A secret list of future USPS stamp issues obtained by the Washington Post shows a set of commemoratives about science fiction writers is still under consideration for 2015.
The list is a collaboration between the USPS marketing staff and the Citizens’ Stamp Advisory Committee appointed by the postmaster general to recommend ideas.
The Steve Jobs stamp is getting the most publicity but science fiction writers appear just a couple slots above him on the list of approved stamp subjects.
Susan McGowan, the Postal Service’s executive director for stamp services and corporate licensing, warned the subjects “are subject to change” at any time.
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Well, this is a VERY welcome piece of news. Let’s hope they Board gets it right because they’ll be hearing from fans (like me) if they don’t. And how about fantasy/horror writers???
All I see coming out of this is a lot of bitter arguments about why is Harry Harrison on a stamp but not Theodore Sturgeon, etc.
I suspect the stamps will be self-adhesive thereby taking away the psychedelic joy of licking the back of Philip K. Dick’s head.
Steve Jobs certainly made the fast track for being on a postage stamp. It used to be that the honoree had to be deceased for at least 10 years before he/she could be considered for that kind of memorial. Selection criteria must have changed.
Now the rules don’t even require the subject of a postage stamp to be dead. The 10-year wait was shorted in 2007 to 5 years, and in 2011 the USPS entirely ditched the long-standing ban on living subjects.
Then there should be one of Harlan Ellison to go with the Ralph Ellison.
I’m still waiting on Robert Heinlein, Arthur Clarke, Isaac Asimov, John W. Campbell, Jr., Gene Roddenberry, and Neil Armstrong among many others.
The Harry Potter stamps changed the rules. The USPS is trying to be commercial while trying to retain their dignity.