Denvention 3 Fan Guest of Honor: Tom Whitmore

Jon Singer

There are fans, and there are Fans. Likewise, there are readers, and there are Readers. Tom Whitmore deserves the capital letter in both cases. In fact, he is deeply enough involved in reading that he has been a bookseller for more than 30 years now, and is massively knowledgeable about SF/F books, as well as a number of other subjects. (Tom is also a Morris dancer, for example.) Tom has been a co-chair of a Worldcon (ConJos in 2002), and implemented the first example of Elevator Party Hosts.

He's been a reviewer for Locus, and once made Gene Wolfe jealous by telling him how much writing reviews for computer magazines paid. Once upon a time, he was a statistician for the Department of Energy. He's a massage therapist and a student of the Hakomi Method of body-centered therapy developed in the mid-1970s. He was on the founding board of the Cohousing Association of the United States, and lived for several years in the Puget Ridge Cohousing community. Cohousing is a type of collaborative housing in which residents actively participate in the design and operation of their own neighborhoods.

One of the things that distinguishes certain Fans, for me, is their approachability and their willingness to be friendly to people who are new to the field. (Alva Rogers was probably the prime example of the latter.) Tom is thoroughly approachable, and if you are interested in books, Morris dancing, Bay Area fandom, cohousing, or just becoming acquainted, you should make an effort to meet him and talk with him at the con.

Tom's Home Page

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