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From: David Langford <ansible@cix.co.uk>
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Subject: Ansible 441 -- April 2024
Date: Tue, 02 Apr 2024 17:09:24 +0100
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ANSIBLE(R) 441
APRIL 2024 

From DAVID LANGFORD, 94 London Road, Reading, Berks, RG1 5AU, UK. Website
news.ansible.uk. ISSN 0265-9816 (print); 1740-942X (e). Available for SAE,
or average air speed of the solitary oesophagus.

[NET NOTE. See https://news.ansible.uk/a441.html for the nice HTML version;
https://news.ansible.uk/pdf/a441.pdf for a printable PDF. Mailing list
subscribe/unsubscribe information appears below -- please don't send such
requests to my own e-mail address. DRL]

LEVITATION, the Telford Eastercon, is now over. Good times were reportedly
had, both virtually and by 450+ on-site attendees.
     THE BSFA AWARDS: ARTWORK cover by Leo Nickolls for _The Surviving Sky_
by Kritika H. Rao. AUDIO FICTION _The Dex Legacy_ by Emily Inkpen.
COLLECTION _Best of British SF 2022_ ed. Donna Scott. FOR YOUNGER READERS.
_The Library of Broken Worlds_ by Alaya Dawn Johnson. NONFICTION (LONG) _A
Traveller in Time: The Critical Practice of Maureen Kincaid_ Speller ed.
Nina Allan. NONFICTION (SHORT) _Project Management Lessons from Rogue One_
by Fiona Moore. NOVEL _The Green Man's Quarry_ by Juliet McKenna. SHORT
'How to Raise a Kraken in Your Bathtub' by P. Djeli Clark. SHORTER _And Put
Away Childish Things_ by Adrian Tchaikovsky. TRANSLATED SHORTER FICTION
'Vanishing Tracks in the Sand' by Jana Bianchi, trans. Rachael Amoruso.
     EXCLUSION ACT. One officially unnamed fan, understood to be Dave
McCarty of 2023 Hugo infamy, tried to join at the door and was turned away.
Why? _Chorus:_ 'The rules we must follow.' For commentary see _File 770_
(30 March).
     EASTERCON 2026: a bid from Phil Dyson and the Reclamation 2022 team is
taking shape.
     THIRST! The real ale traditionally ran out _circa_ 4pm on Sunday.
     DOC WEIR AWARD, causing great bogglement at _Ansible_ HQ: David
Langford. Many thanks, kind voters!


### THE MYSTERIOUS STRANGER ###

NATASHA BARDON of HarperVoyager and Magpie declined her Hugo nomination --
Best Editor, Long Form -- largely owing to 'the censorship in 2023'. Other
refuseniks are Martha Wells (Novel; see Awards below), Hai Ya (Novelette),
Bigolas Dickolas Wolfwood (tweets in Related Work) and Camestros Felapton
(Fan Writer, just 'skipping this year').

DAVID V. BARRETT looked back to his 2015 triumph when _The Bookseller_ ran
a quarter-page apology from the author (academic Stephen J. Hunt) and
publisher of a book that extensively plagiarized his 1996 _Sects, Cults and
Alternative Religions_; all copies were to be destroyed. Alas, he
discovered that Routledge had since taken over the offending publisher and
reissued the 'forever withdrawn' title in their Routledge Revivals series.
'Emails are now flying around....' (Facebook, 14 March)

DONATO GIANCOLA was not happy to find a figure from his _Cyberpunk 2020:
Ravengers_ painting recycled (flipped left/right, crudely modified) on a
_Magic: The Gathering_ card by Fay Dalton. 'Copied and pasted. This is not
about "similarities", this is about direct copying.' (Facebook, 26 March)
The card's other character came from a 1958 thriller magazine cover.
Wizards of the Coast responded: 'As we have looked into this further, we're
now suspending future work with Fay Dalton.' (29 March)

GREGORY MANCHESS received the Chesley life achievement award for his career
in genre art. For all Chesley winners see _File 770_ (29 March).

BRYAN TALBOT is one of the 2024 inductees into the Will Eisner Award Hall
of Fame for life achievement in comics work.


### CONSENTIENCY ###

3-7 April [] DRAGONS & MYTHICAL BEASTS (exhibition), Queen Elizabeth Hall,
Southbank Centre, London. From GBP14. See tinyurl.com/bp8pjvmp.

SOLD OUT 6 Apr [] BEDFORD WHO CHARITY CON (_Doctor Who_), King's House,
Ampthill Road, Bedford, MK42 9AZ. 10am-5:30pm. Tickets GBP49.50; under-14s
GBP20. See bedfordwhocharitycon.co.uk.

12-14 Apr [] SPRINGMOOT (Tolkien Society), annual dinner and members-only
AGM, Jesus College, Cambridge. Room and dinner bookings at
www.tolkiensociety.org/events/agm-and-springmoot-2024.

14 Apr [] STARS OF TIME (comics), LC, Swansea. 10am-4:30pm. GBP10 plus
booking fee; other rates at www.starsoftime.co.uk.

20-21 Apr [] SCI-FI SCARBOROUGH (multimedia), The Spa, Scarborough. GBP30
reg; students GBP20; 'kids' GBP10. See scifiscarborough.co.uk.

27-28 Apr [] CELLULOID SCREAMS all-night horror film festival, Sheffield.
11pm-9am. GBP20. See celluloidscreams.co.uk.

3-6 May [] PARACINEMA CULT FILM FESTIVAL, QUAD Center, Derby. GBP45; GBP25
concessions. Tickets available at paracinema.co.uk.

