Forrest J. Ackerman

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Forrest James Ackerman (born November 24, 1916 in Los Angeles , California , † December 4, 2008 ibid), also called Mr. Science Fiction , was an American editor, author and publisher of science fiction literature.

Forrest J. Ackerman (1990)

Life

Forrest Ackerman studied at the University of California at Berkeley in 1934/35 , worked as a projectionist and served in the US Army from 1942 to 1945 . Also known as "Forry", "4e" or "4SJ", he had a great influence on the creation, organization and dissemination of the science fiction fandom and was thus a key figure for the cultural acceptance of the genre in books, art and literature Film form.

Author and editor

In 1926 Ackerman began to read science fiction and also to write short stories himself, some with co-authors such as A. E. van Vogt , Robert A. W. Lowndes , C. L. Moore and Donald A. Wollheim . In addition, Ackerman was also committed to the world auxiliary language Esperanto .

He worked as an editor for Famous Monsters of Filmland , Monsterworld and Spacemen magazines . He also worked as a literary agent, representing Ray Bradbury , Charles Beaumont and Marion Zimmer Bradley, and published issues 119-137 of the Perry Rhodan series in the United States. He was friends with Walter Ernsting and helped him to maintain the German SF fan scene.

play

Acting Ackerman worked in a variety of horror, fantasy and SF films, mostly in small guest roles, where he did not shy away from cheap productions. His shortest appearance, however, took place in the most successful of all music videos, namely in Michael Jackson's Thriller. He played with horror legend Lon Chaney junior in his last movie Dracula vs. Frankenstein from 1971.

Ackerman Collection

With his extensive collection on science fiction, Ackerman was considered one of the greatest connoisseurs of fantastic literature and fantastic film. The collection included film historical exhibits such as props and costume pieces by Lon Chaney from the silent film London after Midnight ; in his private life he also wore the rings on his fingers that Bela Lugosi wore in Abbott and Costello meet Frankenstein and Boris Karloff in The Mummy . In 2002, the collection housed in the so-called Ackermansion counted 200,000 exhibits before the collector was forced, for health reasons, to gradually sell some of the pieces. Ackermann's private friends included genre greats such as Vincent Price , Ray Harryhausen , Ray Bradbury and Christopher Lee ; in Germany he maintained close contacts with the author Rolf Giesen and the actor and puppeteer Gerd J. Pohl .

Awards

Forrest Ackerman (1965)

The Forry Award , which the Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society has been awarding since 1966 for special merits in science fiction, was named after Ackerman . Ackerman himself received the award in 2002. From 1959 to 2000, Ackerman presented the Big Heart Award to the winners at Worldcon . In 2006 he received this award himself.

Other awards:

0000 Retro Hugo Award for best fan author
0000Retro Hugo Award for Voice of the Imagi-Nation as best fanzine
0000 Worldcon Special Convention Award

