04.03.04

Life is a little fraught at present, with a crowded freelance schedule at Ansible HQ reduced to a state of total gibber by the arrival of successive drafts of Terry Whatsisname's new Discworld novel (Going Postal) for editorial comment. But hist! not a word.

As We See Ourselves. Our very own Gwyneth Jones reviews Newton's Wake by Ken MacLeod: 'Space opera writers and readers like high-concept ideas, and have limited regard for human details.' (Guardian, 27 March)

Matt Ruff is the latest Tiptree Award winner, for his 2003 novel Set This House in Order: A Romance of Souls. Presentation at WisCon, May.

Hugo Gernsback is honoured by 70-cent postage stamps issued in his native Luxembourg on 16 March, showing the great man's head with the caption 'HUGO GERNSBACK/ECRIVAIN.INVENTEUR 1884-1967'.

R.I.P. Bradford M. Day (1916-2004), major US sf bibliographer 'whose ... work is one of the foundations on which modern sf scholarship has been built' (SF Encyclopedia), died on 25 February.    Keith L. Justice (1949-2004), US sf fan and bibliographer, died (with his wife) in a car accident on 27 February. His bibliography-in-progress of Robert Silverberg is to be completed by Phil Stephensen-Payne, who welcomes assistance.   Katherine Lawrence, US TV sf scriptwriter who also wrote short stories and was active in SFWA, was found dead on 27 March and is thought to have committed suicide on the 25th.   Robert Merle (1908-2004), French author of The Day of the Dolphin (Un animal doué de raison, 1968) and the Campbell Award-winning Malevil (1972), both filmed, died near Paris on 27 March. He was 95. France awarded him the Prix Goncourt in 1949.    Sir Peter Ustinov (1921-2004), playwright, actor, director and novelist, died on 28 March aged 82. He wrote, directed and produced the 1947 film of F. Anstey's comic fantasy Vice Versa; his several other genre credits include a part in Logan's Run (1976).

ICFA Awards. At the International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts in March, K.J. Bishop (The Etched City) won the William L. Crawford Award for best new fantasy novelist; Spanish translator/editor Marcial Souto received the Distinguished Scholarship Award.

James White Award. Finalists for the latest award, presented annually for a short story by a new writer, have been announced:

  Tim P. Keating, 'One Sick Vampire'

  Brenden Whelan, 'Growing Pains'

  Deirdre Ruane, 'Lost Things Saved in Boxes'

  Matthew G Nelson, 'The Big Dave Special'

  John Garrison, 'The Tale of Pol Krage'

Winner to be announced at the 2004 Eastercon, Concourse in Blackpool.

Thog's Masterclass. Blues Dept. 'The bassist was a tall, pretty older woman whose rugged looks matched her jeans.' (Paul Black, The Tels, 2003)

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.