Mark Askwith (born April 6, 1956) is a Canadian producer, writer, interviewer (and sometime-publisher/editor), and a familiar name in the fields of

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

and

comics a Media (communication), medium used to express ideas with images, often combined with text or other visual information. It typically the form of a sequence of Panel (comics), panels of images. Textual devices such as speech balloons, Glo ...

Early life

Askwith was born into a military household on April 6, 1956. His family moved about before settling in

Ottawa, Ontario Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...

, when he was six years old. Here, Askwith's mother subsequently ran a children's bookstore called the Bookery, through which he was able to gain access to a wide range of literature. He cites this exposure to all forms of literature – in particular ''

The Adventures of Tintin ''The Adventures of Tintin'' ( ) is a series of 24 comic albums created by Belgians, Belgian cartoonist Georges Remi, who wrote under the pen name Hergé. The series was one of the most popular European comics of the 20th century. By 2007, a c ...

'' album ''

Explorers on the Moon ''Explorers on the Moon'' (; literally: ''We walked on the Moon'') is the seventeenth volume of ''The Adventures of Tintin'', the comics series by Belgian cartoonist Hergé. The story was serialised weekly in Belgium's ''Tintin'' magazine fro ...

'' and a "stash of superhero comics" – as a "pivotal event" in his young life, which clearly deeply imbued in him considerable enjoyment of such genres and titles. He has stated that he "didn't take comics seriously", until his friend, Peter, showed him 'The Tiny Perfect Collection', bringing to his knowledge a range of different comics (by such greats as Eisner, Steranko, Kaluta and Wrightson), during his first year at University. He graduated with a B.A. in English from

Trinity College Trinity College may refer to: Australia * Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational primary and secondary school in , New South Wales * Trinity Catholic College, Auburn, a coeducational school in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, New ...

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...

.J. D. LaFrance Interview with Mark Askwith
Accessed on January 12, 2008

The Silver Snail

After working at Oberon Press, and Coach House Press, between 1982 and 1987, Askwith managed one of the premiere North American comic book stores
The Silver Snail
in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

. Situated at that time opposite the Bakka-Phoenix Science Fiction Bookstore, it provided an opportunity to soak up the comics/Sci-Fi atmosphere, and allowed Askwith to meet legendary (and local) Science Fiction and comics authors, including

Frank Miller Frank Miller (born January 27, 1957) is an American comic book artist, comic book writer, and screenwriter known for his comic book stories and graphic novels such as his run on ''Daredevil'', for which he created the character Elektra, and ...

and

Bill Sienkiewicz Boleslav William Felix Robert Sienkiewicz ( ; ; born May 3, 1958) is an American artist known for his work in comic books—particularly for Marvel Comics' ''The New Mutants (comic book), The New Mutants'', ''Moon Knight,'' and ''Elektra: Assassi ...

. Leaving the Silver Snail in 1987, he started work on a ''

Prisoner A prisoner, also known as an inmate or detainee, is a person who is deprived of liberty against their will. This can be by confinement or captivity in a prison or physical restraint. The term usually applies to one serving a Sentence (law), se ...

'' comic with

Dean Motter Dean Motter is an illustrator, designer and writer who has worked for many years in Canada (Toronto) and the United States (New York City and Atlanta). He is best known for his album cover designs, two of which won Juno Awards. He is also the crea ...

(below), and worked in an art directorial supportive role on

Ron Mann Ronald Mann (born June 13, 1958) is a Canadians, Canadian documentary film film director, director. His work includes the films ''Imagine the Sound'' (1981); ''Comic Book Confidential'' (1988); ''Grass (1999 film), Grass'' (1999) and ''Go Furt ...

's comics documentary Comic Book Confidential (Sphinx Productions, 1988), an overview/history of the

comic book A comic book, comic-magazine, or simply comic is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panel (comics), panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are often accompanied by descriptive prose and wri ...

medium in the US, from the 1930s to the '80s. The documentary featured interviews with such noteworthy individuals as Charles Burns,

Art Spiegelman Itzhak Avraham ben Zeev Spiegelman ( ; born February 15, 1948), professionally known as Art Spiegelman, is an American cartoonist, editor, and comics advocate best known for his graphic novel ''Maus''. His work as co-editor on the comics magazin ...

