Passing through Oxford

I'm finally back in Madrid after more than two months on the road. I spent most of that time in Ethiopia and Somaliland working on a book on the Battle of Adowa. My series of articles about travel in Ethiopia has already started on Gadling and at the end of the month I'll start one on Somaliland.

Before settling back in Madrid the family and I spent ten days in Oxford. Almudena was collaborating with the astronomy department while I did research at the Bodleian library for my book. Julián got to see his English friends and go to camp over the Easter break. We visited the Pitt-Rivers and Natural History museums (his favorites, especially the dinosaurs) and climbed trees but sadly he didn't reacquire the English accent he had last year.

We love Oxford and spent six months here last year. There's always so much going on here and we have a good circle of friends. We had a whirlwind social schedule, including a stroll with friends through Magdalen College gardens to take these photos, and managed to pack in a fair amount of work too, plus a traditional Sunday roast at our local pub. I even managed to go to the Odyssey 2010 f/sf/h convention.

Sadly, our trip was all too short, but we'll be back in the summer for a couple of months. In the meantime I'm planning on hiking in the mountains near Madrid, remembering my Spanish as I forget my Amharic, writing lots, and spending a week in Rome at the national archives.

Ben Indick (1923-2009)

I just learned from fellow writer S.T. Joshi that an old correspondent of mine, Ben Indick, has died aged 86. Ben and I had a regular correspondence reaching back almost fifteen years. I first met him back in my zine days, when he and I used to trade our little publications. He was a big science fiction fan of the old school, meaning that while his zine supposedly was an sf publication, it covered every topic under the sun, from politics to travel to his son's career as an opera composer. It was a real pleasure corresponding with him and reading his work. Others had the same experience. As Dave Langford notes in his latest issue of Ansible, Ben was awarded this year with the First Fandom Hall of Fame Award at the 2009 Worldcon in recognition of his longtime contributions to the community. Langford had been corresponding with him since 1976.

It's a shame when one of the old guard in the small press/fan community passes on. He had been active since before I was born, and I learned a lot of community history from him. He will be missed.