2001 Log

Dec 2001 I calculate that in 2001, as well as delivering two nonfiction books and the anthology of John Sladek's uncollected work, I produced 63 assorted columns, articles, features, interviews and obituaries, plus 49 reviews and review features covering 92 books -- not to mention selling 82 home-made software packages and producing 12 issues each of Ansible and my more personal fanzine Cloud Chamber. Two short stories await publication. (Only one, as it turned out: my "The Case That Never Was" had appeared in Weird Tales but didn't reach me until January.)

Nov 2001 returning from a break in Wales, I was stunned to learn that Josh Kirby had died. The Independent asked me to write, and on 5 November published, his obituary. We worked together on his art book A Cosmic Cornucopia. This site now has the text of its Biographical Introduction.

Oct 2001 I delivered that Discworld quizbook The Wyrdest Link (click here for jacket proof) to Gollancz on 23 October. 850 questions and answers! My brain hurts. A week earlier, I sent in a fat volume of previously uncollected sf essays and reviews from 1980 to 2001, which I hope Cosmos Books will publish in 2002 -- provisional title Up Through an Empty House of Stars (spot the quote).

Sep 2001 brought a colossal and cheering surprise when my little story "Different Kinds of Darkness" won the Hugo as best short story; I also collected another fanwriter Hugo, bringing the total to 20. All this was overshadowed by gloom on 11 September, alas. Words fail me.

Aug 2001 Cosmos Books have at last published my and John Grant's 1980s horror spoof Guts -- available from Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com.

[This particular tradition of diary entries on the Langford home page goes back no further, alas.]