Older Home/Links: 2011This page is the final repository for 2011 links from the ever-scrolling sidebar column at the right of the Ansible Links page. The editor has no intention of running regular checks on their continued validity.
December 2011
• Wimpy/Zombie Kid lawsuit
• Another Avatar lawsuit; more
• The Hobbit: "blatant Anti-Christian bigotry and Atheist propaganda"; a reality-based comment
• Ballard daughter denounces the biography
• Russell Hoban (1925-2011)
• "The once New Worlds of Charles Platt"
• Langford babbles in the Sunday Telegraph
• Jacqueline Monahan wins TAFF
• Shock horror poster ban (BBC); here's what we are being saved from (Guardian)
• Lightspeed and Fantasy magazines to merge
• Worldcon bids: latest
• "The Muppets Are Communist"
• SF authors explain symbolism, 1963
• "Enormous Changes" at NYRSF
• Those Doctor Who film rumours
• "Can science fiction lead us away from economic collapse?" (Guardian)
• Oscar Wilde's tomb made kissproofNovember 2011
• Ellison In Time lawsuit dropped
• SFWA allows Night Shade back into the fold
• Clute on Atwood and space squids
• What's the connection between yoga and Harry Potter?
• Daleks behind your sofa
• Anne McCaffrey (1926-2011); Del Rey; Guardian obit by Chris Priest; HuffPost
• "How women are winning sci-fi's battle of the sexes"
• Teletubbies analysed by Adam Roberts
• Don't say hobbit, say halfling
• Nature and sexism
• SF at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich
• Harlan Ellison and In Time; story debunked; the source revealed
• Weird Fiction Review
• Another dodgy publisher
• Realms of Fantasy dies againOctober 2011
• Farewell, Murky Depths
• Dick estate sues the movie-makers
• Suzette Haden Elgin is unwell
• The Kitschies
• Podcast interviews with the 2012 TAFF candidates
• Good news for Peter Beagle
• Salman Rushdie interview
• 2012 GUFF ballot [PDF]
• Nova Awards ballot (deadline 7 November)
• "What the Booker prize really excludes"
• A life in writing: Terry Pratchett
• Will Harry Potter news stories never cease?
• British Fantasy Awards; Steve Jones objects; Sam Stone responds; The Guardian notices; David J Howe on statistics; official BFS statement
• 2012 TAFF ballot: DOC, RTF, PDF
• Terry Pratchett does a HarlanSeptember 2011
• "Censoring Joss Whedon's Firefly ..."
• Amazing Stories resurrection plan
• Gollancz Gateway/E-Reads deal
• Roald Dahl's shed; more
• Dr Dave McKean
• Harlan Ellison sues again
• "4 Brilliant Authors and Why They're Douchebags"
• Concatenation's Autumn 2011 newsdump
• Orson Scott Card rewrites the Bard; Scott Lynch can do it too
• In praise of Doctor Who
• "Novelists Predict Future With Eerie Accuracy"August 2011
• 2012 TAFF nominations called for
• "Whiny Tea Partiers feel threatened by Jane Yolen"
• "When science goes bad"
• Weird Tales sold
• Hugo winners
• Worldcon 2013: LoneStarCon 3
• Rob's Oak
• PublishAmerica and J.K. Rowling; more at PW
• "Most Australians duped by science fiction"
• GRRM in Foxtrot cartoon strip
• The musical Adam Roberts
• Do thrillers or sci-fi deserve literary status? (Guardian poll)
• The World SF Travel FundJuly 2011
• "It may look like science fiction but it’s not"
• Chris Foss interview
• Headline of the month
• World Fantasy Award shortlist, lifetime winners
• Sakyo Komatsu (1931-2011)
• Matrix (1975-2011)
• "George Lucas defeated by Stormtrooper helmet man"
• Fame at last for Jonathan Carroll
• Gollancz SF Gateway
• Willy the Wizard vs Bloomsbury and Rowling: UK plagiarism claim abandoned
• Another Worldcon bid: Orlando in 2015
• Mythopoeic Awards: 2011 winners
