Andrew Stephenson
(October 8, 1946 –)
Andrew Michael Stephenson is a UK[1] fan, writer and fan and professional artist active from 1969.
He published two novels in 1977 and 1979 as Andrew M. Stephenson and five short stories between 1970 and 1997. His artwork, often signed Ames, appeared a. o. on two covers and inside several issues of Galaxy Science Fiction and inside some editions of Inverted World by Christopher Priest. More recently he wrote the Waterloo Sunset comic series, collected in 2006.
Stephenson entered fandom in 1969 and began contributing artwork to fanzines in 1971, also usually signed 'Ames'. Covers and interiors appeared on Macrocosm, Zimri, Speculation and Vector. According to Rog Peyton, around 1975–6 he produced 'a wonderful set of illustrations, each in the style of famous pro artists' for a projected new edition of The Enchanted Duplicator. However, that edition never appeared and it's not known what happened to the artwork.[2] He contributed the King of Cups artwork for the Fantasy Showcase Tarot Deck.
In a letter to Vin¢ Clarke[3] Stephenson explained his approach to fan art:
At the time most publications used mimeo and, while many artists (eg. Atom and Harry Bell) were capable of amazing results in the medium, I wanted to be free to pile in detail and textures. This meant favouring faneds prepared to use offset litho. Hence work in such places as Lisa's Zimri, Rob Holdstock's Macrocosm, and the BSFA's Vector.
Stephenson would top the 1973–4 Checkpoint poll for best fan artist, placing second in 1972–3 and third in 1974–5.
He was also the co-editor (with Lisa Conesa) of Zimri #3 (June 1972), contributing an editorial and a fanzine review column as well as art. Other fan writing appeared in Malfunction #6, Maya #5, Blunt #2, Cynic #2 and Wrinkled Shrew #7, with the latter also featuring 'It’s Hell Being a Contemporary of Andrew M. Stephenson' by Rob Holdstock. He co-wrote the fannish skit 'The Wizard of Ozimov' and performed in it at Tynecon, the 1974 Eastercon.
In 1974 and 1975 Stephenson was part of the jury for the Nova Awards and he was for a time on the committee for SEACON 75 but resigned over the selection of Michael Moorcock as guest of honour, 'show[ing] great prescience by insisting that Moorcock was unreliable and wouldn't show up.'[4] He acted as UK agent for Noreascon Two, the 1980 Worldcon.
He was a founder member of the writers' group Pieria and also attended UK Milford workshops. He continued to attend Eastercons into the twenty-first century. Professionally, he was an electronics design engineer.
Links
- Entry in The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction
- Andrew M. Stephenson in Internet Speculative Fiction Database
____
- ↑ Born in Venezuela of British parents.
- ↑ 'The Enchanted Duplicator: a history' by Rob Hansen at fiawol.org.uk
- ↑ Quoted in Then, page 277
- ↑ Then, Volume 4 Chapter 2: The Mid 1970s: The Bastard Offspring of Science Fiction Monthly; print book page 315, passage unchanged from previous online versions.
| Person | 1946— |
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