Older Home/Links: 2009This page is the final repository for 2009 links from the ever-scrolling sidebar column at the right of the Ansible Links page. The editor has no intention of running regular checks on their continued validity.
December 2009
• Internet Review of SF to close
• Sir Peter Jackson (BBC)
• 2010 FAAn Awards ballot
• 2010 TAFF results (23 Dec)
• Harlan Ellison Denies Meaning What He Wrote
• Coming soon: Sir Patrick Stewart (Mirror)
• Borders UK may close forever on 22 December; Orion/Gollancz embargo horror at closing sale
• Ursula K. Le Guin: open letter of resignation from US Authors Guild (18 Dec)
• "Science Fiction Goes McDonald's: Less Taste, More Gristle" (Huffington Post)
• "The Vampirization of America", or Thog's Dept of Unhelpful Political Metaphor (LA Times)
• Grand Master Joe Haldeman
• Peter Watts experiences US border hospitality; more; still more; "Help Defend Peter Watts"
• Robert Holdstock, 1948-2009: Guardian, Times
• Frazetta Family Values
• Top 100 SF Magazine Covers (a work in progress)
• H.P. Lovecraft and fandom
• Black Matrix: one-fifth of a cent per word! (John Scalzi)
• PW editor abused for polite clarification re coverage of Famous Robert StanekNovember 2009
• "Excessive Candour, rescued"
• On cosy catastrophes (Guardian 25 Nov)
• 2001: A Who Odyssey
• Steve Holland channels Thog
• Vatican on Twilight films (Telegraph)
• BBC Paradox: not mere sci-fi
• Liyi Brunner remembers (BBC)
• Harlequin expands into vanity publishing; writers' organizations react and so does Small Beer Press
• 2010 GUFF race begins
• Moorcock Who? (Guardian 16 Nov)
• International SF Reshelving Day ... a bad idea, and now it's dead
• Terry Goodkind: "I don't write fantasy"; more here
• Terminator franchise for sale; Joss Whedon makes an offer
• Ayn Rand biographies reviewed (Slate 2 Nov) – with gratuitous mention of L Ron Hubbard
• World Fantasy Awards (Locus)
• PW Best Books of 2009 (see SF/Fantasy/Horror section)October 2009
• The future we live in is too safe
• Science Fantasy News (1948-1960) online archive
• What scares horror writers? (Washington Post, 28 Oct)
• "Did James Cameron Rip Off Poul Anderson ...?" (io9)
• Remembering the Star Wars Holiday Special (xkcd)
• Ellison/Paramount lawsuit settled
• Happy Birthday, Ursula Le Guin (PW 21 Oct); SFWA
• Tarzan is 97 (LA Times 20 Oct)
• Pratchett video competition for ages 10 to 17 (Guardian)
• Tom Deitz exhibition online
• "Are we now post scifi?" (Guardian 13 Oct)
• Bewailing the horrid consequences of letting women into sf (9 Oct)
• Astral Leauge album downloads!
• Hobbit film funding imperilled?
• Banned from Octocon! More; FPI summary. Ban retracted (8 Oct) after huge negative publicity for Octocon.
