Claude J. Pelletier is the editor and publisher of magazine ''

Protoculture Addicts ''Protoculture Addicts'' was a Canadian-based anime and manga themed magazine published by Protoculture Inc., an Anime News Network company. The term "Protoculture Addicts" was also used by the Zentradi (an alien race that appeared in the ''Ma ...

'', and has also worked as a

game designer Game design is the process of creating and shaping the mechanics, systems, rules, and gameplay of a game. Game design processes apply to board games, card games, dice games, casino games, role-playing games, sports, Wargame (video games), war ga ...

primarily on

role-playing game A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, or abbreviated as RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of player character, characters in a fictional Setting (narrative), setting. Players take responsibility for acting out ...

Early life and education

Claude J. Pelletier was born on 23 May, 1962, in

Laval, Quebec Laval is a city in Quebec, Canada. It is in the southwest of the province, north of Montreal. It is the largest suburb of Montreal, the third-largest city in the province after Montreal and Quebec City, and the thirteenth largest city in Can ...

. Pelletier studied human sciences and completed his studies at the

Collège de Bois-de-Boulogne The Collège Bois-de-Boulogne () is a French-language public CEGEP, college located on Bois de Boulogne Street in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It has an enrollment of approximately 2,700 students in 7 pre-university and technical programmes and 4400 ...

in 1981. He continued studying history at the

Université de Montréal The Université de Montréal (; UdeM; ) is a French-language public research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The university's main campus is located in the Côte-des-Neiges neighborhood of Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce on M ...

where he earned a bachelor's degree in 1984 and a master's degree in 1987. He began work on a doctorate but did not complete this.

Career

Claude J. Pelletier founded the

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

-based company Ianus Publications with

Yves Meynard Yves Meynard (born 13 June 1964) is a Canadian science fiction and fantasy writer. He writes in both English and French. Biography Meynard made his debut as an author in 1986 at the Boréal congress in Longueuil. Along with Philippe Gauthier an ...

, initially to publish historical papers. Pelletier later used Ianus to produce the science-fiction

fanzine A fanzine (blend word, blend of ''fan (person), fan'' and ''magazine'' or ''zine'') is a non-professional and non-official publication produced by enthusiasts of a particular cultural phenomenon (such as a literary or musical genre) for the pleas ...

Samizdat Samizdat (, , ) was a form of dissident activity across the Eastern Bloc in which individuals reproduced censored and underground makeshift publications, often by hand, and passed the documents from reader to reader. The practice of manual rep ...

'' (1986), which he founded with Philippe Gauthier and Yves Meynard, and Pelletier continued to produce ''Samizdat'' until 1994. The 1987 edition of ''L'Année de la Science-Fiction et du Fantastique Québécois'' complimented Pelletier's writing in ''Samizdat'' saying that the writings of others could be dropped from the publication in favor of his. Pelletier first saw the ''

Robotech ''Robotech'' is an American-Japanese science fiction Media franchise, franchise that began with an 85-episode anime television series produced by Harmony Gold USA in association with Tatsunoko Production; it was first released in the United St ...

'' television series in 1987, which inspired him to publish a ''Robotech'' fanzine called ''

'' (1987). The first test release of ''Protoculture Addicts'', Issue #0, was published by Pelletier in the fall of 1987. By issue #10, Ianus no longer used their ''Robotech'' license and ''Protoculture Addicts'' now covered all anime generally, and with this expansion Pelletier brought in graphic designer Pierre Ouellette as a new partner. He has worked at various positions on ''Protoculture Addicts'' since 1991, including editor-in-chief, administrative director and production director. Pelletier had considered closing down ''Protoculture Addicts'' in 2004, but connected with the

Anime News Network Anime News Network (ANN) is a news website that reports on the status of anime, manga, video games, Japanese popular music and other related cultures within North America, Australia, Southeast Asia and Japan. The website offers reviews and ot ...

in 2005 and renamed it ''Anime News Network's Protoculture Addicts''. Pelletier translated anime books from Italian, and wrote a guidebook for anime fans. Pelletier and Yves Meynard edited the 1989 anthology ''

Sous des soleils étrangers ''Sous des soleils étrangers'' is an anthology published in 1989. Contents ''Sous des soleils étrangers'' featured eight short stories and one poem from Francophone Canadian science-fiction writers, and was edited by Claude J. Pelletier and Yves ...

'', which featured eight short stories and one poem from Francophone Canadian science-fiction writers. Ianus began publishing

s, and in December 1995 the company split into two companies: a new company called

Protoculture In physical anthropology, protoculture is the passing of behaviours from one generation to another among non-human primates Primates is an order of mammals, which is further divided into the strepsirrhines, which include lemurs, galag ...

continued to publish ''Protoculture Addicts'' and kept Pelletier and Martin Ouellette of the former Ianus staff, while

Dream Pod 9 Dream Pod 9 (DP9), formerly Ianus Games, is a Montreal-based Canadian game publisher. Its most notable products are ''Heavy Gear'', ''Jovian Chronicles'', ''Tribe 8 (role-playing game), Tribe 8'', and ''Gear Krieg'', as well as the Silhouette role ...

was now a fully independent company and retained the majority of the dozen employees left from Ianus and also retained the role-playing game titles.

Awards and honors

Pelletier has appeared on panels at multiple conventions because of his association with ''Protoculture Addicts'', and he has won awards in the anime industry.

Personal life

Pelletier met his wife Miyako Matsuda at the 1991 Anime Expo in Los Angeles; she was raised on a farm in Japan, and later worked as a freelance translator and as a contributing editor.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pelletier, Claude J. Living people Place of birth missing (living people) Role-playing game designers Year of birth missing (living people)