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It started as an idle joke in 1995, when I began to brighten up the masthead with strange trade goods or services which could supposedly be bartered forAnsible. Now it's an expected tradition, and I struggle to think of something offbeat for this feature's vast following (Chip Hitchcock) to track down with infallible precision. Explanations appear here after a suitable interval, usually before the nextAnsible unless I forget. Issues not listed below had nothing cryptic in the masthead, at least according to me. –David Langford
2026
Ansible 463 – "the fate of any man who's once been set his tryst with Tristero" – the doom-laden couplet"No hallowed skein of stars can ward, I trow, / Who's once been set his tryst with Tristero." comes from the invented Jacobean dramaThe Courier's Tragedy (section header) inThe Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon.
Ansible 462 – "the secret link between Max Carrados and Mr Fisher-King" – Ernest Bramah's blind detective Max Carrados and C.S. Lewis's Mr. Fisher-King inThat Hideous Strength had both changed their surnames, from Wynn and Ransom respectively, as a condition of a legacy. In A.A. Milne's 1917 debut playWurzel-Flummery (section header) two British MPs are faced with the same choice: unless you change your name to Wurzel-Flummery, you don't inherit £50,000.
2025
Ansible 461 – "hodmandods, Magimuck, flaked corns, or stercoraceous dungarees" – appurtenances of the title character in Raymond Briggs's graphic novelFungus the Bogeyman, whence also the section header "When Things Get Out of Hand".
Ansible 460 – "Force-fields, Stealth, Mort-main, Nigromancy, Mopery or Gawk" – things which a door-warding spell is proof against in Avram Davidson's "The Singular Events which Occurred in the Hovel on the Alley off of Eye Street", which also makes mention of The Deep School (section header) and its graduation honour the Navel Plug, with two Pips (not referenced anywhere in this issue but I can't resist citing it anyway).
Ansible 459 – "an eidolon named Night" – from Edgar Allan Poe's "Dream-Land": "By a route obscure and lonely, / Haunted by ill angels only, / Where an Eidolon, named NIGHT, / On a black throne[section header] reigns upright, / I have reached these lands but newly / From an ultimate dim Thule ..." I was planning to use the last line as section header but found I'd already done that inAnsible 77.
Ansible 458 – "any tool kit that includes a crabwick, a frawlpin and a gult" – implements used by the blind artisans or Norns in Roger Zelazny'sCreatures of Light and Darkness. The section header "The Reboantic Norns" is from a 19th-century poem by Thomas Holley Chivers quoted inThe Stuffed Owl: An Anthology of Bad Verse and also in a lesser-known ditty by Rudyard Kipling.
Ansible 457 – "sf magazines published by Eustace Snarge" – in Eric Frank Russell'sNext of Kin, the protagonist sells his alien captors the story that every Earthling has an invisible, intangible companion or controller called Eustace. The UK hardback from Dennis Dobson extended this conceit to the copyright page, identifying Street & Smith (publishers ofAstounding, where the short version "Plus X" had appeared) as Eustace Snarge and Dobson as Eustace Bam of Bam & Co. The Eustace myth also features a nonfunctional gadget called a bopamagilvie (section header).
Ansible 456 – "a terrible torch of tin or a tower of turbulent toast" – items from Fuschia's counting verse inTitus Groan by Mervyn Peake. "A Hundred Hollow Horses" (section header) is another. See the chapter "Prunesquallor's Knee-Cap".
Ansible 455 – "a geometric model in concrete of the square root of minus one" – the shape of an unlikely building in "The Voices of Time" by J.G. Ballard, mentioned this issue. "The Sublimation World" (section header) is John Sladek's parody of Ballard, collected inThe Steam-Driven Boy.
Ansible 454 – "the buns by great men reached and kept" – from Don Marquis's rejigging of Longfellow in "quote buns by great men quote" – seearchy's life of mehitabel. Locations in the archy-and-mehitabel poems include Shinbone Alley (section header), title of the ensuing musical and the film based on it.
Ansible 453 – "reliable escape routes from the Chester-Perry Building" – oppressive office setting of the long-runningBristow cartoon strip by Frank Dickens, whose back-story includes The Great Tea Trolley Disaster (section header).
Ansible 452 – "Chinese obelisks, epiplectic bicycles or fatal lozenges" – from the titles of three graphic works by Edward Gorey;The Raging Tide (section header) is another.
Ansible 451 – "the 17 volumes ofEuralia Past and Present by Roger Scurvilegs" – an important source text for A.A. Milne's fairytaleOnce on a Time (section header).
Ansible 450 – "first editions ofHire and Salary orThe Spider Bites Back" – two of the 37 novels in the Spider mystery series that plays an important part in"Stop Press" by Michael Innes (US titleThe Spider Strikes), in whichThe Spongy Helicon (section header) is briefly considered as a title for a nonfiction satire.
2024
Ansible 449 – "any reliable charm against being seasonally scrobbled" – the fate of many, especially among the clergy, in John Masefield'sThe Box of Delights after the warning has gone out that "The Wolves Are Running" (section header).
Ansible 448 – "the secret plans hidden by Erihsibrad under the Wollip" – showing the use of an Elbartenepmi Edoc inJennings' Diary by Anthony Buckeridge, whoseThanks to Jennings includes the chapter title "The Furtive Feasters" (section header).
Ansible 447 – "prophylactic against metaphoric deformation or Panzaism" – see Robert Sheckley'sMindswap, in whichThe Inexorability of the Specious (section header) is a book written by the body-snatching villain.
Ansible 446 – "a dip in the swimming-pool reactor" – title of the second part of Harry Harrison'sBill, the Galactic Hero as serialized inNew Worlds, where the third and final part was called "E=mc² – Or Bust" (section header).
Ansible 445 – "a deeglo for a cup of oglo, or a first-class return ticket to Tranai" – see Robert Sheckley's "A Ticket to Tranai", which is a far planet way out past the Galactic Whirl (section header).
Ansible 444 – "secrets of the Temper Racket, Honeymoon Rob and Glim-Drop" – mysterious criminal activities in Alfred Bester'sThe Stars My Destination akaTiger! Tiger!, whence also the fatal Blue Jaunte (section header).
Ansible 443 – "the collectedPensées of the Abbé Fausse-Maigre" – the heroine's infallible guide through life inCold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons, supplemented in situations of extreme difficulty by the same author'sThe Higher Common Sense (section header).
Ansible 442 – "complete and uncensored text ofThe Avatar's Apprentice" – a story glimpsed only in excerpts as chapter-head epigraphs throughout Jack Vance's "Demon Princes" series, with the source given asScroll from the Ninth Dimension (section header).
Ansible 441 – "average air speed of the solitary oesophagus" – nodding to Mark Twain's "A Double-Barrelled Detective Story" in which, buried in one lush descriptive paragraph, "far in the empty sky a solitary oesophagus slept upon motionless wing". The section header "The Mysterious Stranger" is a Twain novel that he never completed.
Ansible 440 – "the latest IKEA manual for assembling a parapatterner" – a semi-mystical device constructed in "The Worm That Flies" (section header) by Brian Aldiss, who took his cue from "The Sick Rose" by William Blake.
Ansible 439 – "bazils, erbs, deodands, gids, grues, hoons or leucomorphs" – assorted monsters from the Dying Earth stories by Jack Vance. The section header "The Bagful of Dreams" is a 1977 novelette in this setting.
Ansible 438 – "indexed location of the secrettaynik orpotaynik" – hiding place of the Crown Jewels of Zembla (section header), not actually revealed by an endless loop of relevant entries in the index ofPale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov.
2023
Ansible 437 – "privileges of the Quantorsi, Tattermen or Clam Muffins" – prestigious social clubs inNight Lamp by Jack Vance; "Quadrants of the Squared Circle" (section header) is a blanket name for four more such groups.
Ansible 436 – "first editions of the pamphletWhy Should Salt Suffer?" – see Chapter I ofThe Napoleon of Notting Hill by G.K. Chesterton; the section header "The Pantheist's Boots" is a punchline from the same author'sThe Man Who Was Thursday.
Ansible 435 – "dead bards, lonely tapeworms or love-lorn truffles" – intriguing index entries fromThe Stuffed Owl (section header), the classic anthology of bad verse edited by D.B. Wyndham Lewis and Charles Lee.
Ansible 434 – "surrealist boxing, or an invitation to the Unquiet Wedding" – alluding to Maurice Richardson'sThe Exploits of Engelbrecht, whose title character is a surrealist boxer (who mostly fights with clocks) and whose expanded edition (Savoy, 2000) includes "Unquiet Wedding" (between Dracula's Daughter and the Son of Frankenstein, with too many fictional detectives in attendance). The section headerFits & Starts is the title of Richardson's collected essays and other short pieces.