• Squids in outer space: the saga continuums
• Harry Potter and Star Trek mazes
• Steph Swainston: back to day job
• J.K.Rowling gives her agent the pushJune 2011
• British Fantasy Awards 2011 shortlist
• European SF Awards 2011
• Doctor Who is everywhere
• Fanzine Hugo tinkering: latest
• Martin H Greenberg (1941-2011); Locus obit
• As Others See Us, redux
• Locus Awards
• Patrick Ness wins Carnegie Medal; interview
• Gemmell Legend Awards
• Bram Stoker Awards
• Rowling "Pottermore" hype in progress; unveiled
• Asterix and brain injuries
• John Glasby (1928-2011); SFE
• Salman Rushdie does tv sf
• 2011 Sturgeon Award shortlist
• 2011 Campbell Memorial Award shortlist
• David Cake wins DUFF
• EightSquared: a 2013 Eastercon bidMay 2011
• 2011 Chesley shortlists
• Prix Aurora (Canada) shortlists
• R.I.P. Terry Jeeves
• Worldcon bid: Spokane in 2015
• Mythopoeic Awards shortlists
• British Library sf exhibition reactions; more; Daily Mail; review links at BL site
• Nebula winners
• "Could They Beat Up China Miéville?"
• "Space beer" (Independent)
• SFX Weekender 3 "pre-launch offer"
• Iain M. Banks speaks out (Guardian)
• Ursa Major Awards
• Locus Awards shortlist
• A Storm of Hobbit Swords
• Squids in space!
• Neil Gaiman vs a very silly Republican
• On the British Library sf exhibition (Guardian 1 May)April 2011
• Joanna Russ (1937-2011); some memories; New York Times; Guardian (Chris Priest)
• Fairytales: Russia vs Ukraine
• Royal wedding; silly hats go viral
• Clarke Award: Lauren Beukes, Zoo City
• 2011 Milford UK booking opens
• John Coxon wins TAFF; newsletter; post-mortem
• 2011 Hugo nominations
• BSFA Awards
• Eastercon 2011; newsletters
• Could this be your publisher?
• Gemmell/Legend shortlist
• Olympus 2012 PR1 available
• On military sf (Guardian 22 Apr)
• Ditmar Awards; post-mortem
• New Worlds revival
• R.I.P. Sarah Jane ; Independent; Telegraph; Matt Smith (NME)
• Genre writers vs the BBC
• George R.R. Martin speaks (Indy 17 Apr); appears in 2011 Time 100 list of "most influential people"
• English Heritage plaque for former household name of fandom
• Fun with Ken Livingstone (Telegraph)
• SF Hall of Fame: 2011 intake
• Summer Concatenation news
• Shirley Jackson Awards shortlist
• New TAFF newsletter [PDF]
• 2013 UK World Fantasy Convention
• China frowns on time travel
• Ban Brave New World! (Guardian 12 Apr)
• Eisner Awards shortlist
• Pre-Wells time machine
• DUFF 2011 candidates announced; ballot form available
• Prometheus Award shortlist
• Craig Thomas (1942-2011)
• Pratchett writing prize shortlist
• Joe Haldeman and Source Code
• Stross sellout shock horrorDiana Wynne Jones (1934-2011); more; more; Neil Gaiman; Guardian obituary by Chris Priest; Torque Control; Emma Bull; Independent obituary by Charlie Butler; Farah Mendlesohn; Patricia Wrede; a brief note of my own.
The funeral is for family only. Donations in lieu of flowers may be sent to St Peter's Hospice, Bristol.March 2011
• Soulmates: Bill Gates and Robert J Sawyer
• 2013 Worldcon site selection
• Shaun Tan wins Astrid Lindgren Award
• Fantasycon rates rise 1 April
• Dorchester/Leisure naughtiness and boycott; retrospective at Making Light
• Google Books Settlement unsettled
• The Glacier of Publishing
• Just when you thought it was safe to forget John Norman ... (io9, 22 Mar)
• Willy the Wizard and the price of justice
• Hobbit filming begins at last (BBC 21 Mar)
• Tiptree Award winner announced
• Creative Science Foundation
• BBC/Doctor Who/Davros lawsuit
• Mike Glicksohn (1946-2011)
• SFX blog awards shortlists (including Ansible!)
