Ansible 264, July 2009
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 (e). Logo: Dan Steffan. Cartoon: Brad Foster. Available for SAE or the stone-fruits of Gondolin.
The July Ghost
Iain M. Banks will be awarded a PhD by Middlesex University on 10 July. Naturally I asked: 'For services to literature, whisky, climbing, or talking squid in outer space?' Farah Mendlesohn: 'Aha! You have given me the hook for my intro (I'm the Orator for the occasion).'
John W. Campbell's most famous sf prophecy has not been forgotten, even if the real Thing is only a micro-organism: 'American scientists, showing the reckless disregard for the warnings implicit in quality science fiction that is so regrettably common in the boffinry community, have revived an ancient lifeform which has been slumbering beneath the Arctic ice pack for 120,000 years. To add insult to injury, the scientists believe that their laboratory revenant may be related to indestructible super-aliens yet to be discovered on extraterrestrial iceworlds.' (Lewis Page, The Register, 15 June) [JD] But let's hear no Lovecraftian talk about very small shoggoths until they find another in the Antarctic region known as Kadath in the Cold Waste....
Peter Dickinson, author of much classy sf and fantasy, received the OBE for services to literature in the UK Queen's Birthday Honours.
Christopher Lee, who needs no gory introduction, was knighted for services to drama and charity in the Queen's Birthday Honours. Another honoured actor was Alan Cumming – OBE for services to film, theatre and the arts, plus his work as a gay rights campaigner – who played Nightcrawler in X2 and has a part in the coming Riverworld.
Terry Pratchett, who's finding novel-writing much easier now he's moved from keyboards to dictation, reveals: 'Something for the Very Strange department; the BBC contacted us about doing a prime time series based on the Guards books. Things seemed to go well, although it appeared to me that up to that point only one person involved had read a Discworld book. Then we gradually moved into Fairy Land.... What caused me to crack was the question of the Bible. I am not going to let something like this happen without some input, if only to stop Nobby Nobbs becoming female. Much discussion ensued, and my movie agent suggested that the BBC and us create the Guards Bible – these style guides are quite common in the business. / It looked, therefore, like it would be all systems go until the BBC came back and said that while they would be happy to collaborate on the Bible, they would because of their charter have to have the final say, which means in effect: "everything will be set in stone, but we are allowed to have a sledgehammer." So the BBC is not getting Guards! Guards!. As my movie agent (who has dealt with some of the most voracious companies in the States) said to me, "How does anyone ever deal with the BBC?"'
Alastair Reynolds's million-pound Gollancz deal to write ten sf books over the next ten years was widely reported and widely envied.
J.K. Rowling allegedly plagiarized an obscure 1987 children's book called Willy the Wizard in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Its author Adrian Jacobs died in 1997; his estate (or rather its trustee Paul Allen) announced that it's suing Bloomsbury and also wants a court order to interrogate Rowling in 'pre-action disclosure'. Her gigantic borrowings from Jacobs's 36-page text are said to include 'a wizard contest' and 'the idea of wizards traveling on trains'. (Reuters, 15 June) I'm sure no one had ever imagined a wizard contest before, but did Jacobs nick the train concept from Susan Cooper's Silver on the Tree (1977)? Yawn.
Contune
Click here for longlist with links.
3 Jul • British Fantasy Society Open Night, The George, Fleet Street (pedantically, 213 Strand), London, WC2R 1AP. 6-10pm. Free.
3-5 Jul • Diana Wynne Jones conference. Day rates, including food: Fri £30 (students £22), Sat £70 (£55), Sun £50 (£37). Contact 23 Ranelagh Rd, London, N17 6XY; farah dot sf at gmail dot com.
18 Jul • Bristol Beer & Blake's 7 open meeting, Knight's Templar, Unit 1, Temple Square, Temple Quay, BS1 6DG. 12:15pm-7pm.
