The creators of The Visual History of Science Fiction Fandom bring you the story of Cosmos – a remarkable serial novel from 1933, with chapters by sixteen well-known authors. Even more astonishing is the tale of how this extravagant space-opera came to be. Orchestrated by a scrappy, ambitious cadre of young fans – mostly teenagers – the creation of Cosmos is a seminal episode in the history of science fiction. The impact on the novel’s editors and authors echoed through the decades that followed.

This 350-page, profusely illustrated and documented volume presents the full text of Cosmos in the most accessible form yet published. More importantly, it brings to life the history and impact of its creation through the words of its editors and authors. Unique to this publication are thirty-seven original illustrations by Clay Ferguson, Jr., commissioned by the editors for private editions of the novel — and the personal inscriptions of the authors to Raymond A. Palmer, the primary force behind an event that reshaped the genre.

“Venturing into the history of American science fiction can seem like an impossibly daunting task, with unfamiliar writers, editors, fans, and stories fighting for space with some of the most famous names in the field. The Ultimate COSMOS offers a wonderful entry point into this world—a deep dive into a single fascinating episode that situates many of the genre’s key players in relation to one another at the same crucial moment in time. Whether you already know this territory well or want to orient yourself before exploring further, this book is a road map that leads straight to the heart of the pulps.”
– Alec Nevala-Lee, author of the Hugo Award finalist Astounding: John W. Campbell, Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein, L. Ron Hubbard, and the Golden Age of Science Fiction

“The Ultimate COSMOS is great fun and makes a convincing argument that like an asteroid careening through the early science fiction world, the round-robin novel Cosmos had a powerful impact on the careers of all involved—whether authors, editors, illustrators, or the era’s dedicated science fiction fans.”
– Fred Nadis, author of The Man from Mars, Ray Palmer’s Amazing Pulp Journey

“This illustrated history volume weaves together so many different elements – the histories of 17 storied authors from the golden age of the genre; the story of a handful of influential fans (who would go on the heavily influence the field in professional capacities); the business of fanzine publishing and history of two of the most influential fanzines, incidentally exploring the motivations of those early fans; the development of science fiction art; the changing nature of the field itself and a story contest to boot... You’ve not seen SF History presented in this manner before – it’s far more than science fiction’s version of a coffee table book.  I highly recommend it as both entertainment and education, if not revelation.”
– Steve Davidson, Publisher of Amazing Stories

“When COSMOS commenced in 1933, it was ballyhooed as a landmark scientifiction yarn — the first “round robin” SF serial by writers prominent at the time. Yet the cultural history of its publication that David Ritter and the First Fandom Experience team have unearthed is even more exciting than the novel itself. Through contextual essays, illuminating footnotes, and contemporary illustrations (the unpublished art of Clay Ferguson, Jr. is alone worth the price of admission), COSMOS comes alive as pioneering Space Opera and as a crucible for the fan-pro distillation of Golden Age of Science Fiction.”
– MIchael Saler, Professor of History, University of California, Davis

“While the novel itself could be charitably described as uneven, what gleams like the toenails of Thorth throughout this project is the sense of community which was already blooming around the genre of science fiction, still less than ten years old at this point. The Ultimate COSMOS is a truly fascinating book, and the ancillary material presented is full of unexpected or informative facts which place the story in context, and serve to make it far more interesting to read for modern eyes than it has any right to be.”
– Sandra Bond, author of Three Men in Orbit, The Psychopath Club and others

The Ultimate COSMOS is now available!

Click here to order.

Early fans wrote and published prolifically. In The Visual History, we excerpt and distill their work to focus on the most important, interesting and entertaining material they created. Even so, each volume has filled over 500 pages. If you’ve carried one around, you know the meaning of the term “weighty tome.”

Still, we’re frustrated by the exclusion of the full versions of key fan artifacts that provide additional richness and context. This leads to today’s announcement:

The Supplement to The Visual History of Science Fiction Fandom, Volume Three: 1941 is now available.

To manage the cost and effort needed to make this material available, we’re offering this title only via print-on-demand and in a more standard, economical 8.5×11 softcover format. We ran trials with several vendors and found that Lulu Press seems to provide the best combination of print quality (essential for the reproduction of our facsimile content), cost and service. The book can be ordered here:

Click here to order the Supplement to TVHv3 at Lulu Press.

The Supplement includes 168 pages of material created by fans in 1941, with full narratives presented as originally published in seldom-seen fanzines.

TVH3-Supplement-ToC

Please drop a line with feedback on the book and the experience with Lulu to info@firstfandomexperience.org.

Dedicated FFE readers may recall the previous publication of a Supplement to Volume Two. A very small number of copies were produced. The cost of making this more widely available led us to pursue print-on-demand, hopefully a more workable solution for all. In the near future, the Volume Two Supplement will be available through this channel as well. We also expect to compile and release a Supplement to Volume One at some point.

Your continued interest and support are greatly appreciated!

Readers of this blog may recall a post from May 2020 where we shared a unique artifact from the very early history of fandom — an elaborate hand-illustrated fanzine titled Tellus News.

Although dated “Sol 23, 1947,” this remarkable Martian newspaper of the future was penned in January 1932 by one “Howard Lowe.” At the time of our 2020 post, we admitted that we knew nothing further about Lowe or his work.

