ANSIBLE(R) 433
AUGUST 2023

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 verified sightings of the widgeon westward winging.

[NET NOTE. See https://news.ansible.uk/a433.html for the nice HTML version;
https://news.ansible.uk/pdf/a433.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]

### THE WOUNDED WOMBATS WAIL ###

MONA AWAD and PAUL TREMBLAY filed a class-action suit in a San Francisco
federal court against OpenAI, on the ground that the company's ChatGPT bot
had 'ingested' their work from online pirate sites in defiance of copyright
law and could thus regurgitate 'very accurate summaries'. Much depends on
whether any actual financial loss to the authors can be proved and (here
the story quotes fandom's own IP professor Lilian Edwards) 'whether courts
view the use of copyright material in this way as "fair use" or as simple
unauthorized copying.' (_Guardian_, 5 July)

OCTAVIA BUTLER is remembered in Lake Forest Park, WA, where a section of
37th Avenue NE that includes her 1999-2006 home has been renamed Octavia
Butler Avenue. (_Publishers Weekly_, 30 July) [AIP]

PETER CROWTHER and JOHN DOUGLAS are this year's World Fantasy Award
Lifetime Achievement winners. [PC] Congratulations!

S.B. DIVYA declined Hugo nominations for her novelette 'Two Hands, Wrapped
in Gold' and as a member of the _Escape Pod_ semiprozine editorial team,
citing China's cruel treatment of the Uyghur people and the much-criticized
presence of Sergei Lukyanenko -- a vocal supporter of the Russian invasion
of Ukraine -- on the Chengdu guest of honour list. [F770]

KATE GREENAWAY's name has been dropped from the long-established Kate
Greenaway Medal for illustration, which with minimal consultation became
The Yoto Carnegie Medal for Illustration for reasons of 'branding
expediency'. 'The name of an accomplished woman, whose work is directly
relevant to the award, has been removed and replaced with that of a male
industrialist and a sponsoring corporation.' There is a petition to reverse
this 'insensitive' decision at www.ipetitions.com. [PDW]

MICHAEL MOORCOCK and WILL MURRAY entered the First Fandom Hall of Fame; so,
posthumously, did Ken Kelly and Conrad H. Ruppert.

PATRICK TROUGHTON (1920-1987) has a memorial blue plaque at Mill Hill
School, where he was a pupil; this was organized by the Doctor Who
Appreciation Society and unveiled in July. (_Doctor Who News_, 17 July)

### CONDIGNITY ###

5-6 Aug [] SURREY STEAMPUNK CONVIVIAL, Stoneleigh, Epsom. See
bumpandthumper.wixsite.com/steampunkconvivials.

11-13 Aug [] TFNATION (_Transformers_), Birmingham NEC. Day rates only;
e.g. Saturday is GBP45 or GBP80 for early access. See tfnation.com.

16-20 Aug [] STARS OF TIME (comics), Tropicana, Weston-super-Mare. GBP10
reg; under-12s, OAP and disabled GBP6; under-4s free. Family of 2+2
children GBP25; 2+3 GBP27. See www.starsoftime.co.uk.

24-28 Aug [] FRIGHTFEST (film), Cineworld, Leicester Square, London.
Festival and day passes quickly sold out in mid-July; some single-film
tickets at GBP14.50 (plus fees) may remain. See
frightfest.co.uk/tickets.html.

25-28 Aug [] ASYLUM-XII (steampunk), The Lawns and other Lincoln venues.
GBP45 reg: sales and day rates at www.ministryofsteampunk.com.

31 Aug - 3 Sep [] OXONMOOT (Tolkien Society), St Anne's, Oxford. 50th
Oxonmoot. Virtual membership free; the college venue is full with a long
waiting list. See www.tolkiensociety.org/events/oxonmoot-2023/

2 Sep [] WHOOVERVILLE 14 (_Doctor Who_), QUAD Centre, Derby. Tickets GBP55;
concessions GBP38; under-12s GBP10; registration open at
www.derbyquad.co.uk/Whooverville14.

