Tag Archives: First Fandom

Pixel Scroll 10/14/24 Pixelling Pigeons In The Scroll

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(1) SEATTLE WORLDCON 2025 SHORT STORY CONTEST. The Seattle Worldcon 2025 today announced a short story writing contest with adult and young adult entry categories. The winners in each category will be recognized at the convention, receive free memberships to the convention, and have their stories published in an upcoming anthology by Grim Oak Press. Full details at the link: “Writing Contest – Seattle Worldcon 2025”.

Stories must draw inspiration from the Worldcon theme: Building Yesterday’s Future–For Everyone. This theme was selected to invoke nostalgia for the hopeful science-fictional era of the early 1960s, when Seattle held its first (and until now, only) Worldcon, followed up by the Century 21 Exposition (a.k.a. 1962 World’s Fair), showing the world a vision of its technological future, complete with freshly built Monorail and Space Needle.

(2) WHEN BAD NEWS IS BIG NEWS. Charlie Jane Anders answers the question “Why Are Toxic ‘Superfans’ Such a Nightmare for Hollywood?”

…But even if @Fanboy3997 is not a king-maker, he can do a certain amount of damage to a franchise. This is at least partly a reflection of the fact that the internet, like so many other media before it, does a better job of boosting negativity and hate than spreading anything positive. (“If it bleeds, it leads.”)

Disgruntled fans can help to shape the narrative about a project in various ways.

1) They can drown out the people who actually like it.

2) They can even harass anybody who expresses enthusiasm for a project they don’t like.

3) They can do the aforementioned review bombing, and harass actors and creators.

4) They can create the appearance of a major backlash, even if it’s really just five people and an swarm of bots.

5) And, though journalists will never admit it, a angry fans have a major ally in the journalistic profession, which will assist in blowing their complaints way out of proportion and creating a fake controversy in order to manufacture drama that in turn will lead to eyeballs on news sites.

To some extent, this is what happened with Star Wars: The Last Jedi, a movie that was a massive financial success and one of the most successful movies of all time, with an “A” on Cinemascore (signifying that audiences in theaters overwhelmingly loved it.) What I’m convinced were a relatively small number of fans had a meltdown, which probably would’ve had a limited impact if journalists hadn’t chosen to run with it and create a news cycle around the backlash. That, in turn, led to the notion that 

(3) IDENTIFYING DANGER. “INTERVIEW: J. Michael Straczynski” at Grimdark Magazine asks JMS in the context of his work on Last Dangerous Visions.

[GdM] Can you explain your perspective, and, by extension, Ellison’s, on what makes a story “dangerous” in speculative fiction?

[JMS] The distinction you draw is correct, in terms of how this relates to speculative or science fiction. There has been a lot of hard-edged, socially challenging writing in other forms and genres. Alan Ginsberg’s Howl, Jack Kerouac’s On the Road, the raw emotionalism of Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s A Coney Island of the Mind, JD Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye…all of them pushed the frontiers of writing, and many of them got banned or ended up in court on obscenity charges. But they kept on writing, because it was necessary to take a stand for literary freedom.

The SF genre was (and to a degree still is) fairly conservative and, seeing what happened to the writers noted above, tended to steer clear of controversy. This persisted up until the time of Harlan’s first Dangerous Visions anthology and the slow birth of New Wave Science Fiction (with writers like Michael Moorcock, Ursula K. Leguin, Samuel R. Delany and others poking at the walls of conservatism) which DV codified from individual efforts into a movement.

What makes a story dangerous in speculative fiction? Anyone who is willing to risk controversy, to speak to the flaws of society, to sexual and political issues even though they might get in trouble as a result. Harlan once wrote that “the chief commodity a writer has to sell is their courage,” and for me, that’s what a dangerous vision is all about: a story that requires a modicum of courage to tell it.

(4) FIRST FANDOM ANNUAL 2024. Editors John L. Coker III and Jon D. Swartz invite fans to order the First Fandom Annual 2024, devoted to a “History of the Sam Moskowitz Award”.

Sam Moskowitz, I-Con XIV (1995), Long Island, NY. Photo by John L. Coker III
  • Remembering Sam Moskowitz
  • The Sam Moskowitz Archive Award
  • The Sam Moskowitz Collection

Articles by Sam, photographs With Hal W. Hall, David A. Kyle, Robert A. Madle, Julius Schwartz, Jon D. Swartz, Ph.D., Joseph Wrzos

Fifty-six pages, 28# paper, heavy gloss color covers, printed endpapers, face-trimmed, saddle-stitched, B&W interiors, with color illustrations throughout.

Limited to (26) copies, available for $35. each (includes packaging, Priority Mail, insurance).  Please send check or money order for $35 (payable to John L. Coker III) at 4813 Lighthouse Road, Orlando, FL – 32808.

(5) ALTERNATE BATMAN. [Item by Danny Sichel.] Paul Dini found some notes in his car on which he had long ago written alternate ideas for the resolution to Batman Beyond.

(6) ART HENDERSON (1942-2024). Virginia fan Art Henderson died October 12 at the age of 82. He is survived by his wife, Becky.   

Art and Becky Henderson at the 1974 Worldcon. Photo by and (c) Andrew Porter.

(7) TODAY’S BIRTHDAY.

[Written by Mike Glyer.]

Born October 14, 1952 – Charlie Williams. (Died 2021.) Fan artist Charlie Williams first came to prominence as a regular contributor to Chat, the Chattanooga clubzine published by Rich and Nicki Lynch. He also later appeared in all 30 issues of their Hugo-winning genzine Mimosa.

Williams was a member of the Knoxville Science-Fantasy Federation and in the 1970s, he owned a comics store in Knoxville and taught cartoon illustration at the University of Tennessee. At one time he was a member of the Spectator Amateur Press Association. He was guest of honor at Imagincon ’81 (1981), Con*Stellation II (1983), and Roc*Kon 8 (1983).

Williams loved to draw complex, inventive scenes several of which are displayed below, including a cover for an issue of File 770 from the Eighties.

A “Homage to Howard”
A “Homage to Howard”

(8) COMICS SECTION.

  • Brewster Rockit discovers the reason for a recent space event.
  • Eek! obviously thinks it’s “threat or treat”.
  • Lio has a classic reference.
  • The Argyle Sweater missed an update.
  • Macanudo underrates genre reading.
  • Tom Gauld knows about speed reading.
  • And he’s had better days.

(9) POLITICAL COMICS. The makers of the “Stop Project 2025 Comic” website say:

We’re a group of comic book writers & artists who are furious about Project 2025, The Heritage Foundation’s plan to consolidate power under authoritarian rule. So we made a bunch of comics to explain their agenda and move you to vote against it.

(10) VIDEO GAME WITH NUANCE. “Metaphor: ReFantazio is the rare fantasy game that goes beyond racism 101” declares The Verge’s reviewer.

…But Metaphor is more than just a stylish, dynamic RPG — it’s also the rare fantasy story that tackles discrimination with nuance.

In a lot of fantasy, I’m annoyed by the storytelling conceit of using discrimination against fantasy races as an allegory for real-world racism. Stories featuring this trope usually stop at the “racism is bad” surface level, demonstrating that with ugly over-the-top displays of violence (hey there, Dragon Age) while ignoring the subtleties that make racism so heinous and pervasive. Metaphor manages to incorporate and tackle both aspects of this reality. 

There’s a moment when you’re reading a fantasy book with a companion, and they mention that realizing their goal of a world where everyone is treated equally won’t be enough. “Equal competition doesn’t mean equal footing,” Heismay says. It’s the first time I’ve seen a video game acknowledge that simply stopping the big bad evil racist won’t magically make up for the countless generations of oppression. The game does the same with class and wealth. There’s a character vying for the throne who wishes to essentially “eat the rich” and redistribute their wealth at the point of a guillotine. But by virtue of her extremely low status, she sees everybody with more than a few coins to rub together as her ideological enemy. It’s just like when people in poverty lash out at other people a little bit less in poverty when their real enemies are the wealthy powerholders who exploit that animosity. It’s awesome that the game calls that out….

(11) SPACE DETECTIVE WORK. NASA’s JPL announces “First Greenhouse Gas Plumes Detected With NASA-Designed Instrument”.

The imaging spectrometer aboard the Carbon Mapper Coalition’s Tanager-1 satellite identified methane and carbon dioxide plumes in the United States and internationally.

Using data from an instrument designed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, the nonprofit Carbon Mapper has released the first methane and carbon dioxide detections from the Tanager-1 satellite. The detections highlight methane plumes in Pakistan and Texas, as well as a carbon dioxide plume in South Africa.

