Bob Fischer - Wiffle Level To Full

[dem]

Don't know who to thank for the mystery package forced through the letterbox this morning - properly addressed, real name and everything, no details of sender - but my first thought was that some kindly soul had sent on an 'eighties paperback on the strength of the Don't Go To The Horror Convention stuff. Oh no, not so! This is actually a forthcoming publication from Hodder - a company I've no previous with whatsoever. *spooky* Anyhow, I'm sure Bob Fischer's twelve month hike around the Cult SF circuit will strike a chord with many of our readers so, whoever was responsible - Thanks!

Bob Fischer - Wiffle Level To Full: Daleks, Death Stars & Dreamy-Eyed Nostalgia at the Strangest Sci-Fi Conventions (Hodder paperback, 30th April 2009. £8.99)

Cover illustration: Joey Hi-Fi

Press Release

Publication coincides with the long-awaited return of cult comedy Red Dwarf for a 2-part Easter weekend special, 21 years after its initial launch.

When Bob, a sci-fi obsessed child of the 1970s and 1980s, discovered a Doctor Who convention taking place five miles from his front door, he couldn't resist buying a ticket. Thus sparked a (mildly obsessive) marathon twelve-month journey around the country's biggest and wackiest sci-fi and cult TV conventions.

`Behold the Sponge of Doom'

As Bob freewheels his way from Red Dwarf to Doctor Who, Discworld to Star Wars, and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy to Robin of Sherwood, he discusses the rules of 'smeg' with Craig Charles, is brought to his knees in Cardiff City Centre by Imperial Stormtroopers, Joins Douglas Adams devotees hell-bent on destroying Blake's 7 fanatics with water-pistols, and unearths all kinds of hilarious childhood nostalgia.

'Peter Davison is currently at the Chiswick Roundabout'

Part fun travelogue, part field report, part charming misty-eyed childhood memoir. it's compulsive reading — even for those who don't harbour an inner nerd ...

Bob Fischer is a lifelong science fiction and Fantasy fan who has previously enjoyed careers as a record shop owner, a solo singer-songwriter and a short-lived Elvis impersonator (one gig). He now works as a radio presenter for BBC Tees, a job that has led him to spill tea over Jack Charlton's antique fireplace and sing on a UK Top 10 hit single (Bunsen Burner by John Otway, No 9 in October 2002). Bob has also won a prestigious Sony Radio Award. He lives near Middlesbrough with a girlfriend who thinks old-school Doctor Who is 'rubbish', and a dog that doesn't mind the Jon Pertwee era, but if pressed would admit to preferring Blake's 7.