bibliography

Northwest Smith (short stories)
  • Nymph of Darkness (in: Fantasy Magazine, April 1935 , with CL Moore ; also: Nyusa, Nymph of Darkness , 2002)
Shock Short (short stories)
  • Earth's Lucky Day (in: Wonder Stories, April 1936 , with Francis Flagg)
  • Dwellers in the Dust (1948, in: Fantasy Book, Vol. 1, No. 4 )
  • Dhactwhu! - Remember? (in: Super Science Stories, April 1949 , with Robert AW Lowndes as Jacques DeForest Erman (Ed.))
  • The Skyscraper Kidnappers (1972, in: Perry Rhodan # 20: The Thrall of Hypno , as SF Balboa)
  • The Shaggy Werewolf (1974, in: Perry Rhodan # 41: The Earth Dies , as Sylvius Agricola)
Famous Monsters of Filmland (non-fiction)
  • 1 Famous Monster of Filmland (1986)
  • 2 The Best from Famous Monsters of Filmland (1964)
  • 3 Son of Famous Monsters of Filmland (1965)
  • 4 Famous Monsters of Filmland Strike Back! (1965)
Collections
  • Science Fiction Worlds of Forrest J Ackerman & Friends (1969)
  • Expanded Science Fiction Worlds of Forrest J Ackerman & Friends PLUS (2002)
Short stories
  • An Experiment with Time (in: Fantasy Magazine, January 1934 , with Francis Flagg)
  • A Sad Story of the Future (in: The Fantasy Fan, March 1934 )
  • The Incredible Olympian (in: Scienti-Snaps, April 1939 , as SF Balboa)
  • The Record (in: Futuria Fantasia, Summer 1939 , with Ray Bradbury )
    • German: with Ray Bradbury: The Record. In: Michael Schmidt (Ed.): Shards. Michael Schmidt, 2018, ISBN 978-1-7232-1443-1 .
  • The Madman of Mars (in: The Madman of Mars, March 1943 )
  • Micro Man (in: New Worlds, October 1946 , as Alden Lorraine; also: Micro Man , 1969; also: Micro-Man , 1947)
  • The Time Twister (in: Thrilling Wonder Stories, October 1947 , as Weaver Wright; also: Strangers in a Strange Time , 1973)
  • The Big Sleep (in: Other Worlds Science Stories, May 1950 )
  • Atomic Error (in: Other Worlds Science Stories, July 1950 )
    • German: Atom-Errtum. In: Utopia special volume, # 1. Pabel, 1955.
  • The Mute Question (in: Other Worlds Science Stories, September 1950 )
    • German: The question of the mutant. In: Utopia special volume, # 1. Pabel, 1955.
  • Earth Can Be Fair (Concluding Installment) (in: Other Worlds Science Stories, October 1950 , as Hubert George Wells)
  • Don of Flame (in: Slant, Winter 1951 )
  • All Cremated Equal (in: Fantastic Worlds, Summer 1952 )
  • Atoms and Stars (1953, in: Nebula Science Fiction, Number 2 )
  • What an Idea! (1953, in: Authentic Science Fiction Monthly, # 30 February )
    • German: Donovan's idea. In: Utopia special volume, # 1. Pabel, 1955.
  • Sabina (1953, in: Nebula Science Fiction, Number 5 )
  • Death Rides the Spaceways (1954, in: Herbert J. Campbell (as HJ Campbell) (Ed.): Authentic Book of Space )
  • Time travel (1957, in: Utopia-Science-Fiction-Magazin, # 5 )
  • The Girl Who Wasn't There (1963, in: Gamma 1 , with Tigrina, William F. Nolan and Charles E. Fritch)
  • A Martian Oddity (1969, in: Science Fiction Worlds of Forrest J. Ackerman & Friends )
  • And Then the Cover Was Bare (1969, in: Science Fiction Worlds of Forrest J. Ackerman & Friends )
  • Burn Witch, Burn (1969, in: Science Fiction Worlds of Forrest J. Ackerman & Friends )
  • Count Down to Doom (1969, in: Science Fiction Worlds of Forrest J. Ackerman & Friends , with Charles Nuetzel )
  • Laugh, Clone, Laugh (1969, in: Science Fiction Worlds of Forrest J. Ackerman & Friends , with AE van Vogt )
  • Letter to an Angel (1969, in: Science Fiction Worlds of Forrest J. Ackerman & Friends )
  • Tarzan and the Golden Loin (1969, in: Science Fiction Worlds of Forrest J. Ackerman & Friends )
  • The Atomic Monument (1969, in: Science Fiction Worlds of Forrest J. Ackerman & Friends , with Theodore Sturgeon )
  • The Lady Takes a Powder (1969, in: Science Fiction Worlds of Forrest J. Ackerman & Friends , with Tigrina)
  • The Man Who Was Thirsty (1969, in: Science Fiction Worlds of Forrest J. Ackerman & Friends )
  • The Radclyffe Effect (1969, in: Science Fiction Worlds of Forrest J. Ackerman & Friends )
  • Time to Change (1969, in: Science Fiction Worlds of Forrest J. Ackerman & Friends , with Marcial Souto)
  • Cosmic Report Card: Earth (in: Vertex: The Magazine of Science Fiction, June 1973 ; also: The Shortest Science Fiction Story Ever Told , 1974; also: The Shortest SF Story Ever Told )
  • To Serf MAN (1974, in: Perry Rhodan # 50: Attack from the Unseen , as Coil Kepac)
  • Great Gog's Grave (in: Fantasy Book, December 1981 , with Donald A. Wollheim )
  • Kiki (1997, in: Ackermanthology: 65 Astonishing, Rediscovered Sci-Fi Shorts , as Laurajean Ermayne)
  • The Cosmic Kidnappers (1997, in: Ackermanthology: 65 Astonishing, Rediscovered Sci-Fi Shorts , as SF Balboa)
  • Introduction (Metropolis: 75th Anniversary Edition) (2002)
Anthologies
  • Best Science Fiction for 1973
  • Gosh! Wow! (Sense of Wonder) Science Fiction (1982; also: Sense of Wonder Science Fiction , 1993)
  • The Gernsback Awards 1926: Volume 1 (1982)
  • Reel Future (1994, with Jean Marie Stine )
  • New Eves: Science Fiction About the Extraordinary Women of Today and Tomorrow (1994, with Jean Marie Stine and Janrae Frank)
  • I, Vampire: Interviews with the Undead (1995, with Jean Marie Stine)
  • Ackermanthology: 65 Astonishing, Rediscovered Sci-Fi Shorts (1997)
  • Film Futures (1998)
  • Science-Fiction Classics: The Stories That Morphed Into Movies (1999)
  • Ackermanthology: 65 Astonishing Rediscovered Sci-Fi Shorts, Millennium Edition (2000)
  • Rainbow Fantasia; 35 Spectrumatic Tales of Wonder (2001)
  • Womanthology (2003, with Pam Keesey)
Non-fiction
  • The Frankenscience Monster (1969)
  • Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
  • Souvenir Book of Mr. Science Fiction's Fantasy Museum (1978)
  • JRR Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings (1979)
  • A Reference Guide to American Science Fiction Films (1981, with AW Strickland)
  • Mr. Monster's Movie Gold (1982)
  • Lon of 1000 faces! (1983)
  • The Boiling Point (1985, with Clark Ashton Smith and HP Lovecraft , collection of letters)
  • Forrest J. Ackerman's Fantastic Movie Memories (1985)
    • German: Science Fiction. German first edition. Translated by Ronald M. Hahn. Taschen, 1998, ISBN 3-8228-7295-4 .
  • Forrest J Ackerman's World of Science Fiction (1997)
  • Worlds of Tomorrow: The Amazing Universe of Science Fiction Art (2004, with Brad Linaweaver)
  • Out of This World Convention (2009)

