From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom


ANSIBLE(R) 468
JULY 2026

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 full confession of who did it -- who took the strawberry jam?

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### THE WHITE TERROR ###

DOUGLAS ADAMS's famous quip has been adapted into an eternal truth about fandoms: 'In the beginning, _Doctor Who_ was created. This has made a lot
of _Doctor Who_ fans very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move.' (Bluesky, 10 June) [GB] The BBC cancellation of the promised Christmas
special and decision to 'put _Doctor Who_ out to competitive tender this
year', along with the departure of the showrunner and producer, inevitably generated much heated discussion. (BBC, 10 June)

MEL BROOKS celebrated his 100th birthday on 28 June, provoking fond
memories of his early comic routine as The 2000 Year Old Man.

HELEN MIRREN, whose many noted acting credits include such sf roles as the voice of Deep Thought in _The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy_ (2005), was made a Companion of Honour for services to drama in the UK Birthday
Honours. Malorie Blackman (_Noughts & Crosses_) and Julia Donaldson (_The Gruffalo_) became Dames; Peter Lord and David Sproxton of Aardman
Animations were knighted; John Wagner, long-time _2000 AD_ writer and co-creator of Judge Dredd, is now an MBE.

MICHAEL WHELAN is used to plagiarism of his artwork, but stealing his
actual face for a pinball machine design seemed a bit much. After decades
of wondering whether this was a false-memory hallucination, he tracked down
the machine, a famous one called Time Warp that has its own Wikipedia page.
And there -- image perhaps lifted from his photo in the 1978 art book _Sorcerers_ -- he was. (Michael Whelan, Substack, 7 June) [AIP]


### CONCETTISM ###

2-5 Jul [] METROPOLCON (Eurocon), 'silent green' Kulturquartier, Berlin.
Euro95 reg; reduced Euro75; under-12s Euro5. See www.metropolcon.eu.

11 Jul [] FRANCES HARDINGE symposium, King's College, London. 9:30am-5pm. Tickets GBP50 or GBP35 concessions, with lunch; GBP25 without lunch. See tinyurl.com/5aabu9d2.

16-17 Jul [] CURRENT RESEARCH IN SPECULATIVE FICTION (conference),
University of Liverpool. See crsfhome.home.blog.

SOLD OUT 17-19 Jul [] FANTASY FOREST (cosplay), Sudely Castle, Cheltenham,
with camping options. More at fantasyforest.co.uk.

18-19 Jul [] WEIRD WORCESTER (film), U of Worcester Arena. GBP37; GBP47
early entry. See www.treasuredfilms.co.uk/weirdworcester.

24-27 Jul [] CONTINUUM (RPG), Cranfield University CMDC . Tickets GBP75 or GBP25 per day (under-17s free) from continuumconvention.co.uk.

25 Jul [] SMALL PRESS DAY, various events throughout the UK and Ireland,
and online. See smallpressday.co.uk.

1 Aug [] NORTHERN HORIZON (_Blake's 7_), Copthorne Hotel, Newcastle.
10am-4pm. GBP25; 'VIP' GBP80. See nufcmatters.co.uk/shop/.

1 Aug [] REBEL BASE NORTH EAST (_Star Wars_), Newcastle upon Tyne.
10am-4pm. GBP20; 'VIP' GBP75. _Same hotel and website as the above._

SOLD OUT 7-10 Aug [] DISCWORLD CONVENTION, Leonardo Hotel, Hinckley Island, Leicestershire. There is a waiting list at dwcon.org.

4-6 Sep [] FANTASY FOREST (cosplay), Hatfield House, Hatfield, with camping options. More at fantasyforest.co.uk.

1 Nov [] COMIC CON, Mercure Hotel, St Helens, Merseyside. 10am-10:30pm.
Adults GBP5.89. More at www.ljeventsentertainment.com.

21 Nov [] TOLKIEN'S INVENTED LANGUAGES (Tolkien Society seminar), online.
Free. See www.tolkiensociety.org/events/seminar-2026/.

4-6 Jun 2027 [] UK GAMES EXPO, Birmingham NEC. Tickets go on sale in
December 2026 at www.ukgamesexpo.co.uk.

24-26 Sep 2027 [] FANTASYCON, Birmingham. Details 'coming soon' at tinyurl.com/fcon27 (Facebook), or perhaps www.hwsevents.co.uk or a
dedicated website. There is no 2027 World Fantasy Convention, and the World Fantasy Awards will be presented at this Fantasycon.

