Me at ImagineCon 2000Punkadyne Laboratories and Archives started in 1990 as a creative project aimed to educate, entertain, and basically describe Grig’s personal projects at various events.

Grig “Punkie” Larson is a science fiction and comedy author from the Washington DC area.  Some of his works include short stories published in Gateways, Ellery Queen, Castle, as well as his own book The Saga of Punk Walrus.  You can see him as a panelist and emcee at various conventions:

Katsucon: Vice chair and general silly person: http://www.katsucon.org
AMA: Emcee for Cosplay and various awards: http://www.animemidatlantic.com
BaltiCon: Panelist, Podcaster, and generator of brouhaha: http://www.balticon.org

History:
Grig started out overseas, but grew up in McLean, Virginia as a survior of an upper middle class suburban wasteland.  As a certified Thespian, Grig has been writing since grade school, focusing on spoofs and general troublemaking shaking the monacles into the teacups of the elite.  Then science fiction conventions found at Constellation Worldcon in 1983 when a bunch of overweight Star Trek filkers scared the crap out of him under a stairwell.

From there he wrote and submitted to Dragon magazine, where he was repeately rejected because the universe wanted to spare him later embarrassment.  Undaunted, he wrote short stories for fanzines, including the FanTek Castle, which had low enough standards to give him hope.  Soon, Grig had published short stories in Reader’s Digest, Ellery Queen, Gateways, and eventually was one of the head writers and actors for the Prune Bran players, a convention comedy troupe that spanned from Virginia Beach to College Park.  He formed his own comedy troupe, Strange Tea, which was famous for its Goth puppet show until the Goths found out about it and burned, sacked, and looted the puppet theater.  Over the years, he has also hosted “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” as an emcee and general crowd coach at various conventions.

During this time, he published his first book, “The Saga of Punk Walrus,” which was an unground cult hit for many years until he got a real job.

From there, he picked up panelist and emcee work for FanTek cons like Evecon and Castlecon, and then eventually Katsucon, Balticon, and Anime Midatlantic.  He’s also been a panelst and guest at Worldcon, Event Horizon, Imaginecon, and a variety of other cons desperate for filler material.  He also did improvisational theater for many conventions, including hosting “Whose Katsu is it Anyway,” the Katsucon halftime show. He has written for gaming supplements, and is one of the writing staff at Mystic Stations Designs.

Currently he is picking up his writing pen, and writing various series to be published soon:

– The Gateway Series: An alternate history of the human race unravels.
– Mothership: When a psychotic captain enslaves her former first officer
– Trolley: A steampunk book set about a girl discovering her dark side (now available at http://www.trolley-book.com !)
– The Compleat Walrus: The final compilation of the Punk Walrus stories.

Grig is a well-known FOSS and GNU advocate, and uses Ubuntu everywhere he can.  He is currently working to pay the bills at an ISP, where he plays with computers all day as a systems administrator.  He is an RHCT, LPIC, and Novell CLA.  But he also does Windows.  Sadly.

Grig is known for his wit, humor, and general likability to compensate for his obnoxious comments, loud voice, and rude noises.  Once in a while, he has a stunt double, Sean “Puffy” Heare, who claims to be him or Bob Zmuda, depending on the convention. He is married (sorry, ladies) to a wonderful wife since 1989, and a son since 1990. He also lives with too many cats and dogs.

Grig also believes children are our future, and refuses to talk down to them. Instead, he treats them like equals. Because he knows adults in their 30s who aren’t nearly as mature as some 12 year olds.

Why am I talking about myself in the third person?

But if you wish to stalk me, and that’s creepy, here are some links: