Leslie Fish

Infobox musical artist
Name = Leslie Fish

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Genre = Filk
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Leslie Fish is a filk musician, author, and anarchist political activist.

Music

Along with The DeHorn Crew, in 1976 she created the first commercial filk recording, "Folk Songs for Folk Who Ain't Even Been Yet").Fact|date=December 2007 Her second recording, "Solar Sailors" (1977) included the song "Banned from Argo", a comic song parodying "Star Trek" which has since spawned over 80 variants and parodies. These two albums (originally on vinyl) have recently been put back into print on joint CD, entitled "Folk Songs for Solar Sailors". She recorded the comic song "Carmen Miranda's Ghost", which was the source for the short story anthology "Carmen Miranda's Ghost Is Haunting Space Station Three", edited by Don Sakers. Her song "Hope Eyrie" is regarded by some as being as close to the anthem of science fiction fandom as is possible in such a disparate group. [ [http://www.filk.com/filk101_b.htm Mailander, Jan. "FILKING 101: The Folk Music of Science Fiction, APPENDIX B - INSIDE JOKES IN FILK FANDOM"] ] [ [http://www.filkontario.ca/hofcitations1.htm#fish Filk Hall Of Fame Inductees and Citations - 1995-1997] ] [Launius, Roger D. "Got Filk? Lament for Apollo in Modern Science Fiction Folk Music", IAC-04-IAA.6.16.1.06, presented at the 55th International Astronautical Congress of the International Astronautical Federation, the International Academy of Astronautics, and the International Institute of Space Law, Vancouver, Canada, Oct. 4-8, 2004]

Fish often weaves Pagan and anarchist themes into her music. She has also set to music many poems by Rudyard Kipling. She is a popular guest at science fiction conventions, and she can often be seen at the large filksings with her distinctive 12-string guitar, "Monster", which Leslie says plays best when given good Scotch whisky.

Film

She sings (and makes several appearances) in the film "Finding the Future: A Science Fiction Conversation", [ [http://cruel.imdb.com/name/nm2111544 Leslie Fish ] ] [ [http://cruel.imdb.com/title/tt0497509/maindetails Finding the Future: A Science Fiction Conversation (2004) (V) ] ] [ [http://www.findingthefuture.com www.findingthefuture.com ] ] which makes extensive use of her music. Fish stars in the fantasy/comedy film "Office quest" which is in production, with a planned release date of October 2009.

Political activism

Fish has been involved with numerous political causes, most notably anti-war activism during the Vietnam War, and is a long time member of the Industrial Workers of the World, a fact referred to in several of her songs (e.g., "Wobblies From Space", "Leslie's Filks"). She is also well known as a gun-rights activist, and has asserted that private gun ownership is the only true protection of individual freedom (a topic touched on in several of her songs). Because of her distrust of the stability of modern society, she has in the past worked to organize groups for carrying on civilization after what she (at one time at least) considered the imminent collapse of the current society. Her album "Firestorm" was in large part meant as a set of instructions for surviving a nuclear war, on the reasoning that it would be easier to recall them if they were in lyric form.

On anarchism, Fish says: "What sort of anarchist future would I like to see? There's no reason for a government-free society to be nothing but agrarian, no reason at all that it couldn't be industrial and space-faring." [ [http://www.prometheus-music.com/eli/fishltr.html Leslie Fish: Autobiography ] ]

Other activities

In addition to her work as a filk artist, Fish is also well-known within the Star Trek fan community for her works of fan fiction, which include "Shelter" (1976), one of the first Kirk/Spock stories ever published, and the fan-published Star Trek novel "The Weight". She has also written original novels and short stories, both alone and in collaboration with C. J. Cherryh and others. Her song, "Carmen Miranda's Ghost is Haunting Space Station Three," inspired a collection of short stories with the same title, edited by Don Sakers and featuring stories by Anne McCaffrey and C. J. Cherryh.

