Ansible® 394, May 2020
From David Langford, 94 London Road, Reading, Berks, RG1 5AU, UK. Website news.ansible.uk. ISSN 0265-9816 (print); 1740-942X (e). Logo: Dan Steffan. Cartoon: Ulrika O’Brien. Available for SAE or boarding pass for the last flight of Dr. Ain.
VIRTUAL REALITY. This year’s Eastercon bidding session took place online: the unopposed bid for Easter 2021 was Confusion (see below), with the same venue as the cancelled 2020 event. A 2022 bid is in preparation.
• BSFA Awards are to be announced online on 17 May – expect an access link at bsfa.co.uk shortly beforehand.
The Bliss of Solitude
The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band has at last reported a High Court success in defeating the writs issued against them by Anglo Atlantic Media Ltd and Robert Kirk Carruthers for using their own band name – whose registration as a trademark by AAM/RKC had been rejected as unlawful by the Intellectual Property Office last October. Describing Carruthers’s claims as ‘totally without merit’, and his further intimidating writs against band witnesses as ‘an abuse of process’, the judge awarded the Bonzos indemnity costs of more than £50,000. (9 April)
Ezri Carlebach, looking forward to beginning an MA in SF and Fantasy at Anglia Ruskin University on 4 May, was told on 29 April that this course was cancelled and will not be offered again in the future.
J.K. Rowling’s Salazar Slytherin inspired the name of a ‘new’ Indian species of green pit viper: Trimeresurus salazar. (CNN, 22 April) [EF]
Constriction
Click here for longlist • London • Overseas
ONLINE. 7 May • Virtual First Thursday, 6-10pm, replacing the London pub meeting at the Bishop’s Finger. See tinyurl.com/uow6hqn.
POSTPONED TO SEPTEMBER. 16-17 May • HorrorCon UK. See below.
CANCELLED. 21 May • Ballard’s Londons (Roger Luckhurst talk), London. Described at acuriousinvitation.com/jgballard.html.
22 May - 3 Jan • Fantastic Beasts: The Wonder of Nature (exhibition), Natural History Museum, London. £18. See www.nhm.ac.uk/visit/exhibitions/fantastic-beasts-the-wonder-of-nature.html. Note that the museum is now closed, with hopes of reopening in ‘early summer’.
POSTPONED TO AUTUMN. 6 Jun • Carlisle Comic Con, Carlisle. See www.wonkyrocketevents.co.uk/carlisle/.
POSTPONED TO NOVEMBER. 11-12 Jul • Edge-Lit 9, Derby – see below.
18 Jul • Small Press Day events throughout UK and Ireland. Likely to be postponed or held online only: see smallpressday.co.uk.
ONLINE ONLY. 29 Jul - 2 Aug • CoNZealand (Worldcon 78), New Zealand. New membership rates announced 15 April (refunds available from 1 May for those who paid more): $300NZ reg, $150 unwaged (NZ only), $150 YA (born after 2000), $75 child (born 2005-2010), ‘kid in tow’ (born after 2010) free, $75 supporting. See conzealand.nz.
POSTPONED TO 2021. 21-23 Aug • Reunicon, The Hague. See below.
14-19 Sep • Arvon Sci-Fi and Fantasy Course, Lumb Bank, West Yorkshire. £815 including single-room accommodation. See www.arvon.org/writing-courses/courses-retreats/sci-fi-and-fantasy/.
26-27 Sep • HorrorCon UK, Magna Science Adventure Centre, Sheffield Rd, Rotherham, S60 1DX. New dates. Tickets £45 for 11am entry, £55 for 10am; accompanied under-17s £20. See horrorconuk.com.
9-11 Oct • Lakes International Comic Art Festival, Kendal, Cumbria. Weekend passes now £35; students and under-16s £25. For day rates, see www.comicartfestival.com.
17 Oct • Bedford Who Charity Con (Doctor Who), The King’s House, Ampthill Road, Bedford, MK42 9AZ – new date and venue. 10am-5:30pm. £42.50 reg; under-19s/students £22.50; under-14s £15. More at bedfordwhocharitycon.co.uk.
22-25 Oct • Celluloid Screams (horror film festival), Showroom Cinema, Sheffield. £90; £85 concessions. See celluloidscreams.co.uk.
31 Oct • BristolCon, Hilton DoubleTree Hotel, Bristol.£25 reg; £15 concessions and under-18s, rising to £30/£20 in June; £35/£25 at the door; under-14s free. Online registration at www.bristolcon.org.