The data contributes to Carbon Mapper’s goal to identify and measure greenhouse gas point-source emissions on a global scale and make that information accessible and actionable.

(12) ANNUAL APPARITION. “It’s Spirit Halloween season. How does the retailer stay afloat year-round?” NPR tried to find the answer.

SELYUKH: It is unusual. To be clear, it is a private company – Spirit Halloween – so we don’t know for sure, all of the under-the-hood stuff. They do skip the most expensive parts of being a retailer. That’s kind of how they save a lot of money on rent, utilities, workers. If you think about it, their stores – most of them are not permanent. Most of the store workers are temporary. Much of the year, Spirit Halloween mainly pays a big team to scout real estate locations, looking for empty store fronts. Then in late summer, the hustle starts for new stores to materialize. They’ve built over 1,000 of them.

RASCOE: That has to be a really big operation, like, turning all of these empty spaces into stores.

SELYUKH: It is, and it is very fast, too. You know, last year, I talked to a woman who worked at a mall where Spirit Halloween took over shuttered Sears, and she was describing an insane speed, like a matter of days. And I should say, I have tried a few times to get a tour of how Spirit Halloween works in an empty store or at least an interview with some official, and they don’t do interviews.

RASCOE: So you got ghosted. You see what I did there….

(13) EUROPA CLIPPER LAUNCHES. “NASA spacecraft rockets toward Jupiter’s moon Europa” and AP News wishes it bon voyage.

A NASA spacecraft rocketed away Monday on a quest to explore Jupiter’s tantalizing moon Europa and reveal whether its vast hidden ocean might hold the keys to life.

It will take Europa Clipper 5 1/2 years to reach Jupiter, where it will slip into orbit around the giant gas planet and sneak close to Europa during dozens of radiation-drenched flybys.

Scientists are almost certain a deep, global ocean exists beneath Europa’s icy crust. And where there is water, there could be life, making the moon one of the most promising places out there to hunt for it.

Europa Clipper won’t look for life; it has no life detectors. Instead, the spacecraft will zero in on the ingredients necessary to sustain life, searching for organic compounds and other clues as it peers beneath the ice for suitable conditions…

(14) COMET A3 FROM THE DC SUBURBS OF MARYLAND. [Item by Rich Lynch.] An iPhone photo…I just held the phone as steady as I could and hoped for the best. I’m actually amazed that it worked!

For those wanting to see the comet, this evening it’s located halfway between Venus and Arcturus, and remains visible for probably a couple of hours after the sun has set.

(15) TAKE INSPIRATION FOR YOUR HALLOWEEN BAKING. “Swedish chef making a pumpkin pie” – a Muppets excerpt.

(16) IN NO TIME AT ALL. Boing Boing says “’Skip Danger vs the Space-Time Continuum’ is a hilarious anti-time travel movie”.

…A  wonderfully self-aware homage to Back to the Future and Hot Tub Time Machine — minus, perhaps, the actual time machine. 

[Thanks to Kathy Sullivan, Teddy Harvia, Mike Kennedy, N., Danny Sichel, Rich Lynch, Andrew Porter, John King Tarpinian, Chris Barkley, Cat Eldridge, SF Concatenation’s Jonathan Cowie, and Steven French for some of these stories. Title credit belongs to File 770 contributing editor of the day John A Arkansawyer.]

First Fandom Awards Given at Glasgow 2024 Opening Ceremonies

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The recipients of seven First Fandom awards were announced during opening ceremonies of the Glasgow 2024 Worldcon on August 8. Emcee Vincent Docherty named the winners of the First Fandom Hall of Fame Award, the Posthumous Hall of Fame Award, and the Sam Moskowitz Archive Award.

FIRST FANDOM HALL OF FAME. This prestigious achievement award has been presented annually since 1963 to a living recipient who has made significant contributions to Science Fiction during their lifetime.  This year, the members of First Fandom have elected Mary & Bill Burns, and David Langford to the First Fandom Hall of Fame for 2024.

POSTHUMOUS HALL OF FAME AWARD. This esteemed award (est. 1994) was created by First Fandom to acknowledge people who should have but did not receive deserved recognition during their lifetime.  This year, the members of First Fandom have inducted Alfred Bester, Michael David Glicksohn, Mike Resnick, and Peter Weston to the First Fandom Posthumous Hall of Fame for 2024.

SAM MOSKOWITZ ARCHIVE AWARD (“for attaining excellence in Collecting”). This notable award (created in 1998) recognizes not only an impressive collection but what actually has been done with it.  Previous award recipients have published articles and books, made collections available for public viewing, loaned items for other projects, and donated material to be preserved for future generations.  This year, the members of First Fandom have chosen Joe Siclari & Edie Stern as the recipients of the Sam Moskowitz Archive Award for 2024 in recognition of a lifetime of service to science fiction fandom.  

FIRST FANDOM HALL OF FAME

Mary & Bill Burns

Bill and Mary Burns in 2009.

In 1967, British fan Bill Burns and American fan Mary Ensley were both at the NyCon3 Worldcon, but they didn’t meet there.  It wasn’t until three years later that they met in London, where Mary was en route to the 1970 Worldcon in Heidelberg and Bill was working at the BBC.  Bill decided it would be a good idea to attend the Worldcon, and after the couple spent time together at Heidelberg, a long-distance relationship ensued.

Mary imported Bill to New York in June 1971 and the pair were married in late August that year.  They spent part of their honeymoon at the first Boston Worldcon, Noreascon 1, and have been attending conventions together ever since.  They visit the UK around Easter every year and have attended 110 Eastercons between them, as well as many Worldcons.

In 2009 Mary and Bill were joint Fan Guests of Honour at Eastercon LX in Bradford, and they received the same honor at Dublin in 2019, the first Irish Worldcon and the couple’s first-ever convention in Ireland.

Mary is U.S. Marine Corps veteran.  Mary ran the art show at Eastercon for years and then was responsible for on-site registration.  Bill founded www.eFanzines.com in 2000 to “help traditional fanzine publishers make the transition to on-line publication” and he was the recipient of the Doc Weir Award in 2003.

Bill and Mary Burns in 2019. Photo by Rich Lynch.

Bill Burns writes:

Mary and I are surprised and delighted by your announcement!  Having become involved in fandom in the 1960s (1964 in England for me and 1967 in the USA for Mary), we met a good number of the founding members of First Fandom, so it is indeed an honor to be added to the Hall of Fame.

Mary & Bill Burns accepted their award in person.

David Langford

David Langford in 2014.

David Langford, active in British Fandom since the 1970s is best known as a writer, editor and critic who publishes the newszine Ansible.

Over the years, he has worked on many convention committees and their publications, and has often served as Fan GoH.  He was the TAFF delegate in 1980, traveling to Noreascon Two, writing The Transatlantic Hearing Aid (1985) as his trip report.  The Auld Lang Fund was organized to bring him to Aussiecon Three (1999).  He won the 2002 Skylark Award. 

Langford runs Ansible Editions, a small press that publishes both fanand pro material; fan publications include a number of free ebooks from the TAFF website, which he maintains.

As a fan writer, he has received 21 Best Fan Writer Hugo Awards.  Ansible has received 6 Hugo Awards.  He was proof-reader and copy editor for The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and received the FAAn Lifetime Achievement Award in 2021.    (From Fancyclopedia)

David Langford

Claire Brialey and Mark Plummer, who are Fan GoHs at this year’s Worldcon, delivered David Langford’s remarks and accepted the award on his behalf during the Opening Ceremony.

POSTHUMOUS HALL OF FAME

This esteemed award was created in 1994 to acknowledge those people in Science Fiction who should have but did not receive deserved recognition during their lifetime.

This year, members of First Fandom inducted four people into the Posthumous Hall of Fame: Alfred Bester, Michael David Glicksohn, Mike Resnick, and Peter Weston.

Alfred Bester

Alfred Bester

Alfred Bester (1913-1987) was a science fiction author, TV and radio scriptwriter, magazine editor, and scriptwriter for comics. He is best remembered for his novels The Demolished Man (winner of the inaugural Hugo Award in 1953), and The Stars My Destination (1956).

In the late-1930s, Bester met literary agent Julius Schwartz, who agreed to represent him.  After Schwartz moved to DC Comics in the early-1940s, he convinced Bester to become a writer of comics.  Bester worked on various titles, including Green Lantern (he is credited with writing the modern Green Lantern oath.) During WWII, he was also the writer for The Phantom and Mandrake the Magician. 

