Ansible® 457, August 2025
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: William Rotsler, via Bill Mallardi. Available for SAE or sf magazines published by Eustace Snarge.
With My Bopamagilvie
Robert Englund – Freddy Krueger in the Nightmare on Elm Street films – gets his Hollywood Walk of Fame star on Halloween. [F770]
Jack Kirby of comics fame was remembered by the renaming of a Manhattan street corner (Essex St and Delancy St) with his name and a relevant Marvel Universe location: Jack Kirby Way/Yancy St. The new sign includes the Fantastic Four logo. (Gamesradar.com, 10 July) [F770]
Dean Koontz is the sole genre writer to appear under ‘Authors and Thought Leaders’ in a lengthy magazine supplement describing over 200 ‘US Catholic Leaders’. (Catholic Herald, July/August) [DVB]
Kristine Kathryn Rusch blew the whistle on the new-deal contracts at the various sf and mystery magazines acquired this year by Must Read Magazines: Analog, Asimov’s, F&SF, Ellery Queen’s and Alfred Hitchcock’s. The (unchanged) editors are still wonderful people, she wrote; but despite a past reassurance that any dubious contract clauses were sort of accidental and could be negotiated away (see A455), there were indeed snags: ‘As in, the contract was awful. As in, the negotiation went poorly. As in, I had no choice but to walk away, taking all of my current stories with me.’ (Kriswrites.com, 13 July)
• Earlier in July, the Submission Grinder market website removed Analog from its listings because the new contract demands ‘a wider-than-normal range of rights and the waiving of an author’s moral rights.’ (APHowell.com, 9 July) [F770] SFWA also intended to delist Analog as a qualifying market, but was told that the moral rights waiver is to be dropped and hoped that other rights-grabbing legal boilerplate would also vanish. (SFWA, 14 July) General scepticism was soon confirmed by a further report from Rusch: ‘The new clause in place of their moral rights waiver is worse.’ (Facebook, 17 July) The saga continues with a further SFWA press release (23 July) and Writer Beware examining the objectionable clauses in some detail (25 July).
Conemaugh
Click here for longlist • London • Overseas
2-3 Aug • Surrey Steampunk Convivial, Stoneleigh, Epsom. See bumpandthumper.wixsite.com/steampunkconvivials.
8-10 Aug • TFnation (Transformers), Hilton Birmingham Metropole near the NEC. Variously priced day tickets at tfnation.com/2025.
9-10 Aug • Dublin Comic Con, Convention Centre, Dublin. Various ticket prices (extra for early entry, etc.) at dublincomiccon.com.
9 Aug • Northern Horizon (Blake’s 7), Tyneside Irish Centre, 10am-4pm. £20; VIP £75. See tinyurl.com/nhb7con.
13-17 Aug • Seattle Worldcon 2025, Seattle, WA, USA. $300 reg; concessions $175; under-25s $100; under-18s $75; under-13s free; virtual $85; WSFS only $50. See seattlein2025.org.
16-17 Aug • Caption (small press/comics), Seacourt Hall, Botley, Oxford, OX2 9TH. £30 reg. See captionfestival.co.uk.
16-17 Aug • For the Love of Fantasy, ExCel, London. Tickets £53.90; under-10s £24.20; under-5s free. See fortheloveoffantasy.com.
16 Aug • Stars of Time (comics), Winter Gardens, Weston-super-Mare. £11.55; concessions/under-14s £7.21. See www.starsoftime.co.uk.
21-25 Aug • Frightfest (film), Odeon Luxe, Leicester Square, London. Tickets at www.frightfest.co.uk/filmsandevents/.
22-25 Aug • Asylum XIV (steampunk), The Lawns and other Lincoln venues. Tickets at www.ministryofsteampunk.com.
30 Aug • Whooverville 16 (Doctor Who), QUAD Centre, Derby. From 10am. Tickets £60 ; concessions £40; accompanied under-13s £15. Guests and other details at derbyquad.co.uk/events/whooverville16/.
18-19 Oct • Tolkien Society Seminar: ‘Arda’s Entangled Bodies’, Glasgow/online (new dates). Free. See www.tolkiensociety.org/events/.
24-26 Oct • Steampunk Halloween, County Assembly Rooms, Lincoln. See www.ministryofsteampunk.com/halloween-2025.
1 Nov • Sonic Con UK (Sonic the Hedgehog), Novotel London West. Adult tickets £35.37 inc fee; various other rates at www.sonicconuk.com.
