Nov 5, 2004

Another insight into the mind of J.K. Rowling! I am informed that The Geordie Dictionary by Scott Dobson (Newcastle, 1974) defines muggle (or muggy) as 'a small marble made of glazed earthenware.'

The World Fantasy Awards were presented on 31 October:

• Novel Jo Walton, Tooth and Claw
• Novella Greer Gilman, 'A Crowd of Bone' (Trampoline)
• Short Bruce Holland Rogers, 'Don Ysidro' (Polyphony 3)
• Anthology Rosalie Parker, ed., Strange Tales
• Collection Elizabeth Hand, Bibliomancy
• Artist (tie) Donato Giancola & Jason Van Hollander
• Special Award, Professional Peter Crowther for PS Publishing
• Special Award, Non-Professional Ray Russell & Rosalie Parker for Tartarus Press
• Life Achievement Stephen King, Gahan Wilson

As Others See Us. An anonymous former bookshop worker remembers: 'Oh, I was difficult. Assigned to the worst section, SF and Fantasy (every day a ton of new loin-cloth nonsense to stack), I preferred to lurk behind the till.' (Independent on Sunday ABC, 31 October)

J.R.R. Tolkien placed third in the Forbes.com list of 'Top-Earning Dead Celebrities Of 2004', with posthumous earnings of $23m. Ahead of him are Elvis Presley ($40m) and Charles Schulz ($35m); the roster of the stinking rich continues with John Lennon ($21m), Dr Seuss ($18m) and that icon of many an sf story, Marilyn Monroe ($8m).

R.I.P. Irv Novick (1916-2004), US comics artist whose career began in 1940 and who drew Batman from the 1960s to the 1980s, died on 15 October after long illness. He was 88. Obituary.

1984: The Opera. The spring Royal Opera House programme announces a May 2005 première of Orwell's novel in opera form -- adapted by Lorin Maazel, better known as a conductor.

Thog's Masterclass. Dept of Subtle Gender Distinctions. 'Wade harpooned the lamb chop with his fork and amputated a sizable portion with his knife. He waited until he had consigned it to the mysteries of gastric chemistry before speaking. Shirley was daintily toying with peas.' (Charles Eric Maine, Thirst!, 1977)

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.