Ansible 433 – "the widgeon westward winging" – from deathless verse quoted in "Reginald's Peace Poem" in the Saki collectionReginald; the section header "the wounded wombats wail" is from "Reginald's Rubaiyat" in the same book.
Ansible 432 – "tales of the Arthurian and Ad-Atomic Ages" – from the subtitle of J.B. Priestley's comic fantasyThe Thirty-First of June, in which "The Black Knight Hath My Heart" (section header) is a ballad occasionally mentioned but never actually heard.
Ansible 431 – "Harzan's Monograph or the Incantation of Raaaee" – occult props fromCarnacki the Ghost-Finder; the section header "The Moving Fur Case" is a Carnacki exploit that (as in Sherlock Holmes) is tantalizingly mentioned but never described.
Ansible 430 – "information on the precise expiry date of summer's lease" – the connection between this and the section header "The Darling Buds of May" being (another very easy one) the Shakespeare sonnet that starts: "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?"
Ansible 429 – "the arithmetical total ejaculated in a leaky flow" – unexplained entry in the machine-translation game played inGalactic Pot-Healer by Philip K. Dick, wherebyThe Corn Is Green is cryptically rendered asThe Cliché Is Inexperienced (by Serious Constricting-path). The section header "The Prying Fan" is an old Walt Willis column title.
Ansible 428 – "the secret of the evil elephants with their black backs" – from the cryptogram inThe Nine Tailors by Dorothy L. Sayers.
Ansible 427 – "Dr. Kurt Brevis's map of the Unknown Islands (or Lakes)" – see Gerald Kersh's novelThe Great Wash (1953; akaThe Secret Masters). Previously though differently cited inAnsible 241, which in a senior moment I forgot.
Ansible 426 – "any edition of Silas Haslam'sHistory of the Land Called Uqbar"– an easy one for the New Year: see Jorge Luis Borges's "Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius". The section header "The Ten Thousand Doors" nods to Alix E. Harrow's novel titleThe Ten Thousand Doors of January.
2022
Ansible 425 – "manshonyaggers, pin-sets, stroon or the wire of Eustace Cranch"– items found in the Instrumentality stories of Cordwainer Smith; the section header comes fromThe Triple Thinkers, a 1938 critical book by Edmund Wilson that may or may not be referenced by the difficult act of triple-thinking in Smith's "Under Old Earth" (1966).
Ansible 424 – "Eyes of Rhynn, Hands of Kwll or conjunctions of the million spheres" – all from the Moorcockian Multiverse, while the section header is another Moorcock title,The Rituals of Infinity.
Ansible 423 – "Frobb or Morgenstern'sColour Selection in Galactic Pantography" – arcana from Alexei Panshin's Anthony Villiers trilogy, in particularThe Thurb Revolution; likewise the section header "The Solimões Factor".
Ansible 422 – "barbitide or that bright moment where you learned your doom" – see the trilogyThe Fall of the Towers by Samuel R. Delany, whoseThe Star Pit provides a section header.
Ansible 421 – "words of Guru, a share of glory or the cosmic expense account" – referencing three titles by C.M. Kornbluth, a fourth being the section header "Not This August".
Ansible 420 – "route plan from Paragon III via Megaster V and Earth to Pollux" – see "Fondly Fahrenheit" by Alfred Bester, whence also the section header "They Know One Truth".
Ansible 419 – "sightings of isons, nisons, null-nisons, isotrons or phlogistons" – exciting new fundamental particles revealed in "The Discovery of the Nullitron" (section title) by Thomas Disch and John Sladek.
Ansible 418 – "the Chaos Engineers' navigational charts of the Second Ether" – see Michael Moorcock's "Corsairs of the Second Ether" (as by Warwick Colvin Jr), which also supplies the section title "The Face of the Fly".
Ansible 417 – "a thousand, a hundred, ten and one, black marble steps" – an alleged route out of hell inWylder's Hand by J. Sheridan Le Fanu; the section title "The Waning Strand" is a region of hell in Neil Gaiman's Sandman sequence.
Ansible 416 – "blobel skins, wubfur, chains of air or webs of aether" – referencing three shorts by Philip K. Dick including "Chains of Air, Web of Aether". The section title "The War with the Fnools" is another.
Ansible 415 – "any first edition by the learned Hafen Slawkenbergius" – fictional author frequently referenced inTristram Shandy by Laurence Sterne; his great work wasDe Nasis ["On Noses"], distantly echoed in the opening section header.
Ansible 414 – "hefty news brought to me by ruddy scouts" – from the line "Our ruddy scouts to me this hefty news hath brought" in theBeyond the Fringe Shakespeare spoof "So That's the Way You Like It", whence also the deathless phrase "Some fickle circumstance" (section header).
2021
Ansible 413 – "the weird mythos writings of Ralph Wollstonecraft Hedge" – these, includingThe Lurker in the Cabbage Patch andThe Straggler from the Moon Pit (section header), are listed in "Ralph Wollstonecraft Hedge: A Memoir" by Ron Goulart.
Ansible 412 – "wooden mice, koukounaries or the Bones of Mark" – all fromBones of the Moon by Jonathan Carroll, as is the section header "The Conversation Bath".
Ansible 411 – "identium, Ningis, obs, sequins, sprine, strakh or truffle skins" – currency or the equivalent from works by (respectively) George O. Smith, Douglas Adams, Eric Frank Russell, Jack Vance, Neal Asher, Jack Vance again, and Philip K. Dick.
Ansible 410 – "fayalin, or a really good Visualization of the Cosmic All" – see the Lensman saga by E.E. "Doc" Smith.
Ansible 409 – "the pointless sea, or any lugubrious lake there was" – see the nonsense verse "The Frivolous Cake" (section header) in Mervyn Peake'sTitus Groan.
Ansible 408 – "mummy-cloth, Hades' bobbin or the golden smithies of the Emperor" – see "Byzantium" by W.B. Yeats.
Ansible 407 – "a [steel] belt buckle, a tungsten filament, three hens' eggs and ..." – with the addition of "twelve chemicals that can be readily obtained from the human body", the recipe for escape from a seemingly impregnable prison in "Forever" by Robert Sheckley.
Ansible 406 – "nine half-crowns wrapped in grease-proof paper" – a treasure trove inUncle by J.P. Martin; the section header "The Blowpipe Laundry" is from the same author'sUncle and the Battle for Badgertown.
Ansible 405 – "ticholama, hesso-penthol or resilian" – see Jack Vance's "The Howling Bounders" inThe Many Worlds of Magnus Ridolph.
Ansible 404 – "twisbies, the Lisping Elbow, or the Hipdeep trilogy" – seeThe Other Statue andThe Unstrung Harp by Edward Gorey, who also provided the section header "The Galoshes of Remorse".
Ansible 403 – "Geistzones, or the flight of a bird into an unknown region" – seeLavondyss by Robert Holdstock, where "Geistzones" and the section head "The Bone Forest" are chapter titles and "the flight of a bird into an unknown region" is the secret meaning of one of a set of magically protective masks.
Ansible 402 – "the Spots, or the significance of wearing the spiked bracelet" – sinister criminal arcana which along with the section header "The Donkey's Whistle" are mentioned in G.K. Chesterton's first Father Brown story, "The Blue Cross".
2020
Ansible 401 – "precise whereabouts of the surplus population" – seeA Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, which also suggested the section header "The Five Staves".
Ansible 400 – "correct use of salt and sea-kelp and gold" – seeThe Jewels of Aptor by Samuel R. Delany, in which the strangely similar litanies of the opposed religions of Argo and Hama prescribe slightly different uses.The Intelligence Gigantic (section header) is a novel by John Russell Fearn.
Ansible 399 – "despicable secrets whispered by masked heresiarchs" – see "The Lottery in Babylon" by Jorge Luis Borges, whose "The Twelve Figures of the World" (with Adolfo Bioy-Casares) provides a section header.
Ansible 398 – "a Project for a General Illumination of the Human Mind" – subtitle of the hapless hero Scythrop's masterworkPhilosophical Gas inNightmare Abbey by Thomas Love Peacock (this in memory of John Bangsund).
Ansible 397 – "flapping tatters, or songs that the Hyades shall sing." – from Cassilda's song inThe King in Yellow by Robert W. Chambers, whence also the section heading "The Pallid Mask". ("No mask? No mask!")
Ansible 396 – "Tarn-Bird, Thunder Goblin or Sea-Dragon Conqueror" – varieties of mask from "The Moon Moth" by Jack Vance.
Ansible 395 – "the social distancing facilities of Ullward's Retreat" – see the 1958 short story "Ullward's Retreat" by Jack Vance.
Ansible 394 – "boarding pass for the last flight of Dr. Ain" – if you haven't already read and been depressed by "The Last Flight of Dr. Ain" by James Tiptree Jr, this is not the most comfortable of times to catch up with it.
Ansible 393 – "strangling fruit from the hand of the sinner" – seeAnnihilation andAuthority by Jeff VanderMeer.
