Ansible® 472, November 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: Teddy Harvia. Available for SAE, Malpras reactors or unstable Bibnal-Siefert energy accumulators.
The Seventh Weapon
Donato Giancola warned the world that artists too are having trouble with Asimov’s SF under the Must Read Magazines (MRM) regime. The contract offered to him – and strenuously insisted on – was a Work for Hire deal whereby amid other horrors he wouldn’t own his original artwork and must sign a non-disclosure agreement forfeiting the whole fee ‘if NDA is broken in ANY manner’. ‘I went back and forth in contract revisions with Asimov’s SF legal department five times over three months. Nearly as much time was spent on these negotiations, legal revisions, and emails [as] what I would put into creating art for a final illustration. All for a $1200 fee on a commission whose legal contract issues were settled in a five minute digital handshake six years ago.’ (Facebook, 8 October)
• John Picacio reports a closely similar experience, including a required waiver of both moral rights and copyright. (Bluesky, 8 October) In response, MRM issued a weird statement suggesting that, as never before in the history of sf magazines, authors’ intellectual property must be protected against the evil incursions of artists who illustrate their work. Patrick Nielsen Hayden reposted this with the comment ‘This statement is utter nonsense, unmoored from anything real.’ (Bluesky, 10 October) People keep stressing that the editorial staff are still splendid people, not something one hears about the legal department.
• The saga continued with a new MRM statement on 16 October, apologizing and promising reforms [F770]; but Donato Giancola felt this was sufficiently weasel-worded (‘[I] recognize loop hole language immediately when I see it.’) to be meaningless, and made public the contract he refused to sign – including bad clauses where no reform is promised. (Facebook, 18 October)
Peter F. Hamilton chilled the blood of at least some members of his Fantasycon audience by announcing his partnership with an outfit that generates films from books ‘using AI and other technology’. [AC]
Connie Willis is a winner of the other Clarke award presented by the Arthur C. Clarke Foundation, for ‘imagination in service to society’. [F770]
Contraprovectant
Click here for longlist • London • Overseas
6-8 Nov • Armadacon, Future Inns, Plymouth. GoH Mike Collins, Andy Lane. £47 reg; £40 concessions. More at www.armadacon.org.
6-8 Nov • Novacon 55, Palace Hotel, Buxton. GoH Una McCormack. £55 reg; under-17s £12; under-13s free. More at novacon.uk.
7 Nov • Stars of Time (comics), Weston-super-Mare. £12.62; under-14s £8.30. See www.starsoftime.co.uk/weston-s-mare-winter.
8 Nov • Paperback & Pulp Book Fair, Holiday Inn, Coram St, London. 9:30am-3pm. £4 entry. See tinyurl.com/2s49aucn.
13-15 Nov • HotaruCon (anime), Leonardo Hotel, Milton Keynes. £75 reg. Adults (18+) only. See www.hotarucon.co.uk.
14-15 Nov • For the Love of Horror, BEC Arena, Manchester. Weekend tickets £53.90; other rates at www.fortheloveofhorroruk.com.
14-15 Nov • Thought Bubble Comic Convention, Harrogate Convention Centre, as part of comics festival. £42 weekend; £30/day; under-12s, over-65s and carers free. See thoughtbubblefestival.com.
15 Nov • SF, Comic & Toy Fair, Leigh Sports Village. 11am-4pm. Tickets £3, children £1. See www.mseevents.co.uk/.
21 Nov • DarkFest 9 (cult horror films), Genesis Cinema, 93-95 Mile End Road, London. £45 reg. See infinitymagazine.co.uk/shop/.
21 Nov • TFnation (Transformers), Steam Museum, Swindon. Adults £40; under-18s £25; accompanied under-13s (up to 3 per adult ticket-holder) free. See tfnation.com/TFN-Swindon-2026.
21 Nov - 9 May • Tove Jansson exhibition, Quentin Blake Centre, London. See qbcentre.org.uk/exhibitions/tove-jansson-and-her-families.
21 Nov • Tolkien’s Invented Languages (Tolkien Society seminar), online. Free. See www.tolkiensociety.org/events/seminar-2026/.
