Interaction Program Participant Biographies

O-R

John O'Halloran

John has been reading Science Fiction and Fantasy as long as he can remember. The earlest book he can remember reading was by Andre Norton. He has volunteered at nearly every possible convention position, at every sized convention, and now limits his convention volunteering to working the Masquerade. His chosen profession is Computer Geek.

Chris O'Shea

My first convention was Disclave in 1980 and I've been to many, many since in the US, UK, Ireland, and Germany. I've been co-chair of an Eastercon, department head at many worldcons, and been on the committee of all sorts of conventions from Star Trek to costuming, and from filk to Worldcons. My band (Cosmic Trifle) were Guests of Honour at FilkContinental in Germany in 2004. I design websites (including the poorly updated smof.com!), produce convention publications, run operations, do a bit of tech, and some occasional artwork. Aside from SF, I enjoy music (listening and playing), home cinema, musicals, and travel.

Mark Olson

I'm a long-time SF fan who discovered SF long before I discovered fandom, and I discovered fandom long before I got involved in con-running, and only after that did I get involved in NESFA Press. I've chaired several conventions including a Worldcon (Noreascon 3), a Boskone, a Smofcon, and co-chaired a Ditto, and I've worked on numerous others. I've edited a dozen books and reviewed SF for Aboriginal. I prefer schlock SF to schlock fantasy. In real life I'm an astronomer who realized that I needed to make a living so I got all my degrees in chemistry -- and wound up doing software development management. (But I still love astronomy more than anything else.)

Priscilla Olson

Priscilla Olson is a reader and a fan. She has put together the program at a number of conventions (including too many Worldcons!). She's the editor of a bunch of NESFA Press books (including the Yolen collection for Interthingie 2). She's the OE of the (very very late) APA, The Secret Garden, and makes jewelry to sell at art shows. She plays Magic and reads Legion of Super Heroes comics, and probably watches too much TV. When not (over-) involved with fannish activities, she knits, engages in competitive crossword puzzles, and grows heirloom eggplants.

Paul Park

Paul Park is the author of six novels and numerous short stories, including "If Lions Could Speak," which was short-listed by the BFSA two years ago. His novels include Soldiers of Paradise, Sugar Rain, The Cult of Loving Kindness, and Coelestis. A novella, “No Traveller Returns," recently appeared in a PS edition. His new novel, A Princess of Roumania, is just out from Tor Books. He is attending Interaction with his wife, Deborah, and two children.

Spike Parsons

Spike is a librarian and fan involved with fanzine publishing and con-running in the US. She began attending SF conventions in Britain in 1986.

Diana L Paxson

Diana L Paxson has published over two dozen novels, including the Westria series (set in an alternate future California), and historical fantasies based on legends from Tristan and Iseult (The White Raven) to Siegfried (Wodan's Children Trilogy), an Arthurian tetrology (Hallowed Isle), and King Lear (The Serpent's Tooth). Her 75 short stories have appeared in anthologies such as Thieves' World and Sword and Sorceress, whose most recent volume she edited. Paxson is also continuing the Avalon Series by Marion Zimmer Bradley. Ancestors of Avalon appeared last year, and she is now working on a new book, Ravens of Avalon, which will cover Boudicca's rebellion. Her next publication will be The Golden Hills of Westria, which takes place 25 years after The Jewel of Fire. She has also published a non-fiction book on the runes. Ms. Paxson lives in Berkeley, California.

Maggie Percival

Maggie Percival is a PA. That is to say, she trained as a Performing Artist at Nonington College in Kent, specialising in theatrical design. She has used her skills both professionally (working as a primary school teacher, and training as a ballet teacher), and non-professionally, making costumes mainly inspired by JRR Tolkien. The climax (to date) of her costuming career has been winning Best in Show at the 1995 World Science Fiction Convention with "Return of the Hunt," inspired by The Saga of the Exiles, by Julian May. She is also a P.A. in the mundane world, working as a personal assistant in a well-known aero-engine manufacturer. Any other phrases which abbreviate to P.A. she strenuously denies.