6-8 Nov • Dead by Dawn (horror film festival), Filmhouse Cinema One, 88 Lothian Rd, Edinburgh, EH3 9BZ. New dates. Box office 0131 228 2688. Tickets £80 from www.deadbydawn.co.uk.
7-8 Nov • Edge-Lit 9, QUAD Centre, Derby, DE1 3AS. £50 reg. For guests etc see www.derbyquad.co.uk/whats-on/events/edge-lit-9.
2-5 Apr 2021 • Confusion (Eastercon), Birmingham NEC Hilton. GoH Dan Abnett, Dave Lally, Nik Vincent. See confusion2021.uk.
20-22 Aug 2021 • Reunicon (celebrating ConFiction 1990), The Hague. New dates. €50 reg, €25 supp. See confiction1990.com.
8-11 Oct 2021 • Irish Discworld Convention, Cork International Hotel, Cork. Registration details awaited at idwcon.org.
Infinitely Improbable
As Others See Us. Joseph E. Stiglitz, Nobel-winning economist, is another sufferer from skiffyphobia: ‘I never go near science fiction. Not sure why. I just don’t. Perhaps it’s because I think it’s hard enough to understand our own world and try to fix it. It’s escapism to try to create another one.’ (Interview, The New York Times, 9 April) [JB]
Awards. Bram Stoker (horror) novel categories: NOVEL Coyote Rage by Owl Goingback. DEBUT The Bone Weaver’s Orchard by Sarah Read. YA Oware Mosaic by Nzondi. GRAPHIC Neil Gaiman’s Snow, Glass, Apples.
• Compton Crook (sf/f/h debut): A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine.
• Philip K. Dick (paperback original): Sooner or Later Everything Falls Into the Sea: Stories by Sarah Pinsker.
• Otherwise (formerly the Tiptree): Freshwater by Akwaeke Emezi.
• Prometheus (libertarian) shortlist: The Testaments by Margaret Atwood; Alliance Rising by C.J. Cherryh and Jane S. Fancher; Ruin’s Wake by Patrick Edwards; Luna: Moon Rising by Ian McDonald; Ode to Defiance by Marc Stiegler.
• Spectrum Grand Master (fantastic art): Terryl Whitlatch.
As Others See Solaris: ‘Though it’s a sci-fi movie, it’s about these very simple human emotions between Chris (George Clooney) and his wife Rheya (Natascha McElhone).’ (theatlantic.com, 8 April) [CW]
R.I.P. Asterisks mark reported COVID-19 deaths.
• Bruce Allpress (1930-2020), New Zealand actor in Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, (2002) and Power Rangers Jungle Fury (2008),died on 23 April aged 89. PDF
• Reed Andrus, US fan and reviewer whose fanzines included Laughing Osiris and The Bull of the Seven Battles, died in April. [PDF]
• Sean Arnold (1941-2020), UK actor in Earthsearch, The Lord of the Rings (both BBC radio 1981), Haunters of the Deep (1984) and Speaking of the Devil (1991), died in April aged 79. [AW]
• Pip Baker (1928-2020), UK scriptwriter whose credits with his wife Jane Baker include Night of the Big Heat (1967), Captain Nemo and the Underwater City (1969), 11 episodes of Doctor Who (1985-1987) and Watt on Earth (1991-1992), died on 14 April. [DWN]
• *Jay Benedict (1951-2020), US character actor in Aliens (1986), Mansquito (2005), The Dark Knight Rises (2012) and others, died on 4 April aged 68. [MMW]
• *Julie Bennett (1932-2020), US actress best known for voice work including Yogi Bear (as Cindy Bear in various series/films 1961-1988) and Spider-Man (as Aunt May, 1997), died on 31 March aged 88. [AIP]
• Merv Binns (1932-2020), noted Australian fan who co-founded the Melbourne SF Club, ran the country’s first specialist bookshop Space Age Books and published various fanzines including the Ditmar-winning Australian SF News (1978-1994), died on 7 April aged 85. His career achievement honours include the Chandler (1993), Big Heart (2010) and Infinity (2012) awards. [BG]
• Honor Blackman (1925-2020), UK actress in The Avengers (1962-1964), Goldfinger (1964), To the Devil a Daughter (1976), Doctor Who (1986) and many more – a late genre credit being Cockneys vs Zombies (2012) – died on 5 April aged 94.
