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06.13.03

Here I am, back from the trip to Snowdonia adumbrated last week, and straining every nerve to meet the Runcible deadline ...

R.I.P. Ken Grimwood (1944-2003), US radio journalist and author best known in our genre for the World Fantasy Award-winning Replay (1986), died in California on 6 June; he was 59. Replay, described by John Clute as 'a highly successful time fantasy', gained a considerable cult following. George and Jan O'Nale, who as the small press Cheap Street produced fine sf/fantasy chapbooks, died around the end of May in what has been reported as a double suicide.

Thog's Classical-Scientific-Etymological Special. 'Athena was perhaps the first mythical character to undergo parthenogenesis, having emerged fully formed from the forehead of her father, Zeus. Hence her temple on the Acropolis is called The Parthenon.' (Steve Connor, Independent newspaper Science Editor, 10 June)

Bram Stoker Awards in numerous categories were presented on 7 June:

Life Achievement J.N. Williamson, Stephen King

  Novel Tom Piccirilli, The Night Class

  First Novel Alice Sebold The Lovely Bones

  Long Fiction (tie) Thomas Ligotti, 'My Work Is Not Yet Done', and Brian A. Hopkins, El Dia de Los Muertos

  Short Fiction Tom Piccirilli,`The Misfit Child Grows Fat on Despair'

  Collection Ray Bradbury, One More for the Road

  Anthology John Pelan (ed.), The Darker Side: Generations of Horror

  Nonfiction Ramsey Campbell, Ramsey Campbell, Probably

  Illustrated Narrative Robert Weinberg, Nightside

  Screenplay Brant Hanley, Frailty

  Younger Readers Neil Gaiman, Coraline

  Poetry Mark McLaughlin, Rain Graves & David Niall Wilson, The Gossamer Eye

  Alternative Forms Steve & Melanie Tem, `Imagination Box'

Forry vs Ferry. Forrest J Ackerman's lawsuit against Ray Ferry of Famous Monsters of Filmland, for exploiting his creations and even his established pseudonyms, is well known -- and the verdict went against Ferry, who also lost on appeal. See Ackerman's own summary. But a singularly weird web page, apparently Ferry's own, now claims that this was all a fix, and that judgements in favour of Ackerman were swayed by 'a well entrenched criminal conspiracy with ties to organized crime including drug trafficking, money laundering and real estate swindles in southern California'. Just to pile it on, 'that organization may have ties to terrorist and/or anti-American activities.' Supposedly a dossier about all this has been sent to many high officials: `Mr. Bush has acknowledged Mr. Ferry's advisory in a personal letter to him and the White House has confirmed its interest in the matter.' Well, that should take his mind off the Middle East. Whatever next?

Thog's Masterclass. Dept of Chronological Anomaly. 'Twenty-four hours. One day, Tucker calculated. Maybe two, if he was lucky.' (Taylor Smith, The Innocents Club, 2000)

 


He Do the Time Police in Different VoicesDavid 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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