15-18 Oct 2027 [] IRISH DISCWORLD CONVENTION, Cork International Hotel,
Cork. Euro120 reg; concessions Euro70; under-18s Euro30; under-7s free. Membership limited to 300. Further details at idwcon.org.

RUMBLINGS. _Norncon_ (Belfast) was reportedly a success in May 2026 and
will return in 2027: dates etc. are awaited at norncon.org.
_Eurocon 2029:_ the Polish sf club Avangarda has announced a bid to
hold Eurocon in their home city Warsaw. See eurocon.ava.waw.pl.
_BSFA bid for Eastercon/Eurocon 2030_ (19-22 April, Birmingham): see
their Facebook page at tinyurl.com/bsfa2030 with a link to the proposal, including the fallback positions of holding a non-Eurocon Eastercon or vice versa.


### INFINITELY IMPROBABLE ###

AS WE SEE US. Tim Allen, voice of Buzz Lightyear, on _Toy Story 5_: 'I
think this is honest art. Like Dostoevsky's _The Brothers Karamazov_ on
some sombre, wonderful level.' (_Guardian_, 11 June) [PE]

AWARDS. _Lambda_ (LGBTQ+) sf category: _Beings_ by Ilana Masad.
_Nebulas:_ NOVEL _The Buffalo Hunter Hunter_ by Stephen Graham Jones. NOVELLA _The River Has Roots_ by Amal El-Mohtar. NOVELETTE 'Uncertain Sons'
by Thomas Ha (_Uncertain Sons_). SHORT 'Laser Eyes Ain't Everything' by
Effie Seiberg (_Diabolical Plots_). MIDDLE GRADE/YA _Into the Wild Magic_
by Michelle Knudsen. GAME WRITING _Clair Obscur: Expedition 33_ by
Guillaume Broche & Jennifer Svedberg-Yen. DRAMATIC _Murderbot_ Season One. COMIC _Mary Shelley's School for Monsters: The Killing Stone_ by Jessica Maison. POEM 'The World To Come' by Jennifer Hudak (_Strange Horizons_). _Also:_ GRAND MASTER N.K. Jemisin. SOLSTICE David Langford. SERVICE TO SFWA
Gay Haldeman. INFINITY Roger Zelazny.
_Stoker:_ ANTHOLOGY _Silk & Sinew_ ed. Kristy Park Kulski. COLLECTION _Lost in the Dark_ by John Langan. FIRST NOVEL _The October Film Haunt_ by Michael Wehunt. GRAPHIC NOVEL _Bowling With Corpses_ by Mike Mignola. LONG FICTION (tie) _Cathedral of the Drowned_ by Nathan Ballingrud; 'Wolf Moon, Antler Moon' by A.C. Wise (_Reactor_). LONG NON-FICTION _Why I Love Horror_
ed. Becky Siegel Spratford. MIDDLE GRADE NOVEL _Ride or Die_ by Delilah S. Dawson. NOVEL _The Buffalo Hunter Hunter_ by Stephen Graham Jones. POETRY _Everything Endless_ by Linda D. Addison & Jamal Hodge. SCREENPLAY
_Sinners_ by Ryan Coogler. SHORT 'Inheritance' by RJ Joseph (_Full
Throttle_). SHORT NONFICTION 'My Long Road to Horror' by Tananarive Due
(_Why I Love Horror_). YA NOVEL _Shiny Happy People_ by Clay McLeod
Chapman.

SCIENTIFIC UNITS. 'He got it up to one three five or so on the Richter
scale, miles per hour, on that service.' (John McEnroe, TNT Sports) [PE]

PUBLISHERS AND SINNERS. Stephen Gallagher was also worried about the demise
of the SF Gateway ebook site (see _A467_), and unlike me had a reply: 'This
was done with the intention to bring the Gateway authors in line with the
rest of Gollancz/Orion on the main site.' He and his ebooks can now be
found by a search at www.orionbooks.co.uk -- though _not_ at store.gollancz.co.uk, to which sfgateway.com now redirects! Many other
Gateway authors have been moved to Orion, but not all: 'No results found
for Fanthorpe.' Presumably migration slowly continues. _Stephen:_ 'It'll be
a Good Thing when they get it right -- the Gateway site was cranky and
dated and had begun to feel like a bit of an Old Folks' Home.'