• *Tim Brooke-Taylor (1940-2020), UK comic actor in I’m Sorry, I’ll Read That Again (BBC radio 1964-1973, with several sf spoofs), The Goodies (1970-1982), Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971), The Comet Is Coming! (1981), Bananaman (1983-1986) and others, died on 12 April aged 79. [CM/AW]
• *John Horton Conway (1937-2020), noted UK mathematician whose incidental work in recreational maths (such as the Game of Life) inspired many Martin Gardner columns for Scientific American which in turn influenced sf authors, died on 11 April aged 82. [JS]
• Dale Crain, US comics artist (Thor, Batman) and archival editor at DC Comics, died recently in Vietnam. [PDF]
• Allen Daviau (1942-2020), US cinematographer who worked on E.T. (1982), Van Helsing (2004) and others, died on 15 April aged 77. [CH]
• Gene Deitch (1924-2020), award-winning US animator/director whose credits include Popeye (1960-1962), Krazy Kat (1963) and a short adaptation of The Hobbit (1966), died on 16 April aged 95. [PDF]
• Brian Dennehy (1938–2020), US actor in Cocoon (1985) and sequel, Ratatouille (voice, 2007) and others, died on 15 April aged 81. [AW]
• Malcolm Dixon (1953-2020), UK actor in Flash Gordon (1980), Time Bandits (1981), Return of the Jedi (1983), Labyrinth (1986) and others, died on 9 April aged 66. [PDF]
• Shirley Douglas (1934-2020), Canadian actress with voice credits in Flash Gordon (1996-1997), Silver Surfer (1998) and Franklin (1998-2000), died on 5 April aged 86. [PDF]
• Mort Drucker (1929-2020), US artist and caricaturist who drew many SF film/tv satires for Mad magazine, died on 9 April aged 91. [BT]
• James Drury (1934-2020), US Virginian actor seen in Forbidden Planet (1956), died on 6 April aged 85. [F770]
• Hilary Dwyer (1945-2020), UK actress in The Body Stealers (1969), The Oblong Box (1969) and Cry of the Banshee (1970), died on 30 March aged 74. Producer credits as Hilary Heath include The Worst Witch (1986). [SG]
• Sergio Fantoni (1930-2020), Italian actor in Hercules Unchained (1959), Atom Age Vampire (1960), Mission: Eureka (1989) and others, died on 17 April aged 89. [SJ]
• Andrew J. Fenady (1928-2020), US producer whose films include Black Noon (1971) and Terror in the Wax Museum (1973), died on 16 April aged 91. [LP]
• Henry Keith Ferrell (1953-2020), US author and editor, biographer of Wells and Orwell, who was editor-in-chief of Omni from 1991 to 1995, died on 11 April aged 66. [SM-B]
• *Al Fitzpatrick, UK fan and con-goer who moved to Australia and then the USA – active in both countries’ fandoms – died on 6 April. [JS]
• Hy Fleishman (1927-2020), US artist for many Silver Age comics publishers in various genres including sf and horror, died on 2 April aged 92. [PDF]
• *Allen Garfield (1939-2020), US actor in Miracle Beach (1992), Cyborg 2: Glass Shadow (1993), The Ninth Gate (1999) and The Elf Who Didn’t Believe (2000), died on 7 April aged 80. [LP]
• Jill Gascoine (1937-2020), UK actress in Peter Pan (TVM 1976), died on 28 April aged 83. [AW]
• *Juan Giménez (1943-2020), Argentine comics artist who worked on Metal Hurlant, the film Heavy Metal (1981) and his own ‘Time Paradox’ sequence of sf shorts, died on 2 April aged 77. [TC]
• Margot Hartman (1933-2020), US actress in The Curse of the Living Corpse (1964) and Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women (1968), died on 11 April aged 86. [PDF]
• Aarón Hernán (1931-2020), Mexican actor in Deathstalker and the Warriors from Hell (1988), died on 26 April aged 88. [LP]
• Peter H. Hunt (1938-2020), US director whose credits include The Mysterious Stranger (1982) and Touched by an Angel (1996-2003), died on 26 April aged 81. [PDF]
• Irrfan Khan (1967-2020), Indian actor in The Amazing Spider-Man (2012) and Jurassic World (2015), died on 29 April aged 53. [AW]
• Shirley Knight (1936-2020), US actress in The Sender (1982), Dad, the Angel & Me (1995), The Uninvited (1996), Ghost Cat (2004) and others, died on 22 April aged 83. [SJ]
• Dieter Laser (1942-2020), German actor in Lexx (1998-2000), The Human Centipede (2009) and others, died on 29 February aged 78. [AIP]