21 Oct [] OCTOBER COUNTRY (Ray Bradbury), QUAD, Derby. Noon-8pm. GBP30 reg.
Details at www.derbyquad.co.uk/events/octobercountry.

29 Oct [] HALLOCON, Leasowe Castle Hotel, Wirral. 11am-5pm. GBP9; under-16s
GBP7; under-10s GBP5. See www.ljeventsentertainment.com.

18 Nov [] CYMERA WRITERS' CONFERENCE, Edinburgh and online. Register your
interest at www.cymerafestival.co.uk.

29 Mar - 1 Apr 2024 [] LEVITATION (Eastercon), Telford International
Centre. _Now GBP125 reg_; GBP50 concessions; GBP35 supporting; day
(Saturday or Sunday only) GBP50. See eastercon2024.co.uk.

SOLD OUT 2-5 Aug 2024 [] DISCWORLD CONVENTION, Birmingham NEC Hilton.
GBP100 reg; GBP60 concessions; GBP30 supp; under-12s free. Sales opened 11
July, sold out by 17 July. Waiting list at 2024.dwcon.org .

18-21 Apr 2025 [] RECONNECT, Hilton Lanyon Place Hotel and ICC, Belfast.
_Now GBP70 reg_; GBP40 under-18s and concessions; GBP25 supporting
membership only. See easterconbelfast.org.

RUMBLINGS. _UK Filk Con 2024:_ possibly 2-4 February at the Palace Hotel,
Buxton. Fans can register interest at www.contabile.org.uk.
_Worldcon 2024:_ the Glasgow committee announced that AI-generated
images will be banned in the art show and discouraged in the dealers' room.
(28 July)
_Worldcon 2026:_ the LA bid's website shows committee members though
not as yet a specific venue -- see lain2026.org.

### INFINITELY IMPROBABLE ###

IN TYPO VERITAS. US insurance agency sign in Lovecraftian mode: 'WE'LL
SCARE YOU WITH OUR INSANE RATS'. (Twitter, 22 July) [HT]

HUGO FINALISTS. Selected categories from a very long list: NOVEL _The
Daughter of Doctor Moreau_ by Silvia Moreno-Garcia; _The Kaiju Preservation
Society_ by John Scalzi; _Legends & Lattes_ by Travis Baldree; _Nona the
Ninth_ by Tamsyn Muir; _Nettle & Bone_ by T. Kingfisher; _The Spare Man_ by
Mary Robinette Kowal.
SERIES Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky; The Founders Trilogy by
Robert Jackson Bennett; The Locked Tomb by Tamsyn Muir; October Daye by
Seanan McGuire; Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch; The Scholomance by
Naomi Novik.
RELATED WORK _Blood, Sweat & Chrome: The Wild and True Story of Mad
Max: Fury Road_ by Kyle Buchanan; _Buffalito World Outreach Project_ by
Lawrence M. Schoen; _Chinese Science Fiction, An Oral History, Volume 1_ by
Yang Feng; 'The Ghost of Workshops Past' by S.L. Huang; _Still Just a Geek:
An Annotated Memoir_ by Wil Wheaton; _Terry Pratchett: A Life With
Footnotes_ by Rob Wilkins.
DRAMATIC -- LONG _Avatar: The Way of Water_; _Black Panther: Wakanda
Forever_; _Everything Everywhere All at Once_; _Nope_; _Severance (Season
1)_; _Turning Red_.
DRAMATIC -- SHORT _Andor_: 'One Way Out'; _Andor_: 'Rix Road'; _The
Expanse_: 'Babylon's Ashes'; _For All Mankind_: 'Stranger in a Strange
Land'; _She-Hulk: Attorney at Law_: 'Whose Show is This?'; _Stranger
Things_: 'Chapter Four: Dear Billy'.
LODESTAR (YA novel) _Akata Woman (The Nsibidi Scripts)_ by Nnedi
Okorafor; _Bloodmarked_ by Tracy Deonn; _Dreams Bigger Than Heartbreak_ by
Charlie Jane Anders; _The Golden Enclaves_ by Naomi Novik; _In the
Serpent's Wake_ by Rachel Hartman; _Osmo Unknown and the Eightpenny Woods_
by Catherynne M. Valente.
Full bilingual list at the Worldcon site: tinyurl.com/4ubm8a64. 1,847
valid nomination ballots were received, all but four of them cast online.
Hugo voting opened on 10 July and continues to 1 October.