22 Jul • BSFA Open Meeting, The Antelope, 22 Eaton Terrace, London, SW1W 8EZ. 5/6pm onward. With Andrew McKie.
25-26 Jul • Satellite 2, Crowne Plaza Hotel, Glasgow. £45 reg. Advance booking closes 17 July: £50 at the door. Day: £25 at the door only. Contact 33b Hardridge Rd, Corkerhill, Glasgow, G52 1RH.
31 Jul - 2 Aug • Constitution (sf, fantasy, RPG, Unicon) hosting HarmUni 4 (filk), Murray Edwards College, Cambridge. Now £30 reg; under-18s £10; under-11s £5; under-5s free. Contact 207 Campkin Rd, Cambridge, CB4 2LE; info at constitution-con org uk.
6-10 Aug • Anticipation (67th Worldcon), Palais des congrès de Montréal, Montréal, Canada. Membership rates until 15 July: $Can240/$US210/£135/€150/Yen20,000 reg; upgrade supporting to full membership, $Can185/$US160/£105/€115/Yen15,000; supporting $Can55/$US50/£30/€35/Yen5,000. Hugo voting (online or mail) closes 3 July. Contact PO Box 105, Station NDG, Montréal, QC, H4A 3P4, Canada.
15-16 Aug • Caption (small-press comics), East Oxford Community Centre, corner of Princes St & Cowley Rd. £10 reg; £5 day.
18-20 Sep • Fantasycon, Britannia Hotel, 1 St James St, Nottingham. Now £70 reg (BFS members £60); £30 Sat only; banquet £35. Contact Beech House, Chapel Lane, Moulton, Cheshire CW9 8PQ.
26 Sep • Browncoat Ceilidh (Firefly), Mercure Holland House Hotel, Redcliffe Hill, Bristol, BS1 6SQ. General sf mini-con 2:30-5:30pm; music, dances etc 5:30pm-1am. Tickets £20 to Kumara Conventions, c/o 5 Manor House Rd, Glastonbury, Somerset, BA6 9DE.
16-18 Oct • Festival of Fantastic Films, Day's Hotel, Sackville St, Manchester. £70/$140 reg; under-17s £30; under-13s £20. £30/$60 day+supp. Contact 95 Meadowgate Rd, Salford, Manchester, M6 8EN.
24 Oct • Gamesfest (gaming/sf/fantasy), Watford Colosseum, Watford, WD17 3EX. Tickets £5.50 from www.gamesfest.co.uk only.
31 Oct - 1 Nov • ArmadaCon 21, Royal Fleet Hotel, Plymouth. GoH Lionel Fanthorpe. £35 reg; £30 concessions. Contact 20 Pinewood Close, Plympton, Plymouth, Devon, PL7 2DW.
18-22 Nov • Terry Pratchett's Unseen Academicals (play), adapted by Stephen Briggs, Unicorn Theatre, Thames St, Abingdon, Oxon. 7.30pm (+2.30pm on 22 Nov). Tickets probably available from 1 Sep. Contact Studio Theatre Club, PO Box 1486, Oxford, OX4 9DQ.
26 Feb - 1 Mar 10 • AKFT 15 (Trek), Tintagel Castle Hotel, Cornwall – not yet confirmed. Registration is expected to cost £25, with £5 increases on 1 Sep and 1 Dec. Contact address TBA.
Rumblings • Nippon 2017 is a new Japanese Worldcon bid.
Infinitely Improbable
As
Others Group Us. 'Like paedophiles and science fiction fans,
the far right were quick to wise up to the internet ...' (Hari Kunzru,
Guardian, 30 May) [SS]
• 'Sci-fi conventions such as San Diego's Comic-Con are
under-the-radar hook-up havens. No, really.' (Penthouse, June)
[MB]
Magazine Scene. Sci-Fi magazine, which has not yet changed its name to Syfy, found another way to annoy librarians and bibliographers. Normally it's bimonthly, but the publisher Sovereign Media is skipping from volume 15 number 2 (April 2009) to volume 15 no 4 (August 2009). [GRM] The phantom June issue will be a great rarity.
