ANSIBLE(R) 418
MAY 2022

From DAVID LANGFORD, 94 London Road, Reading, Berks, RG1 5AU, UK. Website
news.ansible.uk. ISSN 0265-9816 (print); 1740-942X (e). Available for SAE
or the Chaos Engineers' navigational charts of the Second Ether.

[NET NOTE. See https://news.ansible.uk/a418.html for the nice HTML version;
https://news.ansible.uk/pdf/a418.pdf for a printable PDF. Mailing list
subscribe/unsubscribe information appears below -- please don't send such
requests to my own e-mail address. DRL]

RECLAMATION. The 2022 UK Eastercon reportedly went well despite several
problems with the understaffed Heathrow hotel and its dodgy IT systems (a
long walk to one's room to find the keycard didn't work was a common
complaint). Nevertheless huge enthusiasm was expressed, and people seemed
to be having fun even from my own worm's-eye viewpoint of daily newsletters
(online at reclamation2022.co.uk/newsletter), social media and Discord text
channels only: the latter provided some cognitive dissonance as pointed
questions to convention bid committees showed up in the voting channel but
I never saw the answers. For Eastercon 2023, the Conversation (venue TBA)
bid won over Persistence (Birmingham NEC Hilton) by 148 votes to 98 with 16
abstentions; Levitation in Telford was unopposed for 2024; see events list
below for details of both.
A highly technical yet also funny panel on Peeing In Space was much
applauded.
_BSFA Awards:_ NOVEL _Shards of Earth_ by Adrian Tchaikovsky. FOR
YOUNGER READERS _Iron Widow_ by Xiran Jay Zhao. SHORTER _Fireheart Tiger_
by Aliette de Bodard. NON-FICTION _Worlds Apart: Worldbuilding in Fantasy
and Science Fiction_ ed. Francesca T. Barbini. ARTWORK _Glasgow Green
Woman_ by Iain Clark.
_Doc Weir Award_ (unsung heroes): James Shields. [MJL]
The membership count was 797, with 659 physically present. [JS] Some
fans had to self-isolate in their rooms following positive Covid tests, or
came down with it afterwards. Post-con positives were listed on Discord
until 22 April, when the count hit 74; dozens more reports followed. A
certain Twitter handle changed to 'Alison Scott (Plague! Unclean!)'.

### THE FACE OF THE FLY ###

CHARLES DE LINT has stepped down as a Chicon 8 guest of honour, apparently
because of his wife's prolonged illness. (_File 770_, 4 April)

OGHENECHOVWE DONALD EKPEKI triumphantly tweeted about being the first
African-born Black writer to reach the final Hugo ballot -- twice, for best
novelette and best editor (short form). (7 April)

FRED HOYLE was remembered in an Inquisitor crossword based on his cheering
observation that 'Space isn't remote at all. It's only an hour's drive away
if your car could go straight upwards.' (_i_ newspaper, 2 April)

MARY ROBINETTE KOWAL's remarks as an Eastercon GoH included: 'We are always
twenty years away from Mars.' (_Proclamation_ 3, 16 April)

BOB MADLE asks us all to keep an eye out for his copies of the very rare
fanzine _Science Fiction_ (#1-#5, 1932-1933) ed. Jerry Seigel, with #3
containing the first appearance of Superman -- stolen from his collection
(by a visitor to his home?) at some time before March 2020. [CP]

LIZ WILLIAMS was one of many who underwent the Generation Starship
Experience of hotel check-in at Reclamation, enjoying much suspense from
her 11am arrival to getting a room at 10pm. (Facebook, 15 April) The hotel
apologized with a 25% discount/refund of all Friday-night room fees. In the
great fan tradition of running jokes into the ground, the spoof issue of
the daily newsletter proposed a new SI unit, the check-in queue or cq: 'One
cq is approximately 17 miles or 12.65 hours.'

### CONJURY ###

7-8 May [] PORTSMOUTH COMIC CON, Guildhall, Portsmouth. GBP25 adult weekend
ticket; various other rates at portsmouthcomiccon.com.