In the mid-1940s, Bester wrote radio scripts, including Nick Carter, The Shadow, and others, and began writing for television.  Years later, he wrote travel articles for mainstream magazine Holiday, eventually becoming a senior editor.

He was unable to attend the 1987 Worldcon as GoH, so Julius Schwartz delivered his acceptance speech. The Science Fiction Writers of America named Bester its Grand Master in 1988, and the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame inducted him in 2001. (From Wikipedia)

Michael David Glicksohn

Glicksohn 1981 Susan Wood Best Fan Writer
Mike Glicksohn accepts Susan Wood’s 1981 Best Fan Writer Hugo, which she won posthumously.

Mike Glicksohn was a Canadian high school math teacher and the co-editor of the science fiction fanzine Energumen which won the 1973 Hugo Award for Best Fanzine. Glicksohn was nominated for an individual Hugo in 1977.  He was born May 20, 1946, in Ports-mouth, England, and died March 18, 2011, in Toronto, Ontario.  He was a Guest of Honor at Aussiecon 1, the 33rd Worldcon, in 1975. (Excerpted from Wikipedia)

Susan Manchester and Mike Glicksohn

Mike’s widow, Susan Manchester, writes:

Hurray for Mike! He would be so proud of this!  How very wonderful. Just a few words about Mike’s love of fandom. Indeed, he loved fandom.  He found a family there as many others have done.  As I knew little about fandom when we got married, Mike cut down on the number of cons he attended.  I did not ask him to do this.  When he committed to something he truly devoted himself.  He was that kind of person. 

I know he would feel honoured to receive this award.  And he would feel humbled.  I never knew him to gloat over his accomplishments.  To be remembered in this way would mean so much to him. On his behalf, let me offer his heartfelt thanks for this recognition.

On a personal note, Mike was the love of my life and I still have difficulty in the world without him.  He was an amazing human being.  He has been gone 13 years.

Mike Glicksohn and Einstein. Photo by Rich Lynch.
Enjoying a book
Mike Glicksohn at Happy Hour

Chas Baden and Lynn Boston Baden accepted the award on Susan’s behalf.  Chas said:

Thank you!  Lynn and I have been asked by friends of Mike Glicksohn’s to accept this award and bring it to Toronto so it can be presented to Susan Manchester, Mike’s long-time partner and widow.

I did not know Mike, but I have been told this award honors his lifetime of continuous activity as a genuine SF enthusiast.  He had great influence in fanzines, winning the 1973 Hugo for Best Fanzine for an issue of Energumen.  He also had influence in running conventions, poker games, and a legendary, yearly barbecue/birthday party he ran with Mike Harper called Mikecon.

His influence was not only felt in Toronto, but especially across Canada, the US, England, and Australia, who honored him by naming him the Fan GoH at Aussiecon 1, the 33rd Worldcon, in 1975.

He was a beloved mathematics teacher, and had a long teaching career at a local technical school.  He used poker to teach statistics, and also teach the dangers of playing poker with Mike Glicksohn!

I would like to thank John Coker and First Fandom for the honor of accepting this award.

Mike Resnick

Mike Resnick, Chicon 7 (2012) Photo by John L. Coker III.

Mike will be remembered by many in our community for his love of fandom and his service to many of the early fans.

Mike Resnick (1942-2020) was an American writer of SF, fantasy, horror, and mystery.  He was a seasoned editor, newspaper man, columnist, anthologist, and publisher.  He was nominated for 37 Hugo Awards and won five times.  He was nominated eleven times for the Nebula Award, and he won once.  He was the GoH at Chicon 7.  He was executive editor of the magazine Jim Baen’s Universe, and creator and editor of Galaxy’s Edge magazine.  He sold his first piece of writing in 1957, while still in high school.  His work has been translated into dozens of languages. 

Resnick and his wife Carol were participants in SF fandom from 1962.  Carol created cos-tumes in which she and Resnick appeared at five Worldcon masquerades in the 1970s, win-ning four out of five contests.  He wrote more than seventy novels, published twenty-five collections, and edited more than forty anthologies. As of 2012, he had been GoH at more than 40 science fiction cons and toast-master at a dozen others.” (From Wikipedia)

Mike and Carol Resnick. Photo by Ben Jason. Collection of John L. Coker III.

Mike’s daughter Laura Resnick arranged for Chris M. Barkley to deliver the family’s written remarks.  He kindly did so, and accepted the award plaque on their behalf.  Laura requested that this award be dedicated to her mother, Carol.

Here are the family’s acceptance remarks:

The Resnick family thanks First Fandom for this honor, which would have meant so much to Mike. 

Although many readers over the years knew him as a prolific science fiction writer, he always thought of himself first and foremost as a fan.  This community was his home and his family.  He loved fannish culture, conventions, and hanging out late into the night with his fellow fans.  He had an almost encyclopedic knowledge of fannish history and a great affection and respect for First Fandom.

Somewhere out there in the stars, his spirit is still celebrating the sense of wonder that embodied science fiction and fandom for him.  Thank you.

Peter Weston

Peter Weston (1943-2017) is best known for founding the longest-lived fan group in the U.K., chairing the 1979 Worldcon, and editing the Andromeda series of original anthologies. He was Fan GoH at Noreascon 4, in 2004.

During 1963-1976, he published the award-winning, multi-named fanzines Zenith, Zenith- Speculation, and Speculation, getting four Hugo nominations and a Nova Award.

Peter Weston holding up a Hugo rocket, 2004. Photo by Murray Moore.

For years, Peter’s foundry cast the Hugo rockets for the Hugo Awards.

He organized the Speculation Conferences in Birmingham, UK, co-founded and chaired the Birmingham SF Group in 1971, and helped start Novacon later that year. In 2008, he was inducted into the Knights of Saint Fantony.

Peter was a four-time Hugo Award nominee (1965, 1966, 2005, 2010) and five-time Locus Award nominee (1971-74, 1977).  He received the Doc Weir Award (1975), Nova Award (2007), Fellow of NESFA (2010), and a Lifetime Achievement Award at Corflu 32 in 2015. (From Fancyclopedia)

Acceptance Speech for Peter Weston’s Award

Peter’s daughter Alison Weston prepared an acceptance video.  Here is the text:

Peter Weston, 2005. Photo by Bill Burns.

Hello, Glasgow.  Hello, Worldcon members.

Thank you for honoring my dad, Peter Weston, with the First Fandom [Posthumous] Hall of Fame Award.  Science fiction was my dad’s great passion.

Discovering science fiction as a small boy growing up in post-War Birmingham was a revelation.  It created in him a life-long enthusiasm and opened his mind to infinite possibility, what he always referred to as “a sense of wonder.”

That small boy devoured every science fiction book that he could find.  He would hide on other shelves all the science fiction books he could find in the library, so that no one else could take them out while he was reading and returning the measly two books allowed at a time.  So, to all the Birmingham fans of the same vintage, if you wondered why you could never find anything at the library, now you know why.

Science fiction gave my dad many opportunities to do things, to have adventures, from writing his award-winning fanzines, winning the TAFF in the 1970s [1974] and traveling to the US, chairing the Worldcon in Brighton in 1979, right up to being a Hugo Award nominee for the book about his life in fandom that he wrote in his retirement.

Dad had a lot of other hobbies.  He joined other clubs.  He was a busy man.  But, science fiction was his great passion that stayed with him for the whole of his life.  Apart from his family, it was the thing that meant the most to him.

And, in science fiction fandom, my dad found a community, a community of people who shared his interest, who shared his passion, who shared his curiosity for possibilities yet to be conceived; a community based on a sense of wonder, something that he kept for the whole of his life.

It would have meant a great deal to my dad to be honored here today.  It means a great deal to all of us in our family.  We are very proud of him for the wonderful man that he was.

So, on behalf of my mom and the rest of our family, thank you very much for remembering Peter Weston, lifetime science fiction fan, in the First Fandom [Posthumous] Hall of Fame.  Thank you very much and I wish you a very good Convention.

SAM MOSKOWITZ ARCHIVE AWARD (FOR EXCELLENCE IN COLLECTING)

The Sam Moskowitz Archive Award (created in 1998) recognizes not only an impressive collection but also what has been done with it. 

The members of First Fandom have voted to present this year’s Sam Moskowitz Archive Award to the team of Joe Siclari & Edie Stern.

Joe Siclari & Edie Stern

Joe Siclari and Edie Stern

By Jon D. Swartz: Siclari started in science fiction (SF) fandom in 1965 by collecting everything he could find related to SF and fantasy:  books, prozines, fanzines, and other paraphernalia.  By 1966, he was a fanzine fan.

