Teesside writer Bob Fischer is bringing a night of irreverent science fiction fun to The Waiting Room in Eaglescliffe on Sunday 1st May.
Bob’s acclaimed book, Wiffle Lever To Full!, was published by Hodder & Stoughton in 2008 and reissued in 2018. It’s the story of his childhood love of science fiction, and his adult attempt to rekindle that love with an exhausting tour of British cult TV and film conventions – from Doctor Who to Discworld, from Star Wars to Star Trek and from Robin of Sherwood to Red Dwarf.
In a special one-off evening, Bob will be reading from the book – including his epic 1981 sci-fi story The Battle To Save Earth, written when he was eight years old. He’ll be telling stories of his travels – including dancing to Erasure in front of the entire main cast of Blake’s 7 – and showing pictures from a 1970s and ’80s childhood entranced by Daleks, Klingons, Vogons and Imperial Stormtroopers.
“I really was utterly obsessed with all this stuff,” recalls Bob. “I was the kid who put his Han Solo action figure in a Flora margarine tub filled with orange squash, and left him in the freezer overnight. Because I’d seen Darth Vader freezing the real thing in The Empire Strikes Back…”
“As an adult, I got obsessed all over again and spent a year travelling around conventions meeting my childhood heroes and fellow fans alike. It was a bizarre and selfish journey that pretty much wrecked my finances and family life… but hey, I got to meet Britt Ekland and her dog in a shopping arcade in Swindon, so it wasn’t all bad. And the book has taken a life of its own. It still sells, and I still get asked about it regularly… so the evening at The Waiting Room felt like a nice opportunity to celebrate the strange but charming world of sci-fi fandom. And I’ve got a load of old photos to show, including my 1984 attempt to build my own K-9 in my friend Doug’s garage…”
Tickets, priced at £10.00 in advance, are available from thewaitingroom.uk/events.
