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Pete's fannac pix of yore

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SCIENTIFICTION #1 \sigh-enty-fix-shun\

...is brought to you by Pete Lyon, a curmudgeonly resident of Saddleworth, and is available for links and browsing on the new fangled Interweb. I can be typed to by using this e-post thingy (which I'm sort of getting the hang of) and then maybe I can 'click' a reply.

pete@petelyon.net

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Not a particularly original name I know, but I couldn't resist blagging it. I'm thinking it should be 'Blasto Past', which at least is better than 'Elkar Sun and the Trans-Uranium Elementals'. I guess I just want to show off the many drawings I did for fanzines way back when. Recently I had occasion to revisit them; well, truth be told, come across large musty boxes part forgotten under the bed in the spare room, so unexpectedly evocative. Sad really, as these represent such a big part of my life. Yes, nostalgia for this lost future is a potent thing and I found myself genuinely moved. So I indulge myself in this little exhibition of vanity, my contribution to Heritage Fandom.

Anywhoo, since my iFan app is in zeta testing here are some skiffy links to be going on with, or navigate around my pix using the stippled boxes or by clicking on the title logo.

I suppose, like many people, I first got involved with fandom for a combination of reasons. Companionship and a shared enthusiasm were in there, but also a certain social awkwardness, a nagging sense of being an outsider and needing some form of validation. Of course, what I found was a decades old culture of mutual recognition, communication, compulsive behaviour and indulgence. The Fanzine and the Convention gave us the opportunity to be both audience and player. Indulge in our mildly aspergic obsessions and have desperate fun. That is; to flirt, brawl, get hammered, show off, bitch, praise, and even be a tad creative. Reveal ourselves and hide behind a mask. Our little tribe with its own slang and rituals gathered cosily around the warm fire of belonging.

I am surely not alone (if I could be bothered looking) in noticing how this behaviour is now so widespread. The limitations of our once primitive technology, the copier and stamp, now superseded by a brave new world of digital consumerists. Nowadays this group mind of mediated intimacy; this minutiae of acquaintance, has become so commonplace in the vast sprawl of social networking sites, blogs and vicariously lived virtual lives. Our popular culture is now dominated by what was once outré, challenging even; our beloved genres now recycled and mundane.

We are all Fans now.

Be that as it may, why not have a gander at some of my old pictures? ...

These are fanzine covers and illos of yore, I did a lot more but I've lost, sold or given them away.
I also put in some random doodlings of the period, mostly done under the influence and which, upon reacquaintance, seem to involve rather more boobs and crotches than I recall. Well, it's my site so I'm also showing some stuff from my youth - of interest to me only, but hey!