David Langford

David Rowland Langford (born April 10, 1953, in Newport, Monmouthshire) is a British author, editor and critic, largely active within the science fiction field. He publishes the science fiction newsletter Ansible, which he describes as "The SF Private Eye". Download high resolution version (498x654, 87 KB)David Langford Image © David Langford, released under GFDL. File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Download high resolution version (498x654, 87 KB)David Langford Image © David Langford, released under GFDL. File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... April 10 is the 100th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (101st in leap years). ... 1953 (MCMLIII) was a common year starting on Thursday. ... This article is about the Welsh city of Newport. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... Science fiction is a form of speculative fiction principally dealing with the impact of imagined science and technology, or both, upon society and persons as individuals. ... A newsletter is a regularly distributed publication generally about one main topic that is of interest to its subscribers. ... The term ansible is used in science fiction literature to describe a hypothetical faster-than-light communication device. ... Private eye may mean: Look up Private eye on Wiktionary, the free dictionary Private Eye a fortnightly British satirical magazine-newspaper, edited by Ian Hislop (as of 2005) A private investigator, a private detective for hire (see also crime fiction and detective fiction) Private Eye, a song by Alkaline Trio...

Personal background

Langford was educated at Brasenose College, Oxford where he first became involved in science fiction fandom. College name The Kings Hall and College of Brasenose Latin name aula regia et collegium aenei nasi Named after Bronze door knocker Established 1509 Sister college Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge Principal Prof. ... Science fiction fandom or SF fandom is the community of people actively interested in science fiction and fantasy literature, and in contact with one another based upon that interest. ...

He is married to Hazel and is the brother of cult musician Jon Langford. Jon Langford is a Welsh-born musician and artist who is based in Chicago. ...

Langford's first job was as a physicist at the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment at Aldermaston, Berkshire, an experience which he later humorously parodied in The Leaky Establishment. Articles with similar titles include physician, a person who practices medicine. ... AWE plc logo The Atomic Weapons Establishment, Aldermaston (formerly the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment, Aldermaston) is situated in the UK, just 7 miles north of Basingstoke and approximately 14 miles south-west of Reading, Berkshire, near a village called Aldermaston, bordering with Tadley. ... View of Aldermaston village circa 1959 Aldermaston is a village in the English county of Berkshire, two miles north of Tadley. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... The Leaky Establishment is a novel by David Langford, first published in June 1984 by Frederick Muller (ISBN 0584311672) and re-issued, with an introduction by Terry Pratchett, in July 2003 by Cosmos Books (ISBN 1592241255). ...

In 1985 he set up a "tiny and informally run software company" with science fiction writer Christopher Priest, called Ansible Information. Langford is now the sole active partner. Priest and Langford also set up Ansible E-ditions which publishes print-on-demand collections of short stories by John Sladek and David I. Masson. 1985 (MCMLXXXV) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Christopher Priest (born 1943) is an English science fiction writer, whose notable works include Inverted World[1974], Fugue for a Darkening Island[1973] (US title Darkening Island, The Prestige[1975], and The Separation[2002]. His novels have won the BSFA award (three times), the Arthur C. Clarke Award, and the... Print on demand or publish on demand (POD) is a publishing methodology in which a copy is not created until after an order is received. ... John Thomas Sladek (December 15, 1937 - March 10, 2000) was an American science-fiction author. ... David Irvine Masson (6 November 1917 – 27 February 2007) was a British science-fiction writer and librarian. ...

Increasing hearing difficulties have reduced Langford's participation in some fan activities.

Literary career

In fiction, he is most noted for his parodies. A collection of short stories, parodying various science fiction, fantasy fiction and detective story writers has been published as He Do The Time Police In Different Voices (2003, incorporating the earlier and much shorter 1988 parody collection The Dragonhiker's Guide to Battlefield Covenant at Dune's Edge: Odyssey Two). Two novels, parodying disaster novels and horror, respectively, are Earthdoom! and Guts!, both co-written with John Grant. Parody of Back to the Future In contemporary usage, a parody is a work that imitates another work in order to ridicule, ironically comment on, or poke some affectionate fun at the work itself, the subject of the work, the author or fictional voice of the parody, or another subject. ... For other definitions of fantasy see fantasy (psychology). ... Detective Story is a 1951 film which tells the story of one day in the lives of the various people who populate a police detectives squad. ... He Do The Time Police In Different Voices is a collection of parodies and pastiches of the work of multiple authors of science fiction, fantasy, and detective fiction, all written by David Langford between 1976 and 2002 for various publications; the collection was published in 2003 by Wildside Press. ... 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1988 (MCMLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... A novel (from French nouvelle Italian novella, new) is an extended, generally fictional narrative, typically in prose. ... Horror fiction is, broadly, fiction in any medium intended to scare, unsettle, or horrify the reader. ... John Grant may refer to: John Grant, an engineer, believed by some scholars to have been Scottish, who fought in the Siege of Constantinople John Grant, one of the conspirators in the Gunpowder Plot John Grant, mayor of Victoria, British Columbia from 1887 to 1891 John Grant, screenwriter John Grant...

