Peter Weston

Peter Weston at Interaction, 2005.
Photo by Laurie Mann.

(October 19, 1943 – January 5, 2017)

A British Fan of All Trades, Peter Weston's many and varied activities included founding the longest-lived fan group in the U.K., editing the Andromeda series of original anthologies, chairing the Seacon '79 Worldcon, and editing Speculation.

He was FGoH at Noreascon 4, the 2004 Worldcon.

From 1963 until 1976, he published the award-winning, multi-named fanzine Zenith, Zenith-Speculation, and Speculation, getting four Hugo nominations and a Nova Award for it.

Starting in 1966, he reviewed fanzines in Vector in a column named "Behind the Scenes", under the pseudonym "Malcolm Edwards". This caused confusion a few years later, when a real Malcolm Edwards began contributing to British fanzines. By coincidence, both the fake Malcolm Edwards and the real Malcolm Edwards went on to chair British Worldcons.

He organized the Speculation Conferences, a series of science fiction symposia in Birmingham, UK inspired by Speculation, co-founded the Birmingham Science Fiction Group (BSFG) in 1971 (chairing it, also) and helped start Novacon later that year. In 1979 he chaired the Worldcon, Seacon '79, and in October 2008 ran Cytricon V in Kettering, a sequel to and commemoration of the event at which the modern British Science Fiction Association was created. He was on the committee of Eastercon 22. At Cytricon V, a surprise ceremony was held, inducting Weston and fellow fan Rog Peyton into the long-dormant fannish Knights of Saint Fantony. He published the Thirdmancon Combozine for Thirdmancon.

His personal history of British fandom, With Stars in My Eyes, was nominated for the 2005 Best Related Book Hugo. Following that in 2006, he revived his 1983 fanzine Prolapse as a forum for discussion of British fan history, and followed his tradition by renaming it Relapse a couple of years later, also winning a Nova Award for that. He helped organize ReRepetercon in 2004. He also published Nexus.

For years, Peter's foundry cast the Hugo rockets for the Hugo Awards (the bases are the fault responsibility of the individual Worldcon committees).

Links:

• Entry in The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction.
• ISFDB entry.
• archive of 'Behind the Scenes' columns in the BSFA's Vector, 1966–1968
• With Stars In My Eyes: My Adventures in British Fandom: The Supplement at efanzines.com

Fanzines and Apazines:

• Nadir [1964] (one issue)
• Nexus (for PADS and later OMPA)
• Prolapse (originally for APA-B)
• Relapse
• Speculation
• Zenith
• Zenith-Speculation

Awards, Honors and GoHships:

• 1973 -- Nova Award for Speculation
• 1974 -- Tynecon 74, 1974 TAFF Race winner
• 1975 -- Doc Weir Award
• 2000 -- Boskone 37
• 2002 -- Helicon 2
• 2004 -- Noreascon 4
• 2005 -- 2005 Best Related Book Hugo nominee
• 2007 -- Nova Award winner of a Special Committee Award for "Best Fan".
• 2008 -- FAAn Award for Prolapse, Knight of St. Fantony
• 2010 -- Fellow of NESFA
• 2015 -- Lifetime Achievement Award at Corflu 32

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Person

1943—2017

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