Beachcombing is David Langford's first collection of (mostly) science fiction fanzine-published essays, speeches and silliness since the Hugo-shortlisted The Silence of the Langford (1996). Includes the much-acclaimed convention talks "Live Thog's Masterclass", "The Secret History of Ansible" and "Twenty Years of Uproar" (a ramble through favourite fanzine humour, with some surprisingly famous names dropped); offbeat pop-science articles for Fortean Times and elsewhere, on such subjects as perpetual motion, violet-ray healing machines and how to detect the Number of the Beast in practically any name you choose; a handful of recipes and another handful of Drabbles; several introductions to SF books; and many instalments of unreliable autobiography. The author has won 29 Hugo Awards for his work in fanzines, science fiction newsletters, short SF and SF reference works.