• Jean Little (1932-2020), Canadian author of children’s fiction including the fairytale mash-up Once Upon a Golden Apple (1991), died on 6 April aged 88. [PDF]
• Ryder W. Miller (1965-2020), US Inklings critic and compiler of From Narnia to a Space Odyssey: The War of Letters Between Arthur C. Clarke and C.S. Lewis (2005), died on 15 March. [DAA]
• Neale Mittenshaw-Hodge (1962-2020), UK fan and tireless worker on many conventions for many years, died on 17 April aged 58. [CO]
• *Jerrold Mundis (1941-2020), US author who published stories in the 1960s New Worlds and wrote suspense/horror novels as Julia Withers, died on 5 April aged 79. [PDF]
• Bruce Myers, UK actor in No Blade of Grass (1970), The Awakening (1980), The Mahabharata (1989-1990) and Let There Be Light (1998), died on 15 April. [PDF]
• Nobuhiko Ōbayashi (1938-2020), Japanese director whose genre films include House (1977), The Little Girl Who Conquered Time (1983), The Drifting Classroom (1987), The Discarnates (1988) and Labyrinth of Cinema (2019), died on 10 April aged 82. [AIP]
• George Ogilvie (1931-2020), Australian co-director of Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985), died on 5 April aged 89. [GC]
• Joseph S. Pulver (1955-2020), US author and anthologist best known for Lovecraftian horror and noir fiction, died on 24 April aged 64. [EM]
• Rebecca Ramsey (1966-2020), US visual effects producer whose many genre credits include The Matrix Revolutions (2003), Hellboy (2004), I, Robot (2004), Spider-Man 3 (2007) and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows 2 (2011), died on 7 March aged 53. [MMW]
• D.J. Rowe, co-founder of the Moorcock fan club Nomads of the Time Stream (‘my first fan club’ – MM) and co-editor of its magazine The Time Centre Times, has died aged 83. [MM]
• *Adam Schlesinger (1967-2020), US bass player with Fountains of Wayne whose credits include soundtrack work for Ice Age: Continental Drift (2012) and The Haunted Hathaways (2013-2015), died on 1 April aged 52. [LP]
• *Ann Sullivan (1929-2020), US animator whose credits include The Little Mermaid (1989), Cool World (1992), The Lion King (1994), Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001) and Treasure Planet (2002), died on 13 April aged 91. [AIP]
• *Alexander Thynn (1932-2020), 7th Marquess of Bath, whose genre novels were The Carry-Cot (1972) and The King is Dead (1976 from his own Longleat Press), died on 4 April aged 87.
• *Brian Varley, old-time UK fan since 1952 who worked on the 1954 Supermancon and 1965 London Worldcon, and wrote the ‘Machiavarley’ column for Scottishe, died on 31 March. [RH]
• Tim White (1952-2020), UK sf artist who painted many book covers from 1974 onwards – his first collection being The Science Fiction and Fantasy World of Tim White (1981) – died on 5 April aged 68. [BE] He won the 1983 BSFA Award as best artist.
• Logan Williams (2003-2020), Canadian-born actor in The Flash (2014-2015), died on 9 April aged 16. [MMW]
• Hal Willner (1957-2020), US music producer whose credits include The Duxorcist (1987), other Daffy Duck cartoon features and Bewitched (2005), died on 6 April aged 63. [LP]
The Weakest Link. Mike Moorcock writes: ‘Final Jeopardy question, category British Authors: “Born in 1866, he has been called The Shakespeare of Science Fiction.” Contestant #1: “Asimov.” #2: “Clarke.” #3: “Verne.” Ho hum.’ (12 April)
Hugo Shortlist. Selections from the full list (with Retro Hugos) at conzealand.nz/blog/2020/04/08/hugo-and-retro-hugo-finalists-announced: NOVEL The City in the Middle of the Night by Charlie Jane Anders; Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir; The Light Brigade by Kameron Hurley; A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine; Middlegame by Seanan McGuire; The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow.
• SERIES The Expanse by James S.A. Corey; InCryptid by Seanan McGuire; Luna by Ian McDonald; Planetfall by Emma Newman; Winternight by Katherine Arden; Wormwood by Tade Thompson.
