Difference between revisions of "Ansible"

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(add months, make clearer UKLG did not capitalise, fix 95 Hugo win/nom duplication, some hyphens, a bit more details though they aren't always clear)
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An '''ansible''' is a [[faster-than-light]] communicator used in a number of stories, most prominently those of [[Ursula K. Le Guin]], who coined the term in ''Rocannon’s World'' (1964/1966; see {{SFE|name=ansible}} for a more detailed listing and analysis).
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=1) Communications Device=
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An '''''ansible''''' is a [[faster-than-light]] communicator used in [[science fiction]], most prominently by [[Ursula K. Le Guin]], who coined the term in ''Rocannon’s World'' (1966).
  
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[[Fannishly]], '''''Ansible''''' is far more important as the name of [[David Langford]]'s monthly [[newszine]]. ''Ansible'' was first published from 1979, taking over from the ''[[Checkpoint]]'' as the [[UK]] newspaper of record, to summer 1987 (fifty issues in UK quarto format on an increasingly irregular schedule) and then revived in October 1991 as a monthly, initially distributed at [[London Circle]] pub meetings. It continues monthly through today, with issue 414 appearing in January 2022 (each year begins with number 12''n''+6, the proof left as an easy exercise for the reader); this count omits a dozen or so specials for [[Christmas]], [[con]]s or obituaries issued since 1991 with half numbers such as ''Ansible'' 57½.  The revived edition started out on paper (as a single A4 sheet, two sides), but was also posted [[Email list|by e-mail]] and on [[Usenet]] since the early 1990s.  It is now available on paper only in the UK or by special arrangement.  The entire run of ''Ansible'' is archived on Langford's website, whose domain name actually comes from it.
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See {{SFE|name=ansible}} and [https://sfdictionary.com/view/16/ansible ''The Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction''] for more detailed listings and analyses.
  
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Langford has used ''Ansible'' as a source for news columns in [[prozine]]s. [https://ansible.uk/bibmisc.html On his website, he writes]: "''[[The Runcible Ansible]]'' was a regular preview column in [[Eileen Gunn]]'s [[webzine]] ''[[The Infinite Matrix]]'', from November 2001 until the site became static at the end of 2005. This consisted of "preview" items scheduled for the coming issue of Ansible, some of which didn't make it into print – squeezed out for space reasons or nervously omitted for libel reasons." (This was updated weekly until [http://www.infinitematrix.net/columns/langford/langford201.html Week 201 on 30 Dec 2005]; the very last Week 202 is from [[1 April]] 2006.)
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=2) Newszine=
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[[Fannishly]], '''''Ansible''''' is more important as the name of [[David Langford]]'s monthly [[newszine]]. ''Ansible'' was first published from August 1979, taking over from ''[[Checkpoint]]'' as the [[UK]] paper of record, to summer 1987 (50 issues in [[UK]] quarto [[format]] on an increasingly irregular schedule) and then revived in October 1991 as a monthly, initially distributed at [[London Circle]] pub meetings. The distinctive logo is by [[Dan Steffan]].
  
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A printed digest of ''Ansible'' appears as "Ansible Link" in the now bimonthly ''[[Interzone]]''. Four substantial ebook compilations – ''Ansible First Series 1979-1987'' (issues 1–50), ''Ansible Second Series 1991-2000'' (issues 51–161), ''Ansible Second Series 2001-2010'' (issues 162–281) and ''Ansible Second Series 2011-2020'' (issues 282–401) – are downloadable from the [[TAFF]] site's free ebooks library. Langford makes evasive noises when asked about the fifth volume covering 2021–2030.
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It continues monthly through today, with issue 438 appearing in January 2024 (each year begins with number 12''n''+6, the proof left as an easy exercise for the reader); this count omits thirteen specials for [[Christmas Card|Christmas]], [[con]]s or obituaries in 1991–2002 and 2017 with half numbers such as ''Ansible'' 57½ to 362½.  The revived edition started out on paper (as a single A4 sheet, two sides), but was also posted [[Email list|by e-mail]] and on [[Usenet]] since the early 1990s.  It is now available on paper only in the UK or by special arrangement.  The entire run of ''Ansible'' is archived on Langford's website, whose domain name comes from it.
  