Mike Percival

Mike Percival was bred to organise things -- offspring of parents who were rarely without a handful of committee posts between them, he first operated a follow spot at a house play when he was 13, and has been doing techy things for 28 years since! Not content with that, he has been treasurer of the Cambridge Tolkien Society and The Tolkien Society, founder chairman of Costume Guild UK, and too many other roles to mention. In the field of costuming, he provides technical support to Maggie, and was responsible for the technical logistics of Return of the Hunt, the winning entry at Intersection. He is married to Maggie, and father to Lawrence and Andrew. Lawrence at least seems to have got the genes.

Lawrence Person

Lawrence Person is a science fiction writer living in Austin, Texas. His short fiction has appeared in Asimov's, Analog, Fear, and several anthologies, and has stories forthcoming in Postscripts. He also edits the Hugo nominated SF critical magazine Nova Express, and is a member of the long-running Turkey City Writer's Workshop. His non-fiction has appeared in National Review, Reason, Whole Earth Review, The Freeman, The World & I, Science Fiction Eye, The New York Review of Science Fiction, and Slashdot.org. He owns a very large library. He also makes a mean batch of salsa. 

Rog Peyton

I've been attending SF cons for over 40 years. After 30 years of running Andromeda Bookshop, I'm now trading in books as Replay Books. I've been auctioneer (Books and Art) at nearly all Eastercons since early 1970s, probably every Novacon since 1971 and at the last three UK Worldcons.

John Picacio

John Picacio has illustrated covers for works by Harlan Ellison, Michael Moorcock, Robert Silverberg, Frederik Pohl, Neil Gaiman, Jeffrey Ford, Graham Joyce, Joe R Lansdale, Lucius Shepard, Charles De Lint, David Gemmell, and many, many more. He was a 2004 finalist for the World Fantasy Award and his illustrations have been selected numerous times for Spectrum: The Best In Contemporary Fantastic Art. In 2002, he received the International Horror Guild Award in the Artist category. He is a 2005 Hugo nominee in the Best Professional Artist category as well as a 2005 Chesley nominee. He lives in San Antonio, Texas.  

Catherine Pickersgill

After 24 years of going to conventions, 24 years of occasionally being on programme items, many more years than 24 of reading SF and fanzines, without me the hotel problems at the 1987 Worldcon would have been much worse, and I'm still coming back for more. Except hotel liaison for Worldcons.

Martina Pilcerova

Martina Pilcerova was born in Czechoslovakia and she has been painting for publishers since 1988. In Bratislava, close to Vienna, she received her Masters Degree in Fine Arts in 2001. Her works appeared on more than 80 covers of books and magazines all around the world. She won the Jack Gaughan Award and multiple Best SF and Fantasy Artist in Czech Republic and Slovakia. Her latest paintings are done mostly for the gaming industry, A Game of Thrones collectible card game, Magic the Gathering and Dungeons and Dragons. She worked on two movie productions, including cooperation with Volker Engel, creator of special effects on Independence Day. She also works on her own illustrated novel.

Mark Plummer

Mark Plummer is a co-editor of the fanzine Banana Wings.

John Pomeranz

John Pomeranz has been a fan for more than 20 years and has tried everything fandom has to offer. He was responsible for programming at Bucconeer, the 1998 Worldcon in Baltimore. He is a past president of the Washington Science Fiction Association, and he received a battlefield promotion to hotel liaison at the 1997 Disclave. He occasionally writes and produces fannish musicals including Smoflahoma and The Pirates of Fenzance. He is a lawyer with a practice that focuses on nonprofit organizations, particularly the laws governing their lobbying and electoral activities. He is happily married to fellow DC-area fan Kathi Overton.