• 2010 TAFF ballot (Word) | HTML
• Hollywood vs children's fiction
• "Richard Ridyard", serial plagiarist
• Fantasy Magazine flash fiction/graphics contest (1 Oct)September 2009
• Primeval saved (29 Sep)
• Arthur Machen remembered (Guardian 29 Sep)
• Philip K. Dick on Blade Runner; more
• Life, don't talk to me about Life: As Others Saw Us, 1951
• Barbara Bova dies
• Joe Haldeman in hospital; more
• Electro-Plasmic Hydrocephalic Genre-Fiction Generator
• "Melting Ice Caps Expose Hundreds Of Secret Arctic Lairs" (Onion)
• "Horror wants women to scream, but not talk" (17 Sep); more at PW; Guardian (22 Sep)
• British Fantasy Awards 2009
• New Scientist sf special; Kim Stanley Robinson's "As Others See Us"; Guardian (18 Sep); more from Adam Roberts (24 Sep); PW
• Ken Livingstone interviews Iain Banks (New Statesman, 17 Sep)
• IainMBanks in the Guardian
• Terry Pratchett answers questions
• Trailer for nonexistent Discworld film
• Baxter's Voyage Mars mission simulation
• 2010 GUFF nominations open
• 2010 DUFF nominations open
• Rose Fox expostulates
• Rebellion (Abaddon) acquires GW's Solaris imprint
• 2010 TAFF nominations open
• Jeanne Robinson needs help
• John Clute on Charles N. Brown (Independent)August 2009
• Ignoring SF's warnings (Telegraph 29 Aug)
• Le Guin on Atwood, again (Guardian 29 Aug)
• "Vampire-lust tales will rot your brain" (Register)
• Preserving pets after the Rapture ... and fanzines too
• Campaign to make John Wyndham a star (if only in Birmingham)
• British Computer Society interviews Ansible editor
• Past worldcons survey; explained
• 2008 Fantasy Cover Elements -- secrets revealed!Anticipation (Worldcon, Montréal) • Newsletters • LiveJournal • Twitter • Convention Reporter • Day 1 in media • Hugo base update • Semiprozine Hugo saved; more • Remembering John M. Ford • Worldcon 2011: Reno • Hugo winners; voting details; nomination details; new Hugo logo
• Quantum flux (Onion 10 Aug)
• SFWA on Google Settlement
• John C. Wright causes a stir; more; Stross analysis
• How fantasy took over sf (National Post)
• The Feminist Book of Mammoths; more
• More on LOTR film litigation (Independent); Telegraph
• Jim Baen's Universe to fold
• Fantasy or paranormal? (PW)
• World Fantasy Awards shortlist
• Big Brother shock horror: nonentity parrots stupid ideas!
• Doctor J.G. Ballard
• Terry Pratchett and the endgame (Mail)July 2009
• Amazing Iain Banks publishing first! Or not. (Bookseller)
• Carl Brandon Society: Open Letter to the SF Community (27 Jul)
• Loud Debate at LASFS; more!
• Scribe Awards for media tie-ins (Locus)
• Eisner Awards 2009
• "Worst author intro ever (I hope)." (via)
• Fandom and religion (Guardian 20 Jul)
• Hugos: Adam Roberts reproves fandom
• Amazon Kindle Memory Hole; Guardian
• On Jack Vance (NY Times, 15 Jul)
• Phyllis Gotlieb (1926-2009); more
• Charles N. Brown (1937-2009)
• On Alastair Reynolds (Guardian, 13 Jul)
• On film novelizations (Guardian, 10 Jul)
• Edge Hill Short Story Prize: sf collection winsJune 2009
• Locus Awards
• Thunderbirds: Gerry Anderson vs ITV (Register)
• British Science Fiction and Fantasy: A Survey
• Alastair Reynolds's million (Guardian, 23 Jun)
• Fantasy Centre (1969-2009)
• David Gemmell Legend Award winner
• The Curse of Robert Stanek, part 94; the Amazon thread where all this surfaced; more
• Novel competition! Brutal deadline! No advance!
• China Miéville on Tolkien
• SF/Fantasy club directory under construction
• Preparing for Halloween
• Yet another Harry Potter plagiarism claim (Reuters, 15 Jun)
• "Who Goes There?" (Register, 15 Jun)
• Bye-bye to Primeval (BBC, 15 Jun)
• Zombie Neurobiology
• Explaining US politics by misquoting Chris Priest (10 Jun)
• JWC Memorial Award shortlist
• "Science Fiction and Fantasy Ethics"; many ensuing comments; "Ethics" to become "Enthusiasts"; renamed site here
• British Fantasy Awards shortlist (8 Jun)
• David Eddings (1931-2009); Bookseller.com; SFWA; Guardian
• Bogus UK media & comics cons? (2 Jun)
• Ten Fiction Editors Talk Shop (Clarkesworld)May 2009
• Wikipedia & Scientology
• Guardian Children's Fiction Prize longlist (23 May)
• SF and US Homeland Security, again (Washington Post, 22 May)
• Diana Wynne Jones is ill
• Sturgeon Award shortlist
• GUFF UK news
• 2009 Hugo voting online
• Do Gay Martians Have the Right to Marry?