THE GERNSBACK FUTURE IS HERE. The US Waymo LLC withdrew over 3,800
driverless 'robotaxis' owing to their AI-powered habit of whizzing past
'ramp closed' signs into roadworks sites and between the rows of cones
marking closed-off lanes. (_The Register_, 19 June)

R.I.P. _Dafydd ab Hugh_ (1960-2026), US author of _Heroing: or, How He
Wound Down the World_ (1987) plus various _Star Trek_ and (with Brad Linaweaver) _Doom_ novelizations, has reportedly died aged 65. [AT-C]
_John Blanche_ (1948-2026), prolific UK fantasy artist best known for decades of work on Games Workshop's _Warhammer_ and _Warhammer 40,000_,
died on 1 June aged 77. [MG] His first art collection was _Ratspike_ (1989) with Ian Miller.
_Ann Blyth_ (1927-2026), US actress who co-starred in _Mr. Peabody and
the Mermaid_ (1948), died on 24 June aged 98. [SJ]
_Michael Byrne_ (1943-2026), UK actor in _The Medusa Touch_ (1978), _Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade_ (1989), _Blood: The Last Vampire_
(2009) and _Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1_ (2010), died on
20 June aged 82. [AIP]
_Daveigh Chase_ (1990-2026), US actress in _Donnie Darko_ (2001), _Spirited Away_ (2001), _Lilo & Stitch_ (2002) and _The Ring_ (2002), died
on 16 June aged 35. [AT-C]
_Lyudmila Chursina_ (1941-2026), Russian actress whose films include
the Yefremov-based _Tumannost' Andromedy_ (_The Andromeda Nebula_, 1967),
the fantasy _Taynaya sila_ (_Hidden Force_, 2002) and the dystopian
_Babushka Ada_ (_Grandma Ada_, 2007), died on 10 June aged 84. [AM]
_David Daker_ (1935-2026), UK actor in _Time Bandits_ (1981),
_Britannia Hospital_ (1982), _The Woman in Black_ (1989), _I Bought a
Vampire Motorcycle_ (1990) and genre tv series including _Doctor Who_ (1973-1979), died on 30 April aged 90. [SG]
_Tom Dreesen_ (1939-2026), US comedian and actor in _Spaceballs_
(1987), died on 17 June aged 86.
_Patrick Godfrey_ (1933-2026), UK actor in _The Girl in a Swing_
(1988), _Ever After_ (1998), _The Miracle Maker_ (1999), _Dimensions_
(2011) and genre tv series, died on 4 June aged 93. [SJ]
_David Greenslade_ (1943-2026), UK composer and keyboard player whose genre work included _The Pentateuch of the Cosmogony_ (1979) with Patrick Woodroffe and _From the Discworld_ (1994), plus tv scores for _Dr. Jekyll
and Mr. Hyde_ (1980) and _Artemis 81_ (1981), died in June aged 83. [CM]
_Anthony Guidera_ (1960-2026), US actor in _Species_ (1995), _The
Postman_ (1997) , _Armageddon_ (1998) and genre tv series, died on 6 June
aged 65. [AIP]
_Andy Halliday_ (1953-2026), US actor who co-starred in the
long-running off-Broadway cult comedy _Vampire Lesbians of Sodom_
(1984-1989), died on 5 May aged 73. [AIP]
_James Handy_ (1945-2026), US actor in _Arachnophobia_ (1990), _The Rocketeer_ (1991), _Jumanji_ (1995), _Unbreakable_ (2000), _Logan_ (2017)
and others, died on 3 June aged 81. [SJ]
_Anthony Head_ (1954-2026), UK actor in _Buffy the Vampire Slayer_
(121 episodes 1997-2003), _The Adventures of Merlin_ (43 episodes
2008-2012), _Repo! The Genetic Opera_ (2008), _Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance_ (2011) and others, died on 5 June aged 72. [SJ]
_Linnette Horne_ (1955-2025), New Zealand fan who published _Cry
Havoc_ and was the 1999 FFANZ delegate to Aussiecon 3, died on 28 August
2025 (only recently announced) aged 69. [NR]
_Brian Johnson_ (Brian R. Johncock, 1939-2026), UK special effects
artist who worked on 1950s Hammer films, _Thunderbirds_ (1965-1966) and
other Anderson puppet series, _Space: 1999_ (1975-1977), and many more