• RELATED WORK Becoming Superman: My Journey from Poverty to Hollywood by J. Michael Straczynski; Joanna Russ by Gwyneth Jones; The Lady from the Black Lagoon: Hollywood Monsters and the Lost Legacy of Milicent Patrick by Mallory O’Meara; The Pleasant Profession of Robert A. Heinlein by Farah Mendlesohn; 2019 John W. Campbell Award Acceptance Speech by Jeannette Ng; Worlds of Ursula K. Le Guin produced and directed by Arwen Curry.
• GRAPHIC/COMIC Die, Volume 1: Fantasy Heartbreaker; LaGuardia; Monstress, Volume 4: The Chosen; Mooncakes; Paper Girls, Volume 6; The Wicked + The Divine, Volume 9: Okay.
• DRAMATIC – LONG FORM Avengers: Endgame; Captain Marvel; Good Omens; Russian Doll (Season One); Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker; Us.
• LODESTAR (YA; not a Hugo) Catfishing on CatNet by Naomi Kritzer; Deeplight by Frances Hardinge; Dragon Pearl by Yoon Ha Lee; Minor Mage by T. Kingfisher; Riverland by Fran Wilde; The Wicked King by Holly Black.
The Dead Past. 50 Years Ago, a writers’ organization wielded its awesome power: ‘The SFWA has asked its members not to buy Jerome Agel’s The Making of 2001, because of unsatisfactory arrangements with the contributors.’ (Winnie 46, May 1970)
• 20 Years Ago, Steve Sneyd sent a heartfelt status report from his Hilltop Press: ‘Poetry continues to sell like condoms at a Vatican conclave.’ (Ansible 154, May 2000)
Fanfundery. GUFF 2020: 102 valid ballots were received, and the winner is Alison Scott with a plurality of 50 in the first round and a majority of 52 in the second. ‘As one candidate withdrew from the race because of the current global situation ballots cast for them were allocated to the second preference.’
• DUFF 2020: voting details for Erin Underwood’s win can be found at downunderfanfund.wordpress.com/2020/04/01/erin-underwood-wins-duff/.
• The GUFF and DUFF winners will both attend New Zealand’s virtual Worldcon this year, with hopes (as with TAFF) of a physical trip at some later date.
Thog’s Masterclass. Secure Repository Dept. ‘She sat there completely at her ease, her big breasts ready for any secrets.’ (Graham Greene, Brighton Rock, 1938) [MMW]
• As Thingy as a Very Thingy Thing. ‘He twisted suddenly and finished erect, his velour-padded feet sticking to the velour-carpeted deck as a velvet letter sticks to a velvet bulletin board.’ (Hank Searls, The Pilgrim Project, 1964) [NW]
• Excitable Dept. ‘Her pulse slowed to a gallop.’ (Jay Kristoff, Nevernight 3: Darkdawn, 2019) [AR]
• Neat Tricks. ‘Mia woke to the ring of heavy footfalls, hackles rising down her back.’ (Ibid) [AR]
• Understated Dept. ‘Her knee collided with his groin the way falling comets kiss the earth.’ (Ibid) [AR]
• Dept of Over-Egged Simile. ‘Her face resembled poorly-kneaded pastry, with currants for eyes, a baked fig for a nose, and a mouth like a line of silvered almonds.’ (Stephen R. Donaldson, The War Within, 2019) [AR]
Geeks’ Corner
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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. 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
Editorial. My thanks to everyone who bought the new Algis Budrys essay collection Beyond the Outposts, published in April and described at ae.ansible.uk/?t=budrys4. For some while this was the only Ansible Editions POD title to survive Lulu.com’s disastrously incompetent website redesign on 25 April, which not only ‘invisibled’ the backlists of countless small publishers using that platform but also left most of us unable for several days to log in and check the damage. ‘Just keep calm and wait for the data to migrate,’ said Lulu spokesmen, but some of it has apparently gone forever. (See my 30 April 2020 post at ansible.uk.)
• As a promotional complement to the big Budrys volume, AE has now released the free ebook A Budrys Miscellany, with over 100,000 words of material not included in Beyond the Outposts. Downloadable from the TAFF site at taff.org.uk/ebooks.php?x=BudrysMisc (as always, donations to TAFF are appreciated if you like it).
• Rob Hansen has added a newly unearthed wartime article by E.J. ‘Ted’ Carnell to his Homefront: Fandom in the UK 1939-1945, and the expanded edition – now 163,000 words – is still free at taff.org.uk/ebooks.php?x=HomeFront.