David Langford at Worldcon 2005 in Glasgow, with two Hugo Awards

His novelette An Account Of A Meeting With Denizens Of Another World 1871, is an entertaining account of a UFO encounter, as experienced by a Victorian, but is notable chiefly for the framing story, in which Langford claimed to have found the manuscript in an old desk. This has led some UFOlogists to believe the story is genuine (including the US author Whitley Strieber, who referred to the 1871 incident in his novel Majestic). Langford freely admits the story is fictional when asked - but, as he notes, "Journalists usually don't ask." Image File history File links Download high resolution version (927x1005, 625 KB) en: Dave Langford at Worldcon 2005 in Glasgow, August 2005. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (927x1005, 625 KB) en: Dave Langford at Worldcon 2005 in Glasgow, August 2005. ... It has been suggested that World Science Fiction Society be merged into this article or section. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Glaswegian redirects here. ... An unidentified flying object, or UFO, is any real or apparent flying object which cannot be identified by the observer and which remains unidentified after investigation. ... Queen Victoria (shown here on the morning of her Ascension to the Throne, 20 June 1837) gave her name to the historic era The Victorian era of the United Kingdom marked the height of the British industrial revolution and the apex of the British Empire. ... A frame story (also frame tale, frame narrative, etc) is a narrative technique whereby a main story is composed, at least in part, for the purpose of organizing a set of shorter stories, each of which is a story within a story. ... Ufology is the study of Unidentified flying object (UFO) reports, sightings, and other related phenomena. ... Louis Whitley Strieber (born June 13, 1945) is a US writer best known for his horror novels The Wolfen and The Hunger and for Communion, which professes to be a non-fictional description of his subjective experiences with non-human entities (see alien abduction). ...

A collection of his nonfiction and humorous work, Let's Hear It for the Deaf Man, was published in 1992 by NESFA Press. This was incorporated into a follow-up collection, consisting of 47 nonfiction pieces and three short stories, and published as The Silence of the Langford in 1996. He also assisted in producing The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (1993) and contributed several articles to The Encyclopedia of Fantasy (1997). He will be one of the three editors of the planned new edition of The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction. 1992 (MCMXCII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty. ... The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction is a reference work on science-fiction. ... Cover Art. ...

His 2004 collection Different Kinds of Darkness is a compilation of 36 of his shorter, non-parodic science fiction pieces, the title story of which won the Hugo Award for Best Short Story in 2001. He also had one serious science fiction novel published in 1982, The Space Eater. 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Hugo Awards are given annually for the best science fiction or fantasy works. ... 2001 (MMI) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1982 (MCMLXXXII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Langford has won numerous other Hugo Awards, mostly for his fan journalism: 20 for Best Fan Writer, 5 for Ansible as Best Fanzine, and another for Ansible as Best Semiprozine. As of 2006 he has, in total, 27 Hugo Awards. The 2005 Hugo Award with base designed by Deb Kosiba. ... Hugo Award for Best Fan Writer. ... Hugo Award for Best Fanzine. ... Hugo Award for Best Semiprozine. ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... The 2005 Hugo Award with base designed by Deb Kosiba. ...

David Langford has also written columns for several computer magazines, notably 8000 Plus (later renamed PCW Plus), which was devoted to the Amstrad PCW word processor. This column ran, though not continuously, from the first issue in October 1986 to the last, dated Christmas 1996. His 1985-1988 "The Disinformation Column" for Apricot File focused on Apricot Computers systems. 8000 Plus (renamed PCW Plus early in 1992) was a monthly British magazine dedicated to the Amstrad PCW range of microcomputers. ... 8000 Plus (renamed PCW Plus early in 1992) was a monthly British magazine dedicated to the Amstrad PCW range of microcomputers. ... Amstrad PCW8512 Schneider Joyce The Amstrad PCW series (Personal Computer Word processor) was British company Amstrads versatile line of home/personal microcomputers pitched as a complete, integrated home/office solution. ... 1986 (MCMLXXXVI) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty. ... 1985 (MCMLXXXV) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1988 (MCMLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Apricot File was a British magazine catering for users of early Apricot Computers microcomputer systems. ... Apricot Computers, a British manufacturer of business-orientated personal computers, was the new name for Applied Computer Techniques (ACT) in 1985. ...

