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~~~
Fred Gallagher,
also known as Piro, is an American Illustrator, writer and
former architect behind the anime/manga inspired webcomic Megatokyo. New
comics are released on his website, www.megatokyo.com,
three times per week. Megatokyo has also been collected
into four books published by Dark Horse Comics and DC Comic's CMX imprint.
The comic has been a huge success and Fred has been working full time on
Megatokyo since 2002, supported by his online store,
www.megagear.com.
He has appeared at anime conventions in the US and Britain and was invited
as a guest at Anime Expo Tokyo in 2004. Now he will be appearing for the
first time in Australia at Convergence 2. Anime fans will have the chance to
meet one of the most popular anime artists in the US.
He will be joined by his wife, Sarah, known as "Seraphim" by Megatokyo
readers. This will be their first visit to Australia.
~~~
Dave Freer
was born at a very early age. And then, alas, things started to go downhill for
him. He was unable to maintain the status quo, despite considerable and lifelong
resistance to growing up, he has found himself married to Barbara (a woman of
every fine quality except her taste in a husband) and a father to two sons --
who were also born at a very young age, proving it must be hereditary.
At seventeen was a conscripted Medic during the Angolan/South
African conflict. He emerged with a physical age of nineteen, and after a few
bizarre bounces around ended up as an Ichthyologist (a fish-biologist, not an
expert in ichy-religions). His first postgraduate job was as Chief Scientific
Officer for the Western Cape Commercial Shark fishery. As a biologist he's spent
a lot of time working in water no sane person would go near, having encounters
(both in small boats and in the water) with sharks, crocodiles, hippopotamuses,
electric rays and a number of other toxic/lethal creatures. He has worked as a
salvage diver, run two major fish farms (he's a very good plumber), as well as
doing some steeplejack work. Additionally he has worked as the relief chef for a
group of exclusive luxury game/ ecotourism/ whitewater-rafting lodges. He has an
obsession with food, recreating traditional fare, something he uses in his
books. He's a mountaineer and rock-climber, opening many of his country's best
seacliff rock routes. He's a fanatical diver and flyfisherman and the author of
a number of articles on both. If it is bizarre, dangerous and a little crazy --
he's at least tried it. It’s all part of the resistance to growing up thing.
Then, in a desperate and vain attempt to change the world and
also to pay the rent, Freer shifted from the maths-stats and fish gurry of
Ichthyology to the writing of Fantasy and Science Fiction. He believes they are
closely related fields, requiring many of the same skills. So: Besides writing
some amazingly boring but fundamental papers on shark age and growth and
reproductive biology, he has authored or co-authored ten sf/fantasy novels, with
number eleven in press, and further five contracted. He is
also the Art Director of
JIM BAEN'S UNIVERSE online magazine.
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~~~
Fan Guest of Honour - Cath
Ortlieb
A long held tradition of the Natcon is to honour a person who is held in high
esteem in the SF fannish community.
Cath Ortlieb joined fandom after spotting a poster for the
Aussiecon 1 Art Show. On joining the first Australian worldcon, she then went
on to become an integral part of SF fandom, both in Melbourne and around the
world. She has been a member of both ANZAPA and the Melbourne Science Fiction
Club (MSFC) since 1974. Cath was a member of the Programming Subcommittee for
Aussiecon II, the second Australian worldcon and was a member of the Australian
contingent promoting the bid at the Baltimore worldcon in 1983. At Aussiecon
Three, she co-ordinated the Help Desk under extreme circumstances. A member of
the Australian Science Fiction Foundation (ASFF) since its early days, she has
served as its President and is currently the Secretary. She was involved in the
establishment of the A. Bertram Chandler Award, presented by the ASFF. She
regularly sits on the selection panel deciding this prestigious award. Trained as a teacher, Cath has
successfully incorporated SF onto her school’s English Literature curriculum and
inspired several generations of students to a love and appreciation of SF. She
is married to Marc Ortlieb and has two children Michael and Natalie, both of
whom are being raised as tru-fans.
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