Science Fiction
Finder, nicknamed "The Wombat," has been a frequent guest of honor at science fiction conventions, including Honored Guest at ConFrancisco (the 1993 Worldcon). He has also been Fan Guest of Honor at BYOB-Con 8 (1978), Lastcon 1 (1981, Albany NY), LepreCon 8 (1982), Genericon 1 (1985), NotJustAnotherCon 4 (1988) and Arisia 12 (2001). He was a co-founder of Albacon.
He has been the chairperson of several science fiction conventions not specifically dedicated to the writings of Tolkien. He was chair of Albacon in 1996 and of the Science Fiction Research Association (SFRA) 32 in Schenectady, New York in 2001.
Well known in fannish circles, Finder was editor of the fanzine, The Spang Blah. He was, until 2011, "scribe" (secretary) of the Latham-Albany-Schenectady-Troy Science Fiction Association.
The Wombat has been a frequent masquerade judge, costumer charity auctioneer, and participant in panel discussions, from Arisia and Albacon in the Northeast United States to Worldcons and Lunacon 2007. He has mentored other prospective con chairs.
Finder writes in the short story genre, and his short fiction writing has been published in several anthologies, including "The Grapes of Rath" (1980) in Microcosmic Tales (1981).
He edited the 1982 anthology Alien Encounters (1982) Taplinger ISBN 0-8008-0168-7, which included short stories by Lynn Abbey, Ben Bova, Lee Killough, David Langford and Ian Watson, among others.
Finder was tuckerized when Anne McCaffrey named a character for him.
Read more about this topic: Jan Howard Finder
Famous quotes containing the words science and/or fiction:
“We know only a single science, the science of history. One can look at history from two sides and divide it into the history of nature and the history of men. However, the two sides are not to be divided off; as long as men exist the history of nature and the history of men are mutually conditioned.”
—Karl Marx (1818–1883)
“To value the tradition of, and the discipline required for, the craft of fiction seems today pointless. The real Arcadia is a lonely, mountainous plateau, overbouldered and strewn with the skulls of sheep slain for vellum and old bitten pinions that tried to be quills. It’s forty rough miles by mule from Athens, a city where there’s a fair, a movie house, cotton candy.”
—Alexander Theroux (b. 1940)