue) was held in the Leeds
Temperance Hall on Sunday 3 January 1937. Would-be writer Arthur C.
Clarke was among the twenty or so fans and authors present, and so was
Eric Frank Russell; inspirational messages sent by Olaf Stapledon, H.G.
Wells and even John Russell Fearn were read out by the convention
secretary.
     _30 Years Ago:_ it was announced that the 1977 Eastercon had lost
its venue owing to hotel problems and would be held in a different
city.... (_Checkpoint_ 78, January 1977).

GROUP GROPES. _Beer & Blake's 7_ meeting, 20 January: Old Joint Stock,
4 Temple Row West, Birmingham, B2 5NY, 12.30pm to 7pm.

THOG'S MASTERCLASS. _Dept of Double Entendre._ `Sternly, he kept his
hands away from her. No sense making it harder than it was.' (Sheri S.
Tepper, _After Long Silence_ (aka _The Enigma Score_), 1987) [PB]
     _Storm in a Fishbowl Dept._ `Judge Dee stretched out his hand to
touch it, but the goldfish started an indignant uproar ...' (Robert van
Gulik, _The Chinese Lake Murders_, 1960)
     _Dept of Astronomical Imagery._ `The suns tumbled up into the mauve
autumn sky like rollicking kittens.' (Jack Vance, _The Anome_, 1973) [LP]
     _Seasonal Fun Dept._ `... that binary with the involved planetary
orbit that gave two winters for every summer ...' (Kenneth Bulmer, _The
Earth Gods Are Coming_, 1960) [BA]


### GEEKS' CORNER ###

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CONVENTION LONGLIST
Details at http://news.ansible.co.uk/ansilink.html#cons
London meetings -- http://news.ansible.co.uk/london.html
Overseas -- http://news.ansible.co.uk/conlisti.html
[] 2007
17 Feb 07, Picocon 24, London
2-4 Feb 07, D'Zenove Convention (filk), Basingstoke
23-25 Feb 07, Redemption (multimedia SF), Hinckley, Leics
3-4 March 07, Microcon, Exeter
10-11 Mar 07, P-Con 4, Dublin
[Cancelled] 6-9 Apr 07, Convoy (Eastercon), Liverpool
6-9 Apr 07, Contemplation (Eastercon substitute), somewhere
25-27 May 07, Confounding Tales! (crime/sf/horror pulp), Glasgow
20-22 Jul 07,Year of the Teledu, Leicester
10-12 Aug 07, Recombination/HarmUni III (Unicon/RPG/filk), Cambridge
30 Aug - 3 Sep 07, Nippon 2007 (Worldcon), Yokohama, Japan
21-23 Sep 07, Eurocon 2007, Copenhagen, Denmark
2-4 Nov 07, Novacon 37, Walsall
[] 2008
21-24 Mar 08, Orbital (Eastercon), Heathrow
Spring 08, Distraction, Newbury
6-10 Aug 08, Denvention 3 (Worldcon), Denver, USA


### ENDNOTES ###

APPARITIONS.
[] Until 6 January: Robert Lloyd Parry's one-man show `A Pleasing
Terror -- Two Ghost Stories by M R James', New End Theatre, Hampstead,
various times. Box office 0870 033 2733.
 http://www.nunkie.co.uk./page_3.html
[] 12 January: Brum Group, Britannia Hotel, New St, Birmingham.
7.45pm. AGM (not sure whether they charge admission for this).
Normally Pounds3 members, Pounds4 non-members. Contact bhamsfgroup at
yahoo co uk. Forthcoming: 9 February, Robert Holdstock; 9 March,
Justina Robson.

RANDOM LINKS. Rather than save them up for _Ansible_ each month, I now
add topical links to a sidebar column on the links page:
 http://news.ansible.co.uk/ansilink.html

PAYPAL DONATION. Support _Ansible_ and keep the editor happy! Or just
buy his books ...
 http://ansible.co.uk/paypal.html
 http://ansible.co.uk/biblio.html
 http://ansible.co.uk/books/hp.html


Ansible 234 Copyright (c) Dave Langford, 2007. Thanks to Brian
Ameringen, Paul Barnett, Avedon Carol, Robert Day, Paul Di Filippo,
Steven J. Dunn, John Eggeling, Niall Harrison, Steve Johnson, Chris
Lawson, Monica McAbee, Fraser McHarg, Lawrence Person, Andrew I.
Porter, Fred Smith, Gary Wilkinson, Melissa A. Williamson, Lloyd Wood,
and Hero Distributors: Rog Peyton (BSFG), Janice Murray (N America),
SCIS, and Alan Stewart (Australia).

5 Jan 07
-- 
David Langford | http://ansible.co.uk/ | http://news.ansible.co.uk/
Latest nonfiction: =The End of Harry Potter?= (Gollancz, 2006)
Latest fiction: =Different Kinds of Darkness= (Cosmos, 2004)