22 Nov • Cymera Writers’ Conference, Edinburgh/online. Details awaited at www.cymerafestival.co.uk.
29 Dec - 1 Jan • Steampunk New Year, Belmont Hotel, Leicester. See www.ministryofsteampunk.com/steampunknewyear2025.
14 Feb 2026 • WrexCon (comics), Wrexham University, LL11 2AW. 10am-5pm. See www.ljeventsentertainment.com.
5-7 Jun 2026 • Cymera: Scotland’s Festival of SF, Fantasy & Horror Writing, Edinburgh and online. See www.cymerafestival.co.uk.
6-7 Jun 2026 • HorrorCon UK, Magna, Sheffield. Ticket prices and sales awaited at horrorconuk.com.
13-14 Jun 2026 • EM-Con (media), Motorpoint Arena, Nottingham. Tickets £36 (11am entry) or £48 (10am). See www.em-con.co.uk.
17-19 Jul 2026 • Fantasy Forest (cosplay), Sudely Castle, Cheltenham. Ticket sales awaited at fantasyforest.co.uk.
7-10 Aug 2026 • Discworld Convention, Leonardo Hotel, Hinckley Island, Leicestershire. £120 reg; £65 concessions including under-18s; £40 (£35 concessions) supporting; under-13s free. See dwcon.org.
Infinitely Improbable
The Critical Heritage. The enigmatic William Blake is explained at last: ‘He’s the Willy Wonka of art, our golden ticket to other worlds.’ (Philip Hoare, William Blake and the Sea Monsters of Love, 2025)
Awards. Cordwainer Smith Rediscovery: Kris Neville. [RH]
• DAG Prize (inaugural $20,000 award for US creators, literature category): The Lost Book of Adana Moreau by Michael Zapata. [F770]
• Prometheus (libertarian). NOVEL In the Belly of the Whale by Michael Flynn. HALL OF FAME Orion Shall Rise by Poul Anderson.
• Seiun (Japan) long fiction: ‘Ascendance of a Bookworm’ series by Miya Kazuki. TRANSLATION System Collapse by Martha Wells.
• Shirley Jackson novel winner: Curdle Creek: A Novel by Yvonne Battle-Felton. [F770]
• Sidewise long-form finalists: Westfallen by Ann and Ben Brashares, Sargassa by Sophie Burnham, ‘The Pandominion’ series by M.R. Carey, The Last Rival by Kyle Palmer. For the short-form list see www.uchronia.net/sidewise/.
• World Fantasy novel finalists: The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett, The Fox Wife by Yangsze Choo, The Bog Wife by Kay Chronister, The Bright Sword by Lev Grossman, The Wings Upon Her Back by Samantha Mills. Full list at locusmag.com/2025/07/2025-world-fantasy-awards-finalists/.
• World Fantasy lifetime achievement: Juliet Marillier and Michael Whelan.
We Are Nearly Everywhere. The Girl Guides’ achievement badge for ‘Fandoms’ – one of 72 newly introduced – does not apparently cover smoffing, Worldcon-running or addiction to Rob Hansen’s fan histories, but may be awarded to Rangers (ages 14-18) ‘for sharing their enthusiasm for things like Taylor Swift or Harry Potter.’ (BBC, 21 July) [AC]
Dayspring Mishandled. The academics have been rethinking The Song of Wade, a lost mediaeval tale known from allusions in Chaucer and a tiny fragment quoted in an old sermon discovered by M.R. James in 1896. Apparently that sermon’s transcriber had trouble forming certain letters: words misread as ‘elves’ and ‘sprites’ that led past scholars to classify Wade as a heroic fantasy epic are (metaphorical) wolves and sea-snakes, moving it into the genre of chivalric/courtly romance and making more sense of the Chaucerian context. (Phys.org, 16 July) [SF²C] Gosh!
As Others See Us. ‘Ray Bradbury’s The Martian Chronicles [...] is not what genre obsessives call “hard sci-fi”, with yawn-inducing disquisitions on the technicalities of space flight and the scientific challenges of terraforming an inhospitable landscape.’ (The Week, August 2024) [PL]
R.I.P. Alon Aboutboul (1965-2025), Israeli actor in The Dark Knight Rises (2012), died on 29 July aged 60. [AIP]
• Allan Ahlberg (1938-2025), popular UK children’s author whose work includes such supernatural tales as My Brother’s Ghost (2001) and The Improbable Cat (2003), died on 29 July aged 87. [AIP]
• Charles Augins (1943-2025), US choreographer and actor whose credits include Blake’s 7 (1981), Labyrinth (1986) and Red Dwarf (1988, 1999), died on 19 July aged 81. [NF]
• Kenneth Colley (1937-2025), UK actor in Monty Python’s Life of Brian (1979), The Empire Strikes Back (1980), Return of the Jedi (1983) and others, died on 30 June aged 87.