• "10 Most Technophobic Novels of All Time" (page taken down 2012)
• Lambda Awards [LGBT] shortlist
• Frankenstein: what does it mean, Professor? (BBC 14 Mar)
• David Gemmell Awards – voting extended to 21 April
• Prometheus Hall of Fame 2011 finalists
• Here we go again; Stephen Hunt's view
• Lilian Edwards and Asimov's Laws
• "The History of Science Fiction"
• Sponsor Paul Cornell's beard!
• TAFF 2011 candidate interviews (Pips 5 PDF)
• Granta "Aliens" theme issue – move along, no sf here
• "Sci-fi v Literary Fiction"
• Dick and Hollywood (Boston Globe 6 Mar)
• Star Wars stormtrooper helmets: more litigation (Indy 6 Mar)
• Clarke Award shortlist
• Terry Pratchett, champion of swans (BBC 2 Mar)
• Stoker Award nominations
• H.P. Lovecraft's favourite words, gods, tomes
• Wikipedia and "non-notable" sf fan groupsFebruary 2011
• "Is paranormal romance sucking the blood out of the children's book market?" (Indie, 27 Feb)
• Tolkien estate vs Mirkwood (Guardian 26 Feb)
• Tolkien: the name too dreadful to print; more; more. Later: Tolkien estate lawyer contradicts the badge story; further revelations
• SF and the Oscars (BBC 24 Feb); the winners (BBC 28 Feb)
• Farewell to the Brigadier
• Nebula nominations (22 Feb)
• Suing Stephen King
• Litigious fannish fun in Roanoke
• Fanzines in the New York Times
• George R.R. Martin and Parris are married
• Analog online submissions to open 22 Feb
• Borders files for bankruptcy at last; big Australian bookshop chain follows
• Ishiguro admits to sf
• The Bankrupt Nihilism of Joe Abercrombie
• Brian Jacques (1939-2011)
• Guillermo del Toro and Forrest J Ackerman (New Yorker, 7 Feb
• Liverpool Literary List: spot the genre writers
• Another sf "market" to avoid
• Moorcock interview (Guardian 4 Feb); full interview transcript
• Contractwatch: a nasty clause from Macmillan
• John Brunner's typewriters
• "Is speculative fiction poised to break into the literary canon?" (Guardian 2 Feb)
• Lan Wright (1923-2010)January 2011
• TAFF voting deadline extended to 26 April
• "Save h2g2" (from the BBC axe)
• Alan Garner's honorary degree
• Forty guests. No women.
• Concatenation news, Spring 2011
• WHC Grand Master: Jack Ketchum
• Dick Award shortlist
• Goodbye Ikarie, hello XB-1
• Australian SF Bullsheet relaunches
• BSFA Award shortlists (17 Jan)
• "Are You A Moral Author?"; Ursula Le Guin says she isn't
• Another archive project: Novae Terrae
• Down and out in Oregon
• Mike Moorcock: more surgery – successful
• CRSF 2011 call for papers
• 2012: most absurd sf film of all time, says NASA [The Guardian was seemingly hoaxed and has taken this story down: see link.]
• 2010 FAAn Awards ballot [PDF]
• Neil Barron (1934-2010)
• Hydroponic fungus vs starship Voyager
• Harry Potter/Willy the Wizard: US judge dismisses plagiarism claim
• Steve Aylett self-exposes
• People's Choice awards infested with Twilight
• Moon Hugo gloat
• Ellen Datlow's Best Horror of the Year: call for 2011 submissions
• BSFA Awards nominations so far
• Hugo nominations open (1 Jan)
