Langdon Jones (1940-2021)

Michael Moorcock sadly reports that Langdon Jones died in late September. Lang Jones, as friends knew him, was central to the 1960s Moorcock-edited New Worlds, both on the editorial staff – including being sole editor for four issues in 1969 – and as a contributor of some remarkable stories. He also edited the important New Wave anthology The New S.F. (1969). Here, with a couple of tiny corrections, is what Michael Moorcock posted on Facebook:

“One of my closest, longest and best friendships was with Lang Jones, a talented composer, editor and writer, one of the most modest people I have ever known, with the sweetest nature of almost any human being I’ve met. He was Assistant Editor of New Worlds. He restored Titus Alone by Mervyn Peake to the edition you probably read and wrote the music for The Rhyme of the Flying Bomb. You can hear his lively piano on The Entropy Tango here. His own collection of stories, The Eye of the Lens, remains his only fiction in book form. He was a socialist and conscientious Ascot-elected councillor for many years. I last saw him about two years ago, at the wonderful wedding of his daughter Isobel to Jason Nickolds, for whom he was extremely happy, and he said he had stopped writing and composing and had never felt better. He leaves a son, Damon, as well as his daughter. One of the few people of whom it’s possible to write: Loved by all.” (24 September 2021)

• Richard Glyn Jones remembers Langdon Jones