• Albacon 2010 cancelled
• Ursula K. Le Guin calls Utopia a utopia
• Sidewise Awards shortlist
• The increasingly prolific Tolkien; a comment
• Abigail Frost (1951-2009)April 2009
• Ian R. MacLeod wins Clarke Award; Guardian coverage
• Locus Award shortlist
• Nebula winners
• J.G. Ballard (1930-2009) (BBC); Guardian; Chris Priest (FT); Telegraph; John Clute (Indy); David Pringle (Guardian); NY Times; Guardian overview of JGB's influence; further links round-up
• Steve Green wins TAFF
• News of the Future (1928)
• BSFA Award winners
• Eastercon video coverage; newsletters
• Starlog print publication suspended
• Pratchett street names
• Philadelphia Inquirer on Delany (5 Apr)
• Bruce Sterling vs US Immigration (link now fixed)
• Fantasy Centre to close (2 Apr)
• "Save the Semiprozine Hugo"
• Shatner virus infects satellite! (1 Apr)
• Google sees through your walls! (1 Apr)March 2009
• "Nine Words You Might Think Came from Science but Which Are Really from Science Fiction" (OUP)
• UK fantasy stamps by Dave McKean
• Why T.S. Eliot rejected Animal Farm; comment (scroll down)
• GUFF delegates at large
• SFWA hacked
• Alan Moore's Big Numbers #3
• Prometheus Award finalists
• Another unauthorized sequel
• Stoker Awards finalists (23 Mar)
• FFF Independent/Amateur (Delta) film awards call for entries
• "How sci-fi moves with the times" (BBC 18 Mar)
• DUFF 2009 update, with PDF ballot
• Hugo nominations; nominee links
• Clarke Award shortlist; TC review links
• Sci Fi Channel becomes Syfy; Urban Dictionary;"Say It's Not So!"
• Harlan Ellison sues ... (snore)
• FAAn Awards (F770)
• Harry Potterandthe Jewish Conspiracy
• Thog is lost for words; Making Light collects the links
• "Racefail 2009" (Torque Control summary)
• Hansard 2008: UK government department edits Wikipedia sf entries
• Realms of Fantasy saved -- bought by Tir Na Nog Press
• Galaxy British Book Awards: Ballard on shortlist
• Erotic fantasy: the state of the art (via)
• Pond Dalek shock horror (Telegraph)
• Nalo Hopkinson embraces Thog
• Games Workshop puts Solaris Books up for sale (news broke too late for the March Ansible)February 2009
• Dubai Literary Festival: Brooks & Aldiss (Times, 28 Feb)
• Nebula shortlist
• R.I.P.: UK SF Fandom Archive, Glasgow University -- update your links!
• Philip José Farmer (1918-2009); NY Times; Peoria Journal Star
• "Fanzines enter pages of history" (BBC)
• BBC Radio sf season
• Hugo nominations deadline: 28 February
• The loon who believes Stephen King killed John Lennon
• 2011 Worldcon site selection (choose Reno or Reno)
• NewCon 5 postponement now official
• Clarke Award "longlist" (publishers' submissions, not jury choices)
• Fear Warren Lapine's attorney!
• SFWA Solstice awards
• 2011 Worldcon: Seattle bid folds, Reno is unopposed
• Prying the Hugo from Forry Ackerman's cold, dead fingers? All a misunderstanding
• Forthcoming PW sf/horror specials
• Ellen Datlow update (6 Feb); Ellen home again (9 Feb)
• Stephen King on fellow-writers (5 Feb)
• Pratchett, Alzheimer's, and saddos (Telegraph, 5 Feb)
• Singularity "predicted" in 2005. Vernor Vinge -- who he?January 2009
• "SF Awards -- rubbish"
• "Science fiction: the genre that dare not speak its name" (Guardian, 28 Jan)
• Neil Gaiman's Newbery Medal
• Down Under Fan Fund 2009
• Mad goes quarterly
• Jim Baen Memorial Writing Contest
• BSFA Awards shortlist
• "1000 novels everyone must read" -- the sf/fantasy section [1] [2] [3] (Guardian, 22 Jan)
• Harry Turner (1920-2009)
• Hugo nomination ballot
• James Cawthorn and The Land that Time Forgot
• Patrick McGoohan (1928-2009) (BBC); Guardian; Washington Post
• 2009 FAAn Awards ballot (PDF)
• How to buy a Hugo nomination
• A History of Star Trek Porn
• Farewell, Murder One (Times, 7 Jan)
• Disney rejection letter, 1938
• Friends of Ed Bryant
• Another year, another Doctor; never believe insider leaks