Ansible 392 – "schematics for building a contradragon" – see the chapbookWriting Science Fiction and Fantasy by Algis Budrys.
Ansible 391 – "a nice slice of Crustimoney Proseedcake" – seeWinnie-the-Pooh by A.A. Milne.
Ansible 390 – "how to live with the fluxus quo" – seeThe Dorbott of Vacuo by Patrick Woodroffe.
2019
Ansible 389 – "set of five Necklin field generator rods" – seeKomarr by Lois McMaster Bujold. The section titleThe Scholars of Night is a nod to John M. Ford.
Ansible 388 – "copies ofThe Bastard Aims for Your Groin" – hard-boiled novel "written" by the Literatron in Robert Escarpit'sThe Novel Computer.
Ansible 387 – "Tundist texts, or a zest for crumpled things" – phrases from the work ofFrank Key, whoseCrop Circles: The Crunlop Experiment provides a section header.
Ansible 386 – "youth sublime, or the fairy tales of science" – seeLocksley Hall by Tennyson, in which these phrases are very shortly followed by "the long result of time" (section header, from which John Brunner took his novel titleThe Long Result).
Ansible 385 – "Scapsile Vault Craft schematics" – seeExcession by Iain M. Banks, in which the Interesting Times Gang (section header) plays an important part.
Ansible 384 – "an invisible whistling octopus" – Edmund Wilson's dismissive description of the H.P. Lovecraft shoggoth in "Tales of the Marvellous and Ridiculous" (collected inClassics and Commercials). The section header "The Mandrake Shrieks" is also Wilson, from a brief verse composed in his sleep and reported in "Dream Poetry" (collected inThe Shores of Light).
Ansible 383 – "a tower of beer cans to the Moon" – a US fannish legend promulgated by (among others) Terry Carr: seeFandom Harvest II.
Ansible 382 – "the surly beard of Mrifk" – an easy one: fromThe Eye of Argon, which also provides the section header "The Norgolian Empire" and N.K. Jemisin's April foolery below.
Ansible 381 – "origami model of Buckingham Palace" – an incidental treat (in kit form) in "The Lost Nose" (section header) as published inMaps: The Uncollected John Sladek (2002).
Ansible 380 – "Thibetan Torture peepshow" – found inThe Glorious Nosebleed by Edward Gorey, whoseThe Chinese Obelisks provides a section header.
Ansible 379 – "an elephant with a wooden leg" – referencing the story "Elephant with Wooden Leg" by John Sladek, an author currently much on my mind. "A Celery of No Compass" (section header) comes from his "Pemberley's Start-Afresh Calliope".
Ansible 378 – "boko-maru, foma, sinookas or a stuppa" – technical terms from the religion of Bokononism inCat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut; one chapter title is "The Grand Ah-Whoom" (section header).
2018
Ansible 377 – "cerebrative psittacoid" – "The Cerebrative Psittacoid" and "The Hermeneutical Doughnut" (section header) are among H. Nearing Jr's tales of strange science featuring C.P. Ransom, the second included inThe Sinister Researches of C.P. Ransom and the first not.
Ansible 376 – "cure for misplaced pervulsions" – seeThe Eyes of the Overworld by Jack Vance. The section header "The Pot Was Awful" is the last line of Philip K. Dick'sGalactic Pot-Healer.
Ansible 375 – "Snipehazer's Vinegar", useful for poisoning dwarfs' drinking fountains – seeUncle Cleans Up by J.P. Martin. The section header "And No Beginning" is the last line of A.E. van Vogt'sThe Voyage of the Space Beagle.
Ansible 374 – "a reliable portal to Tanjecterly" – seeThe Green Pearl by Jack Vance. The section header "All the Goo and Dribble" is from Isaac Asimov'sFoundation.
Ansible 373 – "second-hand skrode wheels" – seeA Fire upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge, where we also learn that hexapodia is the key insight.
Ansible 372 – "thushol, grethlanth or shleath" – alien nasties encountered inThe Planeteers by John W. Campbell.
Ansible 371 – "substantial quantities of Psycho-Ergs" – the future "true unit of value" (combining aesthetics and energy) in "John Jones's Dollar" by Harry Stephen Keeler, one of Thog's chosen authors this issue.When the Great Days Come is a collection by Gardner Dozois.
Ansible 370 – "the sago scrooper of the Hoorgi House" – a couple more strange story titles from the works of Ivor Cutler.
Ansible 369 – "the immanentization of the Eastercon." – from the 1970s joke badge seen at UK conventions,IMMANENTIZE THE EASTERCON, alluding to the gnomic catch-phrase "Immanentize the Eschaton" in theIlluminatus! trilogy by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson. Sometimes it worries me that I remember these things.
Ansible 368 – "specifications for the Flazgaz Heatray" – seeThe Intruders by "Bron Fane" or the long extract from this novel quoted inDown the Badger Hole. "The Thing from Sheol" is also a Bron Fane story.
Ansible 367 – "the cake laid by Mayor Snorkum" – seeNext of Kin akaThe Space Willies by Eric Frank Russell. The section header "The Word of Unbinding" is of course a nod to Ursula K. Le Guin.
Ansible 366 – "solutions to the Blackett-Dirac equations" – seeThey Shall Have Stars by James Blish, also reissued asYear 2018! (section title).
2017
Ansible 365 – "hesid-shesids or a cloud of radioactive bats" – see chapter three ofThe Silver Eggheads by Fritz Leiber.
Ansible 364 – "when Owl Friday falls on a Wednesday" – seeMystery Mile by Margery Allingham.
Ansible 363 – "anything that's zymolosely polydactile" – see the space-operatic (and thusutterly unlike anything else in the Lensman series) Chapter 3 ofChildren of the Lens by E.E. Smith.
Ansible 362 – "the antidote to Psycho-Chemical Aerosols" – PCAs were deployed in the Acid Head War that disrupted European civilization in the back-story ofBarefoot in the Head by Brian Aldiss (whose short "The Impossible Star" also provides a section title).
Ansible 361 – "the reason for the names Jin and Neu" – see Part II of Ernest Bramah'sKai Lung Unrolls His Mat, where we learn only that "These two rocks have been called Jin and Neu for a certain reason."
Ansible 360 – "photoids, or a dual-vector foil for cleansing" – doomsday weapons deployed inDeath's End by Cixin Liu.
Ansible 359 – "the initiation rite of the Ten Teacups" – a dread secret society inThe Club of Queer Trades by G.K. Chesterton, where all we learn of it is that "Of the Ten Teacups, of course I dare not say a word." John Dickson Carr clearly had this in mind while writing (as Carter Dickson) his mystery novelThe Ten Teacups, in which the impossible-crime puzzleseems to be associated with a dread secret society whose ritual paraphernalia includes ...
Ansible 358 – "queens, or emperors with the double whorl" – see "The Big Pat Boom" by Damon Knight.
Ansible 357 – "the secret of tying an Instrumental Knot" – see R.A. Lafferty'sAurelia. This procedure is very painful for the male owner of what is euphemistically termed his Instrument.
Ansible 356 – "personal congenital radiation detector" – an imaginary sleuthing device invoked by Archie Goodwin in Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe mysteryDeath of a Dude.
Ansible 355 – "fantods or an admonitory hippopotamus" –The Admonitory Hippopotamus is an unfinished work by Edward Gorey, and a stuffed fantod features in one of his earliest stories. The section header "The Radishes of Doom" is from George Alec Effinger'sWhat Entropy Means to Me.
Ansible 354 – "not for cards drawn by Dworkin Barimen" – the mad artist/mage who in Roger Zelazny's Amber series created the original Pattern and the magical court cards or major arcana known as [TRIGGER WARNING] T****s.
2016
Ansible 353 – "turboencabulator phase detractors" – see spoof engineering article "Turboencabulator" by J.H. Quick (Institution of Electrical EngineersStudents' Quarterly Journal #25, 1955; reprinted inA Random Walk in Science ed R.L.Weber, 1973).
Ansible 352 – "jersee-pods or neptune's shawl" – emergency food-chain replacements offered by eco-engineer Haviland Tuf in the "Second Helpings" episode ofTuf Voyaging by George R.R. Martin.
Ansible 351 – "Prehumous Morbid Bibliomancy" – Unseen University's Prehumous Professor of Morbid Bibliomancy features inGoing Postal by Terry Pratchett, as does the related term of magical art "the moment of thlabber" (section header).
Ansible 350 – "a reliable second-hand Sending Boat" – sorcerous plot device in William Morris'sThe Water of the Wondrous Isles, to which the section head "The Way of the Wender" is also relevant.
Ansible 349 – "Morishill's Voozy, with Lacto-Ecto" – one of many exciting products in the alien warehouse of Robert Sheckley's "Untouched by Human Hands".
