Ansible® 467, June 2026
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: Brad W. Foster. Available for SAE, or a map showing where to find the Sage of Dissolution.
A Game with Shifting Mirrors
Ian McKellen was confronted with the greatest critical challenge of his entire acting career: ‘Who would win a fight between Gandalf and Dumbledore?’ ‘Why on earth would they be fighting? But Gandy, of course, would win. The original wizard.’ (Guardian, 7 May)
Charles Platt plans to launch a new sf magazine later this year, with an irregular schedule, POD production and the interesting name New Words. ‘Since the title is somewhat similar to that of another magazine, it has been trademarked with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.’ All enquiries to newwordseditorial@gmail.com. (Email, 5 May)
Terry Pratchett’s works are apparently teetering on the brink of oblivion, according to someone called Helen Lewis: ‘One of England’s funniest writers is in danger of being lost to history.’ (The Atlantic, May)
Lynne M. Thomas and Michael Damian Thomas of Uncanny Magazine fame were amicably divorced on 2 April, leaving Uncanny solely owned by the latter. [L]
Richard van der Voort’s estate hopes to sell the stock of his bookshop At the Sign of the Dragon in Wigtown, Scotland: ‘over 33,000 items’ including sf/fantasy books, magazines and comics plus general-interest books and DVDs. Enquiries to transformerbooks0 at gmail dot com. [SB]
Connachan
Click here for longlist • London • Overseas
4 Jun • Digital Futures Institute: Festival of Storytelling speech by Samira Ahmed (‘Analogue tech: Our storytelling saviour or nostalgic retreat?’) followed by the Clarke Award shortlist announcement. 5pm-6:20pm. Free booking at www.tickettailor.com/events/dfistory/2193072.
5-7 Jun • Cymera – Scotland’s Festival of SF, Fantasy & Horror Writing, Edinburgh and online. Weekend pass £85 (£60 virtual); day rates £55 Saturday, £40 Sunday; more at www.cymerafestival.co.uk.
6-7 Jun • HorrorCon UK, Magna, Sheffield. Weekend ticket £63; early entry £78; other rates at horrorconuk.com.
13-14 Jun • EM-Con (media), Motorpoint Arena, Nottingham. Tickets £36 (11am entry) or £48 (10am). See www.em-con.co.uk.
20 Jun - 13 Sep • Cracking Exhibition Gromit: 50 Years of Aardman in Bristol, M Shed, Bristol. 10am-5pm. See tinyurl.com/3eczs7kp.
20 Jun • Stars of Time (comics), Steam Museum, Swindon. Tickets £17.50; £14 concessions; more at www.starsoftime.co.uk/swindon.
2-5 Jul • MetropolCon (Eurocon), ‘silent green’ Kulturquartier, Berlin. €95 reg; reduced €75; under-12s €5. See www.metropolcon.eu.
23-25 Oct • MCM Comic Con, London ExCel. Tickets from £98; day rates at www.mcmcomiccon.com/london/en-us.html.
14-15 Nov • For the Love of Horror, BEC Arena, Manchester. Weekend tickets £53.90; other rates at www.fortheloveofhorroruk.com.
16-18 Apr 2027 • Portmeiricon (Prisoner), Portmeirion, Gwynedd. Six of One club membership (£27.50 UK; more elsewhere) is required. Registration opens on 1 July 2026 at sixofone.co/convention.
1-2 May 2027 • Portsmouth Comic Con, Guildhall, Portsmouth. Tickets £34.50; concessions and day rates at portsmouthcomiccon.com.
Rumblings. LAcon V (Worldcon 2026): Hugo voting opened in May and closes on 8 August. See www.lacon.org/hugos.
• Worldcon 2028: the Nuremberg bid has withdrawn, with hopes of bidding again for a later year. Detailed statement by the bid chairs at nuremberg2028.de.