26 Nov • Books on Tyne SF & Fantasy Day, City Library, Newcastle. See booksontyne.co.uk/the-festival-at-a-glance/.
28 Nov • Dragonmeet (gaming), London Excel. 9am-10pm. Adult tickets £20; under-18s £10; other rates at www.dragonmeet.co.uk.
12-13 Dec • The State of SF ... (Clarke Award/SFF conference), online. £50; £35 concessions; £30/£20 per day: tinyurl.com/249ny2v5.
15-17 & 22-24 Jan 2027 • Horror-on-Sea (film festival), Palace Hotel, Southend-on-Sea. See the-white-bus-limited.sumupstore.com.
30 Apr - 2 May 2027 • Norncon, Hilton Lanyon Place, Belfast.£60 reg, rising to £75 on 6 January 2027; £50 concessions; under-26s £20; accompanied under-16s £10; day pass £40 .See norncon.org.
28-30 May 2027 • MCM Comic Con, London Excel. Tickets from £99; day rates at www.mcmcomiccon.com/london/en-us.html.
4 Sep 2027 • Whooverville 18 (Doctor Who), presumably QUAD Centre, Derby. More awaited at www.whoovers.org.uk/home.php.
18 Sep 2027 • Hi Vis Comic Con, All Saints Centre, Kings Heath, Birmingham. 10am-5pm. See highviscomic-con.com.
24-26 Sep 2027 • Fantasycon, Birmingham NEC Hilton. Includes World Fantasy Awards presentation. £70 reg (£60 BFS members and concessions, £50 if both); child £30. See fantasycon2027.co.uk.
2-3 Oct 2027 • Octocon, Tower Hotel, Waterford, Ireland and online. GoH Alan Nolan, Emily Tesh. Registration soon at octocon.com.
3 Oct 2027 • Oh!Con (comics), Stornoway, Lewis and Harris, Outer Hebrides. Ticket sales awaited at ohcon.info.
23-24 Oct 2027• BristolCon, Hilton DoubleTree, Bristol. £70 reg; £55 concessions/under-18s; under-14s free. See www.bristolcon.org.
23 Oct 2027 • PictCon3, Salutation Hotel, Perth, Scotland. £30 reg; £20 concessions, under-18s £10. See pictcon.com for tickets.
Infinitely Improbable
As Others Forget Us. From Jeopardy in October: ‘This portmanteau word first appeared in the 1940s to refer to amateur publications by & for sci-fi lovers.’ None of the contestants managed to guess ‘fanzine’. [AIP]
Awards. Aldiss (worldbuilding): The Isle in the Silver Sea by Tasha Suri.
• British Fantasy. ANTHOLOGY Silk and Sinew ed. Kristy Park Kulski. ARTIST Jenni Coutts. AUDIO (FICTION) The Shape of Monsters by CL Hellisen & Omari Douglas. AUDIO (NON-FICTION) The Folklore Podcast. COLLECTION Call And Response by Christopher Caldwell. FANTASY NOVEL (Holdstock) Upon a Starlit Tide, Kell Woods. HORROR NOVEL (Derleth) The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones. INDEPENDENT PRESS Newcon Press. MAGAZINE Remains. NEWCOMER Annabel Campbell for The Outcast Mage. NON-FICTION Nigerian Speculative Fiction: Evolution by Chukwunonso Ezeiyoke. NOVELLA The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar. SHORT ‘Shadow Jack’ by CL Hellisen (Giganotosaurus). KARL EDWARD WAGNER Jane Johnson. LEGENDS OF FANTASYCON Chloe Yates.
• New York State Writers Hall of Fame: Lawrence Block and N.K. Jemisin.
• Le Guin: Audition by Pip Adam.
• SFPA (poetry). RHYSLING: LONG ‘Hex Supply Customer Support Log’ by Elis Montgomery (Strange Horizons). SHORT ‘How to become a sea witch’ by Theodora Goss (The Orange & Bee). ELGIN: BOOK Everything Endless by Linda D. Addison & Jamal Hodge. CHAPBOOK The Women of Myth by M. Frost. DWARF STAR ‘Concrete Cuneiform Poem #1’ by Robert Frazier.