Awards.
Boston Globe – Horn Book (children's fiction category): Terry
Pratchett, Nation.
• Campbell Memorial: Cory Doctorow, Little Brother,
and Ian R. MacLeod, Song of Time (tie).
• David Gemmell Legend (fantasy): Andrzej Sapkowski, Blood
of Elves.
• Sturgeon (short fiction): James Alan Gardner, 'The Ray
Gun: A Love Story' (Asimov's).
R.I.P.
Mort Abrahams (1916-2009), US tv and film producer whose career
began in 1950 with Tom Corbett, Space Cadet, died on 28 May; he
was 93. Further genre credits include seven episodes of Tales of
Tomorrow (1951-1953), nine of The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
(1965-1966), Doctor Dolittle (1967), and the first two Planet
of the Apes films (1968, 1970). [AIP]
• David Carradine (1936-2009), US actor best remembered
for the mystic martial arts of tv's Kung Fu (1972-1975) and its
spinoffs, died on 3 June aged 72. Other genre work included Death
Race 2000 (1975) and Q: The Winged Serpent (1982). [SG]
• Robert A. Collins (1929-2009), US sf scholar who edited
various notable critical journals and anthologies and in 1980 founded
the International Conference for the Fantastic in the Arts, died on 27
June. [FM]
• David Eddings (1931-2009), best-selling author of the
Belgariad sequence – beginning with Pawn of Prophecy (1982) – and other hugely popular fantasy series, died on 2 June; he was 77. Most
of his 27 novels were written in collaboration with his wife Leigh, who
died in 2007. [O]
• Farrah Fawcett (1947-2009), US actress whose sf credits
included The Six Million Dollar Man (tv), Logan's Run
(1976) and Saturn 3 (1980), died on 25 June aged 62. [BB]
• H(arriet) B. Gilmour (1939-2009), US publisher (Bantam,
Scholastic) and author whose genre work for children included the
novelization Godzilla (1998) and the twice-filmed T*Witches
fantasy series (2001-2004), died on 21 June aged 69. [PDF]
• Simon Oates (1932-2009), UK actor whose best-known sf
part was as scientist Dr John Ridge in Doomwatch (1970-1972),
died on 20 May aged 77. [JL]
• Paul O. Williams (1935-2009), US author, academic and
haiku poet most noted in sf for the seven-book Pelbar Cycle (1981-1985),
died on 2 June. He won the Campbell Award for best new sf writer in
1983. [L]
Them As Can, Does. Presenter: 'Who wrote the story of Peter Pan? A.A. Milne, J.M. Barrie or T.S. Eliot?' Contestant (a teacher): 'Okay. I've read the story. I've saw the films. I've not saw the panto. I'm pretty sure it's T.S. Eliot.' (Sky One, Are You Smarter Than A Ten-Year-Old?) [PE]
If You Can't Say Something Nice ... Andy Remic and others launched a blog site devoted to positive (only) sf/fantasy reviews. The title, Science Fiction and Fantasy Ethics, annoyed some with its implication that any negative remark must be unethical. Andy explained: 'I chose the name "Ethics" not because I wanted to explore the ethical contexts of novels or films, but because I wanted to make an ethical stand against the motherfuckers who, to my mind, are systematically ruining the SFFH genres.' The identities of these naughty persons never became clear, though Adam Roberts hoped he might be one, and so did Paul Kincaid. After a poll at SFFE it was decided that 'Ethics' should become 'Enthusiasts', a rebranding which duly occurred. Ansible still wonders why the original photo-logo of this Positive Responses Only site showed a long row of titles by someone who in his reviewing days was never averse to putting the boot in good and hard: Harlan Ellison.
British
Fantasy Award. Selected shortlists (more
here): NOVEL 'William Heaney', Memoirs of a
Master Forger; Simon Clark, Midnight Man; Gary McMahon, Rain
Dogs; Neil Gaiman, The Graveyard Book; Christopher Fowler,
The Victoria Vanishes; Ramsey Campbell, Thieving Fear.
