ANSIBLE(R) 436
NOVEMBER 2023

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 first editions of the pamphlet _Why Should Salt Suffer?_

[NET NOTE. See https://news.ansible.uk/a436.html for the nice HTML version;
https://news.ansible.uk/pdf/a436.pdf for a printable PDF. Mailing list
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requests to my own e-mail address. DRL]

### THE PANTHEIST'S BOOTS ###

NINA ALLAN and CHRISTOPHER PRIEST were married on 30 September.

SERGEI LUKYANENKO, the controversial, Ukraine-bashing Russian guest of this
year's Worldcon, mysteriously failed to turn up in Chengdu.

CHRISTOPHER PRIEST adds his name to the roster: 'Just for the record: nine
of my novels, and one short story, have been illegally downloaded into the
generative-AI systems set up by Meta, Bloomberg and others. (They include
_Inverted World_, _The Affirmation_ and _The Prestige_.) I do not have the
resources to sue these terrible people.' (Email, 4 October)

GEORGE TAKEI just wants the facts about the US emergency alert test: 'I'm
seeing a lot of people share conspiracies about how the government is going
to activate some vaccine virus using 5G technology today. If you are
posting this nonsense, please stop and seek help. You are deep in some
weird, dark place, and you don't even know it. (Also, it's not the U.S.
government, it's the Romulans, and it's not 5G, it's transporter
technology. Please get your conspiracies straight.)' (Xtwitter, 4 October)

SEAN WALLACE counts the cost of plug-pulling at Amazon: 'I'm going to make
this public: for _The Dark_ the loss of Amazon Newsstand effectively
resulted in ten thousand dollars of revenue going poof, for the entire
year. (Yes, that much!) I've made some cost-saving changes, but I don't
hold much hope for the monies from Kindle Unlimited to really make much of
a difference. In fact, I imagine with every succeeding year the payments
will increasingly crater, which amounts to a slow death by a thousand cuts.
(Or sudden, who knows?) And I know for a fact that there were about six
hundred subscribers left, near the end, numbers that haven't reflected in
the increases seen at Patreon/Weightless. Mind you, even if a fraction of
that moved over, right now, it would be life-saving, but here we are ...
and if nothing changes, then I can see making more changes, but the
magazine is pretty lean (and cheap) as it is.' (Facebook, 2 October) Not
only _The Dark_ (www.thedarkmagazine.com) but _Interzone_, _Clarkesworld_
and others are suffering and could use your support.

### CONTERN ###

Until 2 June 2024 [] SET TO STUN (sf film/tv exhibition), Gunnersbury Park
Museum, London. 10am-4:30pm. See tinyurl.com/4zdurx74.

3-4 Nov [] 16TH STARFLEET/KLINGON BANQUET, Peterborough Marriott Hotel.
GBP68 reg; more at www.starbase24.co.uk/Banquet.html.

3-5 Nov [] ARMADACON 2023, Future Inns, Plymouth. GBP40 reg; GBP35
concessions; single day GBP25/GBP20. More at www.armadacon.org.

10-12 Nov [] NOVACON 52, Palace Hotel, Buxton. GBP52 reg; under-17s GBP12;
under-13s free. _No at-the-door memberships._ See novacon.uk.

11-12 Nov [] COMIC CON, Harrogate Convention Centre.GBP30 reg; GBP22/day;
under-12s, over-65s, carers free. See thoughtbubblefestival.com.

18 Nov [] CYMERA WRITERS' CONFERENCE, Edinburgh/online. GBP80 reg, GBP70
concessions; digital GBP45/GBP35. See www.cymerafestival.co.uk.

19 Nov [] EDINBURGH COMIC ART FAIR, Out of the Blue Drill Hall, Edinburgh.
Free. See www.cymerafestival.co.uk (scroll down).

25-26 Nov [] STEAMPUNKS IN SPACE, National Space Centre, Leicester. See
www.spacecentre.co.uk/whats-on/steampunks-in-space.