Infinitely Improbable
As Others See Us. On an all-male US book club: ‘Whoever is hosting chooses the book, and on this day it was Michael Slott’s turn. The only rules are that the book is generally available at the library and ideally no more than 400 pages long. Slott broke both with his choice of the obscure 1974 science fiction novel The Mote in God’s Eye, by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle (592 pages in some editions!) / “It's my job to lower the bar,” Slott joked ...’ (Maggie Penman, The Washington Post, 4 May) [PL]
Awards. British Book Awards (‘Nibbies’) sf/fantasy category winner: Alchemised by Sen Lin Yu.
• Climate Fiction Prize: Hum by Helen Phillips.
• Locus: SF NOVEL Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor. FANTASY NOVEL The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow. HORROR NOVEL The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones. YA NOVEL Starstrike by Yoon Ha Lee. FIRST NOVEL Sour Cherry by Natalia Theodoridou. TRANSLATED NOVEL On the Calculation of Volume III by Solvej Balle, trans Sophia Hersi Smith & Jennifer Russell. NOVELLA The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar. NOVELETTE ‘We Begin Where Infinity Ends’ by Somto Ihezue (Clarkesworld). SHORT ‘In My Country’ by Thomas Ha (Clarkesworld). ANTHOLOGY We Will Rise Again ed. Karen Lord, Annalee Newitz & Malka Older. COLLECTION Uncertain Sons by Thomas Ha. MAGAZINE Clarkesworld. PUBLISHER Orbit. EDITOR Neil Clarke. ARTIST John Picacio. ART BOOK The Space Cat by Nnedi Okorafor & Tana Ford. NONFICTION Enshittification by Cory Doctorow.
The Long 19th Century. ‘Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818) was written two centuries before the works of Wells and Verne....’ (Catherine Riley and Lynne Pearce, Feminism and Women’s Writing, 2018) [RB]
• On shaven armpits in the new Wuthering Heights film: ‘Per Gillette UK, English women began removing hair from their face and body with safety razors in the early 1900s, after the First World War – several centuries after Brontë’s novel was published in 1847.’ (People.com, 25 May) [RB]
Publishers and Sinners. Gollancz’s SF Gateway, the vast ebook sales website launched in 2011 along with the online SF Encyclopedia, has stagnated for years (latest ‘news’ post August 2021; ‘random’ SFE sample entry stuck on Michael Scott Rohan since 2018, even after SFE links were officially severed in October 2021) and seems to have died. The last valid Internet Archive snapshot – normally three or four every month – was on 8 March 2026. Ansible asked Orion/Gollancz if this was the end: no reply as yet. Where will eager readers find digital Badger Books now?
The Way the Future Was. ‘It was a square metal cabinet that held every scientific book and monograph of value that had ever been published, reduced to microfilm which could be read through a special apparatus.’ (Edmond Hamilton, Calling Captain Future, 1967) [BA]
R.I.P. Dion Anderson (1938-2026), US actor in UFO Cafe (1990), The Shawshank Redemption (1994) and genre tv series, died on 26 April aged 87. [SJ]
• David Burke (1934-2026), UK actor best loved as Watson in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1984-1985), whose genre credits include M.R. James adaptations (2005-2006), the Wyndham-based Random Quest (2006) and The Woman in Black (2012), died on 10 May aged 91.
• Charles Cioffi (1935-2026), US actor in Time After Time (1979) and genre tv series including The X-Files (1993-1997), died on 22 May aged 90. [AIP]
• Tom Clegg (1957-2026), US-born editor, publisher, critic, and translator long resident in France – where he acquired much translated English-language science fiction for Bragelonne SF – died on 5 May aged 68. [L]
• Kelly Curtis (1956-2026), US actress (sister of Jamie Lee Curtis) in Magic Sticks (1987), The Devil's Daughter (1991) and genre tv series including The Sentinel (7 episodes 1996), died on 30 May aged 69. [AIP]
• Jill Curzon (1938-2026), UK actress in Daleks’ Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. (1966) and genre tv series, died in April aged 87.