He has been active in running cons, clubs, collecting and preserving SF and fan history.  From Staten Island, he then moved to Florida in the late 1970s.  Around 2000, he moved back to New York State with his wife, Edie Stern.  Joe is president of FANAC, the sponsor of Fanac Fan History Project; The FANAC Fan History Project YouTube Channel; and, the Fan History Zoom Series.

Stern is a well-known SF club, con, collector, and fanzine fan.  She started in fandom in 1970 by subscribing to fanzines she read about in Amazing Stories.  She is a past chair of SFSFS, head of the 1992 Worldcon program division, co-editor of the SFSFS Shuttle, Tails of Fandom, and Shadow of a Fan, among other SF activities. 

Siclari and Stern are also collectors of SF and fantasy art, and have helped create many special art exhibits at Boskone, as well as at several Worldcons and the World Fantasy Conventions during 2014 – 2018. 

Together, Joe and Edie have received many genre awards, including the 2016 Big Heart Award.  They are both Fellows of NESFA and were named Fan GoH at Chicon 8 in 2022. 

Here’s a note from Joe Siclari and Edie Stern:

We are greatly honored to have been selected to receive the Sam Moskowitz Archive Award. Sam was the first great historian of fandom and we are happy to follow in his footsteps.  He was a contributor to one of my (Joe) earliest fanzines and we both read quite a few books he wrote or edited about the field.  Our goal at www.fanac.com is to archive and disseminate as much of science fiction fandom’s legacy as we can. We, of course, are using electronic means to get the material to readers.

Joe Siclari & Edie Stern accepted their award in person.

Edie Stern
Joe Siclari

[Thanks to John L. Coker III for providing the draft text and supplying the photos.]

2024 First Fandom Awards Nominees

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First Fandom members will begin voting this week on the First Fandom Awards for 2024. President John L. Coker III says arrangements are being made to present the awards during Opening Ceremonies at the 2024 Worldcon in Glasgow, Scotland, August 8-12.

FIRST FANDOM AWARDS NOMINEES FOR 2024

Note: There can be more than one recipient for each of the awards. 

FIRST FANDOM HALL OF FAME

A prestigious achievement award (est. 1963) that has been presented each year to a living recipient who has made significant contributions to Science Fiction and Fandom throughout their lifetime. 

  • Mary & Bill Burns
  • David Langford

FIRST FANDOM POSTHUMOUS HALL OF FAME

An esteemed award (est. 1994) to acknowledge people in Science Fiction who should have but did not receive deserved lifetime achievement recognition.

  • Alfred Bester
  • Marion Eadie
  • Michael David Glicksohn
  • Ethel Lindsay
  • Mike Resnick
  • Ina Shorrock
  • Jerry Weist
  • Peter Weston

SAM MOSKOWITZ ARCHIVE AWARD

Sam assembled one of the world’s most complete collections of Science Fiction and he organized it so that he could do extensive research.  This award (est. 1999 for attaining “excellence in collecting”) is to recognize not only an impressive collection but also what has been done with it. 

  • Malcolm Edwards
  • Rob Hansen
  • Joe Siclari & Edie Stern
  • Jim Steranko

First Fandom Annual 2023

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Announcing the latest First Fandom Annual: First Fandom Conversations – Edited by John L. Coker III and Jon D. Swartz, Ph.D.

Here are the contents of this latest issue:

Forrest J Ackerman:

  • “An Evening with Boris Karloff and Friends”
  • “Franken Forry’s Fotos”
  • “Dr Ackula’s Photo Gallery”
  • “Once Around the Bloch – a Tribute”

Robert Bloch:

  • “Verse Fandom” (A Poem)
  • “I’m a Fan of Science Fiction Fandom”
  • “A Memorial for Robert Bloch”

Hugh B. Cave: “Stories from My Life”

Lloyd A. Eshbach: “Small Press Publishing”

“A Conversation with Ray Harryhausen”

“David A. Kyle Recalls Sam Moskowitz”

Robert Silverberg: “Julie, Forry and Me.”

The front cover features color artwork by Tim Hildebrandt.

Fifty-six pages, printed on 28# paper with heavy gloss color covers, face-trimmed, saddle-stitched, color illustrations throughout.

This edition is limited to only (25) copies, which are available for $35 each (includes packing, USPS Priority Mail and insurance).

To order your copy, please send a check or money order (payable to John L. Coker III) to 4813 Lighthouse Road, Orlando, FL 32808. 

First Fandom Awards Given at Pemmi-Con Opening Ceremonies

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Three First Fandom awards were announced during opening ceremonies of Pemmi-Con, the 2023 NASFiC, on July 20. Emcees Vincent Docherty and David Ritter named the winners of the First Fandom Hall of Fame Award, the Posthumous Hall of Fame Award, and the Sam Moskowitz Archive Award.

First Fandom was created in 1958. The modern organization defines as “dinosaurs” those active in science fiction or fannish activities by the time of the first Worldcon in 1939. Also, anyone who has engaged in correspondence, collecting, conventions, fanzine publishing or reading, writing or participated in a science fiction club for at least 30 years may be eligible for Associate Membership. Since the death of Bob Madle in 2022, the last surviving original member of First Fandom, the organization has been in transition to a new format. These three awards were voted by the Associate Members.

FIRST FANDOM HALL OF FAME AWARD

The First Fandom Hall of Fame, created in 1963, is a prestigious achievement award given to a living recipient who has made significant contributions to Science Fiction throughout their lifetime.

  • Michael Moorcock
  • Will Murray

Michael Moorcock’s First Fandom Hall of Fame Award Acceptance Speech

Michael Moorcock (Photograph by John L. Coker III)

Thank you so much for the handsome plaque which arrived today in our Paris flat and is now on the shelf, gracing my work room. 

I feel so good about it.  Many of the names of those who received it before me bring back great memories.  Ray Nelson and I first met in 1957 and I published his work in TARZAN ADVENTURES during the time he was living in Paris where he introduced me to a couple of eminent Beats and the bohemian life of Paris, making me fall in love with the city in which I’ve now lived for the past 25 years. 

Another great friend was Ed Hamilton and of course Sprague de Camp, who encouraged me to write heroic fantasy in the late 1950s.

Arthur Clarke was another friend as, of course, was Brian Aldiss. Dave Kyle and Earl Kemp were also friends and John Clute got started as a critic on New Worlds where he was a stalwart for several years, Bob Silverberg, who I also first met at the 1957 World SF Con when he came to listen to the skiffle group I had put together pretty much spontaneously, was a great help in starting my career in America and I shall always be grateful to him.

Michael Moorcock and Harlan Ellison. (Photograph by John L. Coker III)

I believe you know how close my connection with fandom has been since I created my first fanzine when I was fifteen in 1955 and I have never forgotten my roots nor the fans who were so kind to me when I was a callow kid learning about writers and magazines who came to influence me or showing my first stories to fellow fans who also came to be well-known in the sf field. 

It is a proud but not so lonely thing to be a fan, these days!  I hope you will read this letter as my acceptance speech to the members of first (and later) fandom who were so kind enough to vote for me and that you all continue to have a really great time in Winnipeg. 

My affection for fandom and all it has done to bring people together remains as warm as ever and I shall continue to feel great pride in receiving the award.

With sincere good wishes to you and everyone involved!   Mike Moorcock

Will Murray’s First Fandom Hall of Fame Award Acceptance Speech

Will Murray, First Fandom Hall of Fame 2023 (photo provided by the author)

If one were to include my earliest fanzine appearances, I’ve been writing for publication for 50 years.  In that time, I’ve won an award or two.  But none have more surprised me than to win the First Fandom Hall of Fame Award.

This is quite gratifying.  I don’t think I’ve attended a science fiction convention in a dozen years, so I wasn’t aware that I was particularly on anyone’s radar.  I’ve had a long career.  More than 80 novels and books, and I don’t know how many short stories, articles and interviews.

The last dozen years have been particularly fulfilling.  In 2010, I acquired the rights to Doc Savage and discovered that no legacy publisher was interested in reviving the character.  So, I partnered with small press publisher Matt Moring and we started the Wild Adventures of Doc Savage.

Will Murray (Photo courtesy of the author)

My goal was modest: To finish several of Doc Savage creator Lester Dent’s unfinished novels.  Then in 2013, I got the rights to have King Kong meet Doc.  I thought that Skull Island was be the high point of my novel-writing career.  But a year later, I obtained the rights to Tarzan of the Apes.  My first Tarzan novel so impressed the good people at Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. that they decided to revive their publishing imprint after decades of dormancy.  Between new novels and reissues, they are now in a glorious renaissance. 