26 Nov [] STARS OF TIME (comics), Tropicana, Weston-super-Mare. GBP10 plus
booking fee; other rates at www.starsoftime.co.uk.

26 Nov [] TOLKIEN SOCIETY SEMINAR on Tolkien and religion, free online. See
www.tolkiensociety.org/events.

2 Dec [] DRAGONMEET (gaming), Novotel Hammersmith, London. 9am-11pm.
Tickets GBP15.50 (under-18s GBP8) at www.dragonmeet.co.uk.

2-3 Dec [] FOR THE LOVE OF SCI-FI (media), BEC Arena, Stretford,
Manchester. GBP49.50; under-10s GBP19.25. More at fortheloveofsci-fi.com.

23 Jan 2024 [] A BILLION AND FIFTY YEAR SPREE (SFF symposium), Liverpool
and online. See www.sf-foundation.org/fresh-about (26 October post).

24-25 Feb 2024 [] SURREY STEAMPUNK CONVIVIAL, Stoneleigh, Epsom. See
bumpandthumper.wixsite.com/steampunkconvivials.

9-10 Mar 2024 [] DUBLIN COMIC CON, Convention Centre, Dublin. Various
ticket prices (extra for early entry, etc.) at dublincomiccon.com.

30-31 Mar 2024 [] CONPULSION (games), _new venue:_ The Pleasance,
Edinburgh, EH8 9TJ. Ticket sales awaited at conpulsion.org.

26-29 Jul 2024 [] CONTINUUM (RPG), Cranfield University CMDC _(new venue)_.
Registrations open in 2024. See continuumconvention.co.uk.

8-12 Aug 2024 [] GLASGOW 2024 (Worldcon) Glasgow SEC. _Now GBP210 reg;
first Worldcon GBP150; YA (under 26) GBP125; under-16s GBP85;_ under-11s
GBP50; under-6s GBP5; other rates at glasgow2024.org.

9-11 Aug 2024 [] TFNATION (_Transformers_), Hilton Birmingham Metropole
near the NEC. Ticket sales awaited at tfnation.com/2024.

23-26 Aug 2024 [] ASYLUM XIV (steampunk), The Lawns and other Lincoln
venues. Details awaited at www.ministryofsteampunk.com.

27-29 Sep 2024 [] LAKES INTERNATIONAL COMIC ART FESTIVAL,
Bowness-on-Windermere. Details to follow at www.comicartfestival.com.

28-29 Sep 2024 [] NOR-CON (media), Norfolk Showground Arena. Ticket prices
awaited at www.nor-con.co.uk.

5-6 Oct 2024 [] OCTOCON, Gibson Hotel, Dublin. Further details and
registration costs awaited at octocon.com.

11-13 Oct 2024 [] FANTASYCON, Queen at Chester Hotel, Chester. GBP85 reg.
See britishfantasysociety.org/events-calendar/fantasycon-2024.

19-20 Oct 2024 [] FILM & COMIC CON CARDIFF, International Arena, Cardiff.
GBP16; GBP32 early entry. See filmandcomicconcardiff.com.

13-17 Aug 2025 [] SEATTLE WORLDCON 2025, Seattle, WA, USA. GoH Martha
Wells, Donato Giancola, Bridget Landry, Alexander James Adams. $175 reg;
under-25s $100; under-18s $75; under-13s free; virtual $85. These rates are
good until 17 January 2024. See seattlein2025.org.

30 Oct - 2 Nov 2025 [] WORLD FANTASY CONVENTION, _new venue:_ Metropole,
Brighton. GBP125 reg; see worldfantasy2025.co.uk for discounts.