• John Dowd (1952-2026), UK fan since the 1970s who worked (usually as treasurer) for the Sheffield fan group, many Eastercons and the 2014 London Worldcon, died on the night of 15/16 May. [FD] He and his wife Fran Dowd (to whom all sympathy) were fan guests of honour at the 2010 Eastercon.
• Piper J. Drake (Lalana Dararutana, 1976-2026), US author of Heart’s Sentinel (2011) as P.J. Schnyder and others as Drake, died on 18 May aged 49. [L]
• Maureen Duffy (1933-2026), noted UK author and campaigner for gay and authors’ rights whose novels include the sf Gor Saga (1981) and In Times Like These (2013), died on 27 May aged 92.
• George Eastman (Luigi Montefiori,1942-2026), Italian actor in 1990: The Bronx Warriors (1982), The New Barbarians (1983), Ironmaster (1983), Hands of Steel (1986) and others, died on 19 May aged 83.
• Donald Gibb (1954-2026), US actor in Transylvania 6-5000 (1985), Amazon Women on the Moon (1987), Breakfast of Aliens (1993) and genre tv series, died on 12 May aged 71. [RB]
• Rupert Harvey, US producer of Android (1982), Critters (1986 plus sequels; director of #4), The Blob (1988), A Nightmare on Elm Street: The Dream Child (1989), End of the World (2013) and others, died on 26 April aged 81. [SJ]
• Hermann Huppen (1938-2026), Belgian comics creator best known for his post-apocalyptic Jeremiah (40 volumes since 1979; tv adaptation by J. Michael Straczynski 2002-2004), died on 22 March aged 87. [SH]
• Greg Hyman (1947-2026), US inventor of electronic toys who co-created the giggling plush Muppet ‘Tickle Me Elmo’ that was a surprise bestseller in 1996, died on 1 May aged 78. [AIP]
• Tom Kane (1962-2026), US voice actor in Iron Man (13 episodes 1995-1996), Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008 film and 132 tv episodes 2008-2020, as Yoda and others), Lego Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Out (2012), The Powerpuff Girls (69 episodes 2016-2019) and many more, died on 18 May aged 64. [F770]
• Michael Keating (1947-2026), UK actor in Doctor Who (‘The Sun Makers’, 1977), Blake’s 7 (all 52 episodes 1978-1981, as Vila Restal) and others, died in May aged 79.
• Gary Kelley (1945-2026), distinguished and often-honoured US artist who illustrated fairytales, Frankenstein, Poe’s Tales of Mystery and Imagination, Edward Lear, Ray Bradbury and much else, died on 12 April aged 81. [F770]
• Marcia Lucas (1945-2026), US film editor married to George Lucas 1969-1983, who worked on his THX 1138 (1971), Star Wars (1977, for which she shared an Oscar) and Return of the Jedi, died on 27 May aged 80. [LP]
• Biljana Mateljan (1956-2026), Croatian sf author/illustrator who won her country’s Sfera Award in both capacities, died on 19 March aged 70. [AM]
• Dick Matena (1943-2026), Dutch comics writer/artist whose credits include the sf series Storm (1978-1980; art by Don Lawrence) died on 26 April aged 83. [SG]
• Yoshihiro Nishimura (1967-2026), Japanese director of Vampire Girl vs. Frankenstein Girl (2009), Helldriver (2010), Mutant Girls Squad (2010), Zombie TV (2013) and others, died on 25 May aged 59.
• Kenji Ōba (1955-2026), Japanese actor/stuntman in many sf films since Gamera: The Giant Monster (1965), who voiced the title role in Space Sheriff Gavan videogames and starred in spinoff films (2012 plus sequels), died on 6 May aged 71. [SJ]
• Michael Pennington (1943-2026), UK actor in Return of the Jedi (1983) and Raised by Wolves (2022), died on 10 May aged 82. [LP]
• Rex Reed (1938-2026), US film critic who played himself in Superman (1978), died on 12 May aged 87. [RB]
• Ann Robinson (1929-2025), US actress who starred as Sylvia van Buren in The War of the Worlds (1953) and played characters with that name in Midnight Movie Massacre (1988), War of the Worlds (2005 tv) and The Naked Monster (2005), died on 26 September aged 96; this went unreported until May. [F770] Other credits include Rocky Jones, Space Ranger (6 episodes 1954), My Lovely Monster (1991) and Tales of Frankenstein (2018).