For me personally having Tarzan go to Barsoom and meet John Carter of Mars was the culmination of my love of classic pulp writers.  Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Mars books were the first vintage pulp novels I ever read.

Pulp writers aren’t as celebrated as they were when I attended my first Worldcon decades ago.  So, I’m profoundly pleased that this organization had recognized my work.  And delighted to accept this award, even if it is in absentia.  Regrettably, my passport is out of date.

I’ve just learned that the Edgar Rice Burroughs people and the estate of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle have approved my novelette in which John Clayton (Lord Greystoke), visits Baker Street in search of Sherlock Holmes’ expert assistance.

I don’t know where I can go from here, but I’m going to keep trying….thanks for the encouragement.  I deeply appreciate it.

POSTHUMOUS HALL OF FAME AWARD

The Posthumous Hall of Fame was created in 1994 to acknowledge people in Science Fiction who should have, but did not, receive that type of recognition during their lifetimes.

  • Ken Kelly
  • Conrad H. Ruppert

Ken Kelly (1946-2022) was an American fantasy artist.  Over his 50-year career, he focused in particular on paintings in the sword and sorcery and heroic fantasy subgenres. 

Throughout the 1970s he was a prominent cover artist for Warren Publishing’s Creepy and Eerie magazines.

His work often portrays exotic, enchanted locales and primal battlefields.  He depicted Conan the Barbarian, Tarzan, and the rock acts KISS, Rainbow, and Ace Frehley.

Conrad H. Ruppert (Photograph by John L. Coker III)

Conrad H. Ruppert was an early STF fan, a card-carrying reporter for Gernsback’s Science and Invention magazine (1924-25), a printer, and a pioneering science fiction journalist.

He will likely best be remembered as the person who painstakingly set the type by hand for many of the earliest and finest fanzines such as The Time Traveller, Science Fiction Digest, Fantasy Magazine, The Fantasy Fan, and later, The Weinbaum Memorial Volume (1938) and The Souvenir Journal of the World Science Fiction Convention (1939).

The professional appearance of Ruppert’s typeset publications set the highest standard for other fan printers and helped to legitimize the idea of fans publishing science fiction.

Julius Schwartz and Conrad H. Ruppert (1945). Collection of John L. Coker III.

He won a cash prize from Gernsback in an early contest that promoted science fiction.

Ruppert was also a life-long photographer who stood outside the entrance to the first Worldcon on July 2,1939, and made pictures of the big-name fans and pros as they arrived.  Three dozen of Ruppert’s photos that he made at the 1939 New York World’s Fair are part of the Smithsonian Museum’s Collection.

It is due to Ruppert’s tireless efforts as science fiction’s preeminent printer during a critical time in early fandom history that he is still remembered and highly-regarded today.

SAM MOSKOWITZ ARCHIVE AWARD

Sam Moskowitz Archive Award was created in 1998 to recognize not only someone who has assembled a world-class collection but also what has actually been done with it.For example: previous award recipients have published articles and books, made collections available for public viewing, loaned items for other projects and donated material to be preserved for future generations.

  • John L. Coker III

Acceptance Remarks by John L. Coker III

John L. Coker III (Photo courtesy of the author)

Thank you, everyone.  I am thrilled this evening to be the recipient of this historic award.

Sam Moskowitz was one of the greatest science fiction fans ever.  He taught me (3) principles:

  • Prepare for every panel discussion.
  • Make notes about who you saw and what was said.
  • Label the back of every photograph.

I’d like to acknowledge Forry Ackerman, Julie Schwartz, Dave Kyle and Bob Madle for their support, and thank all of the members of First Fandom for honoring me with this award.

John L. Coker III – No Collecting! (Photo provided by the author.)

[Thanks to John L. Coker III for providing the draft text and supplying the photos.]

First Fandom Takes Aim at the Future

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After the last original member of First Fandom, Bob Madle, died last October, the organization’s leadership decided to canvass the membership, now composed of Associate Members who have been active in fandom for more than three decades, asking whether First Fandom should continue and in what form. President John L. Coker III has shared the results of the survey in the group’s newsletter and with File 770.

First Fandom Questionnaire

(Reprinted from Scientifiction, the First Fandom quarterly newsletter, No. 75 – 1Q2023, edited by John L. Coker III.)

(75) questionnaires were sent out to the members.  (57) members responded (that’s an approximately 78% participation rate).  Here are the four questions:

(1) Now that there are no original members left, should we continue as an organization?

(2) If you do feel that we should continue, should we reorganize under a new name to legitimately continue our original mission of presenting awards, issuing our publications, keeping alive the memories, and having fun?

(3) Do you agree that, in the new organization, the members’ annual dues should be current?

(4)  Do you wish to become a Charter Member?

Results

(1) An overwhelming majority of respondents said that we should continue as an organization, and only four said we should not continue as an organization.  One respondent felt that “it was time everyone moved on to something else, whether it be a foundation or something not yet thought of.”    One stated that they did not care. Another: “I like the idea of an organization bringing together long-time fen interested in the history of fan-dom.  I’m not enthusiastic about organizing the group as a memorial to a generation of folks all of whom I love to read about but not all of whom I necessarily feel comfortable lionizing.” Another: “I think First Fandom should now be ended.  Some kind of organization to honor the first fans is a nice idea.  I’ll applaud it, but probably won’t join it.  Another: “First Fandom was *their* thing.  I was friends with some of them, but I wasn’t *one* of them.  Some of those guys made it clear to me that they wanted the organization to end when they did.  So, I say, let it end.”

(2) An overwhelming majority of respondents said that we should reorganize under a new name so that we could continue our original mission, and only three respondents said that we should not reorganize under a new name.  One person stated “…they had no problem keeping the organization going with the original name.”  One stated they did not care.  Another wrote: “Count me in!” Another person wrote: “If the questionnaire were longer, I’d vote for measures to broaden rather than freeze the definition of ‘First’.” 

(3) All but two respondents felt that, in order to belong to the new proposed organization, the members needed to be current in their dues.  One person felt that if some members were unable to afford dues, that their dues should be paid for them by a reserve fund.  One person noted that in the past some members had made a lifetime dues payment.

(4) An overwhelming majority of respondents felt that they did want to become charter members of the new organization.  Only four respondents did not want to become charter members.  One respondent said it depended on the cost.  Another suggested that we could merge with or align themselves with another organization (for example, the Science Fiction Research Association) so that our members would have opportunities to be published.

Conclusions

Based on written responses to the questionnaire, the great majority of our members agree that we should continue, but that we should reorganize under a new name.  Most agreed that members should pay annual dues.  Nearly all respondents felt that if a new organization was formed, they wanted to be charter members of that new organization.

So, according to our membership, it seems that “First Fandom is not dead.”  It is just reorganizing.  Dinosaurs that adapt will not as easily go extinct.  More information about our path forward will be made available soon.

First Fandom Awards 2023 Nominees

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First Fandom has announced the candidates for the organization’s three annual awards. Members have until May 1 to vote

FIRST FANDOM HALL OF FAME

The First Fandom Hall of Fame, created in 1963, is a prestigious achievement award given to a living recipient who has made significant contributions to Science Fiction throughout their lifetime.

  • Michael Moorcock

“Michael John Moorcock is an English writer, particularly of science fiction and fantasy, who has published a number of well-received literary novels as well as comic thrillers, graphic novels and non-fiction. He has worked as an editor and is also a successful musician. He is best known for his novels about the character Elric of Melniboné, which were a seminal influence on the field of fantasy in the 1960s and ’70s.” “As editor of the British science fiction magazine New Worlds, from May 1964 until March 1971 and then again from 1976 to 1996, Moorcock fostered the development of the SF “New Wave” in the UK and indirectly in the US, leading to the advent of cyberpunk.” “He also has published pastiches of writers including Edger Rice Burroughs, Robert E. Howard, and Leigh Brackett. He was a member of the Swordsmen and Sorcerers’ Guild of America. The SFWA named him their 25th Grand Master.” “Novels and series such as the Cornelius Quartet, Mother London, King of the City, the Pyat Quartet and the short story collection London Bone have established him in the eyes of critics.” (Excerpted from a longer article in Wikipedia)

  • Will Murray

William Patrick Murray is a prolific author, essayist, contributing editor, series writer, movie tie-in writer, producer of audio books and ebooks, ghostwriter, comics novelist, literary executor, collector, and contributor to encyclopedias and dictionaries. His work has kept alive beloved characters from the past. He is the award-winning author of hundreds of stories, non-fiction articles, books, and dozens of introductions to anthologies. He has written many short stories of the characters Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Iron Man, Nick Fury, Spider-Man, Honey West, the Hulk, Green Hornet, Zorro, and Lee Falk’s The Phantom. And, with Steve Ditko he created the super hero Squirrel Girl. He is a genuine enthusiast who has worked with the estates of prominent authors such as Lester Dent and Edger Rice Burroughs to write authorized adventures of characters from the days of radio and pulps, including the Shadow, Doc Savage, Tarzan, John Carter of Mars, the Spider, the Whisperer, Sherlock Holmes, Black Mask, Operator #5, G-8 and His Battle Aces, Spicy Zeppelin, King Kong, and H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos. (Based on a longer article in Wikipedia)

POSTHUMOUS HALL OF FAME

The Posthumous Hall of Fame was created in 1994 to acknowledge people in Science Fiction who should have, but did not, receive that type of recognition during their lifetimes.