• John Conklin (1937-2025), noted US theatre designer who created sets and costumes for many opera productions including The Ghosts of Versailles (1991), The Turn of the Screw (1992) and Don Giovanni (1995), died on 24 June aged 88. [AIP]
• Helgi Davis (1949-2025), Icelandic/US dealer, long-time owner of the Myth Adventures comics and games shop in Texas, died on 29 June aged 76. [AIP]
• Scott Haring, US games designer and editor long associated with Steve Jackson Games – where he worked on Car Wars, Ghostbusters, GURPS and others – died on 1 July aged 67. [MR]
• Gerald Harper (1929-2025), UK actor who starred in Adam Adamant Lives! (29 episodes 1966-1967) and was in other genre tv series, died on 2 July aged 96. [SJ]
• Hulk Hogan (1953-2025), US wrestler and actor in Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990), Suburban Commando (1991) and Muppets from Space (1999), died on 24 July aged 71. [LP]
• Jimmy Hunt (1939-2025), US actor who co-starred in Invaders from Mars (1953, with a cameo in the 1986 remake) and Close Encounters of the 4th Kind: Infestation from Mars (2004), died on 18 July aged 85. [SJ]
• Martin Izquierdo (1942-2025), Mexican costume designer who created spectacular angel wings for Angels in America (1991 play; 2003 tv) and harpy wings for The Tempest (2010), died on 25 June aged 83. [AIP]
• Paulette Jiles (1943-2025), noted US historical novelist whose occasional sf included The Late Great Human Road Show (1986) and Lighthouse Island (2013), died on 8 July aged 82. [AIP]
• Yuri Kara (1954-2025), Russian film-maker who directed an adaptation (1994, released 2011) of Mikhail Bulgakov’s The Master and Margarita, died on 16 July aged 70. [AM]
• Tom Lehrer (1928-2025), famed US satirical singer-songwriter, much loved in fandom (not only for his ditties with sf-adjacent themes) since the 1950s, died on 26 July aged 97.
• Judy Loe (1947-2025), US actress in Ace of Wands (26 episodes 1970-1971), Space Island One (25 episodes 1998), Doomwatch: Winter Angel (1999) and others, died on 15 July aged 78. [AIP]
• Julian McMahon (1968-2025), Australian actor in Charmed (47 episodes 2000-2005), Fantastic Four (2005 plus 2007 sequel, as Doctor Doom), Runaways (19 episodes 2017-2018) and others, died on 2 July aged 56. [SG]
• Michael Madsen (1957-2025), US actor in WarGames (1983), Species (1995 plus sequel), Vampires Anonymous (2003), CobraGator (2015) and others, died on 3 July aged 67. [LP]
• Aleksandr Mitta (1933-2025), Russian author/director who wrote the children’s sf novel Prileteli marsiane (The Martians Have Arrived, 1960) and scripted and directed the fantasy Skazka stranstviy (The Story of the Voyages, 1983), died on 14 July aged 92. [AM]
• Yuri Moroz (1956-2025), Russian film-maker who directed the science-fantasy Podzemelie vedm (The Witches’ Cave, 1990), died on 14 July aged 68. [AM]
• Bruce Newrock (1941-2025), long-time US fan who was on the ‘7 in 77’ bidding team for the 1977 Worldcon in Miami, and with his wife Flo worked on registrations, died on 1 July aged 83. [FN]
• John Michael ‘Ozzy’ Osbourne (1948-2025), noted and notorious UK heavy metal singer/songwriter with Black Sabbath and solo, whose genre credits include Little Nicky (2000), Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002), Gnomeo & Juliet (2011) and Trolls World Tour (2020), died on 22 July aged 76. [LP/MR]
• Velu Prabhakaran (1957-2025), Indian Tamil-language filmmaker who directed Nalaya Manithan (The Man of Tomorrow, 1989, which he also wrote), Adisaya Manithan (Mysterious Human, 1990) and others, died on 18 July aged 68. [AM]
• Peter Henry Schroeder, US actor in Journey to the Center of the Earth (1988), Argo (2012) and genre tv series, died on 7 June.