Françoise Mouly Françoise Mouly (; born 24 October 1955) is a French-born American designer, editor and publisher. She is best known as co-founder, co-editor, and publisher of the comics and graphics magazine ''Raw (comics magazine), Raw'' (1980–1991), as t ...

Stan Lee Stan Lee (born Stanley Martin Lieber ; December 28, 1922 – November 12, 2018) was an American comic book author, writer, editor, publisher, and producer. He rose through the ranks of a family-run business called Timely Comics which later bec ...

Will Eisner William Erwin Eisner ( ; March 6, 1917 – January 3, 2005) was an American cartoonist, writer, and entrepreneur. He was one of the earliest cartoonists to work in the American comic book industry, and his series '' The Spirit'' (1940–1952) wa ...

Robert Crumb Robert Dennis Crumb (; born August 30, 1943) is an American artist who often signs his work R. Crumb. His work displays a nostalgia for American folk culture of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and satire of contemporary American c ...

Harvey Pekar Harvey Lawrence Pekar (; October 8, 1939 – July 12, 2010) was an American underground comic book writer, music critic, and media personality, best known for his autobiographical ''American Splendor'' comic series. In 2003, the series inspired ...

, and

William M. Gaines William Maxwell "Bill" Gaines (; March 1, 1922 – June 3, 1992) was an American publisher and co-editor of EC Comics. Following a shift in EC's direction in 1950, Gaines presided over what became an artistically influential and historically i ...

. The success of the documentary inspired Askwith to expand upon some of Mann's ideas into a television magazine programme which would similarly explore areas of fan interest (comics, Science Fiction, horror, etc.) largely through interviews and commentary. The programme was called

Prisoners of Gravity ''Prisoners of Gravity'' was a Canadian television news magazine program. Produced by TVOntario, the show was created by Mark Askwith and Daniel Richler, and was hosted by Rick Green. The series aired 139 episodes over five seasons from 1989 to ...

''Prisoners of Gravity''

In 1989, Askwith became a full-time television producer and writer, and one of his first programmes was ''Prisoners of Gravity''. The brainchild of Askwith,

Daniel Richler Daniel Richler (born 1957) is a Canadian arts and pop culture broadcaster and writer."The apprenticeship of Daniel Richler". ''Montreal Gazette'', May 19, 1991. Biography Richler was born in London, England."When it's time to stop looking like a ...

, and Rick Green (who also hosted the programme), ''Prisoners of Gravity'' was a Canadian

news magazine A news magazine is a typed, printed, and published magazine, radio, or television program, usually published weekly, consisting of articles about current events. News magazines generally discuss stories in greater depth than newspapers or new ...

program that explored

speculative fiction Speculative fiction is an umbrella term, umbrella genre of fiction that encompasses all the subgenres that depart from Realism (arts), realism, or strictly imitating everyday reality, instead presenting fantastical, supernatural, futuristic, or ...

, specifically

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical elements, often including Fictional universe, imaginary places and Legendary creature, creatures. The genre's roots lie in oral traditions, ...

, horror and

. Produced by

TVOntario TVO (stylized in all lowercase as tvo), formerly known as TVOntario, is a Canadian Public broadcasting, publicly funded English-language educational television network and media organization serving the Canadian province of Ontario. It operates ...

, the series ran for 139 episodes over five seasons. The establishing framework for the programme is not dissimilar to that of its similarly-targeted peer ''

Mystery Science Theater 3000 ''Mystery Science Theater 3000'' (abbreviated as ''MST3K'') is an American science fiction comedy television series created by Joel Hodgson. The show premiered on WUCW, KTMA-TV (now WUCW) in Saint Paul, Minnesota, on November 24, 1988. It then ...

'', both featuring a stranded host who ostensibly broadcast the programme themselves from isolation. The similarities largely end there, however. ''MST3K'' was a comedy programme that focused each episode on a particular film and provided running gag commentary on it. ''Prisoners of Gravity'' ran a series of interviews with authors and creators from the science fiction and comics communities, with the host linking the subject matter together and focusing down on a specific topic for that episode. Episodes from the first season (broadcast between August 1989 and March 1990, and now believed largely missing/wiped) reportedly focused on areas including

UFO An unidentified flying object (UFO) is an object or phenomenon seen in the sky but not yet identified or explained. The term was coined when United States Air Force (USAF) investigations into flying saucers found too broad a range of shapes ...

s, ''

Star Trek ''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the Star Trek: The Original Series, series of the same name and became a worldwide Popular culture, pop-culture Cultural influence of ...