• Donald Sidney-Fryer (1934-2026), US poet, editor, critic and Clark Ashton Smith scholar who published poems about Atlantis, Emperor of Dreams: A Clark Ashton Smith Bibliography (1978) and uncollected works by Smith and Ambrose Bierce, died on 2 May aged 91. [LP]
• Michael P. Spradlin (1960-2026), US author of the ‘Spy Goddess’ (2005-2006) and ‘Killer Species’ (2013-2014) series, died on 12 April aged 65. [L]
• Frank Stack (1937-2026), US artist and academic who as Foolbert Sturgeon published the pioneering underground comic The Adventures of Jesus (1964; continued in Jesus Comics 1969-1972 and elsewhere), died on 12 April aged 88. [AIP]
• Larry Stark (1932-2026), US journalist and theatre reviewer, noted early EC Comics fan also active in 1950s and 1960s sf fandom – belonging to FAPA, OMPA and The Cult and publishing Stellar (1956-1958) with Ted White – died on 1 May aged 93. [SB]
• Beau Starr (1944-2026), US actor in Halloween 4 and 5 (1988, 1989), Angels in the Infield (2000), Time and Again (2007) and others, died on 24 April aged 81. [SJ]
• Alan Barrie Stewart (1944-2026), UK fan active in the 1970s, publishing Till the Cows Come Home (3 issues 1974) with his wife Elke (1948-2013) and London SF (1 issue 1977) solo, died on 12 May aged 81. As BSFA administrator 1976-1977, he edited the 1976 BSFA Yearbook. [MP]
• Howard Storm (1931-2026), US director of Mork & Mindy (59 episodes 1978-1981) and episodes of other genre tv series, died on 26 May aged 94.
• Kōji Suzuki (1957-2026), Japanese author best known for his supernatural horror novel Ring (1991) plus sequels and media spinoffs including the film Ring (1998), died on 8 May aged 68. [JonC]
• Jack Taylor (1926-2026), US actor in Dr. Jekyll vs. The Werewolf (1972, as Jekyll), The Fabulous Journey to the Centre of the Earth (1977), Conan the Barbarian (1982), the Turn of the Screw adaptation Presence of Mind (1999) and many more, died on 12 May aged 99. [SJ]
• John Thiel (1945-2026), US fan active from the late 1950s and long involved with the N3F, whose best known fanzine was Pablo Lennis (1975-2024), died on 25 March aged 80. [F770]
• Jonathan Tiersten (1965-2026), US musician and actor in nonfantastic slasher films plus Terror Tales (2019) and Toilet Zombie Baby Strikes Back (2021), died on 5 May aged 60. [SJ]
• Barrie Tomlinson (1938-2026), UK group editor for comics at IPC who was involved with 2000 AD, Scream, Wildcat, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Eagle (1982 relaunch), died on 21 April aged 88. [SF²C]
• Ted Turner (1938-2026), US founder of CNN, WTBS, TNT and the Cartoon Network, whose one-off Turner Tomorrow Fellowship award of $500,000 for a novel offering ‘creative solutions to humanity's urgent problems’ went to Daniel Quinn in 1991 for his sf Ishmael, died on 6 May aged 87. [LP]
• Yuri Ustinov (1954-2016), Russian production designer whose films include The Master and Margarita (1994, released 2011) and the surreal sf Lyubov i drugie koshmary (Love and Other Nightmares, 2001), died on 17 May. [AM]
• Ted White (1938-2026), long-time US fan (his many fanzines included the co-edited Void 1958-1969, Pong 1980-1992 and Blat! 1993-1994, the last a FAAn winner), con-runner, professional editor (F&SF 1963-1968 as assistant, Amazing and Fantastic 1969-1979, Heavy Metal 1979-1980, Stardate 1985-1986) and author whose first novel under his own name was Android Avenger (1965), died on 24 May aged 88. [SB] Ted won the fanwriter Hugo in 1968, was a GoH at Aussiecon Two in 1985, and received the FAAn Award for life achievement in 2010. He wasn’t just a friend but an essential part of the fandom I grew up in. Our loss is great.
