06.21.02

The life cycle of the Ansible is little understood. You see its wriggly larval form here in The Infinite Matrix; the imago takes wing each month as a one-page newsletter and e-zine; and eventually its desiccated remains are pinned and mounted in the glass case of an Interzone magazine column. Speaking of which —

David Pringle of Interzone would be more flattered by the discovery that early issues from 1982 are now priced at £85 sterling, if the vendor (see here or here) didn't describe his pride and joy as a 'Short lived English horror and fantasy magazine.' Ahem: the 179th Interzone appeared this month.

Thog's Science Masterclass. 'Hollywood has breathed new life into HG Wells's innovative sci-fi novel The Time Machine. […] While physicians continue to find ways to time travel, others claim to have done so unintentionally.' (Jem Maidment, 'Is Time Travel Possible?', article on ITV1 Teletext, 2002)

Robert Holdstock is busying himself with a new frenzy of Celtic fantasy creativity: '… by God, I Needs To Write. I have one image, so far: of the slopes of the huge hill fort of Taurovinda beginning to bleed, not blood, but blood-red bulls! The blood-lava of the Oldest Animals, the Dreamtime awakening in the bowels of Albion. And giant chickens; there must, for sure, have been Giant Chickens in the Dreamtime.'

R.I.P. Herman Cohen (1927-2002), US producer of such cult films as I Was a Teenage Werewolf, Blood of Dracula and I Was a Teenage Frankenstein (all 1957), died from throat cancer on 2 June. Other sources give birth year 1925, or 1928. Alas, he never plumbed the ultimate horror of I Was a Teenage SF Fan.

Thog's Masterclass. Dept of Strange Anatomy. 'He started pushing her buttocks up until they had almost disconnected.' (Nancy Taylor Rosenberg, Interest of Justice, 1993) 'He does a little shifting of the eyes under this shit-eating grin …' (Steve Martini, Undue Influence, 1994) Dept of Philosophy. 'Other-ness plays the same part in urinating as in producing poetry.' (Colin Wilson, The Philosopher's Stone, 1969)

David Langford is an author and a gentleman. His newsletter, Ansible, is the essential SF-insider sourcebook of wit and incongruity. He lives in Reading, England with his wife Hazel, 25,000 books, and a few dozen Hugo awards. He continues to add books and Hugos.