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Regular features of ''Ansible'' include:
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Langford varied the title “''Ansible''” for news [[column]]s elsewhere. A digest of ''Ansible'' appeared as "'''Ansible Link'''" in the UK prozine ''[[Interzone]]'' since #62 (August 1992) to the last paper #295 (September 2023). [https://ansible.uk/bibmisc.html On his website, Langford writes]:
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<blockquote>'''The Runcible Ansible''' was a regular preview column in [[Eileen Gunn]]'s [[webzine]] ''[[The Infinite Matrix]]'', from November 2001 until the site became static at the end of 2005. This consisted of "preview" items scheduled for the coming issue of Ansible, some of which didn't make it into print – squeezed out for space reasons or nervously omitted for [[libel]] reasons.</blockquote>
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This was updated weekly until [https://www.infinitematrix.net/columns/langford/langford201.html Week 201 on December 30, 2005]; the very last Week 202 is from April 1, 2006.
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==Regular features of ''Ansible''==
 
* A UK- and [[Ireland]]-oriented [[fannish]] calendar, also covering [[Eurocon]]s and [[Worldcon]]s.
 
* A UK- and [[Ireland]]-oriented [[fannish]] calendar, also covering [[Eurocon]]s and [[Worldcon]]s.
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* "As Others See Us": a (frequently hilarious) chronicling of the awful things the [[mundane]] world says about [[sf]] and [[fans]].
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* "As Others See Us": a (frequently hilarious) chronicling of the awful things the [[mundane]] world says about [[sf]] and [[fans]]. (A selection appeared in [[Rob Hansen]]'s ''[[Beyond Fandom]]'', 2023.)
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* "R.I.P.": short obituaries of people connected with [[sf]] and [[fandom]].
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* "R.I.P.": brief obituaries of people connected with [[sf]] and [[fandom]].
 
* "Outraged Letters": [[Lettercol]], mostly new material for wider dissemination with some [[LoC]]s on previously reported matters
 
* "Outraged Letters": [[Lettercol]], mostly new material for wider dissemination with some [[LoC]]s on previously reported matters
 
* "The Dead Past": Tasty news snippets from the same month 20 to 70 or more years ago.
 
* "The Dead Past": Tasty news snippets from the same month 20 to 70 or more years ago.
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* "Thog's Masterclass": Literary howlers from both genre and mundane works.
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* "Infinitely Improbable": A variety of news, gossip, notes and silliness.
  
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... as well as a variety of news, gossip, notes and silliness, under the catch-all header "Infinitely Improbable".
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===Thog's Masterclass===
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'''Thog the Mighty''' is a not terribly bright [[Heroic Fantasy|barbarian hero]] in "Lone Wolf" [[fantasy]] [[novels]] by [[John Grant]] (Paul Barnett), loosely based on Joe Dever's gamebooks. He is known in [[fandom]] because of “Thog's Masterclass,” a [[department]] of ''Ansible'' that has run since August 1994, which features "differently good" prose examples from [[SF]].
  
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* {{link | website=http://news.ansible.uk | text= Ansible website}}
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When David Langford edited the [[daily newsletter]] of the 1993 [[Eastercon]], [[Helicon]], with Paul Barnett's assistance, [http://www.jophan.org/mimosa/m28/langford.htm Thog became an in-joke]. At the 1994 Eastercon, [[Sou'Wester]], Thog the Mighty was named as a [[goh]] (played by Barnett), and the same team [[co-edited]] the newsletter, including numerous quotations under the heading “Thog's Masterclass.”
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* {{link | website=http://taff.org.uk/ebooks.php?id=ansible| text= Ansible ebook collections}}
 
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* {{fanzineindex|name={{PAGENAME}}|dir=}} (page scans up to #204, missing #1)
 
  
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{{Prizes}}:
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{{link | website=https://thog.org | text=Thog’s website.}}
  
