John Purcell
(1954 --)
John Anthony Purcell is a fanzine and convention fan originally from Minneapolis, Minnesota. After discovering fandom at Minicon 7 in 1973, he became active in Minn-stf (the Minnesota Science Fiction Society, Inc.) and began publishing fanzines in 1976 with This House. Eventually he began writing for other fanzines, notably Rune, the Minn-stf clubzine, and This House ran for 15 issues, eventually ending in 1988 as part of an Ace-Doubled fanzine with his personal-zine, Bangweulu #6. Life basically derailed his fan career as of 1992: this is what happens sometimes when a fan gets married and has children. "A very dangerous situation," John noted in a LiveJournal entry in 2007.
Still, since 2003, he began publishing online fanzines, hosted at www.eFanzines.com, with the key titles of In a Prior Lifetime (2003-2007), ...and Furthermore (2006-2007), and the current fanzine, Askance (since 2007), which has reached 51 issues as of the summer of 2021. A paper-only personalzine Askew was begun in early 2013 and is continuing publication in that format, although issues 17, 18, and 19 were also posted on eFanzines.com during the 2017 TAFF campaign to help promote John's candidacy. With its 21st issue (October 2017), Askew returned to paper-only publication upon request, but is also available in PDF format on *efanzines.com.*
A regular attendee at Minicon from 1973-1992, Purcell only managed to get to two World SF Conventions - MidAmeriCon (1976) and Iguanacon (1978) - before hosting the Fanzine Lounge at LoneStarCon 3, the 71st World SF Convention held in San Antonio, Texas on August 29-September2, 2013. This was his first Worldcon in 35 years (That's Not Too Many), even though in 2006, he went to his first convention in 14 years, AggieCon 36, the student-run sf convention held on the campus of Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas, where John has lived since the summer of 2001. He has been married for 31 years to Valerie Purcell (nee Prochaska), who is an artists and crafter, and they have three children and two grand-children.
Recently his sanity has been called into question because John chaired *Corflu 37*, which was held over the weekend of March 13 - 15, 2020 in College Station, Texas.
- ...and Furthermore [2006-07]
- Askance [2007-]
- Askew [2013-]
- In a Prior Lifetime [2003-07]
- Bangweulu [1983-1985]
- Ennui [1982-1983]
- This House [late 70s-1988]
Awards, Honors and GoHships:
- 2017 -- TAFF
- LoneStarCon III* fanzine lounge, (2013)
- Corflu 37* co-chair, (March 13-15,2020)
| Person | 1954— |
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