19-22 May [] SCI-FI LONDON (film festival), Picturehouse, Stratford,
London. See sci-fi-london.com.

21-22 May [] HORRORCON UK, Magna, Sheffield. GBP45 reg; GBP55 early
admission (10am rather than 11am). Day rates at horrorconuk.com.

23 May [] TOLKIEN LECTURE, Pichette Auditorium, Pembroke College, Oxford.
Speaker: Rebecca F. Kuang. 6pm. See tolkienlecture.org.

26-29 May [] CHILLERCON UK (horror), Grand and Royal Hotels, Scarborough.
GBP130 reg; HWA members GBP120. See chillercon-uk.com.

26 May [] VAMPIRE HORDE, Whitby Abbey. English Heritage hopes to break the
2011 record of 1,039 vampire impersonators gathered together -- ideally
with 1,897 participants to mark the year of _Dracula_. The dress code is
tough: a 2013 West Sussex attempt failed because too many of the caped and
fanged wore 'non-regulation shoes'. (_Guardian_, 20 April)

27-29 May [] SATELLITE 7, Crowne Plaza, Glasgow. GBP70 reg (GBP80 at door);
under-25s GBP60; under-18s GBP20; under-12s GBP5; under-5s GBP2. Advance
registration closes 20 May. Day rates at seven.satellitex.org.uk.

28-29 May 2022 [] EM-CON (media), Motorpoint Arena, Nottingham. Weekend
tickets GBP30 (GBP40 early entry); day rates at www.em-con.co.uk.

28-29 May [] LAWLESS (UK comics), Hilton Doubletree, Bristol. Tickets
GBP63; day rate GBP31.75. See new website: lawlesscomiccon.co.uk

HYBRID. 3-5 Jun [] CYMERA SF FESTIVAL 2022, Edinburgh and online. GBP80 in
person; GBP50 digital. See www.cymerafestival.co.uk.

CANCELLED. 25 Jun [] ORION@40, Southend. See www.orionat40.com.

15-17 Jul [] LAVECON (gaming), Kents Hill Park, Milton Keynes: _new dates
and venue_. Tickets awaited at www.hwsevents.co.uk/shop-1.

5-7 Aug [] TITANCON, Hilton Hotel, Belfast. _Now GBP40 reg;_ GBP45 from 1
July and at the door. More at titancon.com.

1-5 Sep [] CHICON 8 (80th Worldcon), Chicago, IL, USA. _Now $230 reg; first
Worldcon $130; under-25s $100; under-18s $70_; under-14s $50; under-10s
free; $50 supporting. Hotel booking now open. See chicon.org.

29 Oct [] BRISTOLCON, Hilton DoubleTree Hotel, Bristol. GoH Liz Williams,
Stark Holborn. GBP30 reg; GBP15 under-18s and concessions; under-14s free;
GBP10 supp. Registration at www.bristolcon.org.

3-4 Dec [] FOR THE LOVE OF SCI-FI (media), BEC Arena, Stretford,
Manchester. GBP41.25; under-10s GBP13.20. More at fortheloveofsci-fi.com.

18 Mar 2023 [] BEDFORD WHO CHARITY CON (_Doctor Who_), King's House,
Ampthill Road, Bedford, MK42 9AZ. 10am-5:30pm. Tickets available 'soon'
from bedfordwhocharitycon.co.uk.

7-10 Apr 2023 [] CONVERSATION (Eastercon) , venue to be announced. GoH Zen
Cho, Niall Harrison, Jennell Jaquays, Kari Sperring, Adrian Tchaikovsky,
Ursula Vernon (T. Kingfisher). GBP70 reg; GBP40 concessions; GBP35
supporting or online only. These rates will be held until after the
location is revealed. See conversation2023.org.uk.

29 Mar - 1 Apr 2024 [] LEVITATION (Eastercon), Telford International
Centre. GoH Jackie Burns, Genevieve Cogman, Michelle Sagara, Tade Thompson.
GBP95 reg (_rising to GBP115 'after Satellite', so not before 30 May_);
GBP50 concessions; GBP35 supporting. See eastercon2024.co.uk.