We’ve learned a lot since then.

Stephen Howard Lowe (later, Low) was born on April 19 1917 in Portland Oregon. In 1930, he was 13 years old and living in New York City. During that year, he began a correspondence with Forrest J Ackerman, then 14. The first known example of the teenagers’ exchange dates to January 18 1931, where Lowe says, “I feel as if I’ve known you for a long time but really its been only about six or seven months.”

Of note in Lowe’s June 18 letter to Ackerman: “You really flattered me when you told me you sent my FRANKENSTEIN letter to Carl Laemmle!” Laemmle was the owner of Universal Pictures and the Producer of the 1931 production of Frankenstein. Why did Ackerman think Laemmle would care about a letter from a thirteen-year-old? Stay tuned…

Later in 1931 (though undated), Lowe reveals his emerging talent as an artist, the family influence on his ability, and his membership in one of Ackerman’s earliest attempts to organize fans: the Junior Science Correspondence Club (JSCC).

Other members of the JSCC remain obscure (but stay tuned). Lowe and Ackerman may have been the most active participants. During this period, Ackerman was also forming the Boys’ Scientifiction Club (BSC). While the BSC is somewhat better documented, the relationship between the two clubs is unclear. Membership almost certainly overlapped.

Lowe gushes over Ackerman, whose similar age the slightly older boy may never have disclosed. Tiny drawings complement and illustrate the text of the letter. Lowe reveals that he’s the nephew of “the cartoonist of DUMB DORA, GUS AND GUSSIE and BUGHOUSE FABLES.”

Lowe took the JSCC quite seriously — as shown in his profusely illustrated “radio script” from August 8 1931.

By the Autumn of 1931, Lowe was beginning to contribute to his uncle’s professional work. In his letter of August 29, he notes: “Yesterday I went to my uncles and did the blackening for one of the strips of DUMB DORA for him.” Later he adds, “All I do is receive letters, answer them, watch the flickers (movies), eat, sleep, and work out original comic strips with original gags. Colored, too!”

Lowe shares some of his history in a letter from September 20 1931. School openings in New York were delayed that year due to an epidemic of Infantile Paralysis. He asks after “Dale,” from whom he gets no letters. Perhaps early fan Dale Tarr was another member of the JSCC? The work continues.

Perhaps Lowe also rendered the monster in the earlier letter Ackerman sent to Laemmle? We’ll likely never know.

In early 1932, Lowe began to mention Tellus News.

At the end of January, Lowe sent Ackerman “the second issue of Tellus News” — the same issue we’ve shown here. He also claims to quit the practice of illustrating his letters: “From now on all of my letters will be typewritten and you won’t receive any of my ‘red or blue letters.'” (But stay tuned.)

The abandonment of illustrated letters would last only a week.

A mystery emerged in Lowe’s next letters. It seems that Tellus News hadn’t reached Ackerman in the mail.

But (phew), the unique fanzine was found! Ackerman returned it to Lowe, apparently with effusive praise. Tellus News number three was duly promised.

In the last batch of material we have from Lowe, we learn that he sent Tellus News number two back to Ackerman, and that number three was complete. As far as we know, it’s never been seen. We also have the identity of at least one other member of the JSCC: “Linus,” who can only be Linus Hogenmiller, allegedly Ackerman’s first correspondent.

Lowe’s March letter also included two full-page illustrations rendered for Ackerman. Seems young Howard had something for Clara Bow.

After this, the trail goes cold. Sadly, these letters were exchanged before Ackerman began his practice of keeping drafts of his outgoing correspondence. The search for any surviving papers from Lowe’s estate may yield the next chapter in the story of Howie and Forrest.

But thanks to some exceptional research by Alex Jay, we know that Lowe’s early activity as a fan presaged a career as a professional artist. He went on to study art at Cooper Union in New York, graduating in 1938.

Low served in the Army from 1943 to 1946, reaching the rank of Corporal and acting as “an artist-correspondent in the Pacific.” (Nassau Daily Review-Star, April 16 1946). His art appeared in Fortune, Theater Arts, and other magazines. He designed textile patterns, one of which (“Cosmic Bouquet”) is held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Low died on November 9 1990. Please visit Alex Jay’s blog post, “Howard Low, Artist and Illustrator,” May 20 2022 for much more detail on Low’s family history and samples of his work throughout his career.

Thanks for the material in this post go to the curators of the Forrest J Ackerman Papers at Syracuse University Libraries’ Special Collections Research Center (SCRC); Alex Jay, author of the Chinese American Eyes blog; and Sam McDonald of the FFE team.

First Fandom Experience is a collaborative publishing project. Over the last several years, our team has issued six volumes focused on the early history of fandom. There’s more to come as we round out our primary series, The Visual History of Science Fiction Fandom. Additional offerings are also in the works.

Fan history is replete with stories of individuals whose experience in fandom enabled them to create the foundations of the massive science fiction and fantasy industry we know today. The writings of these early fans also offer unique insights on the US and Britain during the Great Depression and the Second World War.

We hope to engage with students, historians and others with interest and intent to learn, understand and publish these stories.

In support of our work, FFE has assembled an extensive archive of fan material — fanzines, convention material, club ephemera, photographs, correspondence and others — all from the late 1920s to the late-1940s. The physical archive resides in the collections of David Ritter and Alistair Durie, each accumulated over decades. Our exclusive focus on this period also allows us to source supplemental digital material from other private, university and public sources.