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''Ansible'' has won an improbable number of awards (6 [[Hugo]]s and 11 more nominations):
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==More Reading:==
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# [[1987 Best Fanzine Hugo]]
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* “[https://fanac.org/fanzines/SF_Five_Yearly/sffy11.pdf#page=15 The Secret History of ''Ansible''] [more or less as delivered at [[Tropicon XIX|Tropicon/FanHistoricon]], November 2000, [[chaired]] by [[Joe Siclari]]]” by Dave Langford, ''[[Science Fiction Five-Yearly]]'' 11 (November 2001, p. 13).
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# [[1995 Best Fanzine Hugo]]
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* {{link | website=https://news.ansible.uk | text= ''Ansible'' website}} ([https://news.ansible.uk/aseries2.html issue archive])
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# [[1996 Best Fanzine Hugo]]
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* {{fanzineindex}} (includes "#0", the original introductory page explaining the new publication, but lacking #1 and some others as of 2023).
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# [[1999 Best Fanzine Hugo]]
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*[https://taff.org.uk/ebooks.php?id=ansible Four substantial ebook compilations] – ''Ansible First Series 1979-1987'' (issues 1–50), ''Ansible Second Series 1991-2000'' (issues 51–161), ''Ansible Second Series 2001-2010'' (issues 162–281) and ''Ansible Second Series 2011-2020'' (issues 282–401) – downloadable from the [[TAFF]] site's free ebooks library. (Langford makes evasive noises when asked about the fifth volume covering 2021–30.)
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# [[2002 Best Fanzine Hugo]]
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# [[2005 Best Semiprozine Hugo]]  
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{{Prizes}}
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#* [[Best Fanzine Hugo]] nominations in [[1984 Best Fanzine Hugo|1984]], [[1985 Best Fanzine Hugo|1985]], [[1994 Best Fanzine Hugo|1994]], [[1997 Best Fanzine Hugo|1997]], and [[1998 Best Fanzine Hugo|1998]], and for the [[Best Semiprozine Hugo]] in [[2003 Best Semiprozine Hugo|2003]], [[2004 Best Semiprozine Hugo|2004]], [[2006 Best Semiprozine Hugo|2006]], [[2007 Best Semiprozine Hugo|2007]], [[2008 Best Semiprozine Hugo|2008]], and [[2010 Best Semiprozine Hugo|2010]]. (Without changing its single-page [[fannish]] nature it declared itself to be a [[Semiprozine]] in 2003 in order to take itself out of contention with [[fanzines]].)
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* '''[[1987 Best Fanzine Hugo]]'''
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# [[FAAn Awards]] for Best Newszine and Best Online News/Information Resource in 2019, and tied for the catchall FAAn category Best Watchamacallit Zine in 2020
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* '''[[1995 Best Fanzine Hugo]]'''
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* '''[[1996 Best Fanzine Hugo]]
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* '''[[1999 Best Fanzine Hugo]]
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* '''[[2002 Best Fanzine Hugo]]'''
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* '''[[2005 Best Semiprozine Hugo]]'''
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** 11 more Hugo nominations: for [[Best Fanzine Hugo]] in [[1984 Best Fanzine Hugo|1984]], [[1985 Best Fanzine Hugo|1985]], [[1994 Best Fanzine Hugo|1994]], [[1997 Best Fanzine Hugo|1997]], and [[1998 Best Fanzine Hugo|1998]], and for [[Best Semiprozine Hugo]] in [[2003 Best Semiprozine Hugo|2003]], [[2004 Best Semiprozine Hugo|2004]], [[2006 Best Semiprozine Hugo|2006]], [[2007 Best Semiprozine Hugo|2007]], [[2008 Best Semiprozine Hugo|2008]], and [[2010 Best Semiprozine Hugo|2010]]. (Without changing its single-page nature, Langford declared it a [[semiprozine]] in 2003 to take it out of competition with fanzines.)
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* 2019 — [[FAAn Awards]] for Best Newszine and Best Online News/Information Resource
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* 2020 — Tied for the catchall FAAn category Best Watchamacallit Zine
  
 
{{publication | start=1979 | end=}}
 
{{publication | start=1979 | end=}}
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[[Category:Notable]]
 
[[Category:Notable]]
 
[[Category:fanzine]]
 
[[Category:fanzine]]
 
[[Category:UK]]
 
[[Category:UK]]
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[[Category:fanspeak]]
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{{fanspeak|start=1966}}
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[[Category:multiple]]
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{{multiple}}
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[[Category:newszine]]

Latest revision as of 07:53, 8 October 2024

1) Communications Device[edit]

An ansible is a faster-than-light communicator used in science fiction, most prominently by Ursula K. Le Guin, who coined the term in Rocannon’s World (1966).