  • Ken Kelly

“Ken William Kelly (May 19, 1946 – June 2, 2022) was an American fantasy artist. Over his 50-year career, he focused in particular on SCIENTIFICTION 1Q2023 New Series #75, Page 6 paintings in the sword and sorcery and heroic fantasy subgenres.” “Throughout the 1970s he was a prominent cover artist for Warren Publishing’s Creepy and Eerie magazines.” “His work often portrays exotic, enchanted locales and primal battlefields. He depicted Conan the Barbarian, Tarzan, and the rock acts KISS, Rainbow, and Ace Frehley.” (Excerpted from a longer article in Wikipedia)

  • Conrad H. Ruppert

Conrad H. Ruppert was an early STF fan, a card-carrying reporter for Gernsback’s Science and Invention magazine (1924-25), a printer, and a pioneering science fiction journalist. He will likely best be remembered as the person who painstakingly set the type by hand for many of the earliest and finest fanzines such as The Time Traveller, Science Fiction Digest, Fantasy Magazine, The Fantasy Fan, and later, The Weinbaum Memorial Volume (1938) and The Souvenir Journal of the World Science Fiction Convention (1939). The professional appearance of Ruppert’s typeset publications set the highest standard for other fan printers and helped to legitimize the idea of fans publishing science fiction. He won a cash prize from Gernsback in an early contest that promoted science fiction. Ruppert was also a life-long photographer who stood outside the entrance to the first Worldcon on July 2, 1939, and made pictures of the big-name fans and pros as they arrived. Three dozen of Ruppert’s photos that he made at the 1939 New York World’s Fair are part of the Smithsonian Museum’s Collection. It is due to Ruppert’s tireless efforts as science fiction’s preeminent printer during a critical time in early fandom history that he is still remembered and highly-regarded today.

SAM MOSKOWITZ ARCHIVE AWARD

Sam Moskowitz Archive Award was created in 1998 to recognize not only someone who has assembled a world-class collection but also what has actually been done with it.

  • John L. Coker III

For more than thirty-five years, hundreds of John’s photos and articles in the imaginative literature genre have been published widely in magazines, newspapers, on book covers, in digital media, as well as in program books for numerous World Fantasy and World Science Fiction Conventions and have been featured in such publications as The New York Times and USA Today Weekend. John has been a regular photographer and reporter for Scientifiction, columnist for Tangent magazine, and a contributor to LOCUS and SF Chronicle. John edited three books for Days of Wonder Publishers about David A. Kyle (2006), Ray Bradbury (2008), and Forrest J Ackerman and Julius Schwartz (2009). He was a contributing editor for The Sam Moskowitz Bibliography and Guide by Hal W. Hall (2017), and Futures Past: A Visual History of Science Fiction, 1926 (Jim Emerson, 2014). A founding member of First Fandom Experience, John is a contributing editor and principal historian for their books. John has assembled a large collection of vint[1]age photos, fan magazines, and personal interviews which he incorporates into his publications. He is an active member of FAPA and N3F. With co-author Jon D. Swartz, he has published six volumes of the First Fandom Annual. John helped establish and nurture the First Fandom Archive to help preserve original science fiction-related items and make them available for historic research.

[From Scientifiction, the First Fandom quarterly newsletter, No. 75 – 1Q2023, edited by John L. Coker III.]

First Fandom Annual 2022

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Jon D. Swartz and John L. Coker III have recently published the First Fandom Annual 2022: First Fanthology where some of the members of First Fandom present original essays, fiction, poetry, illustration, plus a special appreciation of Ray Bradbury.

Contents include early convention memories, a closer look at Roger Zelazny, a science fiction alphabet, the thrill of collecting, the adventures of Cat McCool, science fiction for the serviceman, a Ray Bradbury bio-bibliography and more.
 
There are contributions from Arlan K. Andrews, Sr., John L. Coker III, James E. Gunn, Theodore Krulik, Jack Lange, Radell Faraday Nelson, Robert Silverberg, Jon D. Swartz, and David B. Williams.

The publication is (56) pages in length, and is limited to (50) copies.  It is laser printed on 28# quality paper and features B&W and color interiors with gloss covers.  It is 8½ x 11 and booklet-stapled.  The price is $35 (which includes packing, postage, insurance and tracking). 

All copies will be sent via USPS Priority Mail.  To order, those people who are interested are asked to please send a check or money order for $35 (payable to John L. Coker III) to John L. Coker III at 4813 Lighthouse Road, Orlando, FL – 32808.  

[Based on a press release.]

Pixel Scroll 10/24/22 Labyrinth of Chaos

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(1) EU TURN. BBC Future explores the meaning of “Eucatastrophe: Tolkien’s word for the ‘anti-doomsday’”.

…In particular, Tolkien wrote about what makes a happy ending so powerful in stories. And to do so, he came up with an intriguing coinage: fairy stories, he suggested, often feature a “eucatastrophe” – this was, he suggested, a “good” catastrophe. So, what exactly did he mean? And could such events happen in real life too?

In the present day, Tolkien’s idea of the “good catastrophe” has attracted the attention of scholars who study existential risk and humanity’s future prospects. It turns out that eucatastrophes may matter beyond fairy stories – and identifying the conditions that lead to them could be necessary if we want to thrive as a species.

According to Tolkien, a eucatastrophe in a story often happens at the darkest moment. When all seems lost – when the enemy seems to have won – a sudden “joyous turn” for the better can emerge. It delivers a deep emotional reaction in readers: “a catch of the breath, a beat and lifting of the heart”, he wrote….

(2) CLOSE LOOK AT THE CLARKE FINALISTS. The winner of the Arthur C. Clarke Award will be announced on Wednesday. Andrew Butler, chair of judges, discusses the finalists in detail in “The Best Science Fiction of 2022: The Clarke Award Shortlist” at Five Books.

…Let’s talk about Deep Wheel Orcadia by the Scottish writer Harry Josephine Giles. It’s a novel-in-verse, which takes a very interesting literary approach. Can you tell us more?

Novels-in-two-verses, you might argue. One in Orcadian, one in English. Orcadian is a dialect of Scots—as opposed to Gaelic—and there’s a history of Scots feeding into science fiction and horror, especially Gothic horror. In 1919, someone came up with the idea of the Caledonian antisyzygy—the Scots think in one language, but feel in another, say. There’s a sort of divided consciousness at the centre of Scottish books, poetry and art—and we can trace this division in authors such as Robert Louis Stevenson, Iain M. Banks and many others.

I think I can relate to that.

The action of Deep Wheel Orcadia is mostly set on or close to an isolated space station, at a crisis point in the solar system, and focuses on the working and private lives of the characters on board. You could decide to read the Orcadian version and then the English, or vice versa, or just one—but you’d miss so much if you only read half. I think you can pick up the Orcadian, as you might the Riddleyspeak in Russell Hoban’s Riddley Walker….

(3) SCORING SFF. [Item by Martin Morse Wooster.] I listened to this 2017 podcast Leonard and Jessie Maltin had with composer Michael Giacchino. You knew this would be a great interview because Giacchino begins the interview by saying that when he’s in the car, he listens to old-time radio and his favorite show is the sf show X Minus One. Leonard Maltin wrote a very good book about old time radio and he and Giacchino geek out about radio for many minutes.  Most of the rest of the interview was how Giacchino got his start; he graduated from the School of Visual Arts with postgraduate work at Julliard. He ended up scoring video games and got a big break from Steven Spielberg that led to his scoring “The Lost World” video game. Another big break led to Giacchino writing the score for The Incredibles after John Barry, who originally was offered the job, declined.

