04.12.04

Rush, rush, rush. While the British sf elite converges on Blackpool for Eastercon (9-12 April), family ties call me to darkest Wales. Our next Runcible instalment might just be a day or two late....

Ramsey Campbell grumbles: 'Reviewers should be warned that if they give a less than favourable account of anything published by the British small press Haunted River, the proprietor Christopher Barker is likely to post their work on the Internet. He apparently believes in copyright only when it suits him. If his name sounds familiar, perhaps that's because he had to be taken to court for his 1997 World Fantasy Convention membership after he stopped the cheque.'

Christopher Priest couldn't believe the apparent generosity of the British government's new Pension Credit scheme ... and he was right. His Guardian article reveals all.

Colin Smythe has shrugged off some of his terrifying responsibility as Agent of Discworld®. 'As it was becoming too large and bulky for me to keep at home, about two years ago I gave my main collection of Terry Pratchett's books (in about 30 languages), together with publicity and merchandise material, to the University of London Library in Malet Street, where it is known by the rather cumbersome title of "The Colin Smythe Terry Pratchett Archive", and continues to grow as I add new publications. One of the librarians, Margaret Blackburn, has been cataloguing the archive on a part-time basis for the past 18 months, and the Library has now put on display a "taster" preview of material from the collection. This Pratchett Preview will be open to the public until 5 June 2004. Mrs Blackburn has so far catalogued nearly eleven hundred of the books, and has also started work on the models, alcoholic beverages, audio and video material, games (computer and otherwise), t-shirts, jewellery, jigsaws and other Pratchettiana. Information on how to get to the display in the Senate House, the catalogue and some pictures can be found here.'

Jane Yolen is overachieving, again: 'I think I managed to break some kind of world record the other day. Had 12 book rejections on Thursday, a 13th on Friday, and a short story bounced on Saturday. (Though 8 of the books were 2 editors turning down the same 4-book projected limited series.)   The next week though some sort of karmic balance was restored when I won two awards for two different books, the 2003 Aesop prize given by the American Folklore Society, and some sort of humane society honor for another book.' (2 April)

Thog's Masterclass. Dept of Settlement. 'The unsettling potential of the situation settled hard in Susan's stomach.' (Dan Brown, Digital Fortress, 1998)    Purple Passage Dept. '... in the blood of stainless childhood the leprous limbs of phosphorescent Lilith were laved.' (H.P.Lovecraft, 'The Horror At Red Hook')

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.