‘Wiffle Lever to Full!’ – Bob Fischer (Hodder & Stoughton)

Can you remember the moment when you just knew that you were going to be a sci-fi/ fantasy fan for the rest of your life? I can... It was way (way) back in 1979, I was four, when my folks decided to let me watch an episode of Doctor Who and see what happened. It was an episode of ‘Destiny of the Daleks’ and I got into it so much that I didn’t stop pestering my poor Dad until he’d made me a Dalek of my very own. I’ve still got it, it’s cool :o)
It turns out I’ve got something in common with Bob Fischer whose initial ‘geek experience’ was also an episode of ‘Destiny of the Daleks’. He didn’t get his own Dalek (I win there!) but a chance encounter with a sci-fi story he wrote, as a child, led him to get back into ‘geek living’ in the best way possible. Yep, I’m talking conventions...

‘Wiffle Lever to Full!’ is the story of Bob’s quest to reunite himself with all his childhood sci-fi pleasures by attending cult sci-fi conventions up and down the UK. It’s not just the conventions though; throughout the book you will find mention of sinister dolls, a maize maze and stormtroopers occupying Cardiff amongst other things...

Bob Fischer is the kind of narrator that you always hope to get in a book of this nature. Not only is he out to entertain his reader but he also has a genuine love of all things geekish and his enthusiasm really shines through. As a fellow geek I found loads to identify with, in particular those moments when you meet your childhood heroes for the very first time. You know what it’s like... That agonising moment when you just know that whatever you say is going to be really pathetic is only the start of it! I’ve never been to a convention myself (the closest I got was the entrance to a Star Wars convention in Northampton, we hadn’t banked on them not taking cheques...) but I have heard that there’s a lot of standing around in queues waiting to either get things signed or have photos taken. All credit to Fischer that he can make writing about standing in a queue something that you want to read about!

I say that but this is not always the case... This isn’t down to Fischer’s writing as it is about the subject matter itself and my own personal tastes. I’m all about science fiction/ fantasy and having grown up on ‘Blake’s 7’, ‘Doctor Who’ and ‘Star Wars’ (mustn’t forget ‘Robin of Sherwood’ either!) I was very keen to read about what goes on at these conventions. I’ve never seen an episode of ‘The Prisoner’ (and have never wanted to) so found myself skimming through this part of the book... As far as ‘James Bond’ goes, I’ve never considered it to be either science fiction or fantasy at all so was surprised to see it mentioned in a book about sci-fi conventions. I guess this is another of those ‘something in it for everyone’ books, it just depends on what you’re into...

There’s also a real ‘British’ feel to ‘Wiffle Lever to Full!’ which anyone of a certain age (like me!) who has grown up in Britain will immediately get and go off on a real nostalgia trip. Fischer’s childhood was one of beans on toast, Saturday night ‘Doctor Who’ and playing out huge battles between Star Wars figures and Action Men. That’s close enough to my childhood for me to get a little warm glow when reading about Bob’s. Anyone from outside the UK may not ‘get it’, in this regard, but the abundance of ‘convention action’ will more than make up for it!

I guess the measure of success for a book like this is whether it makes you want to go out and experience what the book is talking about for yourself. It’s a ‘yes’ on both counts for me, I’ve caught ‘convention fever’ (although I’m still not interested in ‘The Prisoner’) and I will probably end up digging out my old Star Wars figures when I get home tonight...

Eight and a Half out of Ten