RUMBLINGS. _Worldcon 2026:_ the Los Angeles bid has announced its dates and
venue, 27-31 August at the Anaheim Convention Center and Anaheim Hilton
Hotel. See lain2026.org. The rival Cairo bid is suspended because the fans
can't get permission from the Egyptian government. [DE]

### INFINITELY IMPROBABLE ###

THE WISDOM OF THE INTERNET. _Dethroning Mary Shelley:_ 'I actually came up
with a Frankenstein creature before I knew about her one. Of course you
won't hear about it because as a white cis male my voice will be drowned
out.' 'Did you come up with a Frankenstein monster before 1817?' 'It's
irrelevant because I came up with it independently, but sure, ignore that
to suit your feminist narrative.' [A-TC]

AWARDS. _Big Heart:_ Bobbi Armbruster.
_Ditmar_ (Australia) novel category: _36 Street_ by T.R. Napper.
_Hugos:_ NOVEL _Nettle and Bone_ by T. Kingfisher; NOVELLA _Where the
Drowned Girls Go_ by Seanan McGuire; NOVELETTE 'The Space-Time Panther' by
Hai Yu; SHORT 'Rabbit Test' by Samantha Mills; SERIES 'Children of Time' by
Adrian Tchaikovsky; GRAPHIC _Cyberpunk 2077: Big City Dreams_; RELATED WORK
_Terry Pratchett: A Life With Footnotes_ by Rob Wilkins; DRAMATIC -- LONG
_Everything Everywhere All at Once_. DRAMATIC -- SHORT _The Expanse_:
'Babylon's Ashes'. EDITOR -- LONG Lindsey Hall. EDITOR-- SHORT Neil Clarke.
PRO ARTIST Enzhe Zhao. SEMIPROZINE _Uncanny_. FANZINE _Zero Gravity
Newspaper_. FANCAST _Hugo, Girl!_ FAN WRITER Chris M. Barkley. FAN ARTIST
Richard Man. [PW]
_Non-Hugo Awards_ presented with the Hugos: LODESTAR _Akata Woman_ by
Nnedi Okorafor. ASTOUNDING Travis Baldree. [PW]
_Ursula K. Le Guin Prize:_ _Arboreality_ by Rebecca Campbell. [F770]
_Sidewise_ (alt-history): LONG _The Peace Keeper_ by B.L. Blanchard.
SHORT (tie) 'A Sky and a Heaven' by Eric Choi (_Just Like Being There_) and
'A Dream of Electric Mothers' by Wole Talabi (_Africa Risen_). [SHS]
_World Fantasy._ NOVEL _Saint Death's Daughter_ by C.S.E. Cooney.
NOVELLA _Pomegranates_ by Priya Sharma. SHORT 'Incident at Bear Creek
Lodge' by Tananarive Due (_Other Terrors_. ANTHOLOGY _Africa Risen_ ed.
Sheree Renee Thomas, Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki and Zelda Knight.
COLLECTION _All Nightmare Long_ by Tim Lebbon. ARTIST Kinuko Y. Craft.
SPECIAL-- PROFESSIONAL Matt Ottley for _The Tree of Ecstasy and Unbearable
Sadness_. SPECIAL -- NON-PROFESSIONAL Michael Kelly for Undertow
Publications. [PDP]

ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE NEWS. 'Dead rat found in Middlesbrough shop selling
illegal vapes and alcohol to children'. (Teesside Live, 6 October)