as editor:

Filmography

literature

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Ackerman, Forrest J.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ackermann, Forrest James (full name); 4sJ (pseudonym); 4e (pseudonym); Ackerman, F. (pseudonym); Ackerman, Forry (pseudonym); Ackerman, 4E (pseudonym); Ackerman, Amaryllis (pseudonym); Ackerman, 4-E (pseudonym); Ackerman, Forrest J (alternative spelling); Ackerman, Forrest (alternative spelling); Ackerman, '4SJ' (pseudonym); Ackerman, 4SJ (pseudonym); Ackerman, FJ (alternative spelling); Ackerman, Forest (alternative spelling); Ackermann, Forrest (alternative spelling); Acula, Dr. (Pseudonym); Agricola, Sylvius (pseudonym); Akerman, Forest (alternative spelling); Balboa, SF (pseudonym); Erman, Jacques DeForest (pseudonym); Erman, Jack (pseudonym); Ermayne, Laurajean (pseudonym); Kepac, Foray Coil (pseudonym); Lorraine, Alden (pseudonym); Morley, Wilfred Owen (pseudonym); Rhodan, Forry (pseudonym); Wells, Hubert George (pseudonym); Weaver Wright (pseudonym)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American editor, writer, and publisher of science fiction literature
DATE OF BIRTH November 24, 1916
PLACE OF BIRTH Los Angeles , California , United States
DATE OF DEATH December 4, 2008
Place of death Los Angeles , California , United States