Geoff Allshorn
You may be looking for the fan, Geoffro.
| Fan | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Geoff Allshorn |
| Alias(es): | Stephen Stonewall, Stephanie Stonewall, Adrian Gaetano, Alec Gordensen, Gordon Boma, Glenda Barnes, Jack B Nimble |
| Type: | |
| Fandoms: | Star Trek, UFO, science fiction, the space program |
| Communities: | LGBT+, human rights, Austrek, Spaced Out |
| Other: | |
| URL: | https://humanist-world.net/ |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Geoff Allshorn started writing fan fiction as a child and this later progressed to newsletters and fanzines, including being founding editor/writer for Club News, The Space Age, The Captain's Log, Spock, Interceptor, These Are The Voyages, Diverse Universe, and Solar Spectrum.
Other zine contributions: MASC Newsletter, Trekkie Talk, Captain's Log Supplemental
He has been a member of various local and national SF clubs, and participant/contributor to various conventions, over the decades.[1] Allshorn is the founder of several clubs: these include the Melbourne Amateur Science Club in 1973, the Star Trek club, Austrek, in 1976, and the queer SF club, Spaced Out, in 1999.
His friendship with Diane Marchant helped to create Austrek and place it on a solid footing that has enabled the club to survive for nearly fifty years. In 2023, Austrek reaffirmed his Life Membership of the club, and also established the Allshorn/Marchant award for dedicated service to the club.
He was co-recipient of a Ditmar Award in 2002 for his work with Spaced Out.[1]
Geoff is past committee member, radio presenter, and co-editor for the Space Association of Australia.
His writing on the space program has been published in the Herald Sun[2], Sky & Space[3], The Skeptic[4], and his own humanist blog. He has also received awards for his human rights activism, volunteer work that aligns with his utopian science fiction ideals and humanist philosophies.
In 2016, he donated his fanzine and newsletter collection to the Special Collections section of Monash University library in Melbourne.
Interviews
Writings
They include:
- Moonbase Alpha is Go! (Commemorating the anniversary of the world premiere of Space:1999 in Melbourne, Australia, on 28 July 1975, with fan recollection/review, and creative or cultural, largely humanist links to Twilight Zone, Star Trek and Doctor Who).
- Trekking on the Edge of the Yarra (an interview with Paul Murphy, early Austrek member, creator of 'Starrag' magazine, and co-creator of fan film 'The City on the Edge of the Yarra')
- A Privileged Life (human rights activist autobiography)
- We Are All Spiderman (Finding Meaning in Modern Mythology: From Sherlock to Spider-Man; from The Rocket to Star Wars)
- Space, Science and Fiction. Beam Me Home. (review of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds)
- 2022 Star Trek Deaths: Kirstie Alley & others
- Life, But Not As We Know It: Star Trek, fan culture, slash fiction and the queering of Starfleet Command
- Life, but not as we know it: Star Trek, fan culture, slash fiction and the queering of Starfleet Command
- The Lark Ascended: In memory of Roger (a tribute with Geoff Roderick in memory of SF fan activist Roger Weddall)
- From Queer to Eternity (reflections on LGTB+ including the founding of Spaced Out, queer issues in SF, and the shared commonalities between SF and queer communities)
- With Stars in our Eyes (interactions between SF and science; science denialism; outgrowing old myths and creating new ones)
- Why Science Fiction? (how SF can inspire us and help to create the future)
- A Kiss is not just a Kiss (debunks the myth about TV's first interracial kiss in Star Trek)
- A Letter to Parents of a Science Fiction Fan
- Breakaway (diversity, early life including first fan fic, and life philosophies including humanism and Space:1999)
- The Prime Defective (criticism of Star Trek's Prime Directive)
- Awe for the Orville
- Brave New World? (diversity and stereotypes in SF)
- Fandom of the Opera (the cultural impact of SF and why it is important)
- Looking Ahead with Optimism (memorial tribute to two Star Trek fans - Diane Marchant and Theresa de Gabriele)
- Soon May the Enterprise Come (filk memorial tribute to Star Trek fan - Carol Ashcroft)
- We Must Return to the Moon
- Happy Birthday to Us All (autobiographical exploration for 60th birthday)
- We Are All Spock (Spock as the 'everyman' template and classic heroic archetype)
- Television: Dreams or Reality? (twelve TV science fiction episodes worth watching)
- Take the Red Pill? (The Matrix, reflects upon how society is so often too entrenched in 'blue pills' that insulate us from reality)
- From Omelas to Optimists (Ursula Le Guin's The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas, and how society needs to help its vulnerable instead of gaslighting them)
- Always Remember (book on HIV/AIDS in Australia)
References
- ^ a b About Geoff Allshorn Co-Founder SSF
- ^ Gerald McManus (compiler), "Man on the Moon: Souvenir Liftout", Sunday Herald Sun, 10 July 1994, Melbourne, Australia.
- ^ Geoff Allshorn, "First Steps to the Moon," Sky & Space, Vol. 7 No. 2, Sky & Space Publishing, Bondi Junction (NSW), April 1994, pp. 22 - 25.
- ^ Geoff Allshorn, "Message from the Moon", The Skeptic, Vol. 30 No. 2, Australian Skeptics, Beecroft (NSW), June 2019, pp. 24 - 27.