R.I.P. _Lena Bredin_ (1963-2023), Swedish fan and con-goer, died on 22
October aged 59. [J-HH]
_Echo Brown_ (1984-2023), US performer and author whose YA novel
_Black Girl Unlimited: The Remarkable Story of a Teenage Wizard_ (2020)
mixes autobiography with magic realism, died on 16 September aged 39. [AIP]
_Rock Brynner_ (Yul Brynner Jr, 1946-2023), US actor and musician
whose sf novel was _The Doomsday Report_ (1998), died on 13 October aged
76. [JC]
_Eve Bunting_ (1928-2023), prolific Northern Irish author of
children's stories including retold fables like _The Two Giants_ (1971) and
time-travel sf in the 'Dinosaur Machines' sequence, died on 1 October aged
94. [AIP]
_Jeff Burr_ (1963-2023), US horror director whose films include
_Pumpkinhead II_ (1993), _Puppet Master 4_ (1993 plus sequels), _Night of
the Scarecrow_ (1995), _The Werewolf Reborn!_ (1998) and _The Boy with the
X-Ray Eyes_ (1999), died on 10 October aged 60. [AIP]
_Dick Butkus_ (1942-2023), US footballer and actor in _The Stepford
Children_ (1987), _Spontaneous Combustion_ (1989), _Gremlins 2: The New
Batch_ (1990) and others, died on 5 October aged 80. [LP]
_Phyllis Coates_ (1927-2023), US actress who was Lois Lane in
_Superman and the Mole-Men_ (1951) and the original tv _The Adventures of
Superman_ (1952-1953), died on 11 October aged 96. Other credits include _I
Was a Teenage Frankenstein_ (1957) and _The Incredible Petrified World_
(1959). [LP]
_S.R. Cronin_ (1954-2023), US author of 12 self-published sf and
historical fantasy novels, died on 23 October aged 68. [L]
_Elaine Devry_ (1930-2023), US actress in _The Atomic Kid_ (1954) and
_The Boy Who Cried Werewolf_ (1973), died on 20 September aged 93. [AIP]
_Bertil Falk_ (1933-2023), Swedish author and publisher who amid much
else resurrected the 1940s pulp magazine _Jules Verne-magasinet_ in 1969
and published _Faktasin_ (2020) -- a huge collection of essays on Swedish
short sf -- died on 14 October aged 90. [J-HH]
_Michael F. Flynn_ (1947-2023), US author active since 1984, whose
first novel _In the Country of the Blind_ (1990) won the Compton Crook and
Prometheus awards, died on 30 September. [GVG]
_Keith Giffen_ (1952-2023), popular and prolific US comics writer and
artist perhaps best known for his work on DC's _Legion of Super-Heroes_ and
_Justice League_ titles, died on 9 October aged 70. He worked for many
companies including Marvel, where he co-created Rocket Raccoon of
_Guardians of the Galaxy_ fame.
_Gennady Gladkov_ (1935-2023), Russian composer whose film score
credits include _New Year Adventures of Masha and Vitya_ (1975), _An
Ordinary Miracle_ (1978) and _To Kill a Dragon_ (1988), died on 16 October
aged 88. [AM]
_Louise Gluck_ (1943-2023), US academic, poet and author whose work
includes the fantastical novella _Marigold and Rose_ (2022), died on 13
October aged 80. [JC]
_Mark Goddard_ (1936-2023), US actor in _Lost in Space_ (1965-1968;
also 1998 film) and _Strange Invaders_ (1983), died on 10 October aged 87.
_Haydn Gwynne_ (1957-2023), UK actress in _Time Riders_ (1991) and
_Beauty and the Beast_ (2017), died on 20 October aged 66. [SG]
_Anthony Hickox_ (1959-2023), UK director of mostly horror films from
_Waxwork_ (1988 plus sequel) to _Warlock: The Armageddon_ (1993) plus the
comics-based _Prince Valiant_ (1997) and the sf _Martian Law_ (1998) --
scripting and appearing in many of these -- died on 8 October aged 64. [SG]
_Elizabeth Hoffman_ (1926-2023), US actress in _Silent Night, Deadly
Night 3_ (1989) and genre tv series including _Stargate SG-1_ (1997-1998)
died on 21 August aged 97. [LP]
