Introduction
I picked up the fan mentality when I was very young, but didn't really find fandom per se until much later, to a large degree after I moved to the States in 2004. I didn't hear about Eastercon, the UK's national science fiction convention since 1948, until I'd attended a Westercon in San Diego!
I discovered science fiction when I was ten, when the BBC broadcast their version of John Wyndham's The Day of the Triffids. I was enthralled and my mother, a science fiction fan from way back when, promptly put a copy of the source novel into my hands to read. It proved to be too much of a challenge for me at the time, even though I'd read The Hobbit a few years earlier, so I came back to it later.
However, my interest had been engaged and I asked her what books I should start with to learn about science fiction. She gave me Robert A. Heinlein's juveniles, the Lije Baley books by Isaac Asimov and Clifford D. Simak's Way Station. I was off and running and haven't looked back since.
I was already a horror nut and was collecting everything I could find, in print and on film. I built an especially large collection of the works of Guy N. Smith, to the degree of hand-written manuscripts of unpublished novels. I was proud to move from a fan to friend, IT support and eventually colleague as I handled desktop publishing for a number of issues of his fan club magazine, Graveyard Rendezvous, and laid out three of his novels for Black Hill Books.
Beyond a brief dalliance with groups like ZZ9 Plural Z Alpha, The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy Appreciation Society, I didn't tap into wider fandom or discover the convention scene until relatively recently. However, over the last few years, I've been going to and working a whole bunch of them and the critters breed, I tell you. Now I'm documenting the history of Arizona fandom at azfandom.org.
In fact, I ended up finding myself active within the film community first, having enjoyed the International Horror & Sci-Fi Film Festival in 2007 so much that I had to become part of it, as a screener. The two sides tied together when I began, under my Apocalypse Later Roadshow banner, to program mini-film festivals at conventions and, now, to run my own event, the Apocalypse Later International Fantastic Film Festival.
So, here are my varied geek credentials:
Official Positions
Official Convention Positions
- Assistant Manager of Fashion (2014-2019), Film Manager (2019-2023) for Wild Wild West Steampunk Convention.
- Vice Chair and Publications for Westercon 70 (2017).
- Fan Guest of Honor (with Dee Astell) for TusCon 44 (2017).
- Alternating Co- and Vice Chair, Publications and Website for CoKoCon (2018-2023).
- Publications and Website for LepreCon 45 (2019).
- Bid Chair for Westercon 74 in 2021 (2019).
- Bid Chair for Westercon 75 in 2023 (2020).
- Program Book for TusCon 49 (2022).
Film Festival Programmer
Convention Mini-Film Festival Programmer
- LepreCon, in Mesa, Phoenix and Tempe, AZ (2013-2019)
- CopperCon, in Mesa and Avondale, AZ (2013-2014).
- DarkCon, in Phoenix, AZ (2014).
- Wild Wild West Steampunk Convention in Tucson, AZ (2014-2026).
- Jerome 89A Indie Film & Music Festival, in Jerome, AZ (2014-2015).
- Geeks4Good Charity Show for Oakwood Creative Care, in Mesa, AZ (2014).
- San Diego Comic-Fest, in San Diego, CA (2014).
- Phoenix Comicon, in Phoenix, AZ (2015-2016).
- Westercon 68 (Conjecture 13), in San Diego, CA (2015)
- Gaslight Gathering/Gaslight Steampunk Expo, in San Diego, CA (2015-2022).
- Comic & Media Expo, in Mesa, AZ (2015).
- Cirque du Livre, in Mesa, AZ (2016-2019).
- BASIS Mesa Comic Con/BasisCon, in Mesa, AZ (2016-2017).
- Westercon 70 (LepreCon 43), in Tempe, AZ (2017).
- CoKoCon, in Phoenix, AZ (2018-2023).
- Westercon 71 (Myths & Legends Con 5), in Denver, CO (2018).
- Westercon 72 (NASFiC 2019), in Layton, UT (2019).
- Steampunk CommuniTea Weekend on Zoom (2021).