The digital archive holds about 4,100 distinct fanzine issues dated 1930 – 1946, with near-complete coverage over 810 titles for this period. Complete runs of seminal early fanzines include:

Ad Astra (1939 – 1940)	The Nucleus (1938 – 1944)
The Alchemist (1940 – 1947)	The Phantagraph and predecessors (1934 – 1946)
Arcturus (1935 – 1937)	The Planet (1930)
The Beyond (British; 1942 – 1946)	The Planeteer (1935 – 1936)
The Brooklyn Reporter (1935)	PSFS News (1937 – 1948)
The Comet / Cosmology (1930 – 1933; lacking one issue)	Ramblings / Matters of Opinion (1938 – 1947)
Cosmic Cuts (British; 1943 – 1946)	The Reader and Collector (1938 – 1946)
Cosmic Tales (1937 – 1941)	Sardonxy (1940 – 1945)
Fantascience Digest (1937 – 1941)	The Satellite (British; 1938 – 1940)
Fantaseer (1939 – 1941)	Scenes of Fantasy (1939)
The Fantasite (1940 – 1944)	Science Fiction (Siegel & Shuster; 1932 – 1933)
Fantasy Digest (1939 – 1940)	Science Fiction Collector (1936 – 1941)
The Fantasy Fan (1933 – 1935)	Science Fiction Digest / Fantasy Magazine (1932 – 1937)
Fantasy Fiction Telegram (1936 – 1938)	The Science Fiction Fan (II) (1936 – 1941)
The Fourteen Leaflet (1935 – 1937)	The Science Fiction Scout (1937 – 1939)
Futuria Fantasia (1939 – 1940)	SOLOR (1937-1939)
The Futurian (1938 – 1940)	Spaceways (1938 – 1942)
Futurian War Digest (British; 1940 – 1945)	Sun Spots (1940 – 1947)
Helios (1937 – 1938)	Sustaining Program (1938 – 1947)
Imagination! (1937 – 1938)	Sweetness and Light (1939 – 1940)
International Observer (1934 – 1937)	Tesseract (1936 – 1938)
Le Vombiteur (1938 – 1941)	Temper! (1945 – 1947)
Le Zombie (1938 – 1975)	The Time Traveller (1932 – 1933)
Milty’s Mag (1940 – 1946)	Tomorrow (British; 1937 – 1938)
Mind of Man (1936 – 1937)	Ultra (Australian; 1939 – 1942)
New Fandom (1938 – 1941)	Van Houten Says (1938 – 1942)
Novae Terrae (1936 – 1939)	Voice of the Imagi-Nation (1939 – 1947)

Also of note are one-of-a-kind fan artifacts, including hand-illustrated fanzines such as Tellus News and Supramundane Stories; preliminary dummy versions of fanzines; signed copies of convention program books; and Frederik Pohl’s Vombitoria.

A partial index of the material currently in the FFE archive is available for download, below. We’ll update this periodically. Future editions will include listings of correspondence, photographs and original fan art.

FFE is prepared to facilitate access to the archive for individuals and organizations seeking to research and publish in this area of study. Please reach out to us at:

info@firstfandomexperience.org

We look forward to hearing from you!

The round-robin novel Cosmos was the product of a scheme orchestrated in 1933 by a young Raymond A. Palmer, then editor of the fanzine Science Fiction Digest. This remarkable feat of amateur publishing involved the recruitment of sixteen professional authors, each of whom contributed a chapter loosely developed from a plot outline provided by Palmer. We’ve written extensively about Cosmos, especially on the The Cosmos Project website.

While Cosmos represented an impressive achievement in influence and coordination, the resulting fiction was somewhat predictably irregular — and in some cases, terrible. In 2020, we launched a writing contest that sought to address what we saw as the worst flaw. The final chapter, contributed by none other than Edmund Hamilton, fails to draw together the previous elements in the story and left us entirely unsatisfied.

Several authors stepped up to offer alternative conclusions to the novel. We announced the winners and published their submissions in 2021.

The success of this contest led us to initiate a sequel. The 2021 Cosmos Prize was established as encouragement for artists to illustrate two parallel round-robin works, both titled The Challenge From Beyond. Ten prominent professional authors wrote chapters based on the title — five for a science fiction version, and five for a fantasy version. The results were published in the September 1935 issue of Fantasy Magazine. You can read the works as they originally appeared here.

We were delighted when Sara Light-Waller, winner of the 2020 Cosmos Prize, also submitted a terrific entry for the 2021 prize. We then waited anxiously for other aspiring and/or accomplished artists to take up the Challenge… From Beyond. We’ve had numerous expressions of interest, but no further credible submissions.

It’s past time to give Sara her due. We’re pleased to present her four illustrations. The first three capture scenes and characters from the science fiction version of the story, written by Stanley G. Weinbaum, Donald Wandrei, Edward E. Smith, Ph.D., Hal Vincent and Murray Leinster. She created two full renderings for this story. Page numbers are as they appeared in the original fanzine, where numbers spanned multiple issues in a volume. (Click the images for expanded views.)