• Martin Cruz Smith (1942-2025), US author best known for political thrillers, whose sf novels include The Indians Won (1970) and Nightwing (1977), died on 11 July aged 82.
• Mark Snow (1946-2025), US composer of theme music for The X-Files (1993-2018), Smallville (2001-2007), Ghost Whisperer (2005-2010) and many more, died on 4 July aged 78. [F770]
• Andrey Sokolov (1974-2025), Russian animation director, screenwriter and production designer whose animated series include Space Archaeologists (2010) and Planet Ay (2014), died on 14 July aged 51. [AM]
• Tom Troupe (1928-2025), US actor in Psi Factor and genre tv series including Star Trek (1967), died on 20 July aged 97. [LP]
• Lyn Venable (1927-2025), US author whose 1953 story ‘Time Enough at Last’ became a famous Twilight Zone episode, died on 31 March aged 97. [JAS]
• Malcolm-Jamal Warner (1970-2025), US Cosby Show actor also seen in The Real Story of Itsy Bitsy Spider (1991) and genre tv series including The Magic School Bus (41 episodes 1994-1997) and Jeremiah (35 episodes 2002-2004), died on 20 July aged 54. [LP]
• Kenneth Washington (1936-2025), US actor in Westworld (1973) and genre tv series including Star Trek (1969), died on 18 July aged 88. [KF]
• Tess Williams (1954-2025), UK-born Australian author and academic whose sf novels are Map of Power (1996) and Sea as Mirror (2006), and who co-edited the anthology Women of Other Worlds (1999) with Helen Merrick, died on 15 July aged 70. [MM]
• Dimitar Zapryanov, Bulgarian author of the award-winning fantasy Krastopat (Crossroads, 2016), died in a mountain-climbing accident on June 21 aged 33. [AM]
The Weakest Link. Ben Shephard: ‘In Scotland the River Moriston flows into which loch, famous for its legendary monster?’ Contestant: ‘Loch Lomond?’ (ITV, Tipping Point) [PE]
Random Fandom. WSFS Online Business Meetings. Constitutional amendments from 2024 that were ratified at July’s virtual meetings included doing away with the Retro Hugos and restoring the phrase ‘supporting membership’ instead of the confusing-to-some ‘WSFS membership’ (plus ‘attending supplement’ entitling you to go to the Worldcon). It was only then noticed that this global change affected an older constitutional use of ‘WSFS members’ to cover both supporting and attending members, so one key line about the Hugos became ‘Only Supporting Members may vote’ – neatly disenfranchising everyone who pays the extra to attend Worldcon either virtually or in person. (Nicholas Whyte blog, 24 July) This unfortunate motion was reconsidered at the next meeting, and duly voted down.
• Among the new changes that need 2026 ratification are: requiring Hugo ballot processing to use open source software; adding a permanent Hugo for poetry; and removing all North American SF Convention (NASFiC) provisions from the constitution.
Secrets of Self-Promotion. A Russian author on his contemporaries: ‘P.G. Wodehouse and Tolstoi not bad. Not good, but not bad. No novelists any good except me.’ (P.G. Wodehouse, ‘The Clicking of Cuthbert’, 1921).