films including _Alien_ (1979) -- for which he shared an effects Oscar --
_The Empire Strikes Back_ (1980), _Dragonslayer_ (1981), _The Neverending Story_ (1984) and _Aliens_ (1986), died on 16 June aged 86. [SJ]
_Penelope Keith_ (1940-2026), noted UK actress whose genre credits
include _Ghost Story_ (1974), _Aladdin_ (1992), _Beauty and the Beast_
(1992) and _Tales of the Tooth Fairies_ (1992), died on 29 June aged 86.
_Margaret Kerry_ (1929-2026), US actress and dancer who was the live-motion model for Tinker Bell in Disney's _Peter Pan_ (1953) and
co-starred in _Space Angel_ (52 episodes 1962-1964), died on 11 June aged
97. [F770]
_Russell Kirkpatrick_ (1961-2026), New Zealand author and map-maker
whose fantasy includes the trilogies 'Fires of Heaven' (2004-2005) and 'Husk/Broken Man' (2007-2009), died on 26 June. [SJ]
_Max Kleven_ (1933-2026), US actor/stuntman/stunt arranger in _Billy
the Kid versus Dracula_ (1966), _Rollerball_ (1975), _Omen II: Damien_
(1978), _My Science Project_ (1985) and others, died on 3 June aged 92.
[SJ]
_John A. Lent_ (1936-2026), US academic and comics scholar who wrote
or edited 91 books on his subject and was editor of _International Journal
of Comic Art_ since its founding in 1999, died on 16 May aged 89. [AIP]
_Denis Lobanov_ (1971-2026), CEO of the Russian sf/f publisher
Knizhnyi Klub Fantastika ('Fantastic Book Club') died on 23 June. [AM]
_Richard Mettler_, US film editor for _The Curse_ (aka _Eight for
Silver_, 2021) and _I.S.S._ (2023), died on 1 June aged 56. [AIP]
_Giorgia Moll_ (1938-2026), Italian actress who co-starred in _The
Thief of Baghdad_ (1961), died on 2 June aged 88. [SJ]
_Luis De La Rosa Obregon_ (1991-2026), Mexican animator whose credits include _Space Jam: A New Legacy_ (2021) and _Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse_ (2023), died on 24 June aged 34. [AIP]
_Jeff Olson_, US visual effects artist for _Who Framed Roger Rabbit_ (1988), _Ghostbusters II_ (1989), _Back to the Future III_ (1990), _Star
Trek: Generations_ (1994), _The Phantom Menace_ (1999), _Signs_ (2002) and others, died on 21 June aged 77.
_Anne Schedeen_ (1949-2026), US actress in _Embryo_ (1976), _Exo-Man_ (1977) and genre tv series -- in particular _ALF_ (103 episodes 1986-2004)
-- died on 14 June aged 77. [SJ]
_Ronnie Schell_ (1931-2026), US actor in _Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels_ (39 episodes 1977-1980), _Battle of the Planets_ (85 episodes 1978-1980), _The Cat from Outer Space_ (1978) and others, died on 12 June
aged 94. [F770]
_William Smithers_ (1927-2026), US _Dallas_ actor in _The Shadow_
(1954), _Deathsport_ (1978) and genre tv series, died on 26 May aged 98.
[LP]
_Robin Postal White_ (1946-2026), US fan active since the 1960s, a
member of the NY Fanoclasts group and married to the late Ted White from
1966 to _circa_ 1976, died on 3 June aged 79. [CP]
_Jane Yolen_ (1939-2026), much loved and hugely prolific (her 450th
book appeared this year) author of sf, poems, fantasy and especially fairytales, died on 11 June aged 87. [LP] Her many awards include
Mythopoeic, Nebula and World Fantasy awards for specific works, and
multiple career honours: Skylark (1990), World Fantasy Life Achievement
(2009), SF&F Poetry Association Grand Master (2010) and SFWA Grand Master (2017). She was a guest of honour at the 1984 World Fantasy Convention and
2005 Worldcon. It was always a pleasure to meet Jane and (in allusion to a _Fantasy Encyclopedia_ entry) have her dance satanically around me while calling me the Devil's Dandy Dog.