• NONFICTION Basil Copper, ed. Stephen Jones, Basil
Copper: A Life in Books; Russell T. Davies & Benjamin Cook, Doctor
Who: The Writer's Tale; Neil Gaiman,
journal.neilgaiman.com;
Nick Lowe, 'Mutant Popcorn' (Interzone); Paul Kincaid, What
Is It We Do When We Read Science Fiction.
• MAGAZINE Black Static, Interzone,
Midnight Street, Postscripts, SFX.
• TV Battlestar Galactica, Dead Set,
Dexter, Doctor Who, Supernatural.
• FILM Cloverfield, Iron Man, The
Dark Knight, The Mist, The Orphanage.
Outraged
Letters. Jordin Kare on sf grant proposals (A263):
'For the decade or so during which I was a freelance rocket scientist ("Will
design satellites for food") I would often appear on SF convention
panels surrounded by authors. When asked to introduce myself, I would
explain that I, too, wrote both science fiction and fantasy, with the
science fiction generally being titled "Technical Proposal"
and the fantasy titled "Budget Proposal".'
• David Pringle: 'I was surprised and saddened to hear of
the death of Abigail Frost
(1951-2009). I'd like to remind everyone that she was Interzone's
designer and paster-upper for a couple of years (1983-1985). I well
remember handing over all the material to her each quarter, for her to
assemble ready for the printer – primitive days, before we had any form
of DTP! Abi liked to stick her oar in, sometimes writing little notes of
her own in the magazine, at paste-up stage....'
• David Wake on
Fred Lerner in A263:
'Oh, oh, oh ... if you follow the logic of the definition-by-provenance
that SF must be produced from within the SF community, then how can
Brian Aldiss say that Frankenstein was the first SF novel? It
wasn't written within the SF community because it didn't exist. The
argument follows for any first SF book and an SF community can't start
until the first novel is produced. From our bootstraps, it's all undone.
The only way to create SF is by writing an SF book from within an SF
community and then sending it back in time. Or for the SF community to
travel back in time to Switzerland and bang on the door saying "Mary,
where's our book?"'
C.o.A. Nic Farey, 3345 Cape Cod Drive, Las Vegas, NV 89122, USA. John Teehan, 70 Lenox Ave, West Warwick, RI 02893, USA. R-Laurraine Tutihasi & Mike Weasner, PO Box 5323, Oracle, AZ 85623, USA.
Locus Awards. SF NOVEL Neal Stephenson, Anathem. FANTASY NOVEL Ursula K. Le Guin, Lavinia. FIRST NOVEL Paul Melko, Singularity's Ring. YA: Neil Gaiman, The Graveyard Book. NOVELLA Kelly Link, 'Pretty Monsters' (Pretty Monsters). NOVELETTE Paolo Bacigalupi, 'Pump Six' (Pump Six). SHORT Ted Chiang, 'Exhalation' (Eclipse Two). ANTHOLOGY Gardner Dozois, ed., The Year's Best SF: Twenty-Fifth Annual Collection. COLLECTION Paolo Bacigalupi, Pump Six and Other Stories. NON-FICTION/ART P. Craig Russell (adaptor, illustrator), Lovern Kindzierski (colorist) & Todd Klein (letterer), Coraline: The Graphic Novel based on Coraline by Neil Gaiman. EDITOR Ellen Datlow. ARTIST Michael Whelan. MAGAZINE F&SF. PUBLISHER Tor.