• Albert Wolsky (1930-2026), Oscar-winning French costume designer for Beauty and the Beast (1976), Meteor (1979), Tempest (1982), Galaxy Quest (1999), The Manchurian Candidate (2004), Ad Astra (2019) and others, died on 24 May aged 95. [SJ]
By Any Other Name. Q: ‘In anagrams, the name of which Greek god is an anagram of “rose”?’ A: ‘Athena.’ (BBC1, The Weakest Link) [PE]
Awards in Progress. British Fantasy shortlists have been released: see britishfantasysociety.org/the-british-fantasy-awards-2026-shortlists/.
• Arthur C. Clarke: there’s a record-length submissions list of 132 books from 52 eligible imprints and independent authors. The shortlist will be revealed on 4 June (see events list).
One Coin to Rule Them All. To mark a vital anniversary in British civic history – 25 years since Peter Jackson’s first Lord of the Rings film – the Royal Mint has released a 50p coin ‘Forged not in the fires of Mount Doom but in Wales’, featuring the One Ring, its lettering, and the Eye of Sauron. Six more will follow. (BBC, 20 May) What next? Donald Trump?
The Dead Past. 10 Years Ago, from the critical heritage: ‘People buy romance novels, sci-fi and other genres because they know they will encounter no unhappiness, no depression, no angst, no killings, no family conflict, etc., the way they will in all of modern fiction. (New York Times Book Review)’ ... ‘The Handmaid's Tale was a dystopia about the oppression of women by a feminist Canadian novelist from outside of the genre. (Foundation)’ (Ansible 347, June 2016)
• 70 Years Ago, Eric Frank Russell rebutted a hideous slur: ‘“Vargo Statten” is not (repeat: NOT), never was and never will be (repeat: NEVER) a pen-name of Eric Frank Russell.’ For safety’s sake he also denied in similar terms that Eric Frank Russell was a pen-name of Vargo Statten. (Fantasy Times 248, June 1956)
Random Fandom. Fanac.org has moved its photo archive to a new subsite at photos.fanac.org, currently with more than 8,500 images. [MP]
Fanfundery. European Fan Fund: Hephaestion Christopoulos of Greece won the five-candidate race to the Berlin Eurocon, MetropolCon on 2-5 July 2026 (effund.github.io, 4 May). No voting figures have been released.
• TAFF Ebook Library. The latest title, added in a fit of nostalgia and self-indulgence, is Charles Platt’s humorous Micromania: The Whole Truth about Home Computers (1984, as adapted by me for the UK), with a brand-new Platt foreword and Langford afterword. Free PDF download at taff.org.uk/ebooks.php?x=Micromania. Illustrations by Carl Lundgren. For those who prefer hard copy there’s also a TAFF-benefit paperback.
Magazine Scene. Sci-Fi Ireland edited by Mark Mullan, an sf short story magazine to be published twice a year, was launched in May: see www.sci-fi-ireland.com.
• Another May debut is Rachel Cordasco’s Small Planet: The SF in Translation Magazine, free at www.sfintranslation.com.