Andrew I Porter

Andrew I Porter, 59, sold his SF Chronicle to DNA Publications in May, 2000; he started the magazine in 1979. DNA fired him in 2002. Nominated 24 times for the Hugo Award, he won the fanzine Hugo in 1974 for Algol (later Starship), and the semiprozine Hugo in 1993 and 1994 for SF Chronicle. In 1991, he received a Special Committee Award at the Worldcon, for Distinguished Semiprozine Work, in 1992 a Special British Fantasy Award. Since getting into SF fandom in 1960, he has published numerous fanzines, been active in fan groups, worked on cons in the US, Canada, Germany, and Peter Weston's 1972 Eastercon, and on the 1967 Worldcon. With John Bangsund, he was responsible for Australia conceiving its 1975 Worldcon bid. He's been a fan Guest of Honor at several cons, most notably the 1990 Worldcon, ConFiction. In publishing, he's been a proofreader, copy editor, assistant editor on The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction (1966-74), associate editor at Lancer Books, and a trade mag editor/production manager on Rudder, Quick Frozen Foods (under Sam Moskowitz), QFF International, Construction Equipment, and Electro-Procurement. He was editor/designer of The Book of Ellison, hardcover trade paperback published for the 1978 Worldcon. He has sold articles and photos to Publishers Weekly, Omni, and The New York Times. He's attended hundreds of cons; InterAction is his 36th Worldcon. 

Judith Proctor

I've been a keen SF fan ever since I was old enough to realise that they all had yellow covers in the local library. In later years, I got heavily involved in media fandom and wrote and published fan fiction. Editing fanzines forced me to learn how to teach people about grammar, punctuation, story construction, etc. I'm chair of the Redemption convention. I love wildlife and have dragonfly larvae in my garden pond.

Liam Proven

Liam Proven has been involved in fandom since his first con, the 1987 Worldcon. By trade a journalist and IT type, he has been an SF reviewer, dabbled in con-running and writing for fanzines, and talked, mainly about matters obscenely biological but sometimes serious ones too, at many cons in the UK, Ireland, and Sweden. 

Irene Radford

Irene has been writing stories ever since she figured out what a pencil was for. Combining a love for Medieval history and a fascination with paranormal, Irene has been researching the Arthurian period since high school. Irene is a member of an endangered species, a native Oregonian who lives in Oregon. As a service brat, she lived in a number of cities throughout the country until returning to Oregon in time to graduate from Tigard High School. She earned a B.A. in history from Lewis and Clark College, where she met her husband. They currently make their home in Welches, Oregon, where deer, bear, coyote, hawks, owls, and woodpeckers feed regularly on their back deck. In her spare time, Irene enjoys lacemaking and is a long time member of an international guild. Irene's latest release is Guardian of the Freedom, Merlin's Descendants #5. The conclusion to her wildly popular Stargods Trilogy, The Dragon's Revenge, will be released in November. 

John Campbell Rees

John Campbell Rees graduated from the University of Glamorgan with a BSC (Hon) in Combined Studies (Science and Science Fiction) this July after 6 years of part-time study. Contributed to SFX Magazine in the mid 1990's. Active in Fandom in South Wales since 1988. Edited The Oracle, the Cardiff area newsletter, from 1994 to 1996. Looking forward to the Glasgow Worldcon.

Katya Reimann

Katya Reimann is the author of the Tielmaran Chronicles, a high fantasy trilogy. A finalist for the John W. Campbell Award in 1997, she recently co-authored, with (the now deceased) Cherry Wilder, The Wanderer, a sequel to Cherry's acclaimed trilogy, The Rulers of Hylor. In Summer 2005 The Wanderer is a finalist for the 2004 Golden Crown Award for Speculative Fiction. She is currently at work on a contemporary fantasy set in Cambridge, MA (US). Katya admits to many literary influences, including T. H. White, numerous writers of the 18th century, and Rene de Goscinny (author of Asterix the Gaul).