RUMBLINGS. _Eurocon Bids_ announced at LuxCon (Luxembourg, April): 2025
Aland, Finland; 2026 Berlin, Germany; 2028 Zagreb, Croatia. The 2024 event
will be in Rotterdam, The Netherlands: see erasmuscon.nl.

### INFINITELY IMPROBABLE ###

AS OTHERS SEE US. Christian Lorentzen reviews Emily St John Mandel and the
entire sf genre she rode in on: 'A book like _Sea of Tranquility_ is a sign
of a genre's exhaustion.' (_Financial Times_, 13 April) [AB]

MORE AWARDS. _ESFS European Grandmaster:_ Claude Peiffer (Luxembourg).
_HWA Life Achievement:_ Jo Fletcher, Nancy Holder, Koji Suzuki. [SJ]
_Philip K. Dick Award:_ _Dead Space_ by Kali Wallace.

PUBLISHERS AND SINNERS. Charles Platt had nine ebooks on sale at
Orion/Gollancz's SF Gateway, but rights were reverted in 2021: 'I resold
the books to a new publisher, which put its Kindle editions online this
year. / The new publisher has now received notification from Amazon/Kindle
accusing it of piracy. In fact, ALL of the new publisher's titles (not just
mine) were delisted. The new publisher will not receive any more royalties.
The new publisher will never be allowed to use Kindle services ever again.
/ I checked and, of course, Orion had failed to remove my titles from their
web site, even though they reverted the rights. Presumably Kindle runs some
kind of bot check on ebook availability in a commendable effort to crack
down on piracy. Unfortunately at this point Orion are the ones guilty of
piracy, as a result of their incompetence.' (Email, 21 April) The SF
Gateway ebook listings have since vanished.

AWARD SHORTLISTS. _Booker (International):_ the only finalist with
fantastic themes is _Cursed Bunny_ by Bora Chung. [F770]
_Hugo Finalists_ in selected categories: NOVEL _A Desolation Called
Peace_ by Arkady Martine; _The Galaxy, and the Ground Within_ by Becky
Chambers; _Light From Uncommon Stars_ by Ryka Aoki; _A Master of Djinn_ by
P. Djeli Clark; _Project Hail Mary_ by Andy Weir; _She Who Became the Sun_
by Shelley Parker-Chan. SERIES The Green Bone Saga by Fonda Lee; The
Kingston Cycle by C.L. Polk; Merchant Princes by Charles Stross; Terra
Ignota by Ada Palmer; Wayward Children by Seanan McGuire; The World of the
White Rat by T. Kingfisher (Ursula Vernon). RELATED WORK _Being Seen_ by
Elsa Sjunneson; _The Complete Debarkle_ by Camestros Felapton; _Dangerous
Visions and New Worlds_ edited by Andrew Nette and Iain McIntyre; 'How
Twitter can ruin a life' by Emily St. James (Vox, 6/21); _Never Say You
Can't Survive_ by Charlie Jane Anders; _True Believer: The Rise and Fall of
Stan Lee_ by Abraham Riesman. DRAMATIC (LONG) _Dune_, _Encanto_, _The Green
Knight_, _Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings_, _Space Sweepers_,
_WandaVision_. LODESTAR (YA, not a Hugo): _Chaos on CatNet_ by Naomi
Kritzer; _Iron Widow_ by Xiran Jay Zhao; _The Last Graduate_ by Naomi
Novik; _Redemptor_ by Jordan Ifueko; _A Snake Falls to Earth_ by Darcie
Little Badger; _Victories Greater Than Death_ by Charlie Jane Anders. For
the full list of 114 finalists see
chicon.org/home/whats-happening/hugo-awards/. (Though deafly unable to
appreciate podcasts, I was pleased to see the UK _Octothorpe_ in Best
Fancast.)
_Prometheus_ (libertarian): _Between Home and Ruin_ by Karl K.
Gallagher; _Seize What's Held Dear_ by Karl K. Gallagher; _Klara and the
Sun_ by Kazuo Ishiguro; _Rich Man's Sky_ by Wil McCarthy; _Should We Stay
Or Should We Go_ by Lionel Shriver.