Film Festival Submission Screener
Film Challenge/Festival Judge
Panelist/Moderator
MC and/or DJ (as Count Chaos)
- Steampunk Fashion Show MC/DJ at Phoenix Comicon (2013-2017).
- Steampunk Fashion Show MC/DJ at Phoenix Comic Fest (2018).
- Steampunk Fashion Show MC/DJ at Phoenix Fan Fusion (2019-present)
- Steampunk Fashion Show MC (2014-), Costume Contest MC (2017-) at Wild Wild West Steampunk Convention (2014-2026)
- Victorian Secrets Fashion Show MC at LepreCon 45 (2019)
- Fashion Show MC at TusCon (2019-present)
Author
Books
Zines
- Horns Ablaze #1 (2022)
- Arizona Authors (2022)
- Cultural References in Blazing Saddles (2022)
- Horns Ablaze #2 (2023)
- Hugo Winners Part 1 (2023)
- The First Thirty: Nicolas Cage (2023)
- Horns Ablaze #3 (2023)
- Doc Savage 1933-1935 (2023)
- The First Thirty: Pam Grier (2023)
- Graphic Novels #1 (2023)
- Steapunk Short Films: Thirty Quintessential Steampunk Kinematographs Presented by the Apocalypse Later Roadshow (2023)
- Guy N. Smith Part One (2024)
- The First Thirty: Vincent Price (2024)
- Pip and Flinx and the Humanx Commonwealth (2025)
- The First Thirty: Jack Nicholson (2025)
Edited
- Westercon 70 Program Guide (2017)
- Letters from the U.S.S. Cunningham, by Vern Flanders (2025)
Writer
- As a schoolchild I contributed an article to the Domesday project.
- I write or have written for Barkisland and Deanhead News, Village Voice (no, not that one), Graveyard Rendezvous and The WOD in print.
- I write or have written for Cinema Head Cheese, The WOD, Nerdvana and Metal Asylum online.
- I wrote The Soul Hunters, based on a proposed novel synopsis by Guy N. Smith for the hardback book, Hell of a Guy: Fans on the Rampage (2016), edited by J. R. Park and Chris Hall.
- I contributed three drabbles to the charity anthology Out of the Shadows (2022), edited by Danni Winn & Monster Smith.
- I wrote The Sabat That Wasn't (translated into Polish) for Sabat Antologia, edited by Sebastian SokoĊowski.
- I contributed two chapters to Hard to Watch: The Films of Steven Seagal (2022), edited by David Hayes.
- I contributed four chapters to Missing in Action: The Films of Chuck Norris (2022), edited by David Hayes.
- I wrote A Better Place for the charity anthology Hot Off the Press (2022), edited by Jay Michaels & Monster Smith.
- I contributed fourteen chapters to Bloodspurt: The Films of Jean-Claude Van Damme (2022), edited by David Hayes.
- I contributed an article to My Favorite Movie (2023), a zine edited by Billy Russell.
- As of October 2022, I've written 2,400+ film reviews and 1,100+ music reviews at Apocalypse Later, plus 650+ book reviews at the Nameless Zine.
Editor and Publisher
- I founded and operate Apocalypse Later Press with almost thirty books in print.
- I edited the Barkisland and Deanhead News for a year or so.
- I founded, edited and published the Village Voice (no, not that one).
- I laid out Graveyard Rendezvous for a couple of years.
- I laid out three books for Guy N Smith's Black Hill Books: The Busker, Cornharrow and An Unholy Way to Die.
Web Archivist
Actor
- Fight Spectator in The Prometheus Project (2010)
- Voice actor (two different roles) in Shaolin vs. Frankenstein (2011)
- Marketplace Extra in Mantecoza (2012)
- Extra (two different roles) in A Familiar Fate (2012)
- Extra in We Three (2013)
- Airline Passenger in Flight Fright (2015)
Podcast Guest
Vidcast/TV Guest
Memberships
I am a member of:
I have been a member of:
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