11.11.03
Another Langford gloat! This year's effort to push my old stuff back into
print culminated with the delivery of a retrospective collection of 36 stories
(ranging from 1975 to 2003) to Cosmos Books. Inevitably it's titled for the sole
Hugo winner: Different
Kinds of Darkness.
World Fantasy Awards were presented on 2 November.
Life Achievement (two awards) Lloyd Alexander; Donald M. Grant Novel
(tie) Graham Joyce, The Facts of Life; Patricia A. McKillip, Ombria
in Shadow
Novella Zoran Zivkovic, 'The Library' (Leviathan 3)
Short Jeffrey Ford, 'Creation' (F&SF 5/02)
Anthology (tie) Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling,
The Green Man: Tales from the Mythic Forest; Forrest Aguirre & Jeff
VanderMeer, Leviathan Three
Collection Jeffrey Ford, The Fantasy Writer's Assistant and
Other Stories
Artist Tom Kidd
Special/Professional Gordon Van Gelder (F&SF)
Special/Non-Professional Jason Williams, Jeremy Lassen &
Benjamin Cossel (Night Shade Books)
R.I.P. Lloyd Arthur Eshbach (1910-2003), old-time US writer,
publisher, fan and chronicler of sf, died on 29 October aged 93. He edited the
first book about then-contemporary sf: Of Worlds Beyond: The Science of
Science Fiction Writing (1947), with essays by leading authors. His 1983
memoir Over My Shoulder told the story of sf small presses from the 30s
to the 50s. More on Hal Clement:
a
UK newspaper obituary by John Clute.
J.K.Rowling placed fifth and was the only woman in a Top Ten
list of highest-paid Brits, with earnings last year of around £125 million.
(Sunday Times, 2 November.) Thus she also tops the women-only list,
where the Queen languishes in seventh place and Madonna in eighth.
Small Press. Interzone, whose scheduling problems have
already led to two double issues in 2003 (indeed three, in that 'September' is
now redefined as 'September/October'), is officially moving from monthly to
bimonthly publication. David Pringle assures subscribers that they will get all
their paid-up issues
it'll just take longer. 'If we can find some
substantial new backing, then it may be that the magazine will return to a
monthly schedule at some point in the future
'
J.G. Ballard revealed, in a newspaper survey of what various celebs
dreamed of doing before they died, that: 'I've always found great rivers
mysterious and I'd like to track the source of the Amazon. [
] I'm not sure
the source of the Amazon has ever been traced there's certainly some doubt
about it. I'm building a balsawood raft in my garden at the moment, but it's
going very slowly.' (Independent on Sunday, 26 October)
Yawn. The Association of Christian Teachers is reportedly demanding
that schools boycott the £850K National Theatre production of His Dark
Materials, on grounds of blasphemy. (TLS, Nov)
David Garnett on John Jarrold's 'writers to watch' list, as reported
in Runcible 101: 'John Jarrold is of course
correct about Charlie Stross's long-term status as an up-and-coming author to
watch. In my editorial to the first of the Gollancz New Worlds
quartet (1991), I wrote: "
at least seven British authors will be having
first novels published in 1991 or 1992 an unprecedented number
before too
long
Charles Stross will join the ranks of those who have sold their first
novel
" So, another zany sci-fi prediction comes true!'
Thog's Masterclass. Dept of Subtle Nomenclature. 'The Forest
man beside me poured me more wine. He was a young, handsome man. His name was
Falicq.' (Jane Gaskell, The Serpent, 1963)
David Langford is an author and a gentleman.
His newsletter, Ansible,
is the essential SF-insider sourcebook of wit and incongruity. His most recent books are Different Kinds of Darkness, a new short-story collection of horror, SF, and fantasy, Up Through an Empty House of Stars: Reviews and Essays 1980-2002, 100 pieces of Langfordian genre commentary, and He Do the Time Police in Different Voices, a short-story collection that brings together, all of Dave's SF parodies and pastiches. (This is a scary thought. Are you ready to laugh that hard?)
Dave lives in Reading, England with his wife Hazel, 25,000 books, and a few dozen Hugo awards. He continues to add books and Hugos.
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