_Hiroaki Ike_, Japanese translator of sf by James P. Hogan and Carl
Sagan, died on 27 October aged 83. [F770]
_Keith Jefferson_ (1970-2023), US actor in _Tank Girl_ (1995) and
others, died on 5 October aged 53. [LP]
_Piper Laurie_ (1932-2023), US actress in _Son of Ali Baba_ (1952),
_Carrie_ (1976), _Dream a Little Dream_ (1989), _Twin Peaks_ (1998-1991)
and _Possessed_ (2000), died on 14 October aged 91. [LP]
_Mang Hoi_ (1958-2023), Chinese actor in _Zu: Warriors from the Magic
Mountain_ (1983), _My Cousin the Ghost_ (1987), _The Gambling Ghost_ (1991)
and others, died on 9 October aged 65. He was action choreographer for many
more films including _Dragon Against Vampire_ (1985). [K]
_Joanna Merlin_ (1931-2023), US actress in _The Ten Commandments_
(1956), _Prince of Darkness_ (1987) and _The Invasion_ (2007), died on 15
October aged 92. [LP]
_Richard Moll_ (1943-2023), US actor in _House_ (1985), _100 Deeds for
Eddie McDowd_ (1999-2002), _Evolution_ (2001), _Scary Movie 2_ (2001) and
others, died on 26 October aged 80. [LP]
_Hildegard Neil_ (1939-2023), South African-born UK actress in _The
Man Who Haunted Himself_ (1970), _The Legacy_ (1978) and genre tv series
including _Ace of Wands_ (1970), died on 19 September aged 84. [SJ]
_Judy Nugent_ (1940-2023), US child actress in _Angels in the
Outfield_ (1951) and a noted episode of _The Adventures of Superman_
(1954), died on 23 October aged 83. [LP]
_Lara Parker_ (1938-2023), US actress in _Dark Shadows_ (1967-1971
plus spinoffs), _Doctor Mabuse: Etiopomar_ (2014) and genre tv series, died
on 12 October aged 84. [LP]
_Matthew Perry_ (1969-2023), US actor in _L.A.X. 2194_ (1994) and
genre tv series, died on 28 October aged 54. [LP]
_Richard Roundtree_ (1942-2023), US actor in _Q: The Winged Serpent_
(1982), _Amityville: A New Generation_ (1993), _Heroes_ (2006-2007) and
_Haunting of the Mary Celeste_ (2020), died on 24 October aged 81. [LP]
_Suzanne Somers_ (1946-2023), US actress in _Ants!_ (1977), _Seduced
by Evil_ (1994) and _Devil's Food_ (1996), died on 15 October aged 76. [LP]
_Shawna Trpcic_ (1966-2023), US costume designer whose credits include
_Firefly_ (2002-2003), _The Cabin in the Woods_ (2011), _Torchwood_ (2011),
_The Mandalorian_ (2022-2023) and _Ahsoka_ (2023), died on 4 October aged
57. [AIP]
_Tim Underwood_ (1948-2023), US dealer and publisher whose World
Fantasy Award-winning small press Underwood-Miller (with Chuck Miller)
published well over 200 titles by Dick, Ellison, Vance, Zelazny and others
from 1976 to 1994, died on 11 October. [F770]
_Burt Young_ (1940-2023), US actor in _Twilight's Last Gleaming_
(1977), _Amityville II_ (1982, plus sequel) and _Pluto Nash_ (2002), died
on 8 October aged 83. [SG]

In message <qh05kil00levj1vik1lsg0hnp5tst5hcnb@4ax.com>, David Langford
<ansible@cix.co.uk> writes
<snip>
>ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE NEWS. 'Dead rat found in Middlesbrough shop selling
>illegal vapes and alcohol to children'. (Teesside Live, 6 October)

But did it die from vaping or drinking alcohol?
--
John Hall
"Acting is merely the art of keeping a large group of people
from coughing."
Sir Ralph Richardson (1902-83)

On 11/1/23 12:52 PM, David Langford wrote:
> SERGEI LUKYANENKO, the controversial, Ukraine-bashing Russian guest of this
> year's Worldcon, mysteriously failed to turn up in Chengdu.

The concom didn't find his absence so mysterious. His name was notably
absent from recent pre-con publicity, and he wasn't on the program. If
it's ever been explained to the public, though, I haven't heard.

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