MORE DOWNSIZING. _Romesh Ranganathan:_ 'At the Last Supper, the disciple
Judas betrayed Jesus for how many pieces of silver?' _Contestant:_ 'One.' (BBC1, _The Weakest Link_) [PE]

AWARDS IN PROGRESS. _Clarke Award_ shortlist: _Dungeon Crawler Carl_ by
Matt Dinniman, _The Dream Hotel_ by Laila Lalami, _Luminous_ by Silvia
Park, _There Is No Antimemetics Division_ by qntm, _When There Are Wolves Again_ by E.J. Swift and _The Salt Oracle_ by Lorraine Wilson.
_Mythopoeic_ adult fiction shortlist: 'The Charlatan Duology' (_Book
of Night_ and _Thief of Night_) by Holly Black, _Audition for the Fox_ by Martin Cahill, _The Bright Sword_ by Lev Grossman, _Snake-Eater_ by T. Kingfisher, _The West Passage_ by Jared Pechacek, _Water Moon_ by Samantha Sotto Yambao and _The Incandescent_ by Emily Tesh. For the other four Mythopoeic categories see www.mythsoc.org/news/news-2026-06-02.htm.
_Sidewise_ (alt-history) novel shortlist: _Pagans_ by James Alistair Henry, _Tobacco Republic: What If The 13 Colonies Never United?_ by R.A.
Moss and _Ten Incarnations of Rebellion_ by Vaishnavi Patel. Short fiction
list at www.uchronia.net/sidewise.

SIGN OF THE TIMES. Several readers have remarked that in the 2026 Titan
edition of Stephen Jones's much-reprinted anthology _Shadows over
Innsmouth_ -- which lists star contributors on the front cover, with a
fuller roster on the back -- one included author usually given front-cover billing does not appear in either place. _Ia! Ia!_ I dare write no more....

EDITORIAL. I am still gobsmacked by the Solstice Award. Thanks again to
SFWA and to Gay Haldeman, who accepted for me and steeled herself to read
this: 'There's a famous story about a perpetual motion machine exhibited to awestruck crowds in New York in 1813. Unfortunately, one visitor was an engineer who noticed that the great wheel that turned forever seemed a
little bit jerky in its motion. He started removing bits of woodwork, to
reveal that the miracle of science was driven by an endless belt leading to
a back attic, where an old man with a long beard was found turning a crank. Speaking as the cranky old guy in the back room of the _SF Encyclopedia_, I must say I'm thrilled to be exposed and outed like this. It's a huge and unexpected honour to join the ranks of past Solstice winners. I even have connections with a few of them. My small press has published lots of uncollected criticism by Algis Budrys, who was remembered in this award's
first year. I was beta reader for many Discworld novels by my friend Terry Pratchett. Another old friend, John Clute, is co-editor of the
_Encyclopedia_ and patiently puts up with the jerky motions of the crank in
the back room. Thank you all very much!'

PUBLISHERS AND SINNERS II. Subterranean Press will close down permanently
in late 2027 or early 2028. [L]
Profile Books is taking over Rebellion Publishing's genre imprint
Solaris: ebooks from 1 July, physical books from 1 September, with some
Solaris staff also transferring. [L]

THE DEAD PAST. _30 Years Ago_, your editor was utterly thoggled: 'Sarah Lefanu's slim but sensible _Writing Fantasy Fiction_ (A&C Black, GBP8.99)
makes publishing history: the first writers' guide to recommend regular
study of Thog's Masterclass!' (_Ansible_ 108, July 1996)
_10 Years Ago_, a familiar attitude persisted. 'A.B. Yehoshua, eminent Israeli novelist, explains: "I deeply respect literature and expect to gain insight from a book and to identify emotionally with its characters. I therefore avoid reading suspense novels or science fiction."' (_Ansible_
348, July 2016)

RANDOM FANDOM. _2026 WSFS Business Meeting Agenda:_ 109 pages of fannish
fun at tinyurl.com/ymtmnh92. Items include legitimization of virtual
business meetings previously held in defiance of the constitution,
ratification of the new poetry Hugo (which will need to be _re_-ratified in 2029), and a proposal to limit the number of Hugo finalist co-creators
listed on the Hugo ballot to eight. Virtual meetings on 17 & 26 July, 1 & 9 August.
_Garth Spencer_ is recruiting for the monthly electronic 'e-APA'. Read
all about it at efanzines.com/eapa/, which includes sign-up details.