• FIYAH: Magazine of Black Speculative Fiction is ‘going on hiatus indefinitely’ after issue #40, for financial reasons. (Bluesky, 21 May) [F770]
Thog’s Masterclass. Risus Sardonicus. ‘Don’s smile was a lemon twist.’ (Emil Petaja, The Nets of Space, 1969)
• Frothy Dept. ‘Lucael staggered back against the wall of the building beside them, his face working like yeast.’ (Keith Laumer, Retief’s Ransom, 1971) [BA]
• The Eureka Moment. ‘“It’s worked at last,” he shouted. “At last I’ve discovered a magnet which will attach itself as near as possible to gravity when electrified.”’ (Desmond Wilcox, Into Existence, 1941)
• Eyeballs in the Sky. ‘Guin clicked the tab shut and pushed herself back from the counter. Let her eye run out the windows and on to the high far frill of upper Manhattan.’ (Melissa Albert, The Children, 2026) [GVG]
• Advice on Good Parenting. ‘It is related that a father plunged his infant babe, only a few hours old, into the water for several minutes, and repeated this operation daily, until the child could remain under water twenty minutes, moving and playing without harm, like a fish. Parents should remember this and learn how to develop their children properly on dry land.’ (Mary Baker Eddy, Science and Health, 1875; final edition of 1910)
Geeks’ Corner
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Convention and Event LinksS
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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.
• 18 June 2026, 6pm to late: 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
R.I.P. – Late and Last-Minute Reports. Charles G. McGraw (1955-2024), US author with Mark A. Garland of Demon Blade (1994) and others, died on 2 May 2024 (not previously reported in sf circles).
• Caitlin O’Heaney (1952-2026), US actress in Wolfen (1981), The Charmings (6 episodes 1987), Badlands 2005 (unsold pilot, 1988), Night of the Wolf: Late Phases (2014) and others, died on 18 May aged 73. [SJ]
• Gordon Rottman (1947-2026), US military historian who with James Adair wrote the future-war trilogy ‘WWIII: Behind the Lines’ (1990-1991), died on 20 January aged 78.
Con Rumblings II. Irish Discworld Convention 2027: the dates will be 15-18 October. More awaited at idwcon.org.
• Sci-Fi Ball (Southampton), in limbo since the February 2023 event, seems to have died altogether: the web domain now redirects to an Indonesian lottery site which may offer a load of balls but with no trace of sci-fi.
Some Links from the Ansible home page.
• Clarke Award submissions list
https://clarkeaward.medium.com/a-record-year-for-arthur-c-clarke-award-submissions-3b728be26bea
• The Cruciverbal Inquisitor meets Edward Lear and Edmund Crispin
https://fifteensquared.net/2026/05/19/inquisitor-1959-a-keen-rime-by-e-lear/
• European SF Society Awards shortlists
https://www.esfs.info/2026-achievements-awards-nominations/
• Shirley Jackson Awards shortlists
https://www.shirleyjacksonawards.org/2026/05/28/nominees-announced-for-the-2025-shirley-jackson-awards/
Thog’s Golden Oldies from Ansible 227, June 2006. Read My Lips. ‘An expression of inexpressible shock crossed his face ...’ (James Blish, ‘There Shall Be No Darkness’, 1950)
• Eyeballs in the Sky. ‘His eyes climbed the tower of rickety scaffolding above him. It rose six stories, almost to the top of the church’s rose window.' (Dan Brown, Angels & Demons, 2000)
• Fuseli’s Influence. ‘An emotion he identified as frustration sat on his chest. He ignored it.’ (Elizabeth Bear, Hammered, 2005)
• Fashion Dept. ‘She indicated the skintight black-spotted orange fur jumpsuit she was wearing, with open circlets on each leg revealing patches of skin up to her arms.’ (Alan Dean Foster, Bloodhype, 1973)
Ansible® 467 © David Langford, 2026. Thanks to Brian Ameringen, Richard Bleiler, Sandra Bond, Jonathan Clements, Fran Dowd, File 770, Steve Green, Steve Holland, Steve Jones, Locus, Pamela Love, Andrey Meshavkin, Lawrence Person, Mark Plummer, Andrew I. Porter, Private Eye, SF² Concatenation, SFWA, Gordon Van Gelder,, and as always our Hero Distributors: Durdles Books (Birmingham SF Group) and SCIS/Prophecy. 1 June 2026