Who Was That Masked Man? June saw familiar fun and games at Amazon.com as a posse of anonymous reviewers with strangely similar styles ambushed fantasy author Patrick Rothfuss – and his much-praised, bestselling debut novel – with copious one-star reviews, a 'rothfuss is a fraud' discussion thread, and claims that all the five-star feedback came from the author plus friends and family. Recalling Ansible 219 et al, our informant expected follow-up recommendations of really good fantasy by George R.R. Martin, Robert Jordan, and Robert Stanek ... but no. Interestingly, though, one of Rothfuss's attackers ('Andrew') had a reviewing history confined to exactly three authors: he also rubbished books by David Louis Edelman and Jim C. Hines, who by sheer coincidence had both blogged conspicuously about the self-promotion of Robert Stanek. Then various Rothfuss attackers started to plug a particular writer by 'tagging' him in their Amazon profiles, and (although these tags quickly vanished when someone blew the whistle), the lucky author proved to be none other than Robert Stanek. [AW]
Cost of Living. SFWA is bumping up its annual fees, with Active membership rising from $70 to $80 and Affiliate from $55 to $60.
Random
Fandom. Brian Ameringen reports: 'Fantasy Centre have
now sold all of their stock ... R.I.P. At the Final Party, Erik &
Ted were presented with photocopies of the first FC Catalogue from
1971.'
• Heath Row (real name) is constructing a directory of sf
and fantasy clubs. Add yours using the form at
http://sf-clubs-form.notlong.com.
Nothing Fails Like Success. Primeval, ITV's prehistoric-beasties sf drama, was cancelled after 'three very successful series' and average audiences of 5 million in 2009 – down from 6 million in series 1 and 2. Apparently the CGI effects cost too much. (BBC News, 15 June) [BB]
As Others Meta-See Us. Frank Ahrens on 'Virtuality', an unsold Fox tv pilot: 'So you may well ask yourself, "Why should I spend two hours of a summer Friday night watching a sci-fi show if there's no guarantee I'll ever know the outcome or see the characters again?" / Ummm ... / Because it's raining outside? Because, like this author, you'll watch almost anything set in space? (And, no, we're not going to make the dateless-Friday-night-sci-fi-geek ... joke. Those wounds are too fresh.)' (Washington Post, 26 June) [MMW]
Bram Stoker Awards (horror). NOVEL Stephen King, Duma Key. FIRST NOVEL Lisa Mannetti, The Gentling Box. LONG FICTION John R. Little, Miranda. SHORT Sarah Langan, The Lost. COLLECTION Stephen King, Just After Sunset. ANTHOLOGY Vince A. Liaguno and Chad Helder, eds., Unspeakable Horror. NONFICTION Lisa Morton, A Hallowe'en Anthology. POETRY COLLECTION Bruce Boston, The Nightmare Collection.
Group Gropes. Reading: every Mon, 9pm; early meeting 7pm, 3rd Mon of month; all now in Back of Beyond pub, Kings Road, RG1 3BY.
Educational Supplement. Rob Latham of the University of California at Riverside told the SF Research Association that UCR's 'senior-level position in science fiction writing' was cancelled owing to huge state budget cuts – notably in higher education – announced on 19 May by Governator Arnold Schwarzenegger. The unnamed appointee, chosen from nearly 50 applicants including 'major Hugo- and Nebula-winning authors', had been offered the tenured position and accepted. [FM]
Thog's
Masterclass. Dept of Pointed Looks. 'Her eyes were
leveled missile batteries, untouched by any human emotion.' (David
Weber, Field of Dishonor, 1994) [BA]
• Performing Animals Dept. 'William Henry Vanderbilt,
plump and content, wearing a slight smile between the huge sideburns
that clung to his cheek like frightened monkeys ...' (T.J. Stiles, The
First Tycoon: The Epic Life Of Cornelius Vanderbilt, 2009) [MMW]
• Dept of Wobbliness. 'He stood trembling like a bladder
of lard ...' ('Bron Fane', The Thing From Sheol, 1963) 'It was
like going for a ride on the back of an animated haggis.' ('Pel Torro',
Galaxy 666, 1963)
• Cosmetics Dept. 'Crumpled and decaying rose petals
masquerading as lips smiled back at me.' (Rob Thurman, Nightlife,
2006) [BJ]
• Dept of Buxomness. 'There was a whole family of planets
... and I picked out one that I named Beth, after my girl. She was about
five thousand miles in diameter ...' (Clive Trent [Victor Rousseau],
'Human Pyramid', Spicy-Adventure Stories, April 1941) [DL]
Geeks' Corner
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Convention
and Event Links
• British Isles (plus Eurocon, Worldcon) – http://links.ansible.co.uk
• London meetings/events – http://news.ansible.co.uk/london.html
• Overseas – http://news.ansible.co.uk/conlisti.html
Endnotes
Apparitions.