MAGAZINE SCENE. _Locus_ warns of phishing emails trying to sell promotions
in its name, using @proton.me addresses (which _Locus_ doesn't).
The media-oriented _Starlog_ (1976-2009 in print) is to be relaunched
in November as an annual printed magazine and weekly email newsletter under
the aegis of _Fangoria_, with Annalee Newitz as editor-in-chief. [L]

THOG'S MASTERCLASS. _Neat Tricks._ 'I felt my skin go slightly green as I glanced up ...' (Katherine Neville, _The Eight_, 1988) [BA]
_Food Fads._ '... the women were like cheeseburgers -- they were
either trophies or dessert.' (Sharyn McCrumb, _Zombies of the Gene Pool_,
1992) [BA]
_Velikovsky, Thou Shouldst Be Living At This Hour._ 'Jupiter's spin is
now so slow it may crash into Earth at any minute or may stay in the same position -- right over England. If it does, we shall never see the Sun
again unless we journey to lands that aren't overshadowed.' _Six months
later:_ 'Jupiter was still hovering a few thousand miles up and looked like remaining there forever.' (Desmond Wilcox, _Into Existence_, 1941)


### GEEKS' CORNER ###

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CONVENTION AND EVENT LINKSS
British Isles -- https://news.ansible.uk
London -- https://news.ansible.uk/london.html
Overseas -- https://news.ansible.uk/conlisti.html [no longer updated]


### ENDNOTES ###

PAYPAL TIP JAR THINGY. Donate to support _Ansible_, cover website costs and keep the editor happy! Or just buy his books.
https://ansible.uk/paypal.html
https://ae.ansible.uk/
https://ansible.uk/books/index.html

GROUP THEORY.
16 July 2026, 6pm to late: London Zoom meeting, third Thursday of each month. 'Please share this with people who you know typically come to the Bishop's Finger, but aren't on Facebook.' https://bohemiancoast.medium.com/first-thursday-london-sf-fan-virtual-drinks-5232021e961f

R.I.P. -- LATE AND LAST-MINUTE REPORTS. _William J. (Bill) Earls_
(1942-2025), US author of several stories in sf magazines 1969-1986 and the novel _The Gladiator_ (1981), died on 21 February 2025 aged 83. [AM]

M.C. ESCHER. THE EXHIBITION is currently running in Somerset House, London,
and continues to 6 September. 10am-7pm Monday to Saturday; 10am-6pm Sunday. Adult ticket GBP24.50; concessions GBP20.50; under-13s GBP15.50. 'Due to
high demand, weekends can be very busy'. https://www.somersethouse.org.uk/whats-on/mc-escher-the-exhibition

FANFUNDERY. _TAFF Library:_ the latest title is still the Charles
Platt/David Langford _Micromania_, a retro-tech oddity whose reception surprised us both with over 500 downloads in the first few days after
release. See taff.org.uk/ebooks.php?x=Micromania. Meanwhile, Rob Hansen is coming up from another deep dive into fannish history....

SOME LINKS from the _Ansible_ home page.
2026 WSFS Business Meeting Agenda https://www.lacon.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/2026businessmeetingagenda.pdf
BSFA Eastercon/Eurocon 2030 proposal https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zTApv0K_c-C847rwwYfAurrXuMKwCgy3/view
Ursula K. Le Guin Prize shortlist
https://www.ursulakleguin.com/prize26
Sturgeon Award (short story) shortlist https://file770.com/2026-theodore-a-sturgeon-memorial-award-finalists/

THOG'S GOLDEN OLDIES from _Ansible_ 228, July 2006. _Eyeballs in the Sky._
'His eyes ran like weasels over the faces of the other players ...' (Philip Jose Farmer, 'Attitudes', _F&SF_ 10/53)
_Spung!_ 'Even through two layers of combat armour, I felt her nipples brush against my back ...' (Karl Hansen, _War Games_, 1981)
_Close Shave Dept._ 'Moonlight ran up her cheek like a knife.' (Nancy Kress, _Beggars in Spain_, 1991)
_Dept of Submersion._ 'The impact rattled his bones, and he
dog-paddled furiously before he realized that the flood was only waist-deep
at the bottom, instead of wholly submerged as it would have been in the
real world.' (James Stoddard, _The High House_, 1998)
_Neat Tricks._ 'The Thiefmaker tried to let a vaguely sincere
expression scurry onto his face, where it froze in evident discomfort.'
(Scott Lynch, _The Lies of Locke Lamora_, 2006)


_Ansible_(R) 468 (C) David Langford, 2026. Thanks to Brian Ameringen, Gary Brannan, BSFA, Adam-Troy Castro, _File 770_, Marc Gascoigne, Steve Green,
Steve Jones, _Locus_, Andrey Meshavkin, Christopher Moore, Lawrence Person, Curt Phillips, Andrew I. Porter, _Private Eye_, Nigel Rowe, SFWA, and as
always our Hero Distributors: Durdles Books (Birmingham SF Group) and SCIS/Prophecy.

1 July 2026
--
David Langford | http://ansible.uk/ | http://news.ansible.uk/
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