Ansible logo Older Home/Links: 2009

This page is the final repository for 2009 links from the ever-scrolling sidebar column at the right of the Ansible Links page. The editor has no intention of running regular checks on their continued validity.

December 2009
Internet Review of SF to close
Sir Peter Jackson (BBC)
2010 FAAn Awards ballot
2010 TAFF results (23 Dec)
Harlan Ellison Denies Meaning What He Wrote
Coming soon: Sir Patrick Stewart (Mirror)
Borders UK may close forever on 22 December; Orion/Gollancz embargo horror at closing sale
Ursula K. Le Guin: open letter of resignation from US Authors Guild (18 Dec)
"Science Fiction Goes McDonald's: Less Taste, More Gristle" (Huffington Post)
"The Vampirization of America", or Thog's Dept of Unhelpful Political Metaphor (LA Times)
Grand Master Joe Haldeman
Peter Watts experiences US border hospitality; more; still more; "Help Defend Peter Watts"
• Robert Holdstock, 1948-2009: Guardian, Times
Frazetta Family Values
Top 100 SF Magazine Covers (a work in progress)
H.P. Lovecraft and fandom
Black Matrix: one-fifth of a cent per word! (John Scalzi)
PW editor abused for polite clarification re coverage of Famous Robert Stanek

November 2009
"Excessive Candour, rescued"
On cosy catastrophes (Guardian 25 Nov)
2001: A Who Odyssey
Steve Holland channels Thog
Vatican on Twilight films (Telegraph)
BBC Paradox: not mere sci-fi
Liyi Brunner remembers (BBC)
Harlequin expands into vanity publishing; writers' organizations react and so does Small Beer Press
2010 GUFF race begins
Moorcock Who? (Guardian 16 Nov)
International SF Reshelving Day ... a bad idea, and now it's dead
Terry Goodkind: "I don't write fantasy"; more here
Terminator franchise for sale; Joss Whedon makes an offer
Ayn Rand biographies reviewed (Slate 2 Nov) – with gratuitous mention of L Ron Hubbard
World Fantasy Awards (Locus)
PW Best Books of 2009 (see SF/Fantasy/Horror section)

October 2009
The future we live in is too safe
Science Fantasy News (1948-1960) online archive
What scares horror writers? (Washington Post, 28 Oct)
"Did James Cameron Rip Off Poul Anderson ...?" (io9)
Remembering the Star Wars Holiday Special (xkcd)
Ellison/Paramount lawsuit settled
Happy Birthday, Ursula Le Guin (PW 21 Oct); SFWA
Tarzan is 97 (LA Times 20 Oct)
Pratchett video competition for ages 10 to 17 (Guardian)
Tom Deitz exhibition online
"Are we now post scifi?" (Guardian 13 Oct)
Bewailing the horrid consequences of letting women into sf (9 Oct)
Astral Leauge album downloads!
Hobbit film funding imperilled?
Banned from Octocon! More; FPI summary. Ban retracted (8 Oct) after huge negative publicity for Octocon.
2010 TAFF ballot (Word) | HTML
Hollywood vs children's fiction
"Richard Ridyard", serial plagiarist
Fantasy Magazine flash fiction/graphics contest (1 Oct)

September 2009
Primeval saved (29 Sep)
Arthur Machen remembered (Guardian 29 Sep)
Philip K. Dick on Blade Runner; more
Life, don't talk to me about Life: As Others Saw Us, 1951
Barbara Bova dies
Joe Haldeman in hospital; more
Electro-Plasmic Hydrocephalic Genre-Fiction Generator
"Melting Ice Caps Expose Hundreds Of Secret Arctic Lairs" (Onion)
"Horror wants women to scream, but not talk" (17 Sep); more at PW; Guardian (22 Sep)
British Fantasy Awards 2009
New Scientist sf special; Kim Stanley Robinson's "As Others See Us"; Guardian (18 Sep); more from Adam Roberts (24 Sep); PW
Ken Livingstone interviews Iain Banks (New Statesman, 17 Sep)
Iain M Banks in the Guardian
Terry Pratchett answers questions
Trailer for nonexistent Discworld film
Baxter's Voyage Mars mission simulation
2010 GUFF nominations open
2010 DUFF nominations open
Rose Fox expostulates
Rebellion (Abaddon) acquires GW's Solaris imprint
2010 TAFF nominations open
Jeanne Robinson needs help
John Clute on Charles N. Brown (Independent)