Sara submitted just a single illustration for the fantasy version of Challenge From Beyond, written by C.L. Moore, A. Merritt, H.P. Lovecraft, Robert E. Howard, and Frank Belknap Long, Jr. Her exceptional work on this piece recalls for us the style of Virgil Finlay.

Congratulations to Sara! As the winner of the 2021 Cosmos Prize, she’ll receive $300 in cash and copies of The Visual History of Science Fiction Fandom.

Stay tuned to First Fandom Experience for more news about our continuing work to bring to life the history and impact of science fiction fandom.

Science fiction fandom in 1941 played out in a panoply of wisdom, foolishness, belief and incredulity. Less mired than previous years in the economic shackles of the Great Depression, fans let loose in ways both expected and surprising.

The year began with a bang – the noisy implosion of the ascendant Queens Science Fiction League, torn apart by rancor among New York factions stewing since 1938. In early December, fans in America were forced to face the threat of imminent dystopia as insidious products of science and engineering rained down on sailors at Pearl Harbor.

Between these bookends, fans read and wrote and gathered and argued and published in profusion – mostly in good humor.

The perennial questions persisted. What’s the purpose of the fiction we inhale like oxygen? What role do fans play in the world? Are we somehow better than others? What’s the point of organizing? Perhaps these debates were reason enough to come together.

Fans flocked together. Small but vibrant clubs coalesced in Boston, Minneapolis, northern New Jersey and central Michigan. Regional gatherings established communities and annual conferences that still endure.

Fans initially believed the shocking report of the suicide of Earl Singleton, the tall handsome poet who so impressed them at the Chicago Worldcon in 1940 – and were incredulous when his demise was revealed to be a cynical prank.

The Futurians of New York had been a hotbed of controversy, publishers of variously literate invective and often maudlin poetry. As the calendar turned, many members of this loose confederation found footholds in the professional ranks. As editors of short-lived pulps, they published stories penned by their friends. As authors, some launched careers that would last a lifetime.

Fanzines flourished. Some fans lamented the deluge. As always, quality varied widely. Stalwarts such as Harry Warner, Jr. (Spaceways and Horizons), Jack Speer (Sustaining Program) and Julius Unger (Fantasy Fiction Field) consistently published high-quality issues. The Fantasy Amateur Press Association met its goal of four quarterly mailings, each stuffed with a few gems and a collage of miscellany.

Fan artists matured, raising the bar for the quality of illustration gracing amateur publications. The impressive work of Lou Goldstone and Roy V. Hunt could well have led to careers in art but did not. British fan artist Harry E. Turner’s contributions to wartime fanzines laid the foundation for his later work as a designer and graphic artist.

Between their frequent parties, the dynamic Los Angeles fan community produced a monthly avalanche of material. Voice of the Imagi-Nation served as the hub of fan correspondence from America, the UK, Canada and Australia. The group pioneered the wider use of lithography for art reproduction and fostered a growing base of professional authors. The year saw the pro debut of Ray Bradbury, the emergence of Leigh Brackett and the ascendance of Robert A. Heinlein. A mysterious woman from San Francisco burst on the scene and captured a prominent fan’s heart – but his ardor was doomed to be unrequited.

The westward migration of the World Convention to Denver led to epic adventures on the byways of America. (Highways were yet to be constructed.) From Oregon came young Damon Knight, driven to Denver by his parents. From Riverside, California, teenager James “Rusty” Hevelin hitchhiked. Captivated by fans from the east, neither went home.

The Denver Worldcon would be the last until 1946. Fans didn’t know this at the time, but they debauched as though they did. Traditions established the prior year in Chicago did more than survive the trip, highlighted by an extravagant masquerade. As Guest of Honor, Robert Heinlein led the audience to “The Discovery of the Future.” Forrest J Ackerman would later dub this the most outstanding conference address he heard in his fifty-plus years as a fan.

Britain endured the Blitz of nightly Nazi firebombs. Fans scattered from the cities but stayed in touch. A small cadre maintained a steady pace of correspondence and publishing. At the center was J. Michael Rosenblum, deemed “contemptable” by an American peer for his stance as a Conscientious Objector. Other Brits took up arms despite a hatred of war. A Nuneaton fan accused his hobby of urging him to the front lines: “It is difficult to call to mind an outstanding fantasy not built up on one or all of the ideals of battle, murder & sudden death. The red gods of war have never had stronger propagandists than the writers of fantasy.”

More than ever, the experience of fans in 1941 offers a view of the human experience of that time. In the US, journeys from the coasts to the heartland and back were set amidst evolving attitudes regarding the present and the future. In Britain, the terrible potential of science came in the dark – yet fans’ inherent optimism survived. Young fans were inspired by those who came before, evidence of the enduring appeal of hope, imagination, speculation and the camaraderie of like-minded fellows.

Our mission at First Fandom Experience is to bring to life the evolution and impact of science fiction fandom. The passion and work of early fans laid the foundation for the pervasive influence that science fiction and fantasy exert today. Their words and pictures deserve to be remembered as they were written and drawn. In their voices, we hope their optimism, joy and energy speak to you as they have to us.

Exhaustively researched and profusely illustrated, this 500-page hardcover volume was introduced at the Windy City Pulp and Paper Convention, April 5, 2024.

Click here to order!