She is an avid roleplaying gamer, especially in regard to LARPing. She has also been a member in the Society for Creative Anachronism since the 1970s. In recent years, she has been the driving force behind in the establishment of Fan Haven, a 230-acre private park in Arizona meant to serve as a safe space for LARPers, Pagans, naturists, SCAdians, and other marginalized groups associated with fandom. However, the Federal government has disputed the validity of the mining claim that she proposed to use to establish ownership.

While Fish rarely discusses her private life, she had been in a romantic relationship with anarchist political activist Mary Frohman in the 1970s. She has often asserted that bisexuality is the human norm, and that the pervasive sexual repression she sees in current society causes many of the current social ills. She briefly worked as a dominatrix in San Francisco during the 1980s, and has since been (at times) a defender of the rights of sex workers.

One of Fish's more unusual personal projects is an on-going attempt to breed domestic cats for intelligence and other traits, including polydactyly. She claims that her cats are about as intelligent as a six-year-old human child, except in regards to symbolic language.

Albums

* "Minus Ten and Counting" (contributor)
* "Cold Iron"
* "Chickasaw Mountain"
* "", 1989
* "Folk Songs For Folk Who Ain't Even Been Yet", 1976 (with DeHorn)
* "Our Fathers of Old" (with Joe Bethancourt)
* "Serious Steel" (with Joe Bethancourt)
* "Skybound"
* "Smoked Fish And Friends", 1996 (with many others)
* "Solar Sailors", 1977 (with DeHorn)
* "Not Canned or Frozen", 1996

Books

* "A Dirge for Sabis" (with C. J. Cherryh), collected in "The Sword of Knowledge" trilogy
* "Offensive As Hell: The Joys of Jesus-Freak Bagging", nonfiction

hort stories

The following short stories were produced as part of the Merovingen Nights series of science fiction books. The series was edited by C. J. Cherryh.

* "First Night Cruise" in "Festival Moon"
* "Guardian" in "Festival Moon"
* "War of the Unseen Worlds" in "Fever Season"
* "Treading the Maze" in "Troubled Waters"
* "Fair Game" in "Smuggler’s Gold"
* "Run Silent, Run Cheap" in "Divine Right"
* "Walking on the Waves" in "Flood Tide"

Other short stories

* "Janesfort War" with Frank Gasperik, for Jerry Pournelle's War World collection "CoDominium: Revolt on War World"

Fanzine article

Writing as F. Sigmund Mead, "A Summary of the Physiological Roots of Andorian Culture" (Journal of Xenoanthropology, June 2341), edited by Leslie Fish. Fictional article on Andorian culture first published in Sehlat's Roar #2, a "Star Trek" fanzine of the 1970s, published by Randy Ash. [ [http://www.geocities.com/therinofandor/Fish.html The Andor Files] ]

Pegasus Awards

* 1984: Best Original Filk Song—"Hope Eyrie"
* 1986: Best Original Filk Song—"Witnesses' Waltz"
* 1986: Best Female Filker
* 1987: Best Writer/Composer
* 1989: Best Fantasy Song—"Wind's Four Quarters" (with Mercedes Lackey)
* 1999: Best Hero Song—"A Toast For Unknown Heroes"
* 2002: Best Song That Tells A Story—"Horsetamer's Daughter"
* 2003: Best Classic Filk Song—"Banned from Argo"
* 2005: Best Space Opera Song—"Signy Mallory" (with Mercedes Lackey)
* 2005: Best Sword & Sorcery Song—"Threes" (with Mercedes Lackey)

References

External links

* [http://scifiinc.net/scifiinc/gallery/bio/Fish,_Leslie.htm Fan Gallery Contents: Leslie Fish]
* [http://www.prometheus-music.com/eli/fishltr.html Leslie Fish: Autobiography, 1992]
* [http://www.ovff.org/pegasus/people/leslie-fish.html Pegasus Awards for Leslie Fish]
* [http://www.geocities.com/therinofandor/Fish.html A Summary of the Physiological Roots of Andorian Culture]
* [http://www.lesliefish.com/ Leslie Fish's Web Site]