'' and Comic book conventions. The subsequent four seasons (preserved, and available for viewing by appointment at The Merril Collection of Science Fiction, Speculation and Fantasy

public library located in downtown

, Ontario, Canada) often featured episodes on much more specific topics. These included "

& The Spirit", "

Watchmen ''Watchmen'' is a comic book Limited series (comics), limited series by the British creative team of writer Alan Moore, artist Dave Gibbons, and colorist John Higgins (comics), John Higgins. It was published monthly by DC Comics in 1986 and 19 ...

", "

Cyberpunk Cyberpunk is a subgenre of science fiction in a dystopian futuristic setting said to focus on a combination of "low-life and high tech". It features futuristic technological and scientific achievements, such as artificial intelligence and cyberwa ...

", "

Ray Bradbury Ray Douglas Bradbury ( ; August 22, 1920June 5, 2012) was an American author and screenwriter. One of the most celebrated 20th-century American writers, he worked in a variety of genres, including fantasy, science fiction, Horror fiction, horr ...

", " The Sandman", "

Tolkien John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''. From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was the Rawlinson ...

" and "

Jack Kirby Jack Kirby (; born Jacob Kurtzberg; August 28, 1917 – February 6, 1994) was an American comics artist, comic book artist, widely regarded as one of the medium's major innovators and one of its most prolific and influential creators. He grew ...

" among many others. Many of the interviews for these programmes (including specific interviews with ''Watchmen'' creators

Alan Moore Alan Moore (born 18 November 1953) is an English author known primarily for his work in comic books including ''Watchmen'', ''V for Vendetta'', ''The Ballad of Halo Jones'', Swamp Thing (comic book), ''Swamp Thing'', ''Batman: The Killing Joke' ...

and

Dave Gibbons David Chester Gibbons (born 14 April 1949) is an English comics artist, writer and sometimes letterer. He is best known for his collaborations with writer Alan Moore, which include the miniseries ''Watchmen'' and the Superman story " For the M ...

, and ''Sandman'' author

Neil Gaiman Neil Richard MacKinnon Gaiman (; born Neil Richard Gaiman; 10 November 1960) is an English author of short fiction, novels, comic books, audio theatre, and screenplays. His works include the comic series ''The Sandman (comic book), The Sandma ...

) were apparently carried out by Askwith himself. Prisoners of Gravity first aired on

and ran for five seasons and 139 episodes before being canceled in 1994. Many of its episodes were subsequently syndicated, and have appeared (briefly) on

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

The Discovery Channel Discovery Channel, known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery, is an American cable channel that is best known for its ongoing reality television shows and promotion of pseudoscience. It initi ...

and

Space Space is a three-dimensional continuum containing positions and directions. In classical physics, physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions. Modern physicists usually consider it, with time, to be part of a boundless ...

, of which Askwith is one of the founding producers.

Space and CHUM/CTV

is effectively the

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

equivalent of The Sci Fi Channel, an English language

cable television Cable television is a system of delivering television programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This contrasts with bro ...

specialty channel A specialty channel (also known in the United States as a cable channel or cable network) can be a commercial broadcasting or non-commercial television channel which consists of television programming focused on a single genre, subject or targete ...

owned and operated by

CTVglobemedia Bell Media Inc. ( French: ) is a Canadian media conglomerate that is the mass media subsidiary of BCE Inc. (also known as Bell Canada Enterprises, the owner of telecommunications company Bell Canada). Its operations include national television ...

. It features mainly sci-fi and fantasy movies, documentaries and television series. Askwith was one of the founding producers of the channel, which was licensed by the

Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC; ) is a public organization in Canada tasked with the mandate as a regulatory agency tribunal for various electronic communications, covering broadcasting and telecommunic ...