Ansible 348 – "quadratic religion or complex defamation" – items from young children's syllabus in "Primary Education of the Camiroi" by R.A. Lafferty.
Ansible 347 – "the thing that is neither god nor beast" – seeThe Gods of Pegana by Lord Dunsany.
Ansible 346 – "the which of the what-she-did" – see "The Ballad of Lost C'Mell" by Cordwainer Smith..
Ansible 345 – "the radiant car thy sparrows drew" – quotation (from a translation of Sappho) used as film title inRadiance by Catherynne M. Valente.
Ansible 344 – "Fwai-chi shags or Rhune Books of Deeds" – seeMarune: Alastor 933 by Jack Vance. Likewise the section heading Gharks and Hoos. (The Plain People of Fandom: You have used that book before.Myself: And I will probably use it again.)
Ansible 343 – "aposiderium, identium or ondinium" – science-fictional elements from, respectively, Tom Holt'sBlonde Bombshell, George O. Smith'sVenus Equilateral and Dru Pagliassotti'sClockwork Heart.
Ansible 342 – "a box of nothing or a bone from a dry sea" – in memory of the late great Peter Dickinson, two of his novel titles; the section headerThe Devil's Children is a third.
2015
Ansible 341 – "gifts at Ecksmass from Kringle-san" – from an aside inWolfbane by Frederik Pohl and C.M. Kornbluth (original phrase described by Damon Knight inIn Search of Wonder as "an incredibly obtuse blurt").
Ansible 340 – "asterzine, duodec, frack, PyrE or smashite" – sf explosives from, respectively, Lois McMaster Bujold'sCetaganda (andCryoburn), E.E. Doc Smith's "Lensman" sequencepassim, Jack Vance'sWyst: Alastor 1716, Alfred Bester'sThe Stars My Destination and Keith Laumer's Retief sequence (plus other Laumer stories such as "Greylorn").
Ansible 339 – "live demonstrations of the Astral Pole" – for those who remember the cruel Astral Leauge initiation test administered by the late D. West.
Ansible 338 – "a Ripe Fruit Party, or That Which is Within" – see Ian Dennis's Arabian diptych "The Prince of Stars in the Cavern of Time", comprisingBagdad andThe Prince of Stars.
Ansible 337 – "nudged-quantum storage units or sophons" – curiously similar data-processing concepts from, respectively, Hal Draper's "MS Fnd in a Lbry" and Cixin Liu'sThe Three-Body Problem.
Ansible 336 – "collapsium or a piece of the congohelium" – probably impossible substances from, respectively,The Collapsium by Wil McCarthy and "Under Old Earth" by Cordwainer Smith.
Ansible 335 – "the pyroflatulent sunpuppies of Band" – these cute but dangerous entities may be found in Terry Pratchett's underrated early sf novelThe Dark Side of the Sun.
Ansible 334 – "5 eggs, dangerous flags or a Cephalotron" – naturally issue334 nods to Thomas M. Disch with these three story titles ("Cephalotron" being better known as "Fun with Your New Head"), plus two more as section headers:The Puppies of Terra, which is curiously topical, and "Concepts".
Ansible 333 – "the awful mystery of Gordelpus" – seeLast and First Men by Olaf Stapledon.
Ansible 332 – "egg-meat, gruts or the song of the Schi" – two sinister foodstuffs and an insect from the writings of Ivor Cutler, as collected in his 1962 bookGruts. Also in memory of the late great cartoonist Martin Honeysett, who illustrated the 1986 paperbackGruts and its companion volumeFremsley (1987); he died on 21 January.
Ansible 331 – "ascomycin, melange, pilac or stroon" – anti-death drugs from (respectively) James Blish'sThey Shall Have Stars, Frank Herbert'sDune, Terry Pratchett'sThe Dark Side of the Sun and Cordwainer Smith's Instrumentality seriespassim.
Ansible 330 – "the address of Petty, Smilodon and Ruth" – big-city attorneys inLittle, Big by John Crowley.
2014
Ansible 329 – "a pack filled with Big Beaver Essentials" – the paraphernalia of a youth organization resembling the Boy Scouts in Alexei Panshin'sThe Thurb Revolution. The section headerThe Snuggily Winter is a title from an imaginary series of children's novels by "Mrs Waldo Wintergood" in the same book.
Ansible 328 – "the Glass Clock of Bad Schüschein" – world-ending doomsday machine (because of quantum) from Terry Pratchett'sThief of Time.
Ansible 327 – "Glotzenglubber or a manus module" – a drink ingredient and a nice if nonfunctional thing to have, from R.A. Lafferty's "Slow Tuesday Night", a story which also features the exclusive Toppers' Club.
Ansible 326 – "black seals or thrice around the maple tree" – see Arthur Machen'sThe Three Impostors (containing "Novel of the Black Seal") and "The Inmost Light".
Ansible 325 – "a mulbus, a crawg, and a common creeb" – lepidopteran abuse from "The Clothes Moth and the Luna Moth" inFurther Fables for Our Time by James Thurber.
Ansible 324 – "first editions ofPrying Manticora" – a past work by the novelist character inArcher's Goon by Diana Wynne Jones.
Ansible 323 – "a wooden automaton called Ahududu" – a sinister character in Edward Gorey's graphic melodramaLa malle saignante [The Bleeding Trunk].
Ansible 322 – "the lost Theorems of Wukim" – one of the goodies discovered in the Sacred Archives by the alien protagonist of Lloyd Biggle Jr's "The Rule of the Door" (February 1958Galaxy).
Ansible 321 – "a soirée with Lady Constance de Coverlet" – the legendary gigantic femme fatale of many anI'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again spoof radio drama, including theDoctor Who parody "Professor Prune and the Electric Time Trousers" (section header)
Ansible 320 – "automatic twin-tube wishing machines" – see "Galactic Consumer Report No.2" by John Brunner (1966Galaxy; collected in hisTime-Jump).
Ansible 319 – "videos showing the act of distimming" – see "The Gostak and the Doshes" (also section title) by Miles J. Breuer.
Ansible 318 – "red leaves, scob liver and ginkle-string" – ingredients for Wizard Blenkinsop's spell inUncle Cleans Up by J.P. Martin.
2013
Ansible 317 – "the Tongs, or the Thumbcaps of Enquiry" – see Cyril Connolly's satire on totalitarian dystopias, "Year Nine".
Ansible 316 – "the final director's cut ofParkroads" – see Gene Wolfe's short non-fact film review "Parkroads".
Ansible 315 – "detailed pedigree listing fromTwurp's Peerage" – see Terry Pratchett's Discworld books,passim.
Ansible 314 – "Get Out Of The Dung Pits Of Glyve pass" – see Roger Zelazny'sJack of Shadows.
Ansible 313 – "fun, fantasy, confusion and catastrophe" – operating procedure of the Dagenham agency in Alfred Bester'sThe Stars My Destination aliasTiger! Tiger!
Ansible 312 – "a cold voice in a room of iron clocks" – see Alasdair Gray'sOld Negatives: 4 verse sequences.
Ansible 311 – "Lenlu Om, or a Shefth with a Zug-gun" – see Damon Knight'sBeyond the Barrier.
Ansible 310 – "health & safety instructions for a Foon" – vital information omitted from Spike Milligan's treatise "How to Make a Foon" (inA Dustbin of Milligan, 1961).
Ansible 309 – "extracts fromThe Anatomy of Nonscience" – a learned work-in-progress alluded to in Anthony Boucher's story "The Anomaly of the Empty Man".
Ansible 308 – "the paradoxes of Immenso Champernoon" – a character parodically based on G.K. Chesterton, whose scene was cut from George Bernard Shaw's sf playBack to Methuselah and published separately.
Ansible 307 – "Martichorastic Minikins" – a festival attraction inExcession by Iain M. Banks.
Ansible 306 – "mutual cake violating" – an inadvertent linguistic concept from John Scalzi'sRedshirts.
2012
Ansible 305 – "the pie that bakes and eats itself" – a reflection on the human condition from Alasdair Gray'sLanark.
Ansible 304 – "a set of harmoniously grunting peels" may be found in Alexei Panshin'sMasque World, third and last of the Villiers books in which the Wu and Fabricant guide (section title) is indispensible to galactic tourists. (The hour when peels grunt is known as peelgrunt. This is important.)
Ansible 303 – "Antagonistic Undecagonstring scores" – the only known musical score for this bizarre instrument isThe Hydrogen Sonata, also the title of the latest Culture novel by Iain M. Banks.
Ansible 301 – "Granek's Equation, Whitewick or Persholt" – spells of an apparently lethal and terminal nature inConrad's Fate by Diana Wynne Jones.
Ansible 300 – "the last line of the Saaamaaa Ritual", a famously unknowndeus ex machina fromCarnacki the Ghost-Finder by William Hope Hodgson.