• ‘Men like Jules Verne, H.G. Wells, John E. Muller, Karl Zeigfreid, Fanthorpe, and their contemporaries put forward as fiction a number of brilliantly imaginative schemes, which have since come to pass as fact.’ (‘Leo Brett’, Power Sphere, 1963)
• A critic sends a fan letter to the author-protagonist John Tunnock: ‘I’ve read nothing so good since Alasdair Gray’s Lanark.’ (Alasdair Gray, Old Men in Love, 2007)
Random Fandom II. Cheryl Morgan received an honorary Doctorate of Laws from Exeter University on 14 July. (Blog, 15 July)
• Tom Whitmore is Official Editor of this year’s WOOF, the Worldcon APA: 25 copies required, to be delivered to a WOOF box in Seattle’s Fanzine Lounge before noon on Saturday, for collation at 3pm. Jerry Kaufman can accept printed copies by mail or PDFs at littlebrooklocs [at] aol [dot] com. [JK]
The Dead Past. 70 Years Ago, hopes were high: Alfred Bester visited the UK and ‘passed on to Ted Carnell the news that he could be in England until the New Year and hopes to visit the GLOBE regularly during that period. He is working on the script of The Demolished Man for filming and there is a strong rumour that Humphrey Bogart is to play the lead. This will be a must when it is eventually screened.’ (Science Fantasy News, August 1955)
• 60 Years Ago, Edmund Crispin (Bruce Montgomery) replaced Brian Aldiss as BSFA president. (Skyrack 82, August 1965)
• 30 Years Ago, Channel 4 irresistibly invited your editor to a press launch for their imminent ‘Sci-Fi Weekend’: ‘Channel 4 hits Warp Factor Nine this August bank holiday with a celebration of the weird and wonderful world of science fiction. This outlandish weekend will unzip the anorak and explore ...’ (Ansible 97, August 1995)
• 20 Years Ago, J.K. Rowling told the Sunday Times that she hadn’t realized she had written a fantasy until after her first was published: ‘I really had not thought that that’s what I was doing. And I think maybe the reason that it didn’t occur to me is that I’m not a huge fan of fantasy.’ Terry Pratchett observed: ‘Well, of course not: that’s the stuff with all those wizards and witches and magic schools and wands and other such nonsense ...’ (Ansible 217, August 2005)
The Tolkien Society approached the Bank of England, which is currently consulting on themes for new bank notes, to argue that JRRT is worthy to appear ‘alongside other authors who have also featured on bank notes: Austen, Dickens and Shakespeare.’ (Press release, 31 July)
Birdbrains. A musical researcher has successfully saved data to a starling – that is, encoded into sound an image (of a bird) which the test starling listened to and correctly reproduced. The Register’s story (30 July) asked the inevitable next question: ‘But can you play Doom on a pigeon?
Magazine Scene. The SFWA blog has been rebranded as Planetside: The Online Magazine of SFWA; the old URL redirects to www.sfwa.org/planetside/.
• Amra, the 1955-1982 George Scithers sword-and-sorcery fanzine that won two 1960s Hugos, is being revived by Wildside Press as an annual anthology edited by John Betancourt. The first issue’s fiction inventory is full, but there’s a call for nonfiction (1¢ per word rounded up to $25 minimum) at wildside.moksha.io/publication/1. [SB]
Thog’s Masterclass. Double Vision Dept. ‘Andrew sat at the wheel, one eye on the road ahead, and one on the rear mirror.’ (George Hay, Man, Woman – And Android, 1951) [BA]
• Future Invective Dept. ‘I’ll bust the bubble of any son of a space sausage who laughs!’ (‘Blake Savage’ [Harold L. Goodwin], Rip Foster Rides the Gray Planet, 1952 – described in Project Gutenberg’s AI-generated summary as ‘a science fiction novel likely written in the early 21st century.’) [PDF]
Geeks’ Corner
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Convention and Event Links
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• Overseas – https://news.ansible.uk/conlisti.html [no longer updated]
Endnotes
PayPal Tip Jar Thingy. Donate to support Ansible, cover website costs and keep the editor happy! Or just buy his books.
https://ansible.uk/paypal.html
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Group Theory.
• 21 August 2025, evening: London Zoom meeting, third Thursday of each month. ‘Please share this with people who you know typically come to the Bishop’s Finger, but aren’t on Facebook.’
https://bohemiancoast.medium.com/first-thursday-london-sf-fan-virtual-drinks-5232021e961f
Editorial. My web hosting service tells me that for mere wads of money, I can own the coveted ‘premium’ domain taff.eu. As a miserable Brexited UK resident I’m not allowed to register .eu domains, but why should that stand in the way of a good sales pitch?
• Paul Di Filippo kindly pointed out a review that cites an old story of mine: ‘As far as we know, basilisks aren’t real, but the concept is an increasingly fascinating one. Science fiction author David Langford created the idea in his short story BLIT ...’ (New Scientist, 25 June) Better research needed: the SF Encyclopedia entry for Basilisks in this particular sf sense does indeed mention my story, but only after nearly a thousand words on previous examples dating back to the nineteenth century.
https://archive.ph/J0lFr
Rumblings. Milford UK 2025 is full up; for the 2026 writers’ retreat (May) and workshop (September) bookings, see www.milfordsf.co.uk.
• Tommy Ferguson is still bubbling with enthusiasm in the wake of the 2025 Belfast Eastercon (Reconnect) and hopes to hold a non-Eastercon in the same city some time in 2026. Volunteers are sought: email tommy [at] easterconbelfast [dot] org if interested.