• 10 Jul 2009: Brum Group, Briar Rose, Bennett Hill, Birmingham
city centre. Guest speaker or event TBA. 7:30pm for 8pm.
£4; members £3. Contact 07845 897760 or bhamsfgroup at yahoo
co uk. Future meetings: Summer Social, 14 August at the Black Eagle,
Handsworth; Justina Robson, 11 September; Alastair Reynolds (TBC),
9 October; Jasper Fforde, 6 November; Christmas Social, 4 December.
• 11 July 2009: Brian Stableford and David Langford at Oxfam,
Market Place, Reading. 6-8pm. Admission free, by ticket from shop. I am
unable to deny the scurrilous rumour that Live Thog's Masterclass may be
involved.
• 24-26 July 2009: Pirate Birthday Party – Robert Rankin events
centred on Thames boat trip, 25 July. £10. See ...
http://thegoldensprout.com/products/92/pirate-birthday-party
PayPal
Donation. Support Ansible and keep the editor happy!
Or just buy his books ... please.
http://ansible.co.uk/paypal.php
http://ansible.co.uk/books/index.html
http://ansible.co.uk/books/starcomb.html – the very latest.
Novel
Competition. SciFiNow and Tor UK offer publication with 20%
royalties (but no advance) to the winning sf/fantasy novel – whose 80
to 150 thousand words must be available by the closing date of 20
August 2009. Lionel Fanthorpe could probably do it in a couple of
weekends, but previously published novelists are barred ...
http://www.scifinow.co.uk/competitions/war-of-the-words-rules-and-regulations/
Academia!
Middlesex University is launching an MA course in Creative Writing (sf
and fantasy) this September. Recruitment for 2009/2010 will be part-time
only, with the degree available full-time from 2010/2011 [FM]:
This link has expired.
Outreached
Letters. James Bacon promotes the sf cause: 'Giving
away books; James Bacon reports that John Dowd, John Medany, Steve
Cooper and Misha gave away around 600 science fiction, fantasy and
horror books, and hundreds of copies of Ansible, at a recent
Collectormania at Milton Keynes Football Stadium, as well as flyers for
a slew of conventions etc as part of what is now officially called UK SF
Outreach. Any fan orgs who want to have flyers distributed and posters
posted, just send to 55 Cromwell Rd, Croydon, CR0 2JZ. / The generosity
of Erik Arthur and Ted Ball has helped to replace these books, as the
gentlemen concerned earmarked some stock with the sad closing of their
shop.... / Friday is Party night: UK SF Outreach will be throwing a huge
party at Anticipation, highlighting all the SF, Horror and Fantasy
goings-on in the UK and Ireland. Volunteers to consume Pimms and Whiskey
required.'
• Joe Gordon on that new Hergé museum (A263):
'Did you see the appalling PR they managed to secure for themselves?
Moulinsart, who control the estate (head honcho married Hergé's
widow, I believe), have a very poor reputation in recent years: they
attack anyone who writes books on Tintin or biogs of Hergé unless
they get final edit; they used legal action on the Tintin fan clubs in
Europe recently. Now they invite the world press to the museum ... and
then tell them, once they arrive, that they cannot take pictures or film
inside, except for the lobby. That went down well with the media – French channel had great short clip, no voice-over, just subtitles,
which showed outside of building, then the lobby with titles basically
saying "new museum opens, filming ban when we turned up, this is
all we can show you. No, really, that's it." Moulinsart head honcho
and Hergé's widow then decided not to talk to the press either
and their spokesman only spoke French, so no concession to the
international media they invited....'