11-12 May [] PORTSMOUTH COMIC CON, Guildhall, Portsmouth.GBP37; GBP19.50
concessions; day rates and more at portsmouthcomiccon.com.

15-17 May [] GIFCON (University of Glasgow conference), 'Conjuring
Creatures and Worlds', online. See tinyurl.com/yfdbvdwj.

18-19 May [] SURREY STEAMPUNK CONVIVIAL, Stoneleigh, Epsom. See
bumpandthumper.wixsite.com/steampunkconvivials.

31 May - 2 Jun [] FUNCON ONE, Palace Hotel, Buxton. _Now GBP70 reg;_ GBP80
with added 'warm fuzzy feeling'; GBP40 concessions. See funcon.lol.

23-26 Aug [] FRIGHTFEST (film), London, various cinemas. Details to follow
at www.frightfest.co.uk/filmsandevents/.

24-25 Aug [] DUBLIN COMIC CON, Convention Centre, Dublin. Various ticket
prices (extra for early entry, etc.) at dublincomiccon.com.

31 Oct - 3 Nov [] EDINBURGH HORROR FESTIVAL, Banshee Labyrinth and
Lauriston Castle. More at edinburghhorrorfestival.co.uk.

7-9 Feb 2025 [] CONTABILE 35 (filk), 'central UK' venue and membership
rates to be announced at www.contabile.org.uk/c35/.

7-9 Mar 2025 [] MINAMICON (anime), Novotel Hotel, Southampton. Registration
awaited July/August at www.minamicon.org.uk.

11-13 Apr 2025 [] CORFLU 42 (fan), Chequers Hotel, Newbury. GBP75/$95 reg;
GBP25/$32 supp; GBP10/$15 virtual. More details at corflu.org.

13-17 Aug 2025 [] SEATTLE WORLDCON 2025, Seattle, WA, USA. _Now $200 reg;_
under-25s $100; under-18s $75; under-13s free; virtual $85; WSFS only (Hugo
and site voting) $50. See seattlein2025.org.


### INFINITELY IMPROBABLE ###

AS WE SAW OURSELVES. John Christopher fretted about sf morality in the
1950s: 'Quite apart from those magazines whose chief and obvious
preoccupation is a mixing of sex with science fiction, what should be the
honest core of the field is riddled with this form of nastiness. One of the
leading science-fiction magazines in America regularly publishes material
of an unpleasant nature. In a copy recently encountered of one of the
American second-string magazines, there was a story whose theme was simply
that of incest. One of the leading British fantasy magazines appears every
issue with a "cheese-cake" cover.' (_Authentic SF_, April 1953) [GP]

AWARDS. _Crawford Award_ (fantasy debut): _The Saint of Bright Doors_ by
Vajra Chandrasekera.
     _Hugo_ novel finalists: _The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi_ by Shannon
Chakraborty, _The Saint of Bright Doors_ by Vajra Chandrasekera, _Some
Desperate Glory_ by Emily Tesh, _Starter Villain_ by John Scalzi,
_Translation State_ by Ann Leckie, _Witch King_ by Martha Wells (who
declined nomination for her Murderbot novel _System Collapse_). The full
list is at glasgow2024.org/hugo-awards/2024-hugo-award-finalists/. 1720
valid nominating ballots were received.
     _Nebula_ novel finalists: _The Saint of Bright Doors_ by Vajra
Chandrasekera, _The Water Outlaws_ by S.L. Huang, _Translation State_ by
Ann Leckie, _The Terraformers_ by Annalee Newitz, _Shigidi and the Brass
Head of Obalufon_ by Wole Talabi, _Witch King_ by Martha Wells (who
declined nomination for _System Collapse_). Full list at
www.sfwa.org/blogs/sfwa-blog/.
     _Oscars._ Best animated film: _The Boy and the Heron_. _Poor Things_
had four wins in the lesser categories; _Barbie_ and _Godzilla Minus One_
each had one.
     _Philip K. Dick Award:_ _These Burning Stars_ by Bethany Jacobs.
     _Robert A. Heinlein Award:_ Tom Doherty.
     _SFWA Infinity Award_ (posthumous Grandmaster): Tanith Lee.

THOG'S SCIENCE MASTERCLASS. 'Looks like the neutrinos from the sun have
mutated into a new kind of particle!' (_2012_ dir. Roland Emmerich, 2009)

R.I.P. _Martin Bax_ (1933-2024), UK doctor, co-founding long-time editor of
_Ambit_ magazine, and author whose sf novel was _The Hospital Ship_ (1976),
died in March aged 90. [DP]
     _Bob Beerbohm_ (1952-2024), US comics fan, dealer and valued
historian, died on 27 March aged 71. [SHS]
     _Viktor Benkovsky_ (1959-2024), Russian author of _Anachron_ (2000)
plus two further novels -- all with Elena Khayetskaya -- and translator of
Dick and Spinrad, died on 9 March. [AM]
     _Colin Bennett_, UK actor and writer who wrote the children's sf
series _Luna_ (1983-1984, in which he acted) and _Captain Zep -- Space
Detective_ (1984), died on 23 February. He was also in the tv _Hitchhiker's
Guide_ (1981). [NJ]
     _Edward Bond_ (1934-2024), controversial UK playwright who used sf
themes in the post-holocaust 'War Plays' (1984-1985) and elsewhere, died on
3 March aged 89. [JC]
     _Roger Noel Cook_ (1946-2024), UK comics writer, musician and editor
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