I think Giacchino is the best active film composer and he also gets credit for hiring veteran musicians who have all their skills but may need help with technology or disabilities. Between 85-90 percent of Giacchino’s work is for sf or fantasy films, so this should be of interest. Maltin on Movies: “Michael Giacchino”.

(4) KEN BURNS TURNS THE PAGE. In the New York Times: “Ken Burns Wishes More People Would Call Willa Cather a Great American Novelist”, however, he also reads sff.

What books are on your night stand?

I have a pretty big night stand. … and then I have Kim Stanley Robinson’s “New York 2140,” which is a really wonderful book, imagining a less dystopian future. It does have disasters and climate change, but it also has sort of human adaptability, and it’s really spectacular. 

Do you have favorite genres and genres that you avoid?

I don’t like horror. I had a big science fiction thing in high school and college and I haven’t read science fiction in ages and ages. I used to read religiously Roger Zelazny and now I can’t even find his books on a bookshelf at a reputable bookstore. But everything else is kind of open. I like good writing. One writer I love is Willa Cather. People say, Was it Melville or Hemingway or Twain who wrote the great American novel, meaning “Moby-Dick” or “A Farewell to Arms” or obviously “Huckleberry Finn,” where, as Hemingway rightly said, American literature begins. But what about “O Pioneers!” or “My Ántonia”? For that matter, what about Gabriel García Márquez? We do not have a copyright on the word “American.”

(5) BUSCH COMMEMORATED. First Fandom President John L. Coker III announced a tribute to the late Justin E. A. Busch who died October 21.

Last week, after I learned about his grave condition, I had an award plaque made.  It is the seldom-given First Fandom Merit Award, “Presented to Justin E. A. Busch for attaining excellence in his work.”  He didn’t live long enough to see it but I would like for it to be at least a small part of his legacy.

(6) MEMORY LANE.

1984 — [By Cat Eldridge.] Ray Bradbury’s A Memory of Murder

Ray Bradbury’s A Memory of Murder is a collection of fifteen of his mystery short stories published thirty-eight years ago by Dell. They first appeared from 1944 to 1948 in pulp magazines owned by Popular Publications, Inc. that specialized in detective and crime fiction.

Bradbury wasn’t that happy with these stories as he thought he hadn’t developed yet as a writer and made that well known more than once later on. As he said in an interview with Crime Time, “When my first detective mystery stories began to appear in Dime Detective, Dime Mystery Magazine, Detective Tales, and Black Mask in the early ’40s, there was no immediate trepidation over in the Hammett-Chandler-Cain camp. The fact is, it didn’t develop later either. I was never a threat. I couldn’t, in the immortal words of Marlon Brando, have been a contender.”

The stories themselves numbered fifteen in total with titles such as “A Careful Man Dies” from New Detective Magazine in November 1946). The cover blurb was “For a hemophiliac, no object is innocent, and even a kiss can kill!” It was one of Bradbury’s stories that filmed in 2005, this time by Italian backers and producers. 

Another one, “It Burns Me Up!” from Dime Mystery Magazine in November 1944 carried the wonderfully chilling first line of “I am lying here in the very centre of the room and I am not mad, I am not angry, I am not perturbed” it serves as a great reminder that some of his stories got turned comics, see Ray Bradbury Comics, Number 3, published in 1993.

I’ll let Ed Gorman have the last word as he reviewed this collection over on his blog in his column Forgotten Books. He said of his favorite story, “The most interesting story is ‘The Long Night.’ I remember the editor who bought it writing a piece years later about what a find it was. And it is. A story set in the Hispanic area of Los Angeles during the war, it deals with race and race riots, with the juvenile delinquency that was a major problem for this country in the war years (remember The Amboy Dukes?) and the paternal bonds that teenage boys need and reject at the same time. A haunting, powerful story that hints at the greatness that was only a few years away from Bradbury.” 

It went of print immediately but the paperback is fairly easy to find at the usual sellers.

(7) TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS.

[Compiled by Cat Eldridge.]

  • Born October 24, 1893 — Merian Cooper. Aviator, Writer, Director and Producer. After spending WWI in the Air Force, Cooper became a writer and researcher for The New York Times and later the American Geographic Society, traveling the world, and writing stories and giving lectures about his travels. He then turned some of his writing into documentary films. He had helped David Selznick get a job at RKO Pictures, and later Selznick hired him to make movies. He developed one of his story ideas into a movie featuring a giant gorilla which is terrorizing New York City. King Kong was released in 1933, and the story has been sequeled, remade, comicbooked, and rebooted innumerable times in the last 85 years. (Died 1973.) (JJ) 
  • Born October 24, 1915 — Bob Kane. Writer and Artist who co-created, along with Bill Finger, the DC character Batman. Multiple sources report that “Kane said his influences for the character included actor Douglas Fairbanks’ movie portrayal of the swashbuckler Zorro, Leonardo da Vinci’s diagram of the ornithopter, a flying machine with huge bat-like wings; and the 1930 film The Bat Whispers, based on Mary Roberts Rinehart’s mystery novel The Circular Staircase.” He was inducted into Jack Kirby Hall of Fame and the Will Eisner Hall of Fame. The character he created has been featured in countless comic books, stories, movies, TV series, animated features, videogames, and action figures in the last eight decades. The 1989 movie based on his creation, featuring Michael Keaton in the title role, was a finalist for both Hugo and British Science Fiction Association Awards. (Died 1998.)
  • Born October 24, 1948 — Margaret “Peggy” Ranson. Artist, Illustrator, and Fan, who became involved with fandom when she co-edited the program book for the 1988 Worldcon in New Orleans. She went on to provide art for many fanzines and conventions, and was a finalist for the Best Fan Artist Hugo every one of the eight years from 1991 to 1998, winning once. She was Guest of Honor at several conventions, including a DeepSouthCon. Sadly, she died of cancer in 2016; Mike Glyer’s lovely tribute to her can be read here. (Died 2016.)
  • Born October 24, 1952 — Jane Fancher, 70. Writer and Artist. In the early 80s, she was an art assistant on Elfquest, providing inking assistance on the black and white comics and coloring of the original graphic novel reprints. She adapted portions of C.J. Cherryh’s first Morgaine novel into a black and white comic book, which prompted her to begin writing novels herself. Her first novel, Groundties, was a finalist for the Compton Crook Award, and she has been Guest of Honor and Toastmaster at several conventions.
  • Born October 24, 1956 — Katie Waitman, 66. Her best known work to date was the Compton Crook Award winning The Merro Tree in which a galaxy-spanning performance artist must defy a ban imposed on him. Her second novel, The Divided, appears to be bog standard military SF but really isn’t. Highly recommended.  
  • Born October 24, 1956 — Dr. Jordin Kare. Physicist, Filker, and Fan who was known for his scientific research on laser propulsion. A graduate of MIT and Berkeley, he said that he chose MIT because of the hero in Heinlein’s Have Spacesuit, Will Travel. He was a regular attendee and science and filk program participant at conventions, from 1975 until his untimely death. He met his wife, Mary Kay Kare, at the 1981 Worldcon. He should be remembered and honored as being an editor of The Westerfilk Collection: Songs of Fantasy and Science Fiction, a crucial filksong collection, and later as a partner in Off Centaur Publications, the very first commercial publisher specializing in filk songbooks and recordings. Shortly after the shuttle Columbia tragedy, astronaut Buzz Aldrin, on live TV, attempted to read the lyrics to Jordin’s Pegasus Award-winning song “Fire in the Sky”, which celebrates manned space exploration. He was Guest of Honor at numerous conventions, and was named to the Filk Hall of Fame. Mike Glyer’s tribute to him can be read here. (Died 2017.) (JJ)
  • Born October 24, 1960 — BD Wong, 62.  His first genre role was in Jurassic Park as Dr. Henry Wu (a role reprised in Jurassic World, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom and Jurassic Park Dominion). He was the voice of Captain Li Shang on Mulan, and Whiterose, head of the hacker collective Dark Army on Mr. Robot.
  • Born October 24, 1974 — Liesel Schwarz, 48. She’s been dubbed, by whom I know not I admit, “The High Priestess of British Steampunk”. She has written the Chronicles of Light and Shadow trilogy, a sequence set in a Steampunk version of Europe in which the three novels are Chronicles of Light and Shadow, A Clockwork Heart and Sky Pirates.
  • Born October 24, 1971 — Sofia Samatar, 51. Teacher, Writer, and Poet who speaks several languages and started out as a language instructor, a job which took her to Egypt for nine years. She won the Campbell Award for Best New Writer, and is the author of two wonderful novels to date, both of which I highly recommend: Stranger in Olondria (which won World Fantasy and British Fantasy Awards and was nominated for a Nebula) and The Winged Histories. Her short story “Selkie Stories are for Losers” was nominated for Hugo, Nebula, BSFA, and BFA Awards. She has written enough short fiction in just six years that Small Beer Press put out Tender, a collection which is a twenty-six stories strong. And she has a most splendid website. (Standback)

(8) COMICS SECTION.