August 2009
Ignoring SF's warnings (Telegraph 29 Aug)
Le Guin on Atwood, again (Guardian 29 Aug)
"Vampire-lust tales will rot your brain" (Register)
Preserving pets after the Rapture ... and fanzines too
Campaign to make John Wyndham a star (if only in Birmingham)
British Computer Society interviews Ansible editor
Past worldcons survey; explained
2008 Fantasy Cover Elements -- secrets revealed!

Quantum flux (Onion 10 Aug)
SFWA on Google Settlement
John C. Wright causes a stir; more; Stross analysis
How fantasy took over sf (National Post)
The Feminist Book of Mammoths; more
More on LOTR film litigation (Independent); Telegraph
Jim Baen's Universe to fold
Fantasy or paranormal? (PW)
World Fantasy Awards shortlist
Big Brother shock horror: nonentity parrots stupid ideas!
Doctor J.G. Ballard
Terry Pratchett and the endgame (Mail)

July 2009
Amazing Iain Banks publishing first! Or not. (Bookseller)
Carl Brandon Society: Open Letter to the SF Community (27 Jul)
Loud Debate at LASFS; more!
Scribe Awards for media tie-ins (Locus)
Eisner Awards 2009
"Worst author intro ever (I hope)." (via)
Fandom and religion (Guardian 20 Jul)
Hugos: Adam Roberts reproves fandom
Amazon Kindle Memory Hole; Guardian
On Jack Vance (NY Times, 15 Jul)
Phyllis Gotlieb (1926-2009); more
Charles N. Brown (1937-2009)
On Alastair Reynolds (Guardian, 13 Jul)
On film novelizations (Guardian, 10 Jul)
Edge Hill Short Story Prize: sf collection wins

June 2009
Locus Awards
Thunderbirds: Gerry Anderson vs ITV (Register)
British Science Fiction and Fantasy: A Survey
Alastair Reynolds's million (Guardian, 23 Jun)
Fantasy Centre (1969-2009)
David Gemmell Legend Award winner
The Curse of Robert Stanek, part 94; the Amazon thread where all this surfaced; more
Novel competition! Brutal deadline! No advance!
China Miéville on Tolkien
SF/Fantasy club directory under construction
Preparing for Halloween
Yet another Harry Potter plagiarism claim (Reuters, 15 Jun)
"Who Goes There?" (Register, 15 Jun)
Bye-bye to Primeval (BBC, 15 Jun)
Zombie Neurobiology
Explaining US politics by misquoting Chris Priest (10 Jun)
JWC Memorial Award shortlist
"Science Fiction and Fantasy Ethics"; many ensuing comments; "Ethics" to become "Enthusiasts"; renamed site here
British Fantasy Awards shortlist (8 Jun)
David Eddings (1931-2009); Bookseller.com; SFWA; Guardian
Bogus UK media & comics cons? (2 Jun)
Ten Fiction Editors Talk Shop (Clarkesworld)

May 2009
Wikipedia & Scientology
Guardian Children's Fiction Prize longlist (23 May)
SF and US Homeland Security, again (Washington Post, 22 May)
Diana Wynne Jones is ill
Sturgeon Award shortlist
GUFF UK news
2009 Hugo voting online
Do Gay Martians Have the Right to Marry?
Albacon 2010 cancelled
Ursula K. Le Guin calls Utopia a utopia
Sidewise Awards shortlist
The increasingly prolific Tolkien; a comment
Abigail Frost (1951-2009)

