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   credits include _Batman: The Movie_ (1966), _The Immortal_ (1969-1971),   
   _The Six Million Dollar Man_ (1974) and _War of the Worlds_ (1988-1989),   
   died on 23 July aged 95. [AIP]   
        _Jeri Taylor_ (1938-2024), US screenwriter, producer and showrunner   
   with credits for most of _Star Trek: TNG_ (1990-1994) and _Voyager_   
   (1995-1998) plus episodes of _DS9_ (1993-1994), died on 24 October aged 86;   
   she also wrote three _ST_ novels. [MR]   
        _Kevin J. Taylor_ (1962-2024) prolific US erotic comics creator whose   
   genre titles include _The Girl_, _Model by Day_ (adapted for film), _Fang_   
   and _CoEd Diaries_, died on 24 September aged 61. [SM]   
        _Larry S. Todd_ (1948-2024), US writer and illustrator for _Galaxy_,   
   _If_ and _Worlds of Tomorrow_ in the 1960s -- later known for comics   
   including his own _Dr. Atomic_ and work in _Heavy Metal_ -- died on 28   
   September aged 76. [SH]   
        _Bruce Townley_ (1954-2024), US fan, fan artist and fanzine publisher   
   active from 1970, member of WSFA and the Southern Fandom Confederation and   
   a later contributor to email lists, died on 17 October aged 70. [CS]   
        _Valery Verkhovsky_ (1969-2024), Ukrainian writer who translated   
   _Ender's Game_ and Connie Willis's _Doomsday Book_, died on 23 October.   
   [AM]   
        _Robert Watts_ (1938-2024), UK producer of _The Empire Strikes Back_   
   (1980), _Raiders of the Lost Ark_ (1981 plus sequels), _Who Framed Roger   
   Rabbit_ (1988) and others, died on 30 September aged 86. [CM]   
        _Bob (Brayton) Yerkes_ (1932-2024), US stuntman in _Buck Rogers in the   
   25th Century_ (1979-1981), _Poltergeist_ (1982), _Return of the Jedi_   
   (1983), _Back to the Future_ (1985), _Who Framed Roger Rabbit_ (1988) and   
   many more, died on 2 October aged 92. [SJ]   
      
   THE WEAKEST LINK. _Q._ 'Which famous potter has a statue erected in his   
   honour in Stoke-on-Trent?' _A._ 'Beatrix.' (ITV, _The Chase_) [PE]   
      
   AWARDS II. The UK Kitschies will be presented for the last time in June   
   2025, for 2023/2024 work in the usual categories. Novel finalists are   
   _Infinity Gate_ by M.R. Carey, _In Ascension_ by Martin MacInnes, _Julia_   
   by Sandra Newman, _Jungle House_ by Julianne Pachico and _The Premonition_   
   by Banana Yoshimoto as translated by Asa Yoneda. Announcement and the other   
   shortlists at blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/editorial/Kitschies.   
      
   RANDOM FANDOM. _Sandra Bond_ observes: 'I have been hearing about certain   
   sub-optimal aspects of the Fantasycon 2024 hotel, but let's just say I have   
   never been asked before now if I wanted ice in my pint of craft beer.'   
   (Discord, 13 October)   
        _Bill Higgins_, Former Beam Jockey, on the end of an era: 'I retired   
   from Fermilab in June, so my long-time address (higgins@fnal.gov) will no   
   longer reach me.'   
        _Northumberland Heath SF Society:_ fan meetings on the second Thursday   
   of each month have moved to The Royal Oak, 270 Bexley Road, Erith, Kent,   
   DA8 3HB. [SF2C]   
      
   MAGAZINE SCENE. The TTA Press online shop, selling back issues of   
   _Interzone_, _Black Static_ and _Crimewave_, closed down in October.   
      
   ORWELLIAN HORROR! 'Multipack bags of crisps are only five grams heavier   
   than the reduced chocolate rations handed to surveilled citizens in George   
   Orwell's nightmare, _Nineteen Eighty-Four_. Is 25g all our appetite is   
   worth?' (Natalie White, _Crunch: An Ode to Crisps_, 2024) [PE]   
      
   COURT CIRCULAR. A Russian court ruled that Google owes Russia's media   
   $20,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 ($20 decillion) for   
   blocking their content -- more money than exists on Earth. Google, no   
   longer active in Russia, seems untroubled. (_The Register_, 29 October)   
      
   THE DEAD PAST. _50 Years Ago_ at Novacon 4: 'Peter Weston gave a good   
   rambling account of his recent TAFF trip, which was supposed to be   
   illustrated with the aid of an extraordinary epidiascope that looked more   
   like a mimeograph. The first picture put into the machine was burnt to a   
   cinder, and the bulb then fused, so the talk was perforce without   
   pictures.' (_Checkpoint_ 56, November 1974)   
        _30 Years Ago:_ 'You thought Kim Stanley Robinson's _Green Mars_ was   
   hard sf? Not so, implies the write-up in _Fire and Water_ (HarperCollins   
   newsletter), explaining how to reach this particular Mars: "Cross the   
   astral belt ...".' (_Ansible_ 88, November 1994)   
        _20 Years Ago_, Ceefax TV Choice offered its best argument for   
   _Battlestar Galactica_ on Sky One: 'Take it on trust and watch anyway --   
   Galactica is genuinely exceptional and the less you like science fiction,   
   the more you'll love this new US drama.' (_Ansible_ 208, November 2004)   
      
   SFWA. Following resignations and a 'special election' for new leadership,   
   Kate Ristau is now the president of SFWA. (SFWA, 29 October)   
      
   FANFUNDERY. _TransAtlantic Fan Fund._ Sarah Gulde is home from her long   
   TAFF trip and has taken over as NA administrator: Mike Lowrey can retire at   
   last. The next westbound TAFF race will be to the 2025 Seattle Worldcon:   
   nominations open 11 November 2024, closing 20 December; voting from early   
   January to just after Eastercon; candidates are now sought. See   
   taff.org.uk. [SB/ML]   
        _TAFF Ebooks:_ our 100th title is _Harrison Country_ (2007) by Steve   
   Stiles, reporting without indecent haste on his 1968 TAFF trip. [GS] With   
   much help from Irwin Hirsh, the library now includes GUFF reports by John   
   Foyster (first ever GUFF trip, 1979), Ian Gunn & Karen Pender-Gunn (1995),   
   Eric Lindsay & Jean Weber (2001), Pat McMurray (2004), James Shields   
   (2010), Gillian Polack (2014), Donna Maree Hanson (2017), Marcin 'Alqua'   
   Klak (2018) and Simon Litten (2019). Latest additions at   
   taff.org.uk/ebooks.php?all&chron.   
      
   THOG'S MASTERCLASS. _Neat Tricks._ 'Paula Ray, in a chair a few feet away   
   was sleeping, her head on her breast.' (Edmond Hamilton, 'The Stars, My   
   Brothers', 1962) [BA]   
        _Again and Again._ '[J.R.R. Tolkien] was taken away from the blaze of   
   his African life when he was very young ... and he never saw his father,   
   who died a year later, again.' (William Ready, _The Tolkien Relation_,   
   1981) [LG]   
        _Eyeballs in the Sky._ 'The blood-laced eyes of Ruthlen Beauson bagged   
   gibbously behind their horn-rimmed lenses.' (Richard Matheson, 'The Doll   
   That Does Everything', 1954) [BA]   
      
      
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   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)