• World Fantasy. NOVEL Once Was Willem by M.R. Carey. LONG FICTION Psychopomp & Circumstance by Eden Royce. SHORT FICTION ‘The Hungry Mouth at the Edge of Space and the Goddess Knitting at Home’ by Renan Bernardo (Reactor). ANTHOLOGY Storyteller: A Tanith Lee Tribute Anthology ed. Julie C. Day et al. COLLECTION Uncertain Sons by Thomas Ha. ARTIST Kathleen Jennings. SPECIAL – PROFESSIONAL Jaymee Goh, Jill Roberts and Jacob Weisman for Tachyon Publications. SPECIAL – NON-PROFESSIONAL Wendy Wagner for Nightmare magazine.
As Others Saw Us. On less worthy tributes: ‘The New York Times, to show how well regarded Calvino is in these parts, quoted John Updike, our literature’s perennial apostle to the middlebrows (this is not meant, entirely, unkindly), as well as Margaret Atwood (a name new to me), Ursula K. Le Guin (an estimable sci-fi writer, but what is she doing, giving, as it were, a last word on one of the most complex of modern writers?) ...’ (Gore Vidal, ‘Calvino’s Death’, NYRB, November 1985)
R.I.P. Jeffrey Archer (1940-2026), UK politician and thriller writer who first ventured into near-future sf with Shall We Tell the President? (1977), died on 5 October aged 86. [JC]
• Eric Bauza (1979-2026), Canadian-born, Emmy-winning voice actor playing Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and others in Looney Tunes Cartoons (87 episodes 2019-2023), and other LT revivals including Coyote vs Acme (2026) – plus work for many other animated series – died on 25 October aged 46. [AIP]
• Andrey Burtsev (1954-2026), Russian co-author of one sf novel and translator of over 1000 works including Asimov, Benford, Blish, Le Guin, Silverberg and many more, died on 1 October. [AM]
• Terry Denton (1950-2026), Australian illustrator of children’s books – most famously the bestselling ‘Treehouse’ series with writer Andy Griffiths – died on 21 September aged 76. [AIP]
• Malcolm Edwards (1949-2026), distinguished UK publisher and editor with deep roots in sf fandom, who nurtured genre fiction at Gollancz, HarperCollins/Grafton, Orion (becoming Deputy CEO) and André Deutsch, died on 3 October aged 76. He edited Vector in the 1970s, Foundation 1978-1980, and was a founder member of the Interzone collective; published fine fanzines including Tappen (1981-1982); co-wrote sf coffee-table books and The Complete Book of SF and Fantasy Lists (1983); edited the Gollancz SF Masterworks line; and was the man behind the ambitious SF Gateway ebook imprint, partnered with the SF Encyclopedia 2011-2021. Honours include the 1974 Doc Weir Award, a BSFA Award for his one sf story, and being a GoH at the 2014 London Worldcon. Much more could be added. I have good memories of dealing with Malcolm professionally but miss him more as a friend.
• Jerry Golod (1938-2026), US producer of Tales from the Darkside (79 episodes 1983-1988), Condor (1985) and Land of the Lost (6 episodes 1991), died on 30 September aged 87. [AIP]
• George Fenton (1949-2026), UK composer and conductor with music credits for Groundhog Day (1993), The Company of Wolves (1984), Interview with the Vampire (1994), Bewitched (2005) and many more, died on 5 October aged 76. [SJ]
• Michael Forest (1929-2026), US actor in Viking Women (1957), Beast from Haunted Cave (1959), King Kong Lives (1986) and many genre tv series – notably as Apollo in Star Trek (‘Who Mourns for Adonais?’, 1967) – plus videogame voice work, died on 14 October aged 97. [CH]
• Marjoe Gortner (1944-2026), US evangelist and actor in Earthquake (1974), The Food of the Gods (1976), Starcrash (1978) and Mausoleum (1983), died on 2 October aged 82. [LP]
• Michael Gray (1951-2026), US actor who starred in Shazam! (28 episodes 1974-1976), died on 16 October aged 75. [AIP]
• John Grover (1938-2026), UK film editor who worked on The Haunting (1963), 2001 (1968), Moonraker (1979) and Lifeforce (1985), died on 28 September aged 87. [SG]
• Matt Howarth (1954-2026), US sf comics creator for Howski Studios (which he co-founded in 1969), Heavy Metal, Vortex Comics, Rip Off Press, Fantagraphics and Cosmic Lion, died on 5 October aged 72. His titles included Those Annoying Post Bros. (63 issues 1985-1998). [S]
• Jeremiah Kipp, US director of Slapface (2021), The Geechee Witch (2024), The Mortuary Assistant (2026) and Faceless (2026) – also scripting the last two – died on 13 October, apparently by suicide. [SG]
• Walter Koenig (1936-2026), US actor fondly remembered as Chekov in Star Trek (36 episodes 1967-1969 plus many spinoff films), died on 25 October aged 90. Other credits include Babylon 5 (1994-1998).