During Chicon 8, First Fandom Experience had the privilege of organizing the 1946 Project. The program track encompassed sixteen panels and presentations:

• 1946: A Year in the Life of a Fan
• The Life and Impact of C.L. Moore
• The Life and Work of A.E. van Vogt and E. Mayne Hull
• Titus Groan: Genre or Not?
  (Click for a great summary by moderator Dave Hook.)
• 1940: The First Chicon
• Undiscovered and Forgotten Gems of 1946
• Remembering Erle Melvin Korshak
• Leading Ladies: Women in Fandom in 1946
• How Did Atomic Weapons Change Science Fiction?
• The SFF Art and Artists of 1946
• Extinction and Evolution: The 1946 SFF Book Publishing Boom
• Science in Science Fiction: The Guesswork of 1946
• James Kepner and Edythe Eyde:
  Pioneering LGBTQ+ Activism in 1940s Los Angeles Fandom
• The Likely Hugo Nominees From 1946
• Ray Bradbury’s Preposterously Productive 1946
• How the 1946 Pacificon Saved Post-War Worldcons

Fan Guests of Honor Joe Siclari and Edie Stern, curators of the remarkable Fanac.org archive, provided invaluable guidance and material in support of the project. Mark Olson, shepherd of Fancyclopedia, worked with us to create a display of fanzines distributed at the 1940 Chicon.

We’d like to thank all of the terrific panelists who lent their expertise and insight to one or more of these sessions:

TrishEM	Alec Nevala-Lee	Joe Siclari
Peter Balestrieri	Rich Horton	Dr. Bradford Lyau
John Hertz	Connie Willis	John E. Stith
Helen Montgomery	Jerry Kaufman	Sue Burke
Kate Heffner	Dr. Lisa Yaszek	Tom Whitmore
Dr. Jason Aukerman	Carrie Cooper	Gary K. Wolfe
Doug Ellis	Dave Hook	Tad Daley
Orton Ortwein	Brendan Detzner	Rebecca Campbell
Travis Creason	G. David Nordley	Henry Spencer
James L. Cambias	Michael Haynes	Jane Frank

Extra special thanks to Convention Chair Helen Montgomery, Program Division Head Nchanter, Exhibits Division Head Benjamin Levy, and their great teams — for their outstanding collaboration and support.

Also, we offer deep appreciation to Stephen Korshak, the son of Erle Korshak, Fan Guest of Honor (sadly departed prior to the con), and Dean Ziff, nephew of Mark Reinsberg. As high school students, Erle and Mark were the co-organizers of the 1940 Chicon. The presence of their descendants at the panel discussing that first Chicago convention added a moving sense of history.

A last-minute surprise addition to the 1940 Chicon panel was a showing of recovered sections of the assumed-lost film, “The Monsters of the Moon.” A version of this 1930s stop-motion monstrosity was viewed by attendees of the first Chicon. Restored by “Dr. Film” Eric Greyson and hot off the presses, special guests Bruce Lee and Mindy Grayson shared the six-minute space opera with an amused and appreciative audience. (The film is available as part of a collection offered on DrFilm.net.)

To inform our program, we published a series of blog posts with historical context on SFF and fandom in 1940:

• Science Fiction and Fantasy in the Pulps: 1946
• Science Fiction and Fantasy in Books: 1946
• The Fan Cave, c1940s
• A Year in Fandom: 1946
• A Vote for van Vogt in ’46
• What Can We Learn From the 1946 Pacificon Program Book?
• A Year in the Life of a Fan: Joe Kennedy in 1946
• Ray Bradbury’s Preposterously Productive 1946

In addition, we assembled an exhibit representing the den of an active fan from the 1940s, drawn from fans’ published descriptions of the period — perhaps most directly, Bob Tucker’s essay from Le Zombie in June 1940.

The star of the den exhibit was an (almost) functional 1920s A.B. Dick Number 77 Model A mimeograph machine. This particular make and model was common among fan publishers of the day, including Tucker. Also featured were full facsimiles of 1940s fanzines and a collection of reading pulps. The (mostly) working period typewriter and the guestbook tempted some visitors to leave thoughtful messages.

We now turn our attention back to our core mission: the completion of The Visual History of Science Fiction Fandom. We hope to have Volume Three out in the first half of next year, with a focus on the very-important year of 1941. The series will (may) conclude with Volume Four, covering 1942 – 1946. Our work on the 1946 Project has already set us up with a rich base of research and material regarding that also-very-important year.

Thanks for all of the great conversations and support at Chicon 8. We had fun!

Weird Tales	4
Planet Stories	4
Amazing Stories	2
Thrilling Wonder Stories	1
New Detective Magazine	1
Dime Mystery Magazine	1
Collier’s	1
Charm	1
Mademoiselle	1
The Californian	1

At the same time, Bradbury was deep into writing new stories, revising old stories and collaborating with publisher Arkham House to prepare for the release of his first collection: Dark Carnival, issued in 1947.

Amazing Stories, February 1946:
“Final Victim” by Henry Hasse and Ray Bradbury

Bradbury’s collaboration with fellow Los Angeles author Henry Hasse dates back to his first professionally published story, “The Pendulum” (Super Science Stories, November 1941).