SCIENCE CORNER. An update from the _Guardian_ website: 'This article was
corrected on 24 July 2023. The number of atoms in the sun is 10 to the
power of 57, not 1057 as previously stated.' (Twitter, 24 July)

R.I.P. _Alan Arkin_ (1934-2023), US actor in _The Last Unicorn_ (1982),
_Edward Scissorhands_ (1990), _The Rocketeer_ (1991), _Gattaca_ (1997),
_Dumbo_ (2019) and others, died on 29 June aged 89. [LP] He also published
some genre fiction.
_Toni Liechtenstein Bogolub_ (1954-2023), US fan and con-goer active
in Chicago fandom, died on 3 July. [SHS]
_Ion Doru Brana_ (1943-2023), Romanian translator of Harlan Ellison,
Philip Jose Farmer, Frank Herbert (_Dune_ and sequels), George R.R. Martin
and Cordwainer Smith, died on 9 May aged 80. [CL]
_Jerome Coopersmith_ (1925-2023), US screenwriter with genre credits
for _Johnny Jupiter_ (1953-1954), _'Twas the Night Before Christmas_ (1974)
and _The Sins of Dorian Gray_ (1983), died on 21 July aged 97. [AIP]
_Manny Coto_ (1961-2023), Cuban-born US screenwriter, producer and
director whose credits include _Star Kid_ (1997, as writer and director),
_Odyssey 5_ (2002-2003, creator and writer) and _Star Trek: Enterprise_
(2003-2005, showrunner and writer), died on 9 July aged 62. (Startrek.com)
_Margia Dean_ (1922-2023), US actress in _Superman and the Mole-Men_
(1951), _Mesa of Lost Women_ (1953) and _The Quatermass Xperiment_ (1964),
died on 23 June aged 101. [LP]
_Gareth Floyd_ (1940-2023), UK illustrator of children's books
(including fantasy), whose drawings regularly illustrated story readings on
the BBC's _Jackanory_, died in July aged 82. [AIP]
_Randy Fullmer_ (1950-2023), US Disney animator, producer of _The
Emperor's New Groove_ (2000) and _Chicken Little_ (2005), with visual
effects credits for _Lifeforce_ (1985), _She-Ra_ (1985-1987), _Who Framed
Roger Rabbit_ (1988) and others, died on 10 July aged 73. [AIP]
_Daniel Goldberg_, Canadian-born producer whose films include _Space
Jam_ (1996) and _Evolution_ (2001), died on 12 July aged 74. [AIP]
_Bo Goldman_ (1932-2023), Oscar-winning US screenwriter whose genre
films are_ Meet Joe Black_ (1998) and _King Kong_ (2016, a fan film using
his 1975 screenplay for Universal's legally blocked _The Legend of King
Kong_), died on 25 July aged 90. [F770]
_Lelia Goldoni_ (1936-2023), Italian-US actress in _The Spell_ (1977),
_Invasion of the Body Snatchers_ (1978), _The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes_
(1995), _The Devil Inside_ (2012) and others, died on 22 July aged 86.
[AIP]
_Russell H. Greenan_ (1925-2023), US author best known for the
unreliably fantasticated _It Happened in Boston?_ (1968), died on 22 July
aged 97.
_Lech Jeczmyk_ (1936-2023), noted Polish editor of numerous sf
anthologies and translator of Ballard, Dick, Le Guin and Vonnegut among
many others, died on 17 July aged 87. [JC]
_Clifford Johns_, US author active since 2006, whose first novel was
_Walking Shadow_ (2012), died on 23 June. [JC]