• Ron Koslow (1945-2026), US scriptwriter and producer whose credits (also as creator or co-creator) include Beauty and the Beast (1987-1990), Roar (1997) and Moonlight (2007-2008), died on 7 October aged 81. [AIP]
• John Leeson (1943-2026), UK actor who voiced K9 in Doctor Who (62 episodes 1979-1988 plus many returns and spinoffs), died on 1 November aged 83. [FC]
• Peter Medak (1937-2026), Hungarian director of The Changeling (1980), Species II (1988) and genre tv series, died on 27 October aged 88. [SG]
• R.J. Mitte (1992-2026), US Breaking Bad actor whose genre credits include Final Recall (2017), The Guardians of Justice (7 episodes 2022) and The Unseen (2023), comitted suicide on 12 October aged 34. [SG/LP]
• Ryu Murakami (1952-2026), Japanese author whose novels include the cyberpunkish Coin Locker Babies (1980; trans 1995), died on 17 October aged 74. [JonC]
• Richard Riehle (1948-2026), US actor in The Beach Party at the Threshold of Hell (2006), The Man From Earth (2007), Transformers: Age of Extinction (2014), West of Hell (2018) and genre tv series including three versions of Star Trek, died on 15 October aged 78. [LP]
• Eva Marie Saint (1924-2026), Oscar-winning US actress whose genre credits include Buck Rogers (1950), Superman Returns (2006), The Legend of Korras (2012-2014) and A New York Winter’s Tale (2014), died on 6 October aged 102. [F770]
• Susan Saint James (1946-2026), Emmy-winning US actress who starred in Night Cries (1978) and Love at First Bite (1979), died on 26 October aged 80. [LP]
• Sanjulián (Manuel Pérez Clemente, 1941-2026), Spanish artist whose early work was for comics like Creepy, Eerie and Vampirella and who created many book covers – in particular for Robert E. Howard and Conan sequels by others – and portraits of classic horror film characters, died on 14 October aged 85. His work is assembled in The Sanjulian Collection (1994) and three further books. [SJ]
• Tom Skerritt (1933-2026), US actor best remembered for Alien (1979), died on 21 October aged 93. Other credits include The Devil’s Rain (1974), Contact (1997), The Dead Zone (1983), SpaceCamp (1986), Poltergeist III (1988) and various genre tv series. [SG]
• Patrick Stewart (1940-2026), distinguished and much-loved UK Shakespearean actor of national treasure status with very many genre credits – notably Captain Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation (176 episodes 1987-1994 plus spinoffs and sequels) and Prof. Xavier in the X-Men film franchise – died on 28 October aged 86. [JCo]
• Gonzalo Suárez (1934-2026), Spanish film-maker who wrote, directed and appeared in El extraño caso del doctor Fausto (1969) and co-wrote Las Crueles (aka The Exquisite Cadaver, 1969), died on 29 September aged 92. [SG]
• Carole Tyrrell (1956-2026), UK writer with stories in Enigmatic Tales, Revelation, Supernatural Tales, Ghosts and Scholars, The Siren’s Call and the anthology Gravity’s Angels (1998), died on 11 September aged 69. [GC]
• Yan Voronovskiy (1971-2026), Russian cinematographer for Emergeny (Emergency, 2016) and Moscow Does Not Happen (2020), died on 25 October aged 55. [AM]
• Mary Louise Weller (1946-2026), US actress in The Evil (1978), Blood Tide (1982), Q: The Winged Serpent (1982) and genre tv series, died on 1 October aged 79. [SJ]
• Feliks Yanov-Yanovsky (1934-2026), Uzbek composer who scored the Ray Bradbury-based films Budet laskovyy dozhd (There Will Come Soft Rains, 1984) and Veld (1987), died on 12 October aged 92. [AM]
The Weakest Link. Bradley Walsh: ‘Which of Charles Dickens’s novels is considered to be the most autobiographical?’ Contestant: ‘Moby-Dick.’ (ITV, The Chase) [PE]
Awards in Progress. 2027 Clarke Award submissions, of 2026 UK-published novels, are now open. Contact clarkeaward [at] gmail.com.
