AustLit

Simon Oxwell studied electronic engineering at the University of Western Australia in the mid-to-late 1990s. A devoted science-fiction fan, he also spent much of his spare time involved with the Perth speculative-fiction community. Known within that community as Simon 'the Null Smurf', he was President of the University Science Fiction Association in 1995 and also heavily involved in Doctor Who fandom through The West Lodge (named after the Foamasi West Lodge, a criminal organisation that featured in the 'The Leisure Hive' serial). In 1996, he and Grant Watson briefly ran their own zine, Ka Faraq Gatri (a Dalek name for the Doctor, first used in Ben Aaronovitch's 'Remembrance of the Daleks', which roughly translates as 'Bringer of Darkness/Destroyer of Worlds'). The following year, the pair co-edited the West Lodge zine, Gallifreyan Graffiti (beginning with no. 129). Around the same period, he also co-edited the Japanese Animation Fans of Western Australia fanzine JAMWAF (with Colin Sharpe).

In 1998, Oxwell was a member of the executive that organised the 23rd Swancon. He and two other members of the committee, Anna Hepworth and Grant Watson, subsequently edited the anthology Twenty3: Miscellany, which was published by Infinite Monkeys in association with the Western Australian Science Fiction Foundation (WASFF) and Neutral Zone.

After completing his degree, Oxwell took up a position as a database and systems administrator with Murdoch University's Computer Services, while continuing his involvement in science-fiction fandom and speculative-fiction publishing. In 2002, he was a member of a committee that attempted to re-establish the magazine Eidolon. When this did not eventuate, he and a number of the other members (Stephen Dedman, Grant Watson, Anna Hepworth, David Cake, Sarah Xu, Sandra Norman, and Jodie Hunter) instead set up Borderlands Press. Among its first publications were the souvenir booklets accompanying the WASFF conventions Borderlands: The World Within (2001) and Borderlands: That Which Scares Us (2002). The latter publication went on to win the 2003 Ditmar Award for Best Australian Fan Achievement.

In 2003, the press published a third Borderlands convention souvenir booklet (titled Trilogy), along with the first issue of the Borderlands journal, a tri-yearly publication of literary speculative fiction (namely science fiction, fantasy, and horror). The journal continued publication up until 2009, around the same time that Oxwell moved to the United Kingdom, where he took up a position as Senior Server Engineer with the London-based company ControlCircle.

Among the awards and recognition he has received are:

• 2001 William Atherling Jnr Award for Criticism or Review ('Waking Henson: A Jim Henson Retrospective', with Grant Watson).
  
• 2001 Swancon Award for Best Western Australian Collected Work, Editing (Borderlands: The World Within, with Anna Hepworth and Grant Watson).
  
• 2001 Swancon Award for Best Western Australian Production (the 'Raw Cordial' panel, with Grant Watson).
• 2002 Marge Hughes Award (for his contributions to Western Australian fandom in 2001).
• 2003 Ditmar Award for Best Australian Fan Achievement (Borderlands: That Which Scares Us, with Grant Watson and Anna Hepworth).