Ansible has been published since 1979 (with one long gap) by David Langford, 94 London Road, Reading, Berkshire, England, RG1 5AU. It first appeared at Seacon '79, the World SF Convention held in Brighton, England, in August 1979. The launch of Ansible resulted from the demise of Peter Roberts's celebrated Checkpoint, which had covered British sf/fan news since 1971 and published its 100th and last issue in September 1979. This first series of Ansible followed Checkpoint's multi-page UK quarto format – 10" x 8", duplicated (later, partly or wholly lithographed) – until issue 50 at the next British worldcon, Conspiracy in August 1987. In that year it won its first Hugo award for best fanzine.
The weary editor then put it into suspended animation for some years, reviving it as a single monthly A4 sheet (photocopied) in October 1991. This second series begins with Ansible 51 in the web archive. Rare additional "half issues" like Ansible 53½ have also appeared, and are without redeeming social value.
Further Hugo wins came at Intersection in 1995, LAcon III in 1996, Aussiecon 3 in 1999, and ConJosé in 2002. After which, the editor insanely insulated himself against any more victories by declaring Ansible to be a "semiprozine" (since its circulation makes it eligible for this category), vying with heavyweight competition like Locus and Interzone. Amazingly, it won in 2005.
The boring bit.... All original material in Ansible, and the compilation/arrangement of quoted material, is Copyright © David Langford, 1979-1987, 1991-current. Of course individuals and publications quoted in Ansible retain copyright in their own words. The Ansible HTML files may be freely copied for private enjoyment or research but may not be republished (e.g. in printed or CD-ROM versions), distributed in modified form, incorporated into other works, or quoted out of context without the express written permission of the copyright holder. In the case of Ansible contributors wishing to make other use of their own contributions, this permission is automatically granted.
The venal and corrupt bit ... David Langford still has some of his own remaindered books and things for sale. See the list linked from his official bibliography; there are also copious opportunities to buy through Amazon. He would also be glad of sales or donations through the following pages:
- Langford's Own Book Pages – with publisher etc purchase links
- Ansible Editions – POD and ebook titles by various authors
- The Ansible Tip Jar
Extended credits. My warm thanks to all the following:
The Hero Distributors mentioned in most issues are or were: FATW or Fans Across the World, run by Bridget Wilkinson – since omitted on the basis that we reached pretty much the same people with printed and electronic copies anyway; Janice Murray, who printed and distributed copies in North America for many years but has parted company with sf fandom; Steve Jeffery and Vikki Lee France of the Storm Constantine Information Service, who also distribute through the fantasy APA Prophecy; Alan Stewart of the Aussie newsletter Thyme, who hands out copies at various gatherings Down Under even though Thyme itself is in suspended animation; and various worthies of of the (British) Birmingham SF Group and its newsletter Brum Group News – Vernon Brown, Dave Corby and newsletter editors Rog Peyton, William McCabe and Martin Tudor.
Dan Steffan drew the ansible logo (at the head of this page, if your browser shows graphics) which appears on all printed copies in the second series. Charles Stross put Ansible on the net for several months in 1993, until I succumbed to technology and could do so myself. Naveed Khan was the electronic archive master at Ansible's former Glasgow University site.
The Rekeying Team. First-series Ansibles prior to #42 never existed in electronic form until the following splendid fans gave up precious drinking time to retype or laboriously scan old issues: Simon Bradshaw, Richard Brandt, John Bray, Mark Charsley, Jan van't Ent, Doug Faunt, Andrew Hedges, Marcus Hill, Dan Hoey, Philip Johnson, David Kennedy, John V. Keogh, Alex McLintock, Pat McMurray, Richard Newsome, Mike Scott, Tony Smith, Bill Welch, Elizabeth Willey and Adrian Wontroba ... after which Chaz Baden corrected some of their typos! Karen Babich, Tony Cullen and Janice M. Eisen also kindly volunteered, but were pre-empted by my 1997 rush of enthusiasm for personally scanning the last issues and finishing the job. Eternal gratitude to all.
A separate project to rekey the entire run of Ansible's predecessor Checkpoint ran from late 2005 to early 2007 – see the Checkpoint home page for credits.