Jan Howard Finder (born March 2, 1939) is an American academic administrator, science fiction writer, filker, hostelling tour guide, costumer, and fan. He was a guest of honor at the 1993 ConFrancisco. He often spells his name in lower case, jan howard finder, and his last name is pronounced finn-der.[1] He lives in the Albany, New York area, and is considered by many in science fiction fandom to be the epitome of a SMOF (a "behind the scenes" worker).
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Originally from Chicago, Illinois, Finder became a devotee of the works of J. R. R. Tolkien in 1964, when he "spent three straight days curled up at his parents’ house" reading The Lord of the Rings trilogy. He studied academic administration at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and while there organized the "First Conference on Middle-earth", in 1969. Two years later he held the second "Conference on Middle-earth" at Cleveland State University, where he was working as an assistant dean.[2]
Finder, nicknamed "The Wombat," has been a frequent guest of honor at science fiction conventions, including Honored Guest at ConFrancisco (the 1993 Worldcon).[3][4] He has also been Fan Guest of Honor at BYOB-Con 8 (1978), Lastcon 1 (1981, Albany NY), LepreCon 8 (1982), Genericon 1 (1985), NotJustAnotherCon 4 (1988) and Arisia 12 (2001).[3][5] He was a co-founder of Albacon.[6]
He has been the chairperson of several science fiction conventions not specifically dedicated to the writings of Tolkien.[3] He was chair of Albacon in 1996 and of the Science Fiction Research Association (SFRA) 32 in Schenectady, New York in 2001.[3][5]
Well-known in fannish circles,[7], Finder was editor of the fanzine, The Spang Blah.[3] He was, until 2011, "scribe" (secretary) of the Latham-Albany-Schenectady-Troy Science Fiction Association.[8]
The Wombat has been a frequent masquerade judge,[5][9] costumer[10] charity auctioneer, and participant in panel discussions, from Arisia and Albacon in the Northeast United States to Worldcons [11][12] and Lunacon 2007.[13] He has mentored other prospective con chairs.[14]
Finder writes in the short story genre, and his short fiction writing has been published in several anthologies, including "The Grapes of Rath" (1980) in Microcosmic Tales (1981).[15][16][17]
He edited the 1982 anthology Alien Encounters (1982) Taplinger ISBN 0-8008-0168-7 [18], which included short stories by Lynn Abbey, Ben Bova, Lee Killough, David Langford and Ian Watson, among others.
Finder was tuckerized when Anne McCaffrey named a character for him.[19]
Finder is well-known for his organized hostelling tours of science-fiction and -fantasy related sites, such as to "Middle-earth" - meaning New Zealand, in which The Lord of the Rings was filmed.[20]
Finder played a bit part in the 2006 film UnCivil Liberties, and was a production assistant with the 2007 motion picture The Break-Up.[21]
For 2011, Finder has organized the "3rd Conference on Middle-earth" (deliberately hearkening back to those of 1969 and 1971 which he led), in Westford, Massachusetts. "I just finally said, 'I want to do it, and I don’t give a damn if I lose money — I’ll pay for it...'" "This is something I’ve wanted to do for 40 years." Finder is now retired from academia and has been dealing with prostate cancer, spending part of mid-March and then again in August 2011 in the hospital.[22]