R.I.P. II – Late and Last-Minute Reports. David Argue (1959-2025), Australian actor in The Return of Captain Invincible (1983), Pandemonium (1987), Halfway Across the Galaxy and Turn Left (1993-1994), On the Beach (2000 remake), Astro Loco (2021) and others, died on 30 July aged 65. [GC]
• Alan Huff (1947-2025), US fan who was president of the Washington (DC) SF Association 1978-1979 and 1985-1986, and chaired its convention Disclave in 1979 and 1983, died on 16 June aged 77. [F770]
• Kathleen Bartholomew, Kage Baker’s sister – who completed their novel Nell Gwynne’s On Land and at Sea (2012) after Baker’s death – died in April 2024. [PS-P]
Random Fandom III. WSFS Online Business Meetings: [cut from the main text on grounds of excessive length and tedium] At first it seemed odd that the motion ‘Since We’re Doing It, Let’s Make It Legal’ – proposing to amend the WSFS constitution to clearly allow virtual business meetings – didn’t get enough support from the virtual business meeting (two-thirds majority required) to go on the agenda. This was thought superfluous since (a) the virtual meeting had already voted itself constitutional, though apparently in defiance of the current wording of the constitution; (b) the change couldn’t in any case be ratified until 2026. The Plain People of Fandom: So all these virtual business meeting decisions could be ignored as unconstitutional by a future Worldcon because the WSFS constitution still requires quorate in-person meetings held during the actual convention? Myself: I couldn’t possibly comment.
Some Links from the Ansible home page.
• 2025 ESFS Awards
https://file770.com/2025-esfs-awards/
• Seattle Worldcon Business Meeting Agenda and Recaps
https://seattlein2025.org/wsfs/business-meeting/agenda-and-information/
• Worries about the 2027 Montréal Worldcon bid; ‘Don’t Panic!’ say the co-chairs’ ; What about 2028?
https://file770.com/op-ed-the-worldcon-is-in-trouble/
https://file770.com/op-ed-looking-forward-to-a-great-worldcon-2027-in-montreal/
https://file770.com/things-also-dont-look-great-for-worldcon-2028/
The Dead Past II. 50 Years Ago, L. Sprague de Camp published an essay on L. Ron Hubbard that he was intimidated into never reprinting. One of the uncontroversial bits: ‘During the winters of 1939-40 and 1940-41, Hubbard lived in an apartment on New York’s upper West Side. His wife and two children remained in Seattle, whither he returned for his summers. He had a boat on Puget Sound and made cruises up the foggy coast of British Columbia and the Alaskan panhandle. On one such voyage, while he and a friend were on their way to some fishing, Hubbard lassoed a large brown bear, which he espied swimming. The bear climbed aboard, forcing Hubbard and his companion to flee to the cabin until the ship ran aground and the bear departed. Fletcher Pratt used the incident in Chapter XXVI of his fantasy novel The Well of the Unicorn.’ (“Literary Swordsmen & Sorcerers: El-Ron of the City of Brass”, August 1975 Fantastic)
Thog’s Golden Oldies from Ansible 217, August 2005. Dept of Hot Bosom Action. ‘Her tits were like smoke detectors and it looked like the little red lights were flashing.’ (Paul Meloy, ‘Dying in the Arms of Jean Harlow (The Coming of the Autoscopes)’, The 3rd Alternative, Summer 2005)
• Dept of In Space No One Can Hear Your Castrophony. ‘Then there came a sound, distant at first, that grew into a castrophony so immense it could be heard far away in space.’ (Gorillaz, Demon Days, ‘Fire Coming out of a Monkey’s Head’ lyrics)
• Spare Parts Dept. ‘Botha slipped out of his chair. It rocked briefly in his absence, then steadied to await the next set of perambulating buttocks.’ (Alan Dean Foster, Diuturnity’s Dawn, 2002)
Ansible® 457 © David Langford, 2025. Thanks to Brian Ameringen, Anonymous Claire, David V. Barrett, Sandra Bond, Gary Couzens, Paul Di Filippo, Nic Farey, File 770, Keith Freeman, Steve Green, Rich Horton, Jerry Kaufman, Steve Jones, Locus, Pamela Love, Murray MacLachlan, Bill Mallardi, Andrey Meshavkin, Flo Newrock, Lawrence Person, Andrew I. Porter, Private Eye, Dave Rowe, Marcus Rowland, Jessica Amanda Salmonson, SF² Concatenation, Phil Stephensen-Payne, Nicholas Whyte, and as always our Hero Distributors: Durdles Books (Birmingham SF Group), SCIS/Prophecy, and Alan Stewart (Australia). 1 August 2025