(CRTC) in 1996, and debuted on October 17, 1997, at 6:00 p.m. EST, under the ownership of

CHUM Limited CHUM Limited was a Canadian media company based in Toronto, Ontario in operation from 1945 to 2007. The company was founded in 1945 as York Broadcasters Limited when it launched CHUM (AM), CHUM-AM 1050 but was acquired by salesman Allan Waters in ...

. Askwith is particularly involved in the documentary side of things, and the so-called 'interstitial' materials which pepper the channels' output. The first of which was a comment on the channels first-broadcast film ''

Forbidden Planet ''Forbidden Planet'' is a 1956 American science fiction action film from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, produced by Nicholas Nayfack and directed by Fred M. Wilcox (director), Fred M. Wilcox from a script by Cyril Hume that was based on a film story by ...

'' by noted Canadian Science Fiction author Robert J. Sawyer. He has produced - and appeared in - SPACE's ''HypaSpace Daily/Weekly'', an entertainment news programme which looks specifically at the Science Fiction news.

Books and comics

Having been inducted into the worlds of science fiction, fantasy and comics at a young age (Askwith cites in particular

C.S. Lewis CS, C-S, C.S., Cs, cs, or cs. may refer to: Job titles * Chief Secretary (Hong Kong) * Chief superintendent, a rank in the British and several other police forces * Company secretary, a senior position in a private sector company or public se ...

's ''

Narnia ''The Chronicles of Narnia'' is a series of seven portal fantasy novels by British author C. S. Lewis. Illustrated by Pauline Baynes and originally published between 1950 and 1956, the series is set in the fictional realm of Narnia, a ...

'' books, works by

Andre Norton Andre Alice Norton (born Alice Mary Norton, February 17, 1912 – March 17, 2005) was an American writer of science fiction and fantasy, who also wrote works of historical and contemporary fiction. She wrote primarily under the pen na ...

and

Robert A. Heinlein Robert Anson Heinlein ( ; July 7, 1907 – May 8, 1988) was an American science fiction author, aeronautical engineer, and naval officer. Sometimes called the "dean of science fiction writers", he was among the first to emphasize scientific acc ...

, ''

Superhero A superhero or superheroine is a fictional character who typically possesses ''superpowers'' or abilities beyond those of ordinary people, is frequently costumed concealing their identity, and fits the role of the hero, typically using their ...

and ''

''), and later rubbing shoulders with Science Fiction and comics authors at The Silver Snail and Bakka-Phoenix, Askwith has dabbled in writing himself, mostly comics. Most notably, his collaboration with

in helping write the authorised "

The Prisoner ''The Prisoner'' is a British television series created by Patrick McGoohan. McGoohan portrays Number Six (The Prisoner), Number Six, an unnamed British intelligence agent who is abducted and imprisoned in a The Village (The Prisoner), mysteri ...

" sequel met with considerable critical and fan-approval. The four-part prestige-format mini-series, serialised between 1988 and 1989 has subsequently been collected in graphic novel format as Shattered Visage, still in print (since 1990) and published by

DC Comics DC Comics (originally DC Comics, Inc., and also known simply as DC) is an American comic book publisher owned by DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC is an initialism for "Detective Comics", an American comic book seri ...

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...

in the US, and

Titan Books Titan Publishing Group is the publishing division of the British entertainment company Titan Entertainment, which was established as Titan Books in 1981. The books division has two main areas of publishing: film and television tie-ins and cine ...

in the UK. Other comics work includes: * ''Andromeda'' (Silver Snail Comics, 1986) Written and published under the SSC imprint. * ''Canadian Comics Cavalcade'' (

Artworx Artworx was a Naples, Florida software company that produced and supported a line of video games ( specializing in poker and other card games) from 1981 to 2015. It is named after the founder's given name A given name (also known as a fore ...

, 1986) * ''The True North'' (CLLDF, 1988) Written for the Canadian Comic Legends Legal Defense Fund. ''(See: Derek McCulloch)'' * ''Sheet Music'' (

Fantagraphics Fantagraphics (previously Fantagraphics Books) is an American publisher of alternative comics, classic comic strip anthologies, manga, magazines, graphic novels, and (formerly) the Erotic comics, erotic Eros Comix imprint. They have managed sev ...

