clodjee

As a child, clodjee dreamed of becoming an archaeologist. Instead, he studied history. He completed a master’s degree (and worked several years on a PhD) in roman history dedicated to the Vita Veri, a biography of the Emperor Lucius Verus, part of the Historia Augusta (a compilation of biographies of Roman Emperors from the 2nd and 3rd centuries). Loving books and writing, he also wanted to be a librarian and novelist. He started writing in the sixth grade but, of the numerous short stories that he created, only a few were published. Ironically, he became mostly known for publishing other people’s stories.

In 1986, he founded Ianus Publications (from the name of the Roman god Janus) for the purpose of publishing both historical academic papers and science-fiction. If it produced a few genealogical dictionaries for his father, the publishing house mostly issued fiction: a fanzine on Quebec Science-Fiction literature (Samizdat, in French, 1986-94), several anthologies of Quebec science-fiction (in French: Sous Des Soleils Etrangers [1989], Orbite D’Approche [4 vols., 1992-97]), three collections of short stories by Daniel Sernine (in French: Boulevard Des Etoiles [1991], A La Recherche De M. Goodtheim [1992], Sur La Scène Des Siècles [1997]), a few comic books (The Gates of Pandragon 1 issue [1991], Cybersuit Arkadyne 3 issues [1992]), and some role-playing games (alternate reality Cyberpunk, Heavy Gear, Jovian Chronicles, Star Riders, Project A-ko RPG, etc.).

He was also the co-founder, in 1987, of the Robotech fanzine Protoculture Addicts (1987 to 2008) — which quickly evolved into a professional anime and manga magazine. In 1996, following a partners’ disagreement on the editorial direction of the company, Ianus Publications was split in two parts: the gaming division became Dream Pod 9, and the Japanese popular culture division (mostly the magazine Protoculture Addicts) became simply Protoculture. In 2000, he published an anime filmography (Anime: A Guide To Japanese Animation, translated from Italian, which was covering in 300-page the first thirty years of the anime industry in Japan [1958-1988]).

In 2005, with a new partnership with Anime News Network which allowed the magazine to expend its content and distribution, he relinquished his position as Protoculture Addicts’ publisher but remained its editor-in-chief and production manager. His proudest achievement is to have kept the magazine going for over twenty years and constantly improving — until September 2008 it was the longest running anime magazine in North America, the only Canadian magazine on the subject and the best guide to anime culture.

Since then, he has been for a while a library assistant at the Montreal Public Libraries, a clerk in some archives and is now part of the support staff in the technology department of a law enforcement agency. Also, as always, he is a blogger at clodjee.com.

(Sources: Protoculture Addicts, LinkIn, DALIAF [link, image], interviews, bibliography, “20 Years of Protoculture”)

miyako

Miyako was born in Yamaguchi prefecture, Japan. She was raised in the countryside, reading ‘60s girls manga magazines, dreaming of living outside Japan like those manga characters. During her teenage years she was a big British rock music fan (Queen, Yes, 10cc) and started learning English through their lyrics. She went to college in the Osaka area to improve her English language skills.

In the 80s, she moved to the USA where, after a teaching assistant job in Micronesia, she settled in San Francisco. She worked as inker and touch-up artist for Eclipse Comics, volunteered as translator in many anime conventions, and sold her own artwork in art shows. In the 90s, she started collaborating with Protoculture Addicts magazine as contributing editor and translator. She moved to Canada in 1999.

Being a big fan of Edith Piaf she also traveled to France. A movie and history aficionado, she hopes to travel to many places in the world to see historical sites, but, having no money or time at the moment, she satisfies her curiosity by traveling through movies and TV shows.

Now retired from working in a Japanese restaurant, she dedicates her time to gardening, painting and is a member of the local Sherlock Holmes fan-club.

(Source: Protoculture Addicts)

kuromatsu

Kuromatsu (黒松 / Black Pine) is the identity used for articles attributed to both clodjee and miyako. When working on Protoculture Addicts, we used to write many articles in collaborations.

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