See Entry in The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and The Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction for more detailed listings and analyses.

2) Newszine[edit]

Fannishly, Ansible is more important as the name of David Langford's monthly newszine. Ansible was first published from August 1979, taking over from Checkpoint as the UK paper of record, to summer 1987 (50 issues in UK quarto format on an increasingly irregular schedule) and then revived in October 1991 as a monthly, initially distributed at London Circle pub meetings. The distinctive logo is by Dan Steffan.

It continues monthly through today, with issue 438 appearing in January 2024 (each year begins with number 12n+6, the proof left as an easy exercise for the reader); this count omits thirteen specials for Christmas, cons or obituaries in 1991–2002 and 2017 with half numbers such as Ansible 57½ to 362½. The revived edition started out on paper (as a single A4 sheet, two sides), but was also posted by e-mail and on Usenet since the early 1990s. It is now available on paper only in the UK or by special arrangement. The entire run of Ansible is archived on Langford's website, whose domain name comes from it.

Langford varied the title “Ansible” for news columns elsewhere. A digest of Ansible appeared as "Ansible Link" in the UK prozine Interzone since #62 (August 1992) to the last paper #295 (September 2023). On his website, Langford writes:

The Runcible Ansible was a regular preview column in Eileen Gunn's webzine The Infinite Matrix, from November 2001 until the site became static at the end of 2005. This consisted of "preview" items scheduled for the coming issue of Ansible, some of which didn't make it into print – squeezed out for space reasons or nervously omitted for libel reasons.

This was updated weekly until Week 201 on December 30, 2005; the very last Week 202 is from April 1, 2006.

Regular features of Ansible[edit]

  • A UK- and Ireland-oriented fannish calendar, also covering Eurocons and Worldcons.
  • "As Others See Us": a (frequently hilarious) chronicling of the awful things the mundane world says about sf and fans. (A selection appeared in Rob Hansen's Beyond Fandom, 2023.)
  • "R.I.P.": brief obituaries of people connected with sf and fandom.
  • "Outraged Letters": Lettercol, mostly new material for wider dissemination with some LoCs on previously reported matters
  • "The Dead Past": Tasty news snippets from the same month 20 to 70 or more years ago.
  • "Infinitely Improbable": A variety of news, gossip, notes and silliness.

Thog's Masterclass[edit]

Thog the Mighty is a not terribly bright barbarian hero in "Lone Wolf" fantasy novels by John Grant (Paul Barnett), loosely based on Joe Dever's gamebooks. He is known in fandom because of “Thog's Masterclass,” a department of Ansible that has run since August 1994, which features "differently good" prose examples from SF.

When David Langford edited the daily newsletter of the 1993 Eastercon, Helicon, with Paul Barnett's assistance, Thog became an in-joke. At the 1994 Eastercon, Sou'Wester, Thog the Mighty was named as a goh (played by Barnett), and the same team co-edited the newsletter, including numerous quotations under the heading “Thog's Masterclass.”

Thog’s website.

More Reading:[edit]

Awards and Honors

Publication 1979—
This is a publication page. Please extend it by adding information about when and by whom it was published, how many issues it has had, (including adding a partial or complete checklist), its contents (including perhaps a ToC listing), its size and repro method, regular columnists, its impact on fandom, or by adding scans or links to scans. See Standards for Publications.

Fanspeak 1966—
This is a fanspeak page. Please extend it by adding information about when and by whom it was coined, whether it’s still in use, etc.

Multiple unrelated entries on one page are deprecated.

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