Ansible 299 – "the secret of Ookil' karabin" – "Who killed Cock Robin?", debased version from "Voices in the Dust of Annan" by Gerald Kersh.
Ansible 298 – "an oyster shell inside a skull" – seeThe Weak and the Strong by Gerald Kersh.
Ansible 297 – "simulated griamobots" – seeBig Planet by Jack Vance.
Ansible 296 – "fayalin/delinade cocktail recipes" – the first is a severely non-alcoholic drink served on special occasions throughout E.E. Smith's Lensman saga, the second an aphrodisiac served at public events organized by the Bad Guy in Anne McCaffrey'sRestoree. Perhaps the mixture might cheer up those Lensmen.
Ansible 295 – "the latest model of Outlandish Watch" – see (as if anyone needed to be told) Lewis Carroll'sSylvie and Bruno.
Ansible 294 – "the manual for Computer 1578/32/W1" – see A.P. Herbert'sMisleading Case "Reign of Error?"
2011
Ansible 293 – "demonstration that 1 + 1 = 1.5708" – see "Getaway from Getawehi" inThe Unorthodox Engineers by Colin Kapp
Ansible 292 – "information on Squig Stars and drunfilers" – apparently alien fashion role-models, good and bad respectively, inMindswap by Robert Sheckley.
Ansible 291 – "the secret of heather ale" – see Robert Louis Stevenson's poem "Heather Ale".
Ansible 290 – "used stass-pisistors" – stasis-box components fromHexwood by Diana Wynne Jones.
Ansible 289 – "umbral revelations of sempiternal Galexis" – a key concept of the Chilite religion in Jack Vance'sThe Anome akaThe Faceless Man.
Ansible 288 – "the winning strategy for Arky-malarkey" – see Eric Frank Russell's"Now Inhale" (April 1959Astounding).
Ansible 287 – "the legendary riches of Vwopdingdorp" – from a Graustarkian national anthem invented at some early age by James Blish. "Vwopdingdorp they call it, / And if Vwopdingdorp it be, / Then Vwopdingdorp and all its riches / Belongs ... to ... me." SeeThe Tale that Wags the God, page 144.
Ansible 286 – "gleepsites or the country you have never seen" –In memoriam Joanna Russ, with her titles `Gleepsite' (short story),The Country You Have Never Seen and, as section heading,Extra(ordinary) People.
Ansible 285 – "a hair from the beard of Prester John" – one of the many quest objects inThe Game by Diana Wynne Jones.In memoriam.
Ansible 284 – "Ortnitz's unattainable end" – see the James Branch Cabell parody inHeavens by Louis Untermeyer.
Ansible 283 – "remainders ofThe Boke of Palimpsest" – seeHouse of Many Ways by Diana Wynne Jones.
Ansible 282 – "Black Tom or Leper Gin" – unhealthy drinks much favoured by the rotters from Badfort in J.P. Martin'sUncle novels. (Someone sent in a supposed correction to this one, saying it's Leper Jack not Leper Gin. In fact it's both: Jack in the second Uncle book, Gin in the third. Occasionally it worries me that I bother to research such things.)
2010
Ansible 281 – "Tlon Rtlo Long Ongr Ngrt" – from the language lesson which opens C.M. Kornbluth's "That Share of Glory" (1952); see also David I. Masson's"Some Thoughts on Language in Science Fiction".
Ansible 280 – "the bottled ecstasy of Martian zyzmol" – an otherwise unspecified product advertised in E.E. Smith'sFirst Lensman.
Ansible 279 – "full diagram of N, O and R pangas" – alien "gorgon" status relationships in Damon Knight's "An Eye for a What?".
Ansible 278 – "the lost town keys of Killgruel" – sought after in an episode of W. Heath Robinson'sBill the Minder.
Ansible 277 – "location of the Great Silver Vat" – a McGuffin hideaway of vast importance in Paul W. Fairman'sI, The Machine (see Thog's Masterclass).
Ansible 276 – "anzid, barbitide, sprine or wockle weed" – deadly poisons from, respectively, Barbara Hambly'sThe Ladies of Mandrigyn. Samuel R. Delany'sCaptives of the Flame akaOut of the Dead City, Neal Asher'sThe Skinner (plus related Spatterjay novels) and Stanisław Lem'sThe Cyberiad.
Ansible 275 – "gnoits, ponks or snelks" – local-dialect terms of abuse on the first planet visited in Eric Frank Russell'sThe Great Explosion.
Ansible 274 – "interocitor schematics" – seeThis Island Earth by Raymond F. Jones.
Ansible 273 – "the libretto ofEarwigs over the Mountains" – an apocryphal musical or opera found in John Glashan'sThe Meths Festival, known for the famous Snapping Song. "What's that snapping noise, she said / As SNAP SNAP SNAP / Went the noise inside my head ..."
Ansible 272 – "berp-nuts, Centauranlibalilil or vitalots" – foodstuffs or similar from, respectively, Keith Laumer's "Retief" storiespassim, William Tenn's "Winthrop Was Stubborn" and Compton Mackenzie'sThe Lunatic Republic.
Ansible 271 – "Synapse Beta sub Sixteen" – key survival reflex in Theodore Sturgeon's "The [Widget], the [Wadget] and Boff".
Ansible 270 – "samnites, smithereens or proscenium" – a mine's yield of semi-precious stones and metal in the dislocated vocabulary of John Barnes'sOne for the Morning Glory.
2009
Ansible 269 – "a cartridge with a spare key" – a Christmassy moment from John M. Ford's fabledParanoia game scenarioThe Yellow Clearance Black Box Blues, featuring a cartoon of supplicants at the armoury requesting "three trench pens, two purple guns and a cartridge with a spare key".
Ansible 268 – "the 19 equations of Sciomnia" – see Charles Harness'sThe Rose.
Ansible 267 – "fifty pounds of frumpstiggle" – lucrative fee for large-scale dental work in Piers Anthony'sProstho Plus.
Ansible 266 – "Life by Baron Bodissey" – multi-volume philosophical work often referred to in Jack Vance's Gaean Reach novels – critically reviled in the Demon Princes sequence opening withStar King, but a classic school text by the later era of the Cadwal Chronicles opening withAraminta Station.
Ansible 265 – "netiglluk ende firseiglie blears" – a phrase of cosmic import from one of the more convoluted passages of Thomas M. Disch's fine novelCamp Concentration.
Ansible 264 – "the stone-fruits of Gondolin" – from a bit of Tolkienian crossover silliness last year atMaking Light.
Ansible 263 – "map location of the Terrestrial Paradise" – one of the inducements offered in the introductory "Promantia" of R.A. Lafferty'sThe Devil Is Dead. "Given here for the first time anywhere are the bearings and correct location of the Terrestrial Paradise down to the last second of longitude. You may follow them. You may go there."
Ansible 262 – "shirts woven from crel filaments" – garments of penance, or torture, described in some detail in one of this issue's Thog selections: Colin Kapp'sThe Patterns of Chaos.
Ansible 261 – "Juba Jelly or Python Whiffets" – exotic delicacies fromUncle and His Detective by J.P. Martin.
Ansible 260 – "the punth of the torange" – technical terms introduced for an instant clothes-extruder (torange, a word which is adopted) and its control unit (punth, which fails to catch on) by a limerick-writing inventor who was determined to give our language rhymes for "month" and "orange", in Robert Conquest'sA World of Difference (1955).
Ansible 259 – "gruff, deedle or wobbly" – uninspiring foodstuffs supplied by the universal welfare state of Jack Vance'sWyst: Alastor 1716. "The Ring of Worlds" features in the sister volumeMarune: Alastor 933.
Ansible 258 – ";48 ;800 ;508 485(;" – in honour of Poe's bicentenary, "The Tell-Tale Heart" in the cipher from "The Gold-bug". (An enciphering of the latter title would have been more logical, but needs symbols unavailable in the 7-bit ASCII character set ofAnsible's email and Usenet editions.) Of course the section header "The Man of the Crowd" is also a Poe story.
2008
Ansible 257 – "tungtanium suction delvers" – jargon phrase from Alasdair Gray'sLanark (chapter 9).
Ansible 256 – "the small stones of Tu Fu" – a Brian Aldiss story title.
Ansible 255 – "bandicoots with thalassaemia" – see Part Two of Samuel R. Delany'sBabel-17.
Ansible 254 – "Poostermoolies": nonsense word used by the hero of Eric Frank Russell'sDreadful Sanctuary (because it doesn't matter what you say to a listener whose brain is addled by Evil Pop Music).
Ansible 253 – "Snibbo or Bloggo": wonderful panacea products from the writings of J.B. "Beachcomber" Morton, as touched upon inthis fanzine article.
Ansible 252 – "Bild-A-Man Set #3": see William Tenn's story "Child's Play". Tenn also wrote "Time in Advance", a section title chosen because, at that time most unusually, thisAnsible appeared on the last day of the previous month rather than in the month of publication. (I was on holiday from 1 July.)
