Yvonne Penney is a native of Toronto, and claims she’s old enough to have watched the original run of Star Trek. After two years in much warmer climes (San Diego and Yuma), she returned to Toronto in 1978 and discovered fandom and SF cons.

She was introduced to fandom through Star Trek, Star Wars and other SF/media films and TV shows, and also through reading SF books by Arthur C. Clarke and Isaac Asimov. Reading also brought about interests in astronomy, the space programme, and space exploration. Yvonne got bitten by the con bug in a big way. She and Lloyd were two of the founders and chairmen of Toronto Trek Celebration, the predecessor of the Toronto Trek series of conventions, and Yvonne was the chairman of the Toronto Trek Celebration 2. She worked on the Ad Astra committee on and off for 20 years, and started Ad Astra’s long-standing tradition of tacky tropical shirts for the committee and guests.

After working on the successful Toronto in 2003 Worldcon bid, Yvonne has returned to one of her first loves, space, and is now the senior Canadian volunteer for the X Prize Foundation. She is also a member of The Planetary Society, The Mars Society, the Canadian Space Society and the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada.

Lloyd Penney was also born in Toronto, and also remembers the first run of Star Trek, and he knows that dates him terribly. While watching the show with his parents, his mother later introduced him to science fiction anthologies of short stories. After finding a few books with mention of it, he found the insanity of fandom in 1977 through a Star Trek club in Victoria, BC.

He moved back to Toronto to attend university, and instead of studying soon found local fans and their activities. After graduation, he joined the Ad Astra committee in 1982 to give convention work a try. Lloyd was on the committee for 20 years, including two years as chairman. With Yvonne, he was among the founders of Star Trek Toronto, and he’s been involved with clubs and conventions ever since, including the successful Toronto in 2003 Worldcon bid. He is a member of the Ottawa Science Fiction Society and the Canadian Space Society.

In between clubs and cons, and more than ever now, there’s fanzines. Lloyd has been writing for science fiction fanzines and clubzines for over 20 years now, sometimes with articles, but usually with letters in the letter columns, and those fanzines have come from all over the world.

Lloyd and Yvonne’s current projects include working with fans in Los Angeles to bring the 2006 Worldcon there, FilkONtario, the Toronto area’s annual filk convention, and the 2004 Boucher-con/World Mystery Convention, which will be held in Toronto. Plus, there’s a few projects on the go they can’t talk about just yet.