Leslie Fish HoF

When I told Leslie Fish that she needed a bio for the NASFiC program book, she said, "OK. Write it." Huh?! Well, as her sometime-sorta manager/producer/agent/Net interface...I guess that I'm as qualified as anyone!

OK, basics: Born in New Jersey, 11 March 19-something, to a mundane dentist father and singer mother. Learned to sing and to read at a very young age; started playing guitar at 16; started writing the first of hundreds of songs shortly thereafter, including her first settings of Rudyard Kipling's poetry. Went to her first con at 16; saw Martin Luther King Jr. speak at 17; went to college, majoring in English and minoring in psychology, protest and politics. Paid hard dues in the Civil Rights and anti-War movements; joined the Industrial Workers of the World; did psych counseling for vets (among many other jobs including railroad yard clerk, go-go dancer, computer keypuncher and social worker). Wrote her first filksong of dozens, "Fellowship Going South", in 1963. Saw the Apollo 11 landing in 1969, and then began her most famous (and best-loved) filksong, "Hope Eyrie" [a.k.a. "The Eagle Has Landed"]; that took six years to write.

In 1973 she discovered Star Trek--and she was hooked--totally and thoroughly... ("TV that actually showed real issues!") She began contributing to the fanzines--illustrations, stories and songs. She was so hooked, in fact, that she cut two LP albums with her I.W.W. band, The Dehorn Crew, of space and Star Trek songs: _Folk Songs for Folk Who Ain't Even Been Yet_ (1976), and _Solar Sailors_ (1977), which debuted the all-time most notorious Star Trek filksong ever written: "Banned From Argo". These were the first of several solo albums, another with the Dehorn Crew, and dozens of songs, both alone and collaborative, on albums from every major filk label. She was elected to the Filk Hall Of Fame as one of the first inductees. She is also now a pro writer; in addition to her two fan novels, she has out _A Dirge For Sabis_ (part of the "Sword Of Knowledge" trilogy) with C.J. Cherryh, several short stories and more in the works.

Leslie is single, and lives in Phoenix, AZ with some house mates and a varying number of cats. Most of her time is spent writing and cat-chasing, but she makes time for gaming, the local SCA and her FanHaven land project (see her for details).

Look for her in the smoker's filkroom at night. Contrary to her rather lurid legend, she won't skewer anyone for honest questions: her weapons of choice are wits and words. She is patient with newcomers, she willingly shows guitar techniques or song chords to about anyone who asks. Her guitar technique is almost unreal; her vocal talents include a three-octave range and power enough to rattle windows; her songs are on scores of topics from cats to computers, but largely Anarchist politics, Pagan subjects, and future folk. She also has a wealth of stories on songwriting, fandom and politics [she's one of the best raconteuses I know]. Just DON'T ask for "Banned From Argo"--ask her to do something not on a tape or one that she hasn't done in years!

Mary Creasey of Random Factors