  • Six Chix may be a comic but these characters are not overdrawn.
  • Tom Gauld on the perfect book cover. Almost.

(9) BULLPEN MEMORIES. “An iconic Daredevil writer and X-Men editor joins the pod to talk about taking translating stories from The Daily News into the Daily Bugle.” “The Girl From Marvel’s Boy-Club Bullpen Tells All About Old Times Square” in the FAQ NYC podcast.

Ann Nocenti, the writer, journalist and filmmaker who wrote and edited some of the most iconic Marvel comics of the late 1980s and early 1990s joins the podcast to discuss her early years in New York as “the girl who lived behind the fish tank,” quite literally, how her work in asylums influenced her stories about superheroes, creating Marvel’s first openly transgender character, the role of “fake news” in the comics she’s working on now, and much more. 

(10) NOT A ONE NIGHT STAND. Deadline lists the film adaptations of Howard Waldrop stories that George R.R. Martin is producing. “’House of the Dragon’ Creator George R.R. Martin On Short Film Anthology Including One With Felicia Day”.

Days before a Targaryen civil war erupts between Rhaenyra and Alicent on the Season 1 finale of HBO’s House of the Dragon, you’ll find series creator George R.R. Martin staying mum on fire-breathing animals and talking up his latest rotoscope animated short, Night of the Cooters, in his Santa Fe, NM stomping ground.

The Vincent D’Onofrio-directed cowboys vs. aliens film based on the Howard Waldrop short story is one of four short movies Martin is producing in what is shaping up to be an anthology either for the big screen (a la Creepshow) or TV (a la Love, Death and Robots)…

In addition to Night of the Cooters, Martin recently finished production on the second title he owns from sci-fi author Waldrop. Currently titled Friends Forever, the short was directed by Justin Duval, a producer and DP on Night of the Cooters, and is currently in post.

Another short currently shooting in Santa Fe under the helm of Steven Paul Judd is Mary Margaret Road-Grader, which Martin billed as a “Native American Mad Max story about tractor pulls and feminism.”

Then there’s Waldrop’s most notable work, The Ugly Chickens, about the extinction of the dodo, which is about to shoot in Toronto with Kodachrome‘s Mark Raso directing….

(11) HOMES OF HORROR. Kelsey Ford lists “Haunted House Books That Will Keep You Up At Night” for readers of the PowellsBooks.Blog.

…In honor of spooky season (the best season), I’ve pulled together a by-no-means-exhaustive list of my favorite haunted house books, books with houses that exemplify the Shirley’s Jackson quote: “It was a house without kindness, never meant to be lived in, not a fit place for people or for love or for hope.”…

(12) MIDDLE EASTERN ANIMATION HIT. “Bidaya Blasts Back to the Future with Sci-Fi Show, ‘The Adventures of Mansour: Age of A.I.’” – Animation Magazine has the story.

The Adventures of Mansour, a sci-fi cartoon phenomenon from the Middle East that’s racked up an astounding two billion YouTube hits, is returning with an all-new sequel series, The Adventures of Mansour: Age of A.I.  

Funded by Mubadala Investment Company and Abu Dhabi Early Childhood Authority (ECA), the dynamic adventure show is aimed at kids aged 6-12. This Mansour relaunch from Bidaya Media, recently announced at MIPCOM 2022, will be the first Arab cartoon first created in English and Arabic then realigned for a worldwide audience presenting topical themes of artificial intelligence, technology, climate change, and space exploration.

…Here’s the official description:

Set in the near future, in the technologically advanced Salam City, ‘The Adventures of Mansour: Age of AI’ is a sci-fi action adventure series that revolves around Mansour, a 12-year-old tech whiz, who unintentionally creates a mischievous sentient artificial intelligence known as Blink. With the support of his closest friends, Mansour must deal with all manner of pranks, challenges and dangers posed by Blink, who for his own amusement, is determined to cause as much chaos as possible for Mansour and the people of Salam City.  

(13) LAND(ED)SHARK. [Item by Martin Morse Wooster.] Tom Scott explores the controversy over the British house with a shark in its roof (a story I think is fandom-adjacent). “The government approves of this shark now.”

[Thanks to Andrew Porter, Chris Barkley, Michael Toman, Cat Eldridge, Mike Kennedy, Martin Morse Wooster, JJ, and John King Tarpinian, for some of these stories. Title credit belongs to File 770 contributing editor of the day OGH.]

First Fandom Awards and Big Heart Award Given at Chicon 8 Opening Ceremonies

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Three First Fandom awards were announced during Chicon 8’s opening ceremonies on September 1. The Big Heart Award for service to fandom also was presented.

First Fandom was created in 1958. The modern organization defines as “dinosaurs” those active in science fiction or fannish activities by the time of the first Worldcon in 1939. Also, anyone who has engaged in correspondence, collecting, conventions, fanzine publishing or reading, writing or participated in a science fiction club for at least 30 years may be eligible for Associate Membership. These three awards were voted by the members:

FIRST FANDOM HALL OF FAME AWARD

The First Fandom Hall of Fame, created in 1963, is a prestigious achievement award given to a living recipient who has made significant contributions to Science Fiction throughout their lifetime.

George W. Price was introduced to science fiction in 1947.  He became active in fandom in the early-1950s and was a member of the Philadelphia Science Fiction Society.  His first convention was TASFiC.  In 1953, he joined the University of Chicago Science Fiction Club, and was later elected president.  Beginning in 1965, he began hosting monthly science fiction parties at his home which continued for 20 years.  He became an early partner in Advent: Publishers.  A technical writer, Army veteran, college graduate and chemical engineer with a life-long interest in limericks and puns, he has been an active science fiction fan for more than 70 years.

George W. Price, Midwestcon, early-1950s. (Photo by Lynn Hickman). Collection of John L. Coker III.
George W. Price with his First Fandom award letter, 2022

POSTHUMOUS HALL OF FAME AWARD

The Posthumous Hall of Fame was created in 1994 to acknowledge people in Science Fiction who should have, but did not, receive that type of recognition during their lifetimes.

  • August Derleth

August Derleth was an internationally respected fan, author, editor, correspondent, poet, lecturer and publisher of science fiction as well as a writer of mystery, horror fiction, regional fiction and natural history.  In addition, he was a 1938 Guggenheim Fellow and a co-founder in 1939 of Arkham House.  In 1948, he was elected president of the Associated Fantasy Publishers at Torcon (the 6th Worldcon).  Derleth wrote more than 150 short stories and more than 100 books during his lifetime. It is for these historic accomplishments that August Derleth is being inducted this year into the First Fandom Posthumous Hall of Fame.

August Derleth in 1939. Photo by Ephraim Burt Trimpey.
Derleth in his library in 1962.

SAM MOSKOWITZ ARCHIVE AWARD

Sam Moskowitz Archive Award was created in 1998 to recognize not only someone who has assembled a world-class collection but also what has actually been done with it.For example: previous award recipients have published articles and books, made collections available for public viewing, loaned items for other projects and donated material to be preserved for future generations.

  • Doug Ellis and Deb Fulton.

Doug Ellis and Deb Fulton run one of the most important pulp conventions that focuses on original artwork, pulps and films covering the past history of the field: the annual Windy City Pulp and Paper Convention. 

Doug and Deb are major collectors of artwork and pulp magazines who generously share their holdings with other fans.  They have conducted significant research and written important books that help perpetuate the memory of past genré artists.  Doug is the author of dozens of essays and, with Deb, has edited and published Pulp Vault for more than 20 years. 

It is for the unique collection that they have assembled and for the service that they have given to the field for decades that the members of First Fandom selected Doug Ellis and Deb Fulton to receive the Sam Moskowitz Archive Award for 2022.

Deb Fulton and Doug Ellis

BIG HEART AWARD

Mark Linneman was presented the Big Heart Award, fandom’s highest service award.

SPECIAL COMMITTEE AWARD

The Internet Speculative Fiction Database was honored with a special committee award by Chicon 8.