A Michael Rennie

Mike (Sparks) Rennie is one of the last of the renaissance men:  scholar, soldier, musician, artist, duelist, and modest with it. Sparks is a research psychologist working on his PhD. He has an interest in the psychology of fannish culture and long distance space flight, neither of which help him towards his thesis.

Alastair Reynolds

Alastair Reynolds was born in Barry, South Wales, in 1966. He sold his first story in 1989, and his first novel ten years later. After working as an astronomer for more than a decade, he finally turned full-time writer in 2004. Recently married (or at least he will be by Interaction!) he continues to live in the Netherlands. His most recent novels are Absolution Gap (2003) and Century Rain (2004), while Pushing Ice is forthcoming in October 2005.

Mark Rich

Mark Rich has had at least 150 SF stories published in publications ranging from Back Brain Recluse and Nova SF to Analog and Amazing Stories. Some were collected in Foreigners and Other Familiar Faces (Small Beer Press, 2003). He also writes for New York Review of SF and a scattering of toy-collecting and antiques papers. With partner Martha Borchardt he plays in the bands Keg Salad (acoustic folk rock) and Mad Melancholy Monkey Mind (acoustic-electric rock). He and Martha live in Stevens Point, Wisconsin, USA.

Faye Ringel

Faye Ringel, Professor of Humanities at the United States Coast Guard Academy, delights in making sailors blush at medieval and Gothic tales. Her book, New England's Gothic Literature: Folklore and History, is from Edwin Mellen Press (1995). Her articles in books and journals have examined (among other subjects) urban fantasy, demonic cooks, current medievalism, Lovecraft, King, Tolkien, ballads, and The Three Stooges. A fan since the 1960s, she also performs bawdy ballads and ragtime piano. In demand for radio and television interviews in October, she appeared most recently in the Granada Television documentary "The Vampire Hunters."

Chris Roberson

Chris Roberson is a writer, editor, and publisher. His story "One," which appeared in Live Without A Net (Roc, 2003), won the 2003 Sidewise Award for Best Short-Form Alternate History, and was nominated for the 2004 World Fantasy Award for Short Fiction. His novels include Here, There & Everywhere (Pyr, 2005), Paragaea: A Planetary Romance (Pyr, 2006), and The Voyage of Night Shining White (PS Publishing, 2006). He is the editor of the anthology Adventure Vol. 1 (MonkeyBrain Books, Nov 2005). Roberson is a finalist for the 2005 John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer.

Madeleine E Robins

Madeleine Robins is the author of ten novels, including the dark urban fantasy The Stone War. Point of Honour, the first in a series of hard-boiled mysteries set in an alternate English Regency, and featuring Sarah Tolerance, Fallen Woman and private eye, was published by Tor in 2003, and came out this spring in paperback. The sequel, Petty Treason, was published in 2004; she is working on the third in the series, currently titled The Penance Board. Robins has been a nanny, a theatrical swordfighter, and an editor of comic books. She now lives in San Francisco with two daughters, one husband, and a very SFnal lemon tree. 

Kim Stanley Robinson

Kim Stanley Robinson lives in Davis, California. His latest novel, Fifty Degrees Below, is due out from HarperCollins UK in September 2005. He has previously won Hugo Awards for Green Mars and Blue Mars.

Justina Robson

Justina Robson went to Clarion West in 1996. She is the writer of three SF novels:  Silver Screen, Mappa Mundi (both receiving the amazon.co.uk writers' bursary 2000, both shortlisted for the Arthur C Clarke Award), and Natural History (placed runner up in the John W Campbell Award and shortlisted for the BSFA best novel award). Her forthcoming book is called Living Next Door To The God Of Love. She is published in the UK (Macmillan), USA (Bantam Spectra) and in translation in Germany (Lubbe). Her short stories have appeared in the UK and USA. She sometimes reviews SF for The Guardian, writes the odd essay on TV and film, and is thinking of getting much less serious as time goes on.

