It’s time for the next entry in my Fanzine/Fancast Spotlight project. For more about the Fanzine/Fancast Spotlight project, go here. You can also check out the other great fanzines and fancasts featured by clicking here.
Today’s spotlight is a bit different, because I don’t interview a specific fancast and fanzine, but rather a prolific contributor to several fancasts and fanzines.
Therefore, I’m pleased to welcome my friend and fellow 2020 Best Fan Writer Hugo finalist (and excellent photographer) Paul Weimer to my blog. Paul contributes to The Skiffy and Fanty Show and nerds of a feather, both of which were featured here, as well as SFF Audio and Dive Into Worldbuilding, which were not.
Paul in his natural element behind the camera, as photographed by Peter West Carey.
Tell us about your podcast or channel.
I am on several podcasts and channels:
I am a member of the Skiffy and Fanty Show, created by Shaun Duke and Jen Zink, which is a general wide ranging SFF podcasts that tackles interviews, books, movies and more.
I am a regular on SFF Audio, which focuses on audiobooks, particularly older works.
I also appear frequently on Dive into Worldbuilding, a weekly videocast that talks about worldbuilding in SFF
Who are the people behind your podcast or channel?
Skiffy and Fanty is led by Shaun and Jen, and features a variety of other participants, writers, creators and fans.
SFF Audio was created by Jesse Willis, a fan in Vancouver strongly interested in SFF works falling out of copyright. He maintains a large archive of such stories, as well.
What format do you use for your podcast or channel and why did you choose this format?
Skiffy and Fanty and SFF audio are both audio podcasts, free ranging discussions. Dive into Worldbuilding is a video endeavor that publishes live to youtube.
The fan categories at the Hugos were there at the very beginning, but they are also the categories which consistently gets the lowest number of votes and nominations. So why do you think fanzines, fancasts and other fan projects are important?
Fans have been central to SFF since 1939. Without fans, without people agitating for books, for reading, for authors, the whole SFF community would not exist. Fanzines, fancasts, fan writers and fan enthusiasm make SFF the vibrant place it is.
In the past twenty years, fanzines have increasingly moved online and fancasts have sprung up. What do you think the future of fan media looks like?
I continue to think that the ways fans engage with each other is going to evolve and change. I think too the pandemic is going to change how we have and deal with things like conventions. I predict boldly there will be more conventions which are entirely virtual and that space will evolve and change over time.
The four fan categories of the Hugos (best fanzine, fan writer, fan artist and fancast) tend to get less attention than the fiction and dramatic presentation categories. Are there any awesome fanzines, fancasts, fan writers and fan artists you’d like to recommend?
Modestly, I myself am probably more eligible as a fan writer than I am in the fancast categories, since I write a boatload of SFF articles and interviews and reviews. Besides me, I value the voices of yourself, Alasdair Stewart, Adam Whitehead, Aidan Moher,Jason Sanford, the Worldbuilding for Masochists podcast, Charles Payseur, Alex Brown, Journey Planet, Nerds of a Feather (disclaimer, I am one of their writers), Claire Rousseau, The Breaking the Glass Slipper podcast, and a lot more. The fan community is fractally large, the deeper you go, the more complex and bigger it gets. Fans are everywhere!
Where can people find you?
http://www.princejvstin.com is my website but really, googling “princejvstin” on the internet finds me.
One more photo of Paul behind the camera in Nepal, captured by Peter West Carey.
Thanks, Paul, for stopping by and answering my questions.
Do check out Paul’s various ventures, cause he does great work across various media.
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Do you have a Hugo eligible fanzine/-site or fancast and want it featured? Contact me or leave a comment.
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