Planet Stories, Spring 1946:
“Defense Mech” by Ray Bradbury

Amazing Stories, July 1946:
“Chrysalis” by Ray Bradbury

Planet Stories, Summer 1946:
“Lorelei of the Red Mist” by Leigh Brackett and Ray Bradbury

“For five years Leigh Brackett taught me to write stories for PLANET STORIES.  These were terrible, wretched stories – imitation Leigh Brackett.  Then she got the job of writing a film – The Big Sleep – at Warner Brothers.  She said that she was writing a story for PLANET STORIES that she would be unable to finish and she asked me to take over and finish writing it for her. “

“So, I wrote the last half of “Lorelei of the Red Mist” and it was published with our names on it.  You can’t tell where Leigh Brackett ends and Ray Bradbury begins.  She was such a teacher and she influenced me deeply.”

Ray Bradbury, from an interview conducted by John L. Coker III, Archon 20, Collinsville, IL, October 4 1996

Mademoiselle, October 1946:
“Homecoming” by Ray Bradbury

“Bradbury had submitted ‘The Homecoming’ to Mademoiselle… but it languished without a reader for months. Bradbury was not surprised – he was beginning to send his remaining weirds to magazines that were publishing his fantasies – but the story was saved by a most unlikely chain of events. Truman Capote, who was then as editorial apprentice at Mademoiselle, was at loose ends one day in the late winter of 1946 and found the story on the floor of the fiction editor’s office. He read it, loved it, and recommended it to Rita Smith, his editor. Soon Bradbury found himself working closely with the magazine’s staff as his story became the centerpiece of a ghoulish October 1946 issue complete with a Charles Addams illustration.”

From Ray Bradbury, The Life of Fiction by Jonathan R. Eller and William F. Touponce, The Kent State University Press, 2004

“In 1946, I wrote a short story called “Homecoming” and I sent it to Weird Tales, but they sent it back to me.  They refused to give me fifteen dollars for it.  I had a hunch that I should try a big magazine like Mademoiselle.  So, I sent it off and they held it for two or three months, not knowing what to do with it, because I had created this vampire family, which was very strange.  ‘Homecoming’ was about a big celebration of all of these vampires.  They finally bought the story, and they got Charles Addams to illustrate it.  I was beginning to create my family and Charles Addams was starting to create his family.  I went to New York, this time on the train.  I arrived in New York City and met the editors at Mademoiselle Magazine.”

“I saw the wonderful illustration by Charles Addams for ‘Homecoming,’ which was a double page spread.  I loved it so much that I bought it from him.  It was three hundred dollars.  I didn’t have it, so I bought it on time.  I gave Charles Addams twenty dollars a month and bought that painting.  So, when my novel From the Dust Returned came out two years ago, I had that cover which I bought fifty years ago and kept all that time and finally gave it to my publisher and you see it on my book.  Charles Addams and I planned to do a book together.  But, nobody wanted the idea, so we separated.  He went his way with his family and I went my way with my family, and we had two separate careers.”

Ray Bradbury, from the Introduction to TALES OF THE TIME TRAVELERS, 2009, edited by John L. Coker III

Planet Stories, Fall 1946:
“The Creatures That Time Forgot” by Ray Bradbury

“The Creatures That Time Forgot” was later published with the title “Frost and Fire.”

And… these for which we cannot find copies

New Detective Magazine, November 1946:
“A Careful Man Dies” by Ray Bradbury

The Californian, 1946 (month unknown):
“The Electrocution” by Ray Bradbury, as by “William Elliot”

Simply… preposterous.

In our series of posts in support of the 1946 Project at Chicon 8, we’ve already explored the year in fandom. We also want to understand what it was like to spend that year as an active fan.

One of the most prolific and well-regarded fans was Joseph Charles “Joe” Kennedy. His remarkable 1946 is worthy of note, if not entirely representative of how most fans passed their year. Born August 21 1929, he turned just 17 in the Fall of 1946 — but ranked among the most accomplished fans of the period.

In January 1946, Milton A. Rothman provided a guide to fannish activities, intended to provide something of a “Fandom 101” for new adherents. Originally published in The National Fantasy Fan (v5n1, January 1946), the essay identified eight primary activities in which serious fans engage.

Kennedy pursued all of these to some degree, but he was most prolific in writing and publishing for the fan community. His primary effort, Vampire, had run for four issues in 1945 and was already recognized as a leading fan publication. The full extent of his output throughout 1946 is, to us, impressive.

January

January 1 — the very dawn of 1946 — Kennedy joined a gathering at the New Jersey home of Sam Moskowitz. This was the second meeting of the self-designated “Null-A Men,” satirically named after the controversial novel by A.E. van Vogt. As Moskowitz noted in The 1946-47 Fantasy Review, “The initial idea of a loosely knit, social group was abandoned when 10 fans showed up… The idea of an organizational meeting was expanded into a full-fledged convention.” This was the origin of the “First Post-War Eastern Science Fiction Convention,” which would convene in March of that year.

Also at the start of 1946, Kennedy issued the first of his ambitious yearbooks, The 1945-46 Fantasy Review. Weighing in at 48 dense pages, this review of the field and fandom included a rich summary of fan events during the year, as well as poll results ranking books, stories published in the pulps, professional authors and fan journalists.

