Difference between revisions of "Dave Langford"

From Fancyclopedia 3
Jump to navigation Jump to search
m
Line 19: Line 19:
 
He runs the [[small press]] [[Ansible Editions]], publishing both fan and pro material; the fan publications include a number of free ebooks downloadable from the [[TAFF]] website, some -- such as ''[[A Vince Clarke Treasury]]'' (2015) and the [[Terry Carr]] collection ''[[Fandom Harvest II]]'' (2019) -- newly compiled by Langford himself for this site. Several other Ansible Editions titles are fanhistorical compilations and references by [[Rob Hansen]].
 
He runs the [[small press]] [[Ansible Editions]], publishing both fan and pro material; the fan publications include a number of free ebooks downloadable from the [[TAFF]] website, some -- such as ''[[A Vince Clarke Treasury]]'' (2015) and the [[Terry Carr]] collection ''[[Fandom Harvest II]]'' (2019) -- newly compiled by Langford himself for this site. Several other Ansible Editions titles are fanhistorical compilations and references by [[Rob Hansen]].
  
[[Convention committees]]: [[Novacon 7]] publications, [[Skycon]] publications, [[Faancon 6]] co-organizer, [[Helicon]] daily newsletter editor (''[[Heliograph]]''), [[Mexicon 5]] daily newsletter editor (''[[Cactus Times]]''), [[Sou'wester]] daily newsletter editor (''[[The Adelphi Coracle]]'').  
+
[[Convention committees]]: [[Novacon 7]] publications, [[Skycon]] publications, [[Faancon 6]] co-organizer, [[Helicon]] daily newsletter editor (''Heliograph''), [[Mexicon 5]] daily newsletter editor (''[[Cactus Times]]''), [[Sou'Wester]] daily newsletter editor (''The Adelphi Coracle'').  
  
 
Fanzines: ''[[Twll-Ddu]]'', ''[[Drilkjis]]'', ''[[Cloud Chamber]]'', ''[[Hidden Shallows]]'', ''[[Ansible]]'', ''[[Sglodion]]'', ''[[TAFF Talk]]''.
 
Fanzines: ''[[Twll-Ddu]]'', ''[[Drilkjis]]'', ''[[Cloud Chamber]]'', ''[[Hidden Shallows]]'', ''[[Ansible]]'', ''[[Sglodion]]'', ''[[TAFF Talk]]''.
Line 64: Line 64:
 
* {{link | website=http://thog.org | text=Thog's Masterclass}}
 
* {{link | website=http://thog.org | text=Thog's Masterclass}}
  
{{person | website= http://ansible.uk}}
+
{{person | website=http://ansible.uk | born=1953}}
 
 
 
[[Category:fan]]
 
[[Category:fan]]
 
[[Category:pro]]
 
[[Category:pro]]
 
[[Category:UK]]
 
[[Category:UK]]

Revision as of 12:15, 24 March 2020

(1953 --)

David Langford is a British fan, writer, editor and critic who publishes the newszine Ansible.

By training he is a physicist and his first job was as a weapons physicist at the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment at Aldermaston, Berkshire, which formed the basis of his hilarious quasi-autobiography The Leaky Establishment.

He was Fan GoH at Conspiracy '87, the 1987 Worldcon.

Langford has been active in British fandom, working Eastercons, Mexicon, and British Worldcons, including Conspiracy '87 where he had been on the bid committee and where he was Fan GoH.

He was TAFF winner in 1980 traveling to Noreascon Two and wrote The Transatlantic Hearing Aid as his trip report. The Auld Lang Fund was organized by the FOOLs to bring him to Aussiecon 3. He won the 2002 Skylark Award. Member Oxford University Speculative Fiction Group, BSFA. He was the one of the two first administrators of GUFF.

But it is as a fan writer that he excels, having received 21 Best Fan Writer Hugos, a record for anyone in any category. Much of his fan writing is in his monthly newszine Ansible -- which has also received multiple Hugo Awards for Best Fanzine (see Best Fanzine Hugo Category for details.) A thirty-one year long streak of Hugo nominations (including 21 wins) came to an end in 2010. See Best Fan Writer Hugo Category for details. His fan writing has been collected in Let's Hear It for the Deaf Man and The Silence of the Langford, both published by NESFA Press, the second being a greatly expanded version of the first; in Platen Stories, published by Conspiracy '87; and in Crosstalk: Interviews Conducted by David Langford and Don't Try This At Home: Selected Convention Reports, both from his own small press Ansible Editions.

Besides Ansible, he published TAFF Tales, The Northern Guffblower, Drilkjis, Hidden Shallows, Visitor's Pass, Sglodion, Twll-ddu and Cloud Chamber.

As a pro, Langford is noted for his parodies, including two comic novels written in collaboration with John Grant (Paul Barnett): Earthdoom! (1987) and Guts (2001), respectively parodying the disaster and horror genres. Shorter parodies and pastiches are collected in He Do the Time Police in Different Voices (2003). His first science fiction novel was The Space Eater (1982); he has published numerous pieces of short SF since 1975, winning the Hugo Award for Best Short Story in 2001. He proofread the second edition of The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, is a principal editor of and major contributor to the third edition (for which he shared another Hugo Award) and was a contributing editor of The Encyclopedia of Fantasy. He has written numerous book reviews, collected in The Complete Critical Assembly (2002) and later collections.

He runs the small press Ansible Editions, publishing both fan and pro material; the fan publications include a number of free ebooks downloadable from the TAFF website, some -- such as A Vince Clarke Treasury (2015) and the Terry Carr collection Fandom Harvest II (2019) -- newly compiled by Langford himself for this site. Several other Ansible Editions titles are fanhistorical compilations and references by Rob Hansen.

Convention committees: Novacon 7 publications, Skycon publications, Faancon 6 co-organizer, Helicon daily newsletter editor (Heliograph), Mexicon 5 daily newsletter editor (Cactus Times), Sou'Wester daily newsletter editor (The Adelphi Coracle).

Fanzines: Twll-Ddu, Drilkjis, Cloud Chamber, Hidden Shallows, Ansible, Sglodion, TAFF Talk.

One-offs: Another Bloody Fanzine, Gonad Comes Again, Visitor's Pass, Jackie!, Diolch Yn Fawr.

TAFF trip reports: The Transatlantic Hearing Aid (his own 1980 report published by Inca Press), TAFF Tales (Ken Bulmer's 1955 report, published by Ansible Editions) and New Routes in America (Peter Roberts's 1977 report, published by Ansible Editions).

Collections of fan writing: Platen Stories (Conspiracy '87, 1987), Let's Hear It for the Deaf Man (NESFA Press, 1992), The Silence of the Langford (NESFA Press, 1996; expanded edition Ansible Editions, 2015 ebook), Crosstalk: Interviews Conducted by David Langford (Ansible Editions, 2015), Don't Try This At Home: Selected Convention Reports (Ansible Editions, 2015 ebook), Ansible First Series 1979-1987 (Ansible Editions, 2016 ebook) and Ansible Second Series 1991-2000 (Ansible Editions, 2017 ebook).

Winner of a stupendous number of Hugo Awards:

Awards, Honors and GoHships:

GoH/FGoH at various Cymrucons, Microcons and Picocons

Websites include:


Person Website 1953
This is a biography page. Please extend it by adding more information about the person, such as fanzines and apazines published, awards, clubs, conventions worked on, GoHships, impact on fandom, external links, anecdotes, etc. See Standards for People and The Naming of Names.