Ansible 251 – "a six-ounce sheet of fluorine 80+": potential doomsday weapon in Gerald Kersh's story "The Unsafe Deposit Box" (aka "Impasse", aka "A Little Something in the Bank").
Ansible 250 – "a recursion in metastories" (with suitable capitalization) is an Arthur C. Clarke story title, as is "The Wall of Darkness".
Ansible 249 – "the Shining Trapezohedron": see H.P. Lovecraft's "The Haunter of the Dark".
Ansible 248 – "'mam'ri instruction manual": future computing (?) device featured in Vernor Vinge's "Original Sin".
Ansible 247 – "bio of Henry Rhodes Hamilton" – the enigmatic subject of an unwritten biography for which J.G. Ballard gave us only "The Index".
Ansible 246 – "the casebook of Bulent Hellbag" alludes to Frank Key's surreal wossname "The Churn in the Muck" (incorporating "Some Ponds, A Hotel, The Hollyhocks" and thus suggesting the section title taken from an entirely different Key epic, "The Names of the Ponds").
2007
Ansible 245 – "the epitome of chimneytude" and the section title "Land of the Buried Sun" both come fromWintersol by Eric Thacker and Anthony Earnshaw.
Ansible 244 – "the inner secrets of --ing the --." See "Prott" by Margaret St. Clair.
Ansible 243 – "Wolpec's three truths" – one ineluctable, one debatable and one incomprehensible. See John Brunner'sThe Traveller in Black.
Ansible 242 – "the deadly Specium Ray" – one of Ultraman's many powers.
Ansible 241 – "maps of the Unknown Islands" – a nod to the recent UK flooding which threatened J.G. Ballard and others. In Gerald Kersh's novelThe Great Wash (1953; akaThe Secret Masters), which provides a section title, mysterious maps of the "Unknown Islands" (or Lakes) prove to be extrapolations of what dry land will remain on Earth after a considerable sea-level rise.
Ansible 240 – "Mephitoline or oil of scallatine" – exceedingly smelly substances from, respectively, Jack Vance's "The Spa of the Stars" (inThe Many Worlds of Magnus Ridolph) and Terry Pratchett'sThe Truth.
Ansible 239 – "klaptico, nipling or passet" – unappetizing foodstuffs from Diana Wynne Jones'sThe Merlin Conspiracy (1, 2) andA Sudden Wild Magic (3).
Ansible 238 – "mnoui oil, agania root or hkpersia" – exotic "extraterrestrial odoriferents" from Robert Sheckley'sThe Alchemical Marriage of Alastair Crompton.
Ansible 237 – "special call ofVANDOO". In J.P. Martin'sUncle and the Treacle Trouble, this communal yell is "only used on occasions of national rejoicing" (such as when your editor gets two Hugo nominations).
Ansible 236 – "job spec for Chief Dexitroboper" – see E.E. Smith'sFirst Lensman.
Ansible 235 – "Lessedrene, Temp or cauch" – sf drugs from, respectively, Philip E. High'sInvader On My Back, Norman Spinrad's "The Weed of Time" and Jack Vance'sTrullion: Alastor 2262.
Ansible 234, "Nexialism for Dummies" – this essential primer may not actually feature in A.E. van Vogt'sThe Voyage of the Space Beagle, but it jolly well should.
2006
Ansible 233, "Orel's Epulotic Vulnerary" – nostrum offered by quack doctor Sergei Orel in Alfred Bester'sThe Stars My Destination.
Ansible 232, "a porgee pouch" – fashionable container for the indicated drug inA Tale of Two Clocks akaLegacy by James J. Schmitz.
Ansible 231, "working Rhennius machine" – see Roger Zelazny,Doorways in the Sand.
Ansible 230, "a tepid mouse/torpid moose" – seeNext of Kin akaThe Space Willies by Eric Frank Russell. Mayor Snorkum will lay the cake.
Ansible 229, "data on the Worp reaction" – an easy one for anyone who remembers "The Available Data on the Worp Reaction" (1953) by Lion Miller.
Ansible 228, "operating manual for offog" – see Eric Frank Russell's "Allamagoosa".
Ansible 227, "blue balticons from Mars" – from a list of luxury goods in Jack Vance's 1950 story "Chateau d'If" (originally titled "New Bodies for Old"). Discovered by Dan Hoey at the 40th Balticon in May: "The appearance of the word "balticons" in a story seventeen years before the first Baltimore convention of that name struck us as an occurrence of great fannish import ..."
Ansible 226, "Old Syrian Panther Sweat" – one of the tipples favoured by Harry Harrison's Stainless Steel Rat.
Ansible 225, "gnools, mucilids or scrupts" – undefined terms from (Michael Kandel's translation of)The Star Diaries by Stanisław Lem.
Ansible 224, "the formula for 3-blindmycin" – the super-aphrodisiac inCome Out To Play by Alex Comfort.
Ansible 223, "Old Galactic plasmoids" – seeA Tale of Two Clocks akaLegacy by James J. Schmitz.
Ansible 222, "Economics 2.0 pyramid scams" – a nod to Charles Stross'sAccelerando.
2005
Ansible 221, "CASS-9 computer systems" – CASS-9 is the prophetical US defence computer inEcho Round His Bones by Thomas M. Disch. ("Cassandra Knye" was a Disch/Sladek pseudonym.)
Ansible 220, "the Ace of Nitwits" occurs inThe House With a Clock in its Walls by John Bellairs.
Ansible 219, "the nature of the struback" ... is never actually revealed in Brian Aldiss's short story "The Failed Men"; another Aldiss short is "Man In His Time". (I hadn't meant to do Brian again so soon – seeA216 – but forgot.)
Ansible 218, "a sufficiency of Whuffie" – see Cory Doctorow'sDown and Out in the Magic Kingdom.
Ansible 217, "the Obah Cypt" – a McGuffinish object or concept in Diana Wynne Jones'sFire and Hemlock
Ansible 216, "petals from St Klaed's computer" – subtitle ofPile by Brian Aldiss OBE, who also gave us the title "Creatures of Apogee".
Ansible 215, "charms against lesnerization" – see Robert Sheckley's story "Protection". Another Sheckley story title, "Slaves of Time" is used elsewhere.
Ansible 214, "giant nuclear-powered zeppelins" – a small homage to John Brosnan's technothrillerSkyship; the section title "The Sky Lords" is another Brosnan novel.
Ansible 213, "hrönir of the eleventh degree" – see Borges, "Tlön,Uqbar, Orbis Tertius" and (section title) "The Sect of the Phoenix".
Ansible 212, "a sponge-cat with no eyes at all" – a concept fromMusrum by Eric Thacker and Anthony Earnshaw, whence also the section title "The Musroid World". ("The fear of sponge-cats is the beginning of wisdom.")
Ansible 211, "the secrets of the fluxus quo" – suggested, along with the section title, by Patrick Woodroffe's 1987 graphic novelThe Dorbott of Vacuo, or How to Live with the Fluxus Quo.
Ansible 210, "upgrade of sebalism to chorasm" – terms for (1) lascivious and indecent behaviour, and (2) sebalism taken to an extreme, in Jack Vance'sMarune: Alastor 933.
2004
Ansible 209, "crabwicks, frawlpins or gults" – items from the toolkit of the blind Norns in Roger Zelazny'sCreatures of Light and Darkness.
Ansible 208, "the extra prime number between 5 and 7" – an unlikely mathematical entity in R.A. Lafferty'sAurelia.
Ansible 207, "Permagatol, Silonium, or Radioperforers" – technological props from Hugo Gernsback's legendary clunkerRalph 124C41+. These were swiftly identified by Gary Westfahl, who bragged on a mailing list: "For the uninitiated, here are the meanings of the terms, lifted from a lengthy compilation of science fiction neologisms still surviving in my computer from an ancient research project: Permagatol. n. A green gas which helps preserve living tissue. (Gernsback, Ralph) • Radioperforer. n. A device for penetrating spaceship hulls and rendering occupants unconscious. (Gernsback, Ralph) • silonium. n. A metal or alloy which radium rays cannot penetrate. (Gernsback, Ralph)
Ansible 206, "freans, nurks, or flying snolls" – mythical creatures from Woody Allen's skit "Fabulous Tales and Mythical Beasts" (inWithout Feathers, 1975)
Ansible 205, "windowless solids with five dimensions" – a concept found near the end of H.P. Lovecraft's "At the Mountains of Madness".
Ansible 204, "copies ofDahlgren's Air Currents and Epidemic Diseases" – nothing to do withDhalgren! Advertised in the "magazine of the future" (i.e. of 2000 AD) material which accompanies Kipling's "With the Night Mail".
Ansible 203, "bilbys, gleebs or mereens (but not smeerps)" – fauna and flora from John Rackham'sThe Double Invaders (context quotation given inA204; see also the update inA205).