Kevin Roche

Kevin Roche has been a researcher in Spintronics at the IBM Almaden Research Center for over 21 years. He's also been costuming since he was old enough to draw eyes on a paper bag and call it art. His costumes have been known to not only glow and rotate, but occasionally explore strange new universes all by themselves. This Evil Genius recently completed his reign as the Sapphire and Steel Leather Emperor 34 of the Imperial Royal Lion Monarchy, and just signed away the next three years of his life to chair Costume-Con 26, to be held in early 2008.

Frank Roger

Frank De Cuyper aka Frank Roger, was born in Ghent, Belgium, in 1957. I graduated from the University of Ghent in 1981 with a dissertation on Philip K. Dick. My first stories appeared in a Belgian fanzine in 1975. Since then, a few hundred have appeared in a wide variety of magazines, anthologies, collections, and electronic media. Towards the late 1980s, I also started writing in English and occasionally in French, in addition to my native Dutch. By now my work has appeared in sixteen languages, and more are scheduled for publication in an increasing number of venues and languages. My interests besides writing include travelling, music, and surrealist painting.

Steve Rogerson

Steve Rogerson is a freelance  journalist and one of the organisers of the Redemption series of multimedia SF conventions. He is a Blake's 7 fan (among other things), has written a number of fan fiction stories and co-edited a Blake's 7 zine. He lives in Nottingham, England.

Benjamin Rosenbaum

Benjamin Rosenbaum's plausible fables have been published in F&SF, Asimov's, Strange Horizons, Infinite Matrix, Harper's, McSweeney's, LCRW, and many other fine venues, and translated into Bulgarian, Croatian, French, Japanese, Romanian and Spanish. He is on this year's Hugo ballot for "Biographical Notes to 'A Discourse on the Nature of Causality, with Air-Planes', by Benjamin Rosenbaum," and has just recently lost a Nebula for "Embracing-the-New." He lives with his wife and two disturbingly cute and precocious children amid the snarling superhighways of suburban Northern Virginia, USA.  More information: 

Ang Rosin

An active fan since Damn Fine Con, I'm guilty of the occasional fanzine article and an even more occasional fanzine. In my non-fannish life I run a Brownie Pack and get paid to be slightly better with computers than your average academic. Can't act. Can't sing. Can dancemat a little. 

Marcus Rowland

Marcus is a London-based technician and author most notable for Forgotten Futures and Diana: Warrior Princess role-playing games, and for numerous games articles and modules for other systems. He has also written short fiction published by the Midnight Rose Collective and occasionally indulges in fanfic. He is currently working on a Forgotten Futures release based on the novels of the late Thorne Smith.

Antonio Ruffini

Antonio Ruffini recently had a short story accepted by Canada's On Spec magazine, and has had short stories published in non-SF/fantasy fiction anthologies. He also recently won the Siemens Profile Award, a pan-African award for science & technology writing in the category of mining journalism. Antonio is an electrical engineer, but has worked as a magazine editor for most of the last decade, mainly in Africa's mining and energy sectors. He lives in Johannesburg, South Africa, and is involved in a cross continental relationship, spanning over five years, with his partner Barrett Brick who lives in Washington DC.

Gary Russell

Gary Russell has been an actor, writer, and editor. He has written books about Doctor Who, The Simpsons, Frasier and a series of best selling Art of... books about the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy. He is currently a producer for Big Finish Productions, guiding their long-running range of original Doctor Who audio dramas.

Jessica Rydill

Jessica Rydill read English at King's College, Cambridge before qualifying as a solicitor. Inspired by a David Gemmell course, she quit law and saw her first novel, Children of the Shaman, published in 2001. Her stories can involve steam trains and dirigibles as easily as horses and knights. She is published in America and Germany and was shortlisted in 2001 for the Locus Best First Novel. She lives in the West Country with her elderly parents and a collection of unnerving dolls. Jessica is a member of The Write Fantastic.