THE CONVENTION COMMITTEE
The Convention Committee has expanded and changed for the
1998 event. This issue we introduce you to some of the new characters
you will be hearing from during the coming months and seeing at the
Convention next year. The next issue will feature even more of those
foolhardy enough to say "yeah, count me in....".
SIMON BROWN (Membership)
Having been born some years previously, Simes
has since aged. He still has all of his limbs and most of his hair, and
has compensated for a slightly receding hairline by allowing additional
hairs to encamp upon the lower half of his face. Working mainly in the
field of Telling Computers To Do Things In New And Interesting Ways, he
is also a researcher in many areas of the Information Technology
Revolution and was one of the first recorded cases of Joypad Thumb. He
lives in Berkshire with two sofas, a clear plastic thing, and a small
rubber rat named Norman. He is an avid collector of unusually shaped
cheeses.
BEN ARGYLE (Programme Assistant)
Not even I know why I volunteered to be on the
committee for this Convention, but it had something to do with bulging
brown envelopes changing hands (although which way I'm not at
liberty to say). As it stands I'm something of a programme
assistant (what exactly that means I'm sure will become clear
between now and the end of the Convention) and so might be the person
you talk to when you need to know which way up your Dwarf Bread is held
for throwing. Don't worry, I'm supposed to be pretty
approachable.
I've just finished a degree in Artificial Intelligence at
Manchester and hopefully will be doing a masters degree next year.
Apart from an obvious fondness for the Pratchett oeuvre, I like to dip
into most of the other authors' minds, including anything from
hard-core cyberia like Gibson to the gentle Tolkienesqueness (is that a
new word?) of Tepper.
I'm a fan of Babylon 5 and action-packed plot lines.
Outside of books I actually do stuff! I just can't sit still, so
I'm into things from Karate to Kayaking. Among my likes are a good
single Malt, a nice bit of chocolate and my girlfriend (not necessarily
in that order). Cabbage and lack of money are my major dislikes along
with unorganised chaos.
CHRIS WARD (Dealers, Exhibitors, Advertisers and Sponsors
Liaison)
After deciding that computers were a 'Good
Thing', he decided to get someone else to pay for his education,
and as a result got sent to Coventry to spend three years learning
useful information, which had no relevancy to his degree.
Since then he has spent his time writing computer software for event
organisers and PR companies in order to support his book addiction.
Last year he was forced to move due to a lack of book space, and still
failed to get out of the Coventry area. After attending the Discworld
Convention 1996 he decided that the best way to ensure that he would
get into the '98 Convention was to help organise it.
RACHEL COLEMAN (Chairman's Assistant)
Rachel came into existence in 1977 and has been looking
for justification ever since. Currently she is dealing with the trauma
of Cambridge studenthood in an attempt to get a degree in Physics. The
route from a primordial piece of slime to the Cam1 took in
the usual stops - school, GCSEs, A-levels. Interesting deviations have
been: a 1992 visit to Star City, the Russian cosmonaut training centre,
as part of a group of British students; 4 years in the Girls Venture
Corps Air Cadets, where she learnt rifle-shooting, flying and how
unsuited she was to a military career; a year-out job as R&D test
assistant for a new and fast-growing vacuum cleaner company.
Rachel comes from a political background, likes to follow the
subject, and is beginning to dip a toe into student politics herself.
Other interests include reading, playing rugby and MUDding2
on a far too regular basis. Rachel is also the current President of the
Cambridge University Scientific Society, which is dedicated to
"making science interesting and accessible to all". This is
her first stint on a Convention Committee.
1If there is a difference. Which is doubtful.
2Note for non-spods: a MUD is a computer program which
you can log into over the Internet. There you can give yourself a silly
name, talk to other players (usually students), build things, do
adventures and generally waste time happily. WARNING: It is scarily
addictive and eerily nerdish. Possibly the best fun is a MUDmeet - a
gathering of these studenty spodders in e.g. Manchester to go out, eat
junk food, get drunk, spend too much money and get flirted with.
Issues index.
Web pages designed by Derek Moody
August 1997