Lockdown Reading. Following last issue’s note about the sudden popularity of The Andromeda Strain and Contagion in DVD, Marion Pitman reports from the book trade that ‘Camus’s La Peste is selling like hot cakes.’ Meanwhile the Project Gutenberg download figures (apparently a rolling average over 30 days) reached 49,000 for Daniel Defoe’s A Journal of the Plague Year, at a time when the more famous Robinson Crusoe registered only a little over 8,500. Nothing like a spot of comfort reading....
Virtual Fan Meetings.
• 7 May 2020, evening: Alison Scott set up this alternative to the physical London First Thursday meeting, which was reportedly a great success in April: ‘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
• 17 May 2020 (and every other 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.
R.I.P II: Late Reports. Paul Alkon (1935-2020), US academic and critic whose books include Origins of Futuristic Fiction (1987), died on 13 January aged 84. [GW]
• Gene Dynarski (1933-2020), US actor in Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) and various sf tv series, died on 27 February aged 86. [AIP]
• Laurie Yates-Kunkel, US fan who co-founded the Fantastic Fiction Club at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and published fanzines including Doodlebug (1992-1994 with her husband Bill Kunkel), died on 11 September 2019. [NR]
Spieling Chequer Dept. ‘Wonton acts of destruction scattered marble and yellow brick in the street alike.’ (Frog & Esther Jones, ‘Balancing the Scales’ in Swords, Sorcery and Self-Rescuing Damsels ed. Lee French & Sarah Craft, 2019) ‘Rota's golden paladin armour shown in the spell-light, and the demons swarmed her.’ (Jeffrey Cook & Katherine Perkins. ‘Remember to Thank Your Healer’, ibid) [MC]
Some Links from the Ansible home page.
• Anti-plague superheroes
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/04/22/singapore_grounds_coronasmashing_superhero_squad/
• Bram Stoker Awards winners (full list)
http://horror.org/winners-bram-stoker-awards/
• John Horton Conway (1937-2020) remembered at SMBC and xkcd
https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/life-2
https://xkcd.com/2293/
• James D. Nicoll on the SF Encyclopedia
https://www.tor.com/2020/04/10/all-hail-the-science-fiction-encyclopedia-bringer-of-knowledge/
• Retro Hugo fanzines at Fanac.org
http://fanac.org/fanzines/Retro_Hugos.html
R.I.P. III: Stop Press. Cis Corman, US producer and casting director of The Sentinel (1977) and Wolfen (1981), died on 27 April. [LP]
• B.J. Hogg (1955-2020), Northern Irish actor whose film credits include The Second Jungle Book: Mowgli & Baloo (1997), City of Ember (2008) and Your Highness (2011), died on 30 April aged 65. [James Millar]
• *Joel Rogosin (1932-2020) , US producer/director whose tv credits include Circle of Fear (1972-1973), Mr Merlin (1981-1982) and Knight Rider (1983-1984), died on 21 April aged 87. [AIP]
• Matty Simmons, co-founder of National Lampoon and producer of various spinoff films, died on 29 April aged 93. [PDF]
Thog’s Golden Oldies from Ansible 154, May 2000. ‘They were both roughly the same age, in their very early fifties, though a hundred years earlier they would have appeared much younger.’ (D.F. Jones, Colossus, 1966)
• ‘The police report said there had been a thunderclap, as if the burning house had disappeared so suddenly that the air had rushed back inaudibly.’ (John Barnes, Finity, 1999)
• Dept of Scientific Units: ‘... the world would do well to stick to the [ramjet] system, accepting that Mach 2 as an average transit time was fast enough for anyone.’ (D.F. Jones, Colossus and the Crab, 1977)
Ansible® 394 © David Langford, 2020. Thanks to Douglas A. Anderson, John Boston, Termy Cornall, Gary Couzens, Michael Cule, Paul Di Filippo, Bob Eggleton, Doctor Who News, File 770, Esther Friesner, Bruce Gillespie, Steve Green, Rob Hansen, Chip Hitchcock, Steve Jones, Samuel Montgomery-Blinn, Michael Moorcock, Chris Moore, Edward Morris, Chris O’Shea, Lawrence Person, Andrew I. Porter, Adam Roberts, Nigel Rowe, Joyce Scrivner, Bruce Townley, Nick Watkins, Andrew Wells, Gary Westfahl, Charles Wingate, Martin Morse Wooster, and Hero Distributors: Durdles Books (Brum Group), SCIS/Prophecy and Alan Stewart (Australia). 1 May 2020