As a member of the Vanguard Amateur Press Association (VAPA), Kennedy published Joe’s Jottings. This ‘zine primarily featured commentary on VAPA and the contents of the mailings, with occasional poetry and short fiction by Kennedy and others. The January issue was sparse — unsurprising given Kennedy’s other activities.

February

Kennedy and his frequent collaborator George R. Fox published Speculations, a fanzine that lasted only a single issue. It featured articles by Sam Moskowitz, an original radio play by John H. Cooper, and a “Composite Readers Report on TTTT Number Three.” This last was a summary of reviews of Fox & Kennedy’s humor fanzine Terrible Test Tube Tales that ran for three issues in 1944 and 1945.

March

On March 3, Kennedy attended the First Post-War Eastern Science Fiction Convention at the Slovak Sokol Hall in Newark, New Jersey.

April

Vampire, Kennedy’s primary and most ambitious fanzine, saw its fifth issue in April 1946. Most dramatic was a to-and-fro between Sam Moskowitz and August Derleth concerning the publication of The Outsider and Others.

The fourth issue of Joe’s Jottings boldly proclaimed itself as “The Magazine of Cultural Americana” — but delivered only more commentary on VAPA and an odd poem by Dale Hart.

June

The sixth issue of Vampire appeared in June 1946 with a stunning cover by fan-artist John Cockroft.

September

On top of all his activities in fandom, Kennedy began his higher education in Fall 1946, attending Seton Hall.

Kennedy also attended the September 8 meeting of the newly-revived Queens Science Fiction League in 1946, and submitted this article on the club to Fantasy Times.

The fifth issue of Joe’s Jottings also appeared in September, featuring more of Kennedy’s cartoon rendering.

Last but not least, the seventh issue of Vampire was issued in September. The macabre cover by Walt Kessel was titled “Morning After the Convention.”

October – November

For the October 1946 mailing of the Fantasy Amateur Press Association (FAPA), Kennedy inaugurated his membership in the Association with the first issue of his fanzine Grulzak. With minor exceptions, the 18 pages were entirely written and illustrated by the editor.

On October 27, Kennedy attended the Philadelphia Conference, a revival of the annual event that had been on hold since 1941. He quickly penned and published his account of the proceedings, issuing his Expose!! A Kennedy’s-eye View of the Philly Conference dated November 2.

In the November 1946 issue of The Scientifictionist, Kennedy contributed a four-page article titled “Utopias Made to Order.” He poses the eternal question facing fans of speculative fiction:

“So we have, in fandom, two seemingly opposing schools of thought: one which foresees a bright future for the human race, and recommends that fandom do everything within its power to aid social and scientific progress; and the other, which adopts a sort of philosophical resignation to the aimlessness of life and the utter lack of meaning of the universe. Which, then, to choose?”

December

The final 1946 issue of Vampire featured a remarkable cover by St. Louis fan-artist Van Splawn.

In addition, Kennedy cooked up another offering — though we’ve been unable to track down any copies. In 1950, he wrote:

January 1947

At the dawn of 1947, Kennedy delivered his 77-page omnibus, The 1946-47 Fantasy Review, cited throughout our work on the 1946 Project.

Reputation Realized

Kennedy was recognized at the time by his fellow fans. In a poll published in July, Kennedy ranked fifth as Top Fan Poet and fourth as Top Fan Editor. His fanzine Vampire placed fourth among its peers.

In Kennedy’s own poll published in The 1946-47 Fantasy Review, Vampire was ranked tops of the fanzine pantheon.

Recognition, well deserved.

Kennedy’s later career was (is) impressive as well. As “X.J. Kennedy,” he is a widely-read and much-awarded poet and author. As with other prominent fans, his early days as an active amateur publisher helped to prepare him for a prominent life in letters.

What are your thoughts on Joe Kennedy and his contributions to fandom? Please drop us a note!

The next in our series of posts in support of the 1946 Project at Chicon 8.

The Front Cover

The Los Angeles fan community in 1946 boasted an impressive range of talent, and lead the way in innovative publishing. The landscape format of the 8.5×5.5-inch program was novel. Fan-Artist Lou Goldstone designed the book overall and rendered the striking lithographed cover.

Goldstone was a regular contributor of art to fanzines. His own 1941 title, Fantasia, featured his illustrations, fiction and poetry. His jacket design for the 1948 Fantasy Publishing Company’s volume Death’s Deputy by L. Ron Hubbard bears macabre resemblance to the Pacificon program cover.

The Membership List

One hundred and fifty-eight (158) fans are noted as contributing the $1 membership fee to the convention. (This isn’t an attendee list. Later accounts indicate actual attendance at about 120.)

The roster primarily includes fans from across the United States, as well as a smattering of family members and other adjunct supporters. We count 23 women. Notable professionals include Leigh Brackett, David H. Keller MD, Robert Bloch, Robert Heinlein, J. Harvey Haggard and Jack Williamson. Perhaps the most surprising: Fritz Lang, director of the iconic fan-favorite Metropolis (1927). Forrest J Ackerman described Lang’s 1944 visit to his home:

The Welcome Page

The membership fees covered “over 50% of the expenses” — implying the the event cost something around $300 to put on.

The Philadelphia Science-Fiction Society Announced Their Bid

(The PSFS Conference held in October 1946 was a highlight of the year for East Coast fans. We now know that Philadelphia was awarded and hosted the fifth World Science Fiction Convention in 1947, the first Philcon. There was no opposition to their bid.)