The Dead Past. 60 Years Ago: ‘Interesting 2 page leaflet recently circulated round British fandom. Posted in London this was stated to have originated with Ted Tubb, Archie Mercer, Chris Priest, Brian Alldis [sic], Mike Moorcock, Ken Slater and Pete Weston. The circular discussed the possibility of the BSFA forming regional committees and asked interested parties to send 2/6 to Chris. If you haven’t already heard, this was a fake...’ (Ron Bennett, Skyrack 93, November 1966)
• 50 Years Ago, fannish history was made at Novacon 6: ‘The Astral Leauge went on to dominate Sunday evening when its founder, Don West (Last Of The Old Ones), initiated new members with the help of a pole: the test consisted of entangling yourself with the pole and emerging again after a series of bizarre movements. I’m glad to say I proved rubbery enough to pass ...’ (Peter Roberts, Checkpoint 76, November 1976)
Fanfundery. TransAtlantic Fan Fund. The timetable for the race to Montréal Worldcon 2027 (2-6 September): nominations open 1 November and close on 31 December; voting opens in January and closes on 1 April. Prospective candidates take note! See taff.org.uk for the official release.
• TAFF Library. Rob Hansen explores another arcane byway of fan history in OMPA: The Rise and Fall of the First UK APA, now available as a free ebook download or a 187pp trade paperback with sales proceeds to TAFF. Read all about it at taff.org.uk/ebooks.php?x=OMPA.
• Down Under Fan Fund. There are some hopes of a northbound DUFF race from Australasia to Montréal Worldcon 2027. More may follow at downunderfanfund.com.
Writer Beware has an alarming post about Starfish Bay Publishing in Australia, whose business model drifted from traditional royalty payments to a demand for ‘a temporary loan of $6000’ from each author, with repayment (plus guaranteed royalties for some) within 2½ years. The usual litany of complaints followed, not only about non-payment but often failure even to publish the book. The publisher Liang (Luke) Hou seems to have grown bored with communication, though the various Starfish imprints continue to advertise for authors. (Writer Beware, 16 October)
Thog’s Masterclass. Versatility. ‘He had a smooth, high voice, but he had so many more he could slip into like a chest full of shoes.’ (Silvia Park, Luminous, 2025) [IS]
• Wide Fitting. ‘Where the motor had been was a cube-shaped object about the same size and length as a normal shoe box.’ (Philip E. High, Sold – For a Spaceship, 1973)
• See-Through. ‘Her transparent skin seemed proof that her flesh was rose-ivory all the way through, and she had long green eyes.’ (Theodore Sturgeon, ‘The Ultimate Egoist’, 1941 Unknown)
• Science Corner. ‘Because the Great Pyramid of Cheops appears to be a mathematical scale model of the northern hemisphere, the builders must have known the circumference of the earth and the length of the year. However, this information was not known to scientists until about 300 years ago!’ (Super Treasury of Amazing Knowledge ed. by Joshua Hanft, 1990) [PL]
• War of the Submicroscopic Beings. ‘... they fought it with hydro-nuclear devices. In all probability the “mushrooms” of these devices seldom rose higher than a normal mushroom, a few centimetres ...’ (Philip E. High, These Savage Futurians, 1967)
Geeks’ Corner
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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.