• Nic Farey's move across the USA (see CoA above) was
fraught: 'horrendous problems with the moving company ranging from a
final cost of 3x the estimate which necessitated selling the car to pay
it, to delays which predict the arrival of stuff almost two weeks after
the arrival of humans.'
• Farah Mendlesohn points out that Anticipation
programming closes soon. If you wish to be considered for a programme
appearance, please email farah dot sf at gmail dot com.
Events
Extra. 11 Nov 2009 - 5 January 2010: Terry Pratchett's
Nation (play), National Theatre, London. Booking opens 30 June:
This link has expired.
• WexWorlds (20-22 Nov 2009), a new sf festival to be held
in Wexford, Ireland, has no sign-up details as yet; website under
construction at:
http://wexworlds.net/
• SFX Weekender (5-6 Feb 2010) is a multimedia SFX
magazine event, with Paul Cornell, China Miéville, Robert Rankin
and others. The website should go live on 1 July:
http://www.sfxweekender.com/
Publishers
& Sinners. Dedalus Books, which lost its Arts Council
funding in March 2008, acquired two years of independent sponsorship but
now appeals for help to keep on publishing new and translated works
(including fantasy) when support runs out in March 2010: philanthropists
are welcomed at info at dedalusbooks dot com.
http://www.dedalusbooks.com/
All
I Survey. The BSFA, here personified by Niall Harrison, is
rerunning the epic Mexicon III survey of sf/fantasy, first published in
1989. What has changed over the intervening 20 years? Published authors
are urged to contribute – see the post below, which includes an email
link.
http://vectoreditors.wordpress.com/2009/06/26/british-science-fiction-and-fantasy-a-survey/
As Others Award Us. Jim Darroch reports from the Edinburgh International Film Festival: 'The sf film Moon, directed by Duncan Jones aka Zowie Bowie, won the prestigious Michael Powell award [for Best New British Feature Film]. From the jury citation: "We award Moon for its singular vision and remarkably assured direction as well as for the inspired manner in which it transcends genre." Pity that the science is nonsense with explosions on the moon and fully adult clones at birth. Still at least it's not sf. It does though have great non-cgi effects.' (Joe Gordon adds that the Standard Life Audience Award, voted by EIFF audiences, went to the Irish The Secret of Kells: 'beautiful traditional animation mixing folklore, myth, fantasy and history.')
Magazine
Scene II. Talebones will cease as a magazine with
issue 38 this year; after a 2010 sabbatical, editor Patrick Swenson
plans to reincarnate it as an annual anthology.
• Lone Star Stories, Eric Marin's online fiction magazine,
is closing after 5½ years: 'I just feel the need to take a break.'
[SW]
• Apex, whose suspension was announced in April, is making
a surprise comeback this month; publisher Jason Sizemore seeks sponsors.
http://www.apexbookcompany.com/news/2009/06/its-alivealive-apex-magazine-returns-from-hiatus-for-now/
Editorial. Yes, I know he had some slight genre connections, but after several days' saturation coverage by world media you don't need Ansible to tell you about that singer chap.
Ansible 264 Copyright © David Langford, 2009. Thanks to Brian Ameringen, Barbara Barrett, Mike Blake, Jackie Burns [interior art], Jim Darroch, Paul di Filippo, Steve Green, Beth Johnson, Denny Lien, Jim Linwood, Locus, Farah Mendlesohn, George R. Morgan, Omega, Private Eye, Steve Sneyd, Sean Wallace, Adam Whitehead, Martin Morse Wooster, and our Hero Distributors: Dave Corby (BSFG), Janice Murray (NA), SCIS/Prophecy, and Alan Stewart (Australia). 30 Jun 09.