Ansible 202, "the whereabouts of Nnvsnu the Tsrungh". This cosmic entity, also known as The Seeker from Nexo Vollma (section title), inhabits the blughole of the universe – as more or less explained in Russell Hoban'sThe Medusa Frequency.
Ansible 201, "The Formula for the Transmutation of Borax Without the Use of Cockatrice-Egg." – the vital McGuffin from Avram Davidson's short story "The Singular Events Which Occurred in the Hovel on the Alley Off of Eye Street".
Ansible 200, "the Key to Murdoch's Hoard" – see George O. Smith'sVenus Equilateral.
Ansible 199, "hornswogglers, whangdoodles or snozzwangers" – see Roald Dahl'sCharlie and the Chocolate Factory.
Ansible 198, "the Purple Dart Medal with Coal-sack Nebula Cluster" – an uncoveted honour from Harry Harrison'sBill, the Galactic Hero, echoing the New Year Honours item.
2003
Ansible 197, "tubs with two lugs, or quantities of wirtiglugs" – explained in this issue'sLanguage Lesson, expanded as ourChristmas Extra. Tut, Watson, you must learn to observe.
Ansible 196, "Nipponanium iggy tubes" – telepathic amplifiers featuring in Margery Allingham's offbeat detective novelThe Mind Readers. The section title "Whirligig World" is a small salute to Hal Clement, whose death was reported in this issue.
Ansible 195, "xylph senses or raultronic transmitters" – seeThe Lost Perception by Daniel F. Galouye, who also wroteLords of the Psychon (section title).
Ansible 194, "mutated beavers that can telepath and teleport" – from Lionel Fanthorpe'sRodent Mutation (as by Bron Fane); the section title below comes from this book's immortal line "Police! Help! We're being attacked! We're being attacked by a gigantic beaver!" All this is in honour of the logo of the Toronto Worldcon.
Ansible 193, "modifications of the Klydon beam" – future weaponry in "Superiority" by Arthur C. Clarke, who also provided the section title "The Battle of Pico". This takes place inEarthlight and here commemorates the unhappy end of the British sf imprint Earthlight.
Ansible 192, "millibrachiate tentacular coelenterates" – a fondly remembered phrase from John Wyndham'sThe Kraken Wakes, which like the section titleThe Seeds of Time was suggested by his centenary celebrations.
Ansible 191, "lendi" – alien largesse ("Any lendi, Dendi?") in William Tenn's "The Liberation of Earth" (section title), a story well worth rereading after certain wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Ansible 190, "chatowsies, pourrian or ahagaree" – dire foodstuffs, respectively "fetid", "vile" and "ferocious", from the Darsh cuisine inThe Face by Jack Vance. Hence also the section title "The Potters of Firsk".
Ansible 189, "quantch, pretonsuling or incoblapsimine" – an unspecified but necessary substance and two pleasurable activities, according to the "Platonian" alien in John Brunner's short story "Out of Order". The section title "The Productions of Time" is a Brunner novel.
Ansible 188, "Williamite, or travel guides to Phthistia" – a drug and an improvised country in Robert Sheckley'sMindswap, whence also the section title "The Twisted World".
Ansible 187, "unused reels of Müller-Fokker tape", patently from John Sladek'sThe Müller-Fokker Effect; the section title "The Master Plan" is a short Sladek story.
Ansible 186, "the Ochre Scroll or the Umbre Testament", magical books which along with the section title "The Thaumalogicon" are the three plot coupons of Ken Bulmer's fantasyKandar.
2002
Ansible 185, "a reliable map of the poikilochronism" – the unstable region of timeslips in David Masson's story "Lost Ground", collected in hisThe Caltraps of Time. (R.I. Barycz duly sent me a piece of paper marked with an arrow pointing to a single dot, captioned "You are here. Now." As he helpfully noted, "This is the only reliable map of the poikilochronism. Keep it with you at all times.")
Ansible 184, "a couple of bottles of Numnumo" – see Lord Dunsany's story "The Two Bottles of Relish"; the section heading "Tales of Three Hemispheres " is another Dunsany title.
Ansible 183, "symmetriads, asymmetriads, extensors or mimoids" – enigmatic structures associated with the sentient "ocean" of Stanisław Lem'sSolaris, which also supplies the section heading "The Little Apocrypha".
Ansible 182, "publications of the Very False Documents Press" – one of many hinted explanations for the mysterious initials V.F.D. inLemony Snicket: The Unauthorized Autobiography. Also featured is that dubious newspaperThe Daily Punctilio, whose motto is "All the News in Fits of Print".
Ansible 181, "itchers, burning fluff, witches' jelly or mosquito mange" – alien artifacts or phenomena found in the Visitation Zone in Arkady and Boris Strugatsky'sRoadside Picnic (as translated by Antonina W. Bouis).
Ansible 180, "a functional ban-dan-bladder-stiddle" – from one of Peter Cook's legendary "E.L. Wisty" monologues, "The Man Who Invented the Wheel". The extremely primitive Drodbar was the first human to invent the ban-dan-bladder-stiddle, but the credit went to latecomer Gorbly's identical invention because he thought of amuch better name for it.
Ansible 179, "margil, orakh, simple swizzle, Martian vuzd, or zith" – a variety of alcoholic drinks. Margil and vuzd: Anthony Boucher, "Q.U.R." Orakh:Discworld. Simple swizzle: Jack Vance,The Face. Zith: Eric Frank Russell,Wasp.
Ansible 178, "Vol 67 inThe History of the Purple Poignard" – as a nod to Mike Moorcock's lost toes, this is the supposed source text of his self-parodying tale of strange prostheses, "The Stone Thing".
Ansible 177, "Bagarthach verses, Aorach stories, or Sky" – farewell to R.A. Lafferty, whoseThe Reefs of Earth features the first two; Sky is a drug which gives its name to another RAL story.
Ansible 176, "sixth-order projectors" – near-omnipotent magic technology from E.E. Smith's Skylark series, specificallySkylark of Valeron. Also in celebration of the Skylark award, the "people" section used a lesser-known Smith novel title,The Galaxy Primes, and the traditional Word Beginning With Con heading the convention listing became Conklin, name of a particularly obscure Lensman. (Also of a noted sf anthologist, adding to the general confusion.)
Ansible 175, "dergs, gampers, grailers, leeps, feegs or melgerizers" – various invisible beasties featured in Robert Sheckley's story "Protection".
Ansible 174, "lembas, Narya, Nenya or Vilya" – elven waybread and the Three Rings, from Tolkien.
2001
Ansible 173, "a mappemonde crafted from finest azulejaria" – the two unusual words John Clute felt it necessary to define in a preface to his sf novelAppleseed. Reading on, one can boggle at all the words hedidn't feel it necessary to define....
Ansible 172, "treeliths, crymorphs, zanzers or Vapours of Loth" – various items mentioned in the late Josh Kirby's captions for hisVoyage of the Ayeguy series of paintings.
Ansible 171, "spikkle, spime or Mustick" – two poisons and an antidote from Terry Pratchett'sDiscworld novels (specifically,Pyramids andReaper Man). I'd been researching the second Discworld quizbook for months.
Ansible 170, "the Worsted Monster, or an Oracular Watering-Can" – from Edward Gorey's toy theatre and script forThe Worsted Monster (National Lampoon, June 1974).
Ansible 169, "unobtainium" – generic Very Rare Element in sf discussion. David Brin actually used it in his novelStartide Rising.
Ansible 168, "Clutchclamp, flamingo bird-baths, or a kangle-pot" – further props, the first and last being of a magical nature, from J.P. Martin'sUncle novels.
Ansible 167, "jynnan tonnyx, chinanto/mnigs, tzjin-anthony-ks ..." – examples of the proposition, stated in Douglas Adams'sThe Restaurant at the End of the Universe, that every world has drinks that sound very like (but may not taste like) gin-and-tonics.
Ansible 166, "Limestone Islands in the Sky" – see R.A. Lafferty's story "Nor Limestone Islands" ... "I will not credit whales that fly / Nor Limestone Islands in the Sky".
Ansible 165, "twin radioceles or clinesterton beademungen" – see James Blish's story "Common Time".
Ansible 164, "Obnoy, Kat, Domenica, Slee, and Min" – the five Bones of the Moon from Jonathan Carroll's thus-titled novel.
Ansible 163, "Mokie-Coke, Vigroom, or Teegmee's Food" – consumables advertised in sf stories, respectively Fred Pohl'sThe Merchant's War, Robert Sheckley's "Untouched by Human Hands" and E.E. Smith'sFirst Lensman.
2000
Ansible 161, "the true significance of 'stobor'" – see Robert Heinlein'sTunnel in the Sky.
Ansible 160 ½, "Fort Mudge Steam Calliope Company" – an old fannish jape of Lee Hoffman's, referring toPogo.