April 2009
Ian R. MacLeod wins Clarke Award; Guardian coverage
Locus Award shortlist
Nebula winners
J.G. Ballard (1930-2009) (BBC); Guardian; Chris Priest (FT); Telegraph; John Clute (Indy); David Pringle (Guardian); NY Times; Guardian overview of JGB's influence; further links round-up
Steve Green wins TAFF
News of the Future (1928)
BSFA Award winners
Eastercon video coverage; newsletters
Starlog print publication suspended
Pratchett street names
Philadelphia Inquirer on Delany (5 Apr)
Bruce Sterling vs US Immigration (link now fixed)
Fantasy Centre to close (2 Apr)
"Save the Semiprozine Hugo"
Shatner virus infects satellite! (1 Apr)
Google sees through your walls! (1 Apr)

March 2009
"Nine Words You Might Think Came from Science but Which Are Really from Science Fiction" (OUP)
UK fantasy stamps by Dave McKean
Why T.S. Eliot rejected Animal Farm; comment (scroll down)
GUFF delegates at large
SFWA hacked
Alan Moore's Big Numbers #3
Prometheus Award finalists
Another unauthorized sequel
Stoker Awards finalists (23 Mar)
FFF Independent/Amateur (Delta) film awards call for entries
"How sci-fi moves with the times" (BBC 18 Mar)
DUFF 2009 update, with PDF ballot
Hugo nominations; nominee links
Clarke Award shortlist; TC review links
Sci Fi Channel becomes Syfy; Urban Dictionary;"Say It's Not So!"
Harlan Ellison sues ... (snore)
FAAn Awards (F770)
Harry Potter and the Jewish Conspiracy
Thog is lost for words; Making Light collects the links
"Racefail 2009" (Torque Control summary)
Hansard 2008: UK government department edits Wikipedia sf entries
Realms of Fantasy saved -- bought by Tir Na Nog Press
Galaxy British Book Awards: Ballard on shortlist
Erotic fantasy: the state of the art (via)
Pond Dalek shock horror (Telegraph)
Nalo Hopkinson embraces Thog
Games Workshop puts Solaris Books up for sale (news broke too late for the March Ansible)

February 2009
Dubai Literary Festival: Brooks & Aldiss (Times, 28 Feb)
Nebula shortlist
R.I.P.: UK SF Fandom Archive, Glasgow University -- update your links!
Philip José Farmer (1918-2009); NY Times; Peoria Journal Star
"Fanzines enter pages of history" (BBC)
BBC Radio sf season
Hugo nominations deadline: 28 February
The loon who believes Stephen King killed John Lennon
2011 Worldcon site selection (choose Reno or Reno)
NewCon 5 postponement now official
Clarke Award "longlist" (publishers' submissions, not jury choices)
Fear Warren Lapine's attorney!
SFWA Solstice awards
2011 Worldcon: Seattle bid folds, Reno is unopposed
Prying the Hugo from Forry Ackerman's cold, dead fingers? All a misunderstanding
Forthcoming PW sf/horror specials
Ellen Datlow update (6 Feb); Ellen home again (9 Feb)
Stephen King on fellow-writers (5 Feb)
Pratchett, Alzheimer's, and saddos (Telegraph, 5 Feb)
Singularity "predicted" in 2005. Vernor Vinge -- who he?

January 2009
"SF Awards -- rubbish"
"Science fiction: the genre that dare not speak its name" (Guardian, 28 Jan)
Neil Gaiman's Newbery Medal
Down Under Fan Fund 2009
Mad goes quarterly
Jim Baen Memorial Writing Contest
BSFA Awards shortlist
"1000 novels everyone must read" -- the sf/fantasy section [1] [2] [3] (Guardian, 22 Jan)
Harry Turner (1920-2009)
Hugo nomination ballot
James Cawthorn and The Land that Time Forgot
Patrick McGoohan (1928-2009) (BBC); Guardian; Washington Post
2009 FAAn Awards ballot (PDF)
How to buy a Hugo nomination
A History of Star Trek Porn
Farewell, Murder One (Times, 7 Jan)
Disney rejection letter, 1938
Friends of Ed Bryant
Another year, another Doctor; never believe insider leaks