, 1988) * "Raising the Roof!" ( Bonus Book No. 7) in ''

Justice League International Justice League International (JLI) is a fictional DC comics superhero team that succeeded the original Justice League from the late 1980s to the early 2000s. The team enjoyed several comic books runs, the first being written by Keith Giffen and ...

'' Vol. 1 #18 ( DC, Oct 1988) Art by James Webb & Mark Pennington * "Sharks" in ''Taboo'' #2 (Spiderbaby Grafix, Jan 1989) Art by R.G. "Rick" Taylor * "Davey's Dream" in ''Taboo'' #4 (Spiderbaby Grafix, Jan 1990) Art by R.G. "Rick" Taylor * ''Caliber Presents'' #24 (

Caliber In guns, particularly firearms, but not #As a measurement of length, artillery, where a different definition may apply, caliber (or calibre; sometimes abbreviated as "cal") is the specified nominal internal diameter of the gun barrel Gauge ( ...

, 1991?) * '' Silencers'' #1-4 (

Caliber Comics Caliber Comics or Caliber Press is an American comic book publisher founded in 1989 by Gary Reed. Featuring primarily creator-owned comics, Caliber published over 1,300 comics in the decade following its inception and is ranked as one of Americ ...

, Jul-?Oct? 1991) A mini-series (with Richard G. Taylor), subsequently collected as a limited edition trade, then reprinted in 2007 by

Image An image or picture is a visual representation. An image can be Two-dimensional space, two-dimensional, such as a drawing, painting, or photograph, or Three-dimensional space, three-dimensional, such as a carving or sculpture. Images may be di ...

. () * Ken Lashley's ''Legends'' (Draxhall Jump, 2002) Co-writer with Ken Lashley. Art by Ken Lashley, Marvin Mariano & Jason Azevedo * "Joyride" in '' Batman: Gotham Knights'' #32 ( DC Oct 2002) A short

Batman Batman is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. Batman was created by the artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in Detective Comics 27, the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on M ...

: 'Black & White' story with M. W. Kaluta, as a backup to

Devin Grayson Devin Kalile Grayson (born July 19, 1970) is an American writer of comic books and novels. Titles that she has written include ''Catwoman'', '' Gotham Knights'', '' The Titans'', the Vertigo series ''USER'', and ''Nightwing''. Early life Grayso ...

's landmark "24/7" single issue story. **Collected in '' Batman: Black & White 3'' (May 2007) () * "Moebius: A Sketch" in ''Negative Burn'' Vol. 3 #1 ( Desperado Publishing/

May 2006) With Silencers artist Richard G. Taylor * ''The Comic Eye'' #1 (Blind Bat, Dec 2007) "The Comic Eye is a unique collection of 50 biographical and fictional comic strips by 50 talented comic makers!" **Other contributors include:

Fred Hembeck Fred Hembeck (born January 30, 1953) is an American cartoonist best known for his parodies of characters from major American comic book publishers. His work has frequently been published by the firms whose characters he spoofs. His characters are ...

•

Brad W. Foster Brad W. Foster (born April 26, 1955) is an American illustrator, cartoonist, writer and publisher. He has also been Artist Science fiction convention#Guests of Honor, Guest of Honor at multiple conventions such as ArmadilloCon 10, Conestoga 9, Ar ...

•

Steve Skeates Stephen Skeates (; January 29, 1943 – March 30, 2023) was an American comic book creator known for his work on such titles as ''Aquaman'', ''Hawk and Dove'', ''T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents'', and ''Plop!'' He also wrote under the pseudonyms Chester P. ...

•

Matt Feazell Matt Feazell (born 1955) is an American cartoonist from Hamtramck, Michigan, primarily working in minicomics. He is best known for his wryly humorous ''The Amazing Cynicalman'' series and the simple "stick figure" art style he uses for it. Cynic ...

• Rob Walton • Michael T. Gilbert • Allen Freeman •

Dave Sim Dave Sim (born 17 May 1956) is a Canadian cartoonist and publisher, known for his comic book ''Cerebus the Aardvark, Cerebus'', his artistic experimentation, his advocacy of self-publishing and creators' rights, and his controversial political an ...

