Ansible 459, October 2025 ... news.ansible.uk/a459.html

Another month, another Ansible. news.ansible.uk/a458.html

Oh no, it's August, and that means Ansible 457.... news.ansible.uk/a457.html

Too hot here for any clever comment, but here's the July Ansible: news.ansible.uk/a456.html

You are trapped in that bright moment where you learned your doom ... and to make matters worse, here's Ansible 455. news.ansible.uk/a455.html

Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, but who cares: here's Ansible 454. news.ansible.uk/a454.html

The April issue of Ansible: news.ansible.uk/a453.html

Ansible 452 for March 2025 ... news.ansible.uk/a452.html

Here we go again: news.ansible.uk/a451.html

Random book cover of the day: 1955 Penguin paperback of a serial-killer crime novel from 1933. Absolutely nothing to do with unhinged billionaires giving ill-informed advice to British royalty.

Slightly belated Happy New Year sentiments accompanied by a slightly belated Ansible: news.ansible.uk/a450.html

The next London First Thursday meeting is postponed to 9 January because the usual pub will be closed on 2 January. See news.ansible.uk/london.html

Christmas starts earlier every year, and so does the "December" issue of Ansible: news.ansible.uk/a449.html

"Deep Thought says the answer to life, the universe and everything is ... Ansible 448!" "Try turning it off and on again." news.ansible.uk/a448.html

Here's the October issue of Ansible: news.ansible.uk/a447.html

Suddenly it's Ansible 446. news.ansible.uk/a446.html

Things people use as bookmarks, number 5,271,009.

Catalogues for the Glasgow Worldcon fan funds auctions were released on 9 August. The live auction is at 20:30 Saturday (today) and the silent auction closes at 13:00 Sunday. I've linked to the catalogues in the latest post at taff.org.uk.

Last issue before the Glasgow Worldcon: Ansible 445. news.ansible.uk/a445.html

Random book cover of the day, inside out: Kingsley Amis's The Book of Bond; Or, Every Man His Own 007 (Jonathan Cape, 1965), as by Lt-Col William ("Bill") Tanner, has a reversible dust-jacket "for use in the field."

Random convention badge of the day: Novacon 6 (1976). Gnome Press artwork by Edd Cartier, supplied by guest of honour Dave Kyle.

Amid a flurry of Ansible Editions book royalty statements and updates to the SF Encyclopedia, I somehow managed to sneak in the July issue of Ansible. Here: news.ansible.uk/a444.html

Here we go again with Ansible 443.... news.ansible.uk/a443.html

Mayday! Mayday! Help is urgently needed but all you get is Ansible 442 ... news.ansible.uk/a442.html

Random hardback cover of the day, from 1958. The "Julian Prescot" (John Budd) books were a solicitor version of Henry Cecil's insider novels about barristers and judges, and went on until 1967. All published by Arthur Barker. Most of my copies are signed "J.P." for a particular friend of the author.

Random book cover of the day: 1008 pages of, er, sanctity.

Rejected blurbs, number 5,271,009: "An April without Ansible is like a sevagram without an interocitor!" Well, here it is anyway ... news.ansible.uk/a441.html

@sfencyclopedia.bsky.social Hugo finalists announced: glasgow2024.org/hugo-awards/...

Random book cover of the day: John Sladek, 1970. I think John was too charmed by the idea of people asking for this title at bookshops to worry about any possible effect on sales. (See also ansible.uk/writing/jsla...)

Wondering whether this replacement $DEVICE would ever finish charging up, I finally consulted the manual ...

I must say this was a considerable surprise. (They don't *tell* you like what the Hugos do, just leave you to find out from that nice Mr Glyer.) file770.com/2024-first-f...

Here we go again with the March issue of Ansible: news.ansible.uk/a440.html

Another good man down: Brian Stableford. sf-encyclopedia.com/news/brian_s...

Almost random book cover of the day (Faber, 1964). The first stage direction of the title piece begins: "A hole dug in the road is marked off by barriers." The audience never sees inside the hole but the cast has a lot of bizarre and conflicting things to say about what's going on down there....

Too many deaths and too much about the 2023 Hugos: that was January and why should this month's Ansible be any different? news.ansible.uk/a439.html

Random book cover of the day: one of Richard Weaver's many low-budget designs for Dobson UK hardback science fiction. This one is from 1975 and cost £2.95.

The Happy Newish Year issue of Ansible: news.ansible.uk/a438.html

Lurking in a pile of old photos: 1985 postcard from Brian Aldiss.

A traditional opening to the festering season with Ansible 437 and a partridge in a pear tree. news.ansible.uk/a437.html

From Private Eye ...

No. I wrote for heaps of UK computer magazines, starting with Practical Computing in 1979 when they were accepting fiction, and including Computer Weekly (reviews) plus long runs of columns for specialist mags devoted to the Apricot and Amstrad PCW brands. Long list online somewhere!

It was a surprise to find one of my long-ago computer magazine columns (from 1987, referencing Fredric Brown's celebrated 1954 short-short "Answer") cited in a Crooked Timber post with the intriguing title "What OpenAI shares with Scientology". crookedtimber.org/2023/11/21/w...

YES. I love Sei Shōnagon's incredibly amusing and petty Pillow Book - from Japan in the year 1002 - for this kind of ancient shade-casting. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pillow_Book

The latest issue of Private Eye.

Here's the November issue of Ansible: news.ansible.uk/a436.html

UK Royal Mail just raised the price of first class postage from £1.10 to £1.25, increasing the value of my stock. Airmailing Ansible is still £2.20, so instead of two first-class stamps it's now one first, one second (75p) and low values to make up the last 20p. Thus I waste my days....

Another Ansible hits the streets and swiftly regrets it when the streets hit back: news.ansible.uk/a435.html