• 19 November 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
Convention Rumblings. Montréal 2027 Worldcon: once again virtual business meetings will be held before the event itself and once again there are grumbles about this being against the WSFS constitution.
• ConZealand (Worldcon 2020) was run by the registered charity SF and Fantasy Conventions of New Zealand (SFFCONZ), which is not happy that an unrelated future bid adopted the name ConZealand2 (see A471) without permission. Perhaps because of this displeasure, the ConZealand2 website is no longer functioning.
Editorial. I was mildly surprised that the Times obituary for Malcolm Edwards (15 October, anonymous but clearly by an insider) quoted a leg-pulling appreciation of the great man that I’d completely forgotten having contributed to a convention progress report in 1986. So it goes.
R.I.P – Late and Last-Minute Reports. Hubert de La Bouillerie (1951-2026), film editor for The Witches of Eastwick (1987), Highlander II (1991) and others, died on 8 August aged 76. [AIP]
• Sandy Frank (1929-2026), US producer of US versions of Gamera: The Giant Monster (1965) and its many sequels – also remaking the Gatchaman series as Battle of the Planets (1978-1980) – died on 20 October aged 97. [AC]
• Leslie Parrish (1935-2025), US actress in Li’l Abner (1959), The Manchurian Candidate (1962), The Giant Spider Invasion (1975) and genre tv series including Batman (1966-1967), died – as only recently announced – on 14 November 2025 aged 90. [F770]
• Ilshat Shugayev (1960-2026), Russian cinematographer for the sf mini-series Posrednik (Mediator, 1990), the horror thriller Devyat neizvestnykh (The Nine Unknown, 2005) and the fantasy detective film Alkhimik. Eliksir Fausta (Alchemist: Faust’s Elixir, 2014), died on 30 October. [AM]
• Elke Sommer (1940-2026), German actress in Lisa and the Devil (1973), The Astral Factor (1978) and others, died on 28 October aged 85. [FC]
• Frederick Turner (1943-2025), UK-born author of the sf novel A Double Shadow (1978), died on 4 September 2025 aged 81. [JC]
Some Links from the Ansible home page.
• How Those Personalized Generative AI Scam Emails Are Built
https://writerbeware.blog/2026/09/25/how-those-personalized-generative-ai-scam-emails-are-built/
• LAcon V Souvenir Book
https://www.lacon.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/laconv-souvenirbook-v2.pdf
• Adam Roberts: Tolkien’s Ring-verse in Latin and Ancient Greek Giant Robot Snail
https://profadamroberts.substack.com/p/ring-rhyme-in-latin
https://profadamroberts.substack.com/p/ancient-greek-giant-robot-snail
Thog’s Golden Oldies from Ansible 232, November 2006. Dept of Female Characterization. ‘“So much for your methodical methods!” said Ilsa scornfully, wrinkling her nose at him and putting out her little pink tongue.’ (Bill Spencer, ‘The Watchtower’, New Worlds 97, August 1960)
• Neat Tricks. ‘I tilted my face up, eyes closed against the stinging drops, and watched the garden flash bright with the crack of lightning.’ (C.E. Murphy, Thunderbird Falls, 2006)
• Public Nudity in Old Glasgow. ‘... two hundred and seventy three years ago [...] The inmates of these hovels earned a living by knitting caps and mufflers for the inhabitants of Glasgow who, even then, wore almost nothing else.’ (Alasdair Gray, ‘The Crank that Made the Revolution’, 1971)
• Influence of Stephen R. Donaldson. ‘Their horses were foul spine-sprung things, malandered about the necks, beshat greenly across the hindquarters, and trailing ropy harls of yellow snot blown from all the orifices of their heads.’ (Charles Frazier, Cold Mountain, 1997)
Ansible® 472 © David Langford, 2026. Thanks to Anonymous Claire, Jonathan Clements, John Clute, John Coxon, Gary Couzens, File 770, Film Canary, Steve Green, Chip Hitchcock, Steve Jones, Pamela Love, Andrey Meshavkin, Lawrence Person, Andrew I. Porter, Private Eye, Smuzz, and as always our Hero Distributors: Durdles Books (Birmingham SF Group) and SCIS/Prophecy. 2 November 2026