_David K.M. Klaus_ (1955-2023), long-time US fan -- especially of
_Star Trek_ -- and regular contributor of _Ansible_ news items since 2004,
died on 27 July aged 67. [F770]
_Alexei Kuznetsov_ (1941-2023), Russian director of _The Picture of
Dorian Gray_ (1968) and voice actor in the animated sf _Alice's Birthday_
(2009), who also dubbed fantasy videogames, died on 5 July. [AM]
_Robert Lieberman_ (1947-2023), US director of _Fire in the Sky_
(1993) and episodes of genre tv series including _The Dead Zone_ (2002),
died on 1 July aged 75. [LP]
_Ralph Lundsten_ (1936-2023), Swedish electronic composer strongly
inspired by sf -- with composition titles including 'Alpha Ralpha
Boulevard' and 'The Dream Master' -- died on 5 July aged 86. [J-HH]
_Juliette Mayniel_ (1936-2023), French actress who co-starred in _Les
yeux sans visage_ (_Eyes Without a Face,_ 1960), died on 21 July aged 87.
[SJ]
_Charles E. Noad_, a mainstay of the UK Tolkien Society who proofread
most of the posthumous Tolkien volumes, was found dead on 13 July. [F770]
_Patrick Lucien Price_, US game designer and editor who worked on
_D&D_ revisions at TSR from 1980 and in 1986 replaced George Scithers as
editor of _Amazing Stories_, reportedly died in July. [PDF]
_Christian Quadflieg_ (1945-2023), Swedish-born German actor whose
credits include _Star Maidens_ (1976), died on 16 July aged 78.
_Allan Scott_ (1952-2023), UK author who began publishing sf in the
OUSFG zine _Sfinx_ in 1970 and whose first novel was _The Ice King_ (1986,
US title _Burial Rites_) with Michael Scott Rohan -- published as by
Michael Scot -- died on 17 July aged 70. Another old friend and long-time
member of the Pieria writers' group gone. He is survived by his wife
Rosemary Muntus, to whom all sympathy.
_Sergey Seryogin_ (1967-2023), Russian animator who directed the
children's sf film _Alice's Birthday_ (2009) and the fantasy series _Tayna
Sukharevoy bashni_ (_The Mystery of Sukharev Tower_, 2010-2013; 2015), died
on 14 July aged 56. [AM]
_Inga Swenson_ (1932-2023), US actress in _Earth II_ (1971) and _Bay
Cove[n]_ (1987), died on 23 July aged 90. [SJ]
_Gregg Trend_, US fan and artist active in various APAs, who edited
issues of the Wayne Third Foundation fanzine _Seldon's Plan_, died on 16
July. [SB]
_Lawrence Turman_ (1926-2023), US producer whose films include
_Caveman_ (1981), _The Thing_ (1982) and _Short Circuit_ (1986 plus
sequel), died on 1 July aged 96. [AIP]
_Jim Vadeboncoeur Jr_ (1946-2023), US comics historian active in 1970s
fandom, who republished much rare artwork in his _Vadeboncoeur Collection
of ImageS_ and _Black & White ImageS_ series, died on 7 July aged 76. [AIP]
_Sydney J. Van Scyoc_ (Sydney Joyce Brown, 1939-2023), US author
active in sf magazines from the early 1960s -- her first of many novels was
_Saltflower_ (1971) -- died on 17 June aged 83. [L]
_Jimmy Weldon_ (1923-2023), US actor in _The Phantom Planet_ (1961),
_Super Friends_ (voice 1978-1983), _Americathon_ (1979) and others, died on
6 July aged 99. [LP]