Ansible 160, "oil paintings by Waldovenison Smeare" – artist found in J.P. Martin'sUncle books, in particularUncle and His Detective.
Ansible 159, "combs cut from the Great Sky Lantern" – seeKai Lung Unrolls His Mat by Ernest Bramah, in one of whose stories a suitor is set the task of bringing his lady a glowing comb made from lunar material.
Ansible 158, "the cursed foot of Cwlwwymwn Rootripper" – one of the unfortunate hero's several strange prosthetics in Mike Moorcock's self-parody "The Stone Thing".
Ansible 157, "secrets of the Diagonal Relationship" – from C.M. Kornbluth's story "MS Found in a Chinese Fortune Cookie".
Ansible 156, "a strategy suit with a jelly pocket" – title of short piece by Ivor Cutler, in which this useful article of clothing is sought.
Ansible 155, "infernal desire machines of Dr Hoffman" – title of Angela Carter novel.
Ansible 154, "COPE LIGHT device" – top-secret electronics from John M. Ford'sThe Scholars of Night.
Ansible 153, "secret of the old custard" – title of John Sladek story.
Ansible 152, "mervan, twitus, furux, tox meratis or cluthe" – poisons mentioned during the brief visit to Sarkovy in Jack Vance'sThe Palace of Love.
Ansible 151, "Filboid Studge" – a breakfast food, from title of Saki story.
Ansible 150, "widgie birds" – from Fredric Brown's "Placet is a Crazy Place".
1999
Ansible 149, "Haslam'sA General History of Labyrinths" – from footnote in Borges's "Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius".
Ansible 148, "the Throme of the Erril of Sherill" – title and McGuffin of Patricia McKillip novel.
Ansible 147, "bentlam, condamine, D, hellflower or porgee" – drugs from, respectively, E.E. Smith's Lensman series, Cordwainer Smith's "A Planet Named Shayol", Philip K. Dick'sA Scanner Darkly, George O. Smith'sHellflower and James H. Schmitz'sA Tale of Two Clocks (also known asLegacy).
Ansible 146, "Magic Pudding" – from title of Norman Lindsay's classic Aussie children's novel.
Ansible 145, "reconditioned alethiometers" – from Philip Pullman'sNorthern Lights (akaThe Golden Compass) andThe Subtle Knife.
Ansible 144, "a great King of Terror from the sky" – from alleged Nostradamus prediction relating to that month, July 1999.
Ansible 143, "defence against Von Goom's Gambit" – short chess story "Von Goom's Gambit" by Victor Contoski.
Ansible 142, "mun mun-mun, mun-mun mun (mun)" – see Robert Sheckley's "Shall We Have a Little Talk?"
Ansible 141, "second-hand chronosynclastic infundibula" – see Kurt Vonnegut'sThe Sirens of Titan.
Ansible 140, "IBM PC to Ktistec Machine upgrade" – the latter supercomputer is from R.A. Lafferty, in particularArrive at Easterwine.
Ansible 137½, "time's obliterine" – Obliterine was a brand name of duplicator (mimeograph) stencil correction fluid; this phrase for forgetfulness was coined by Vince Clarke.
Ansible 137, "recipe for ten-point steel" – see A.E. van Vogt'sSlan.
1998
Ansible 136, "the secret of Spiggy Holes" – Enid Blyton title.
Ansible 135, "Vargo Statten Magazine, vol 1, no.3" – not exactly esoteric, but this was the issue with old-time fan Chuch Harris's legendary sole fiction sale.
Ansible 134, "pop-science books on adeledicnander" – pseudoscience from A.E. van Vogt's "Far Centaurus".
Ansible 133, "novels by Mrs Waldo Wintergood" – see Alexei Panshin'sThe Thurb Revolution.
Ansible 132, "dogmas of Monomantic Syntoraxis" – baffling religion from Jack Vance'sAraminta Station.
Ansible 131, "the quercine penetralia" – from rebel password phrase in Gene Wolfe'sThe Book of the New Sun.
Ansible 130, "Klugarsh Mind Control manual" – from Daniel Pinkwater'sAlan Mendelsohn, the Boy from Mars.
Ansible 128, "full peals of Kent Treble Bob Major" – see Dorothy Sayers'sThe Nine Tailors.
Ansible 127, "book 2 of Aristotle'sPoetics" – lost, but see Umberto Eco'sThe Name of the Rose.
Ansible 126, "Casaubon's Key to All Mythologies" – see George Eliot'sMiddlemarch.
1997
Ansible 125, "Brother North-Wind's Secret" – see John Crowley'sLittle, Big.
Ansible 123, "Voorish Sign, or the powder of Ibn Ghazi" – useful when dealing with invisible Cthulhoid entities; see H.P. Lovecraft's "The Dunwich Horror".
Ansible 122, "questions requiring the answer 'Fourteen'" – embarrassed shuffle; that was the number of Hugos I had then accumulated.
Ansible 121, "Ah Pook's secrets of fear and death" – phrase from William Burroughs's "Ah Pook Is Here".
Ansible 120, "the black wine of Thentis" – name under which John Norman introduced coffee into his Gor books.
Ansible 119, "the contents of Joanna Southcott's box" – I explained this as follows in Usenet rec.arts.sf.fandom: "She was the focal point of an 18th-century English sect and prophesied lots of things, including that she was pregnant with the new Messiah (no birth recorded) and that the world would end in 1774. The mysterious Box of occult writings and presumably equally reliable prophecies was to be opened after her death, but JS rather awkwardly specified that this must happen in public, in a time of national danger, and in the presence of 24 Church of England bishops. James Randi claims that the box eventually went missing without this terrifying quorum ever having been gathered around it, but even today an outfit called the Panacea Society is still begging the bishops to co-operate."
Ansible 118, "Laxian Key (but definitely not Tangreese)" – see Robert Sheckley's story "The Laxian Key", updating the fairytale of the mill that ground out salt, with Tangreese as the unwanted but unstoppable output.
Ansible 117, "Can-D or Chew-Z" – drugs from Philip K. Dick'sThe Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch.
Ansible 116½, "apotropaic narcosis, haecceity or £50" – phrase from John Clute's legendary essay title "I Say, Begone! Apotropaic Narcosis, I'm Going To Read the Damn Thing, Ha Ha"; another favourite Clute word; cost of hardbackFantasy Encyclopedia which this issue celebrated.
Ansible 116, "titanium Icelandic Fontoon" – from Frank Key's surreal story "The Churn in the Muck", incorporating "Some Ponds, A Hotel, The Hollyhocks" and collected in his bookTwitching and Shattered.
Ansible 115, "reliable catalogue of the finis Africae" – see Umberto Eco'sThe Name of the Rose
Ansible 114, "the Lost Books of Elephantis" – referred to in various places including James Branch Cabell'sSomething About Eve.
1996
Ansible 113, "the ichor of the Sons of the Bird" – from Robert Heinlein's "The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag".
Ansible 112, "Kolwynia, the Key That Was Lost" – from Roger Zelazny'sJack of Shadows.
Ansible 111, "an nth-complexity infinite binary loop" – fake jargon from "Good Times" e-mail virus hoax, in those halcyon days when theywere all hoaxes.
Ansible 109, "full transcription of the Dirac beep" – see James Blish's "Beep" and/orThe Quincunx of Time.
Ansible 108, "green Lepti liquor or Wintenberry jelly" – delicacies from Karres in James H. Schmitz'sThe Witches of Karres.
Ansible 107, "Theriac or Mithridatium" – legendary universal healing elixirs/antidotes.
Ansible 105, "eldritch, blasphemous ichor" – H.P. Lovecraftpassim.
Ansible 104, "counterexample to Goldbach's Conjecture" – still unproved (I believe) hypothesis that every even number greater than two can be expressed as the sum of two primes.
Ansible 103, "the golden apples of the sun" – Ray Bradbury title, quoting Yeats.
Ansible 102, "pronunciation of 'pyrzqxgl'" – magic word from L. Frank Baum'sThe Magic of Oz, allowing transformation into any shapeif correctly pronounced.
1995
Ansible 101, "the worst thing in the world" – what awaits in Room 101 in George Orwell'sNineteen Eighty-Four.
Ansible 99, "lyrics of the song the Sirens sang" – see Sir Thomas Browne'sUrn Burial.
Ansible 96, "all-purpose plot coupons" – seeNick Lowe's "The Well-Tempered Plot Device" inAnsible 46.
Ansible 95, "Maltese Falcon" – the classic McGuffin – needs no explanation.
Ansible 94, "used sevagrams" – see famous last line of A.E. van Vogt'sThe Weapon Makers.
Ansible 93, "beneficent mansuetude" – one of many phrases from Stephen Donaldson's second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant that excited my, er, admiration. "Analystic refulgence" was another.
Ansible 92, "haecceity" – a favourite critical term of John Clute's.

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