Langford wrote the science fiction and fantasy book review column for White Dwarf from 1983 to 1988, continuing in other British role-playing game magazines until 1991; the columns are collected as The Complete Critical Assembly (2001). He has also written a regular column for SFX magazine, featuring in every issue since its launch in 1995. A tenth-anniversary collection of these columns appeared in 2005 as The SEX Column and other misprints; this was shortlisted for a 2006 Hugo Award for Best Related Book. His most recent book is The End of Harry Potter? (2006), an unauthorized companion to the famous series by J.K. Rowling. Cover of White Dwarf issue 90, June 1987. ... 1983 (MCMLXXXIII) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1988 (MCMLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... A role-playing game (RPG, often roleplaying game) is a type of game in which the participants assume the roles of fictional characters and collaboratively create or follow stories. ... SFX is a British science fiction magazine, published every four weeks. ... 1995 (MCMXCV) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Hugo Awards are given annually by members of the World Science Fiction Convention for the best science fiction or fantasy works. ... The End of Harry Potter? is an unauthorised companion volume to the Harry Potter book series by J. K. Rowling. ... Joanne Rowling OBE (born July 31, 1965 in Chipping Sodbury, South Gloucestershire), commonly known as J.K. Rowling (pronunciation: roll-ing; her former students used to joke with her name calling her the Rolling Stone), is a British fiction writer. ...

Basilisks

A number of his stories are set in a future containing images, colloquially called "basilisks", which crash the human mind by triggering thoughts that the mind is physically or logically incapable of thinking. The first of these stories was "BLIT" (Interzone, 1988); others include "What Happened at Cambridge IV" (Digital Dreams, 1990); "comp.basilisk FAQ" (Nature, 1999), and the Hugo-winning "Different Kinds of Darkness" (F&SF, 2000). Look up Future in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Woodblock print of a basilisk from Ulisse Aldrovandi, Monstrorum historia, 1642 Cityseal of Zwolle from 1295 with Saint-Michael killing a basilisk In European bestiaries and legends, a basilisk (from the Greek βασιλίσκος basiliskos, a little king, in Latin Regulus) is a legendary reptile reputed to be king of serpents and... A crash in computing is a condition where a program (either an application or part of the operating system) stops performing its expected function and also stops responding to other parts of the system. ... BLIT (which stands for Berryman Logical Image Technique) is a short story written by author David Langford. ... Interzone is a British science fiction and fantasy magazine, published since 1982. ... Nature is one of the most prominent scientific journals, first published on 4 November 1869. ... The Hugo Awards are given annually for the best science fiction or fantasy works. ... F&SF April 1971, special Poul Anderson issue. ...

The idea, a form of the motif of harmful sensation, has appeared elsewhere; in one of his novels, Ken MacLeod has characters explicitly mention (and worry about encountering) the "Langford Visual Hack". Similar references, also mentioning Langford by name, feature in works by Greg Egan and Charles Stross. The titular Snow Crash of Neal Stephenson's novel is a combination mental/computer virus capable of infecting the minds of hackers via their visual cortex.The idea also appears in Blindsight by Peter Watts where a particular combination of right angles is a harmful image to vampires. The motif of harmful sensation refers to the physical or mental damage that a person suffers merely by experiencing what should normally be a benign sensation. ... Ken MacLeod (born August 2, 1954), an award-winning Scottish science fiction writer, lives near Edinburgh. ... Greg Egan (August 20, 1961, Perth, Western Australia) is an Australian computer programmer and science fiction author. ... Charles David George Charlie Stross (born Leeds, October 18, 1964) is a writer based in Edinburgh, Scotland. ... Snow Crash is a science fiction novel written by Neal Stephenson and published in 1992. ... Neal Town Stephenson (born October 31, 1959) is an American writer, known primarily for his science fiction works in the postcyberpunk genre with a penchant for explorations of society, mathematics, currency, and the history of science. ... A computer virus is a computer program that can copy itself and infect a computer without permission or knowledge of the user. ... The term Hackers can refer to several things: Hacker - a type of person interested in exploration, usually of a computer or electrical engineering background. ... Brodmann area 17 (primary visual cortex) is shown in red in this image which also shows area 18 (orange) and 19 (yellow) The visual cortex refers to the primary visual cortex (also known as striate cortex or V1) and extrastriate visual cortical areas such as V2, V3, V4, and V5. ... Peter Watts is a Canadian science fiction author and marine-mammal biologist. ... Further reading Christopher Frayling - Vampyres: Lord Byron to Count Dracula 1992. ...

A related idea, the fracter, a fractal image with psycho-active effects, occurs as a key plot element in Ian McDonald's 1994 novel Scissors Cut Paper Wrap Stone. Ian McDonald at Worldcon 2005 in Glasgow Ian McDonald, born in 1960, is an award-winning British science fiction novelist, living in Belfast. ... 1994 (MCMXCIV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated as the International Year of the Family and the International Year of the Sport and the Olympic Ideal by United Nations. ...

See also

• Kurt Gödel
• The Riddle of the Universe and Its Solution

[...]I dont believe in natural science. ... The Riddle of the Universe and Its Solution is a short story written by Christopher Cherniak which appears in the 1981 book The Minds I. It describes a research project in computer science which includes content that produces catatonia in anyone who views it. ...

External links

• David Langford UK site
• Bibliography
• Ansible newsletter
• 8000 Plus/PCW Plus columns
• Apricot File columns
• SFX columns

Short stories

• BLIT
• comp.basilisk FAQ
• New Hope for the Dead