The Ackerman Family Ads

The Ackerman family supported their own. Full-page ads in the program cost $4, so this was another way to fund the convention. Forry’s quirky sense of humor seems genetic. Forrest’s brother Alden was killed in action in January 1945. We have no idea why his father would refer to Alden as “one of the cleanest boys I have ever known.”

The International Shout-Out

Ackerman maintained ties with fans overseas through regular correspondence. His tribute to foreign fans includes a greeting in his beloved Esperanto.

The First Two Days

The Fourth of July in 1946 fell on Thursday. The four-day program concluded on Sunday, July 7.

A single program track, like the previous three Worldcons. Distribution of badges. Welcome from Russ Hodgkins. The Guests of Honor address. The inevitable auction, inevitably run by Erle Korshak. A presentation of a recording of Robert Bloch’s radio show, “Stay Tuned For Terror.”

(What’s not revealed by the Program: the “Special Session” presented by Ackerman and Laney was a pitch for the Fantasy Foundation (working code name: “Operation Futurian”). This was intended as something of a “Master Library of Fantasy Fiction,” mostly comprised of Ackerman’s collection. The idea never took root. Sadly, following this presentation, Ackerman nearly collapsed from exhaustion and the flu, and missed the rest of the convention.)

On Day Two, an offsite visit to the “Ackerman Museum” (prior to its designation as the “Ackermansion”)… (was cancelled due to Ackerman’s illness.)

A “Weird Session,” in honor of the fans of fantasy and horror — a growing cadre in fandom, with Francis T. Laney’s impressive fanzine The Acolyte as a rallying point. A one-man show by stage personality “Brother Theodore.”

The Last Two Days

Fun at Westlake Park (now MacArthur Park), but no baseball game. The National Fantasy Fan Federation (NFFF). The masquerade. Impromptu music and dancing. (Rothman, Leibscher and Perdue at the piano. Liebscher’s performance was dubbed the “Pacificoncerto.” Rothman played “Ritual Fire Dance.” Tigrina sang her original, “The Sabbath Summons.”)

Day Four: Another offsite at the West Coast reincarnation of Michigan’s Slan Shack. Bidding for the next convention (Philadelphia won; see above). The “Fanquet.”

On Sunday, the afternoon session featured a presentation not on the program, a sobering speech by a representative of the Federation of Pasadena Scientists on civilian control of atomic energy.

H.P. Lovecraft’s “The Dunwich Horror” was delivered via a recording of the radio drama aired on November 1 1945 by the CBS Radio series, “Suspense.” (This was actually played on Saturday the 6th, rather than Sunday the 7th. Audio is available here.)

(The “Surprise Fantasy Film” was to have been “Turnabout,” but the film was unavailable. “One Million BC” was substituted.)

(We’re unsure of the identity of the woman with the tall headdress mostly hidden behind Dale Hart. Cay Forester was an actress hired to portray “the girl we’d most like to be wrecked on the moon with.” Jack Speer described her as “unutterably bored to everyone except the photographer.”)

The Guests of Honor Took the Centerfold

Why van Vogt and Hull in ’46? The husband and wife were having a capstone year. Ackerman later recalled:

Something happened prior to the convention that is not known.  We had a committee of five fans, and it was our duty to decide who should be the guest of honor.  I had a novel notion and said that, for the first time, we should make the guest of honor a woman — Catherine Moore.  She was a very well-known author in science fiction. I said we should also get Margaret Brundage, the popular artist for Weird Tales.  I said we should get a major female fantasy fan and a female fantasy fanzine publisher and a female assistant to one of the professional magazines.  Someone spoke-up and said that we couldn’t have Catherine Moore by herself without her husband, Henry Kuttner.  I said that Kuttner should be proud that his wife was the professional guest of honor.  Three votes were needed to vote in favor of my idea, but it lost.  There were only two votes to see it my way.  In the end, A. E. Van Vogt and his original wife Edna Mayne Hull were made the guests of honor.

From the 2006 Worldcon in Anaheim. Recorded and transcribed by John L. Coker III.

Support Came From Across the Land

The Pro Mags Chimed In

Ackerman Still Held a Torch

In 1945, Forrest J Ackerman proposed marriage to fellow fan Tigrina (Edythe Eyde) by posting an open letter in a fanzine (FANews, n166, June 19 1945). Tigrina rejected the proposal in equal measure in the same publication (FANews, n170, July 3 1945). Despite this very public and embarrassing exchange, Forry and Tigrina remained friends. For Ackerman, it seems perhaps there was still hope. One key reason for Tigrina’s rejection became clear in 1947 when she began publishing the first Lesbian magazine in the country, Vice-Versa.

Aspirations Were Put Forth, But Not Achieved

Fandom Remembered

Well-regarded Los Angeles fan Paul Freehafer joined the Science Fiction League in 1937. He published the fanzine Polaris and served as Treasurer for the Pacificon. Freehafer passed away from a heart condition in 1947 at age 27. By tradition, the LASFS Clubhouse is known as “Freehafer Hall.”

One Ad Was the Coolest

…though it’s not entirely clear what this group was advertising.

What can we learn from the 1946 Pacificon Program Book? Please drop us a note with your thoughts:

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