•

Rick Geary Rick Geary (born February 25, 1946) is an American cartoonist and illustrator. He is known for works such as ''A Treasury of Victorian Murder'' and graphic novel biographies of Leon Trotsky and J. Edgar Hoover. Biography Rick Geary was born on F ...

Other

The Hugo Award-nominated novel ''Humans'' by Canadian science-fiction writer Robert J. Sawyer, published in 2003, carries this dedication: "For Mark Askwith, Master of Multiple Universes." Askwith is thanked by

in his and

's Big Numbers comic, for, in Askwith's words "read ngseveral articles about chaos theory in the mid- 80s and sav ngthem", later to be forwarded to Mr Moore, as research for that, ultimately aborted comic series.Jose Carlos Neves Interview with Mark Askwith
. Accessed 12 January 2008 He is credited for coming up with the name "Taboo" for Stephen R. Bissette's horror anthology, which was until then being called "The October Project". The title ''Taboo'' supposedly played a key part in inspiring Alan Moore (with

Eddie Campbell Eddie Campbell (born 10 August 1955) is a British comics artist and cartoonist. He was the illustrator and publisher of '' From Hell'' (written by Alan Moore), and the creator of the semi-autobiographical ''Alec'' stories collected in ''Alec: ...

) to write the landmark

Jack the Ripper Jack the Ripper was an unidentified serial killer who was active in and around the impoverished Whitechapel district of London, England, in 1888. In both criminal case files and the contemporaneous journalistic accounts, the killer was also ...

graphic novel ''

From Hell ''From Hell'' is a graphic novel by writer Alan Moore and artist Eddie Campbell, originally published in serial form from 1989 to 1998. The full collection was published in 1999 by Top Shelf Productions. Set during the Whitechapel murders of ...

''. He adapted the

anime is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...

television series of the

Capcom is a Japanese video game company. It has created a number of critically acclaimed and List of best-selling video game franchises, multi-million-selling game franchises, with its most commercially successful being ''Resident Evil'', ''Monster ...

game '' Power Stone'' into English. In recent years, due in part to his familiarity with the comics and Science Fiction scenes, and his role with SPACE, he has played a role in various events relating to those fields. On October 23, 2007, he hosted readings by

Jasper Fforde Jasper Fforde (born 11 January 1961) is an English novelist whose first novel, '' The Eyre Affair'', was published in 2001. He is known mainly for his '' Thursday Next'' novels, but has also published two books in the loosely connected '' Nurser ...

Spider Robinson Spider Robinson (born November 24, 1948) is an American-Canadian science fiction author. He has won a number of awards for his hard science fiction and humorous stories, including the Hugo Award 1977 and 1983, and another Hugo with his co-author ...

, Robert J. Sawyer and Jay MillAr as part of the 2007

International Festival of Authors The Toronto International Festival of Authors (TIFA), previously known as the International Festival of Authors (IFOA), is an annual festival presented in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. History Since 1974, the mission of TIFA programming has be ...

.Readings.org's page on the IFOA Sci-Fi/Fantasy event
Accessed 12 January 2008 On October 30, 2008, Askwith interviewed

Neal Stephenson Neal Town Stephenson (born October 31, 1959) is an American writer known for his works of speculative fiction. His novels have been categorized as science fiction, historical fiction, cyberpunk, and baroque. Stephenson's work explores mathemati ...

at the

Ryerson Theatre Kerr Hall is a series of four buildings in a square, surrounding Ryerson Community Park, on the campus of Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson University) in Toronto, Canada. Kerr Hall is on the site of the former Toronto Normal Sc ...

in Toronto. This event is part of the 'This is Not a Reading Series' of book events hosted by Toronto's Pages Book Store.

References

External links

*
IFOA (International Festival of Authors) Mini-biography

Mark Askwith at ''Who's Who of American Comic Books, 1928-1999
*

Space Channel's webpage

A ''Prisoners of Gravity'' fansite
{{DEFAULTSORT:Askwith, Mark 1956 births 20th-century Canadian screenwriters Canadian television producers Canadian comics writers Living people Trinity College (Canada) alumni University of Toronto alumni Writers from Ottawa 21st-century Canadian screenwriters Canadian male screenwriters Screenwriters from Ontario