Forry Ackerman Dead At 92 83
rrohbeck was one of several readers to note the passing of Forrest J. Ackerman at the age of 92. Ackerman, who coined the term sci-fi in 1954, has been called the 'world's biggest fan.' Over a long career he acted as literary agent for Isaac Asimov, A.E. van Vogt, Hugo Gernsback, and L. Ron Hubbard; he published Ray Bradbury's first short story in a fan magazine in 1938. Ackerman wrote over 2,000 articles and short stories, including, oddly enough, lesbian fiction in the 1940s. In recent years, mounting health bills forced him to sell his home, the 'Ackermansion,' and most of the 300,000 items of memorabilia it stored.
does anyone have any links (Score:2)
to what is thoughts were on the evolution of scifi?
if anyone has a perspective on that, this man certainly does
RIP
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The October 2008 issue of Rue Morgue [rue-morgue.com] has a lengthy interview with the guy.
thanks (Score:2)
;-)
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So he's a middle man who sucks up wealth from good writers, never wrote anything more noteworthy than perverted homosexual erotica, and brought Hubbard to the world.
Where do I go to piss on his grave?
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He seems to have died in somewhat poverty so perhaps not.
L Ron? (Score:5, Funny)
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So we can blame him for giving Hubbard his start? Not something I'd brag about. ;)
Lord Xenu looks down at you with disgust.
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Lord Xenu looks down at you with disgust.
That's a $15,000 fine if I'm not mistaken. And you have to spend an hour with Tom Cruise.
Re:L Ron? (Score:5, Funny)
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No, Lord Xenu is the the Scientology devil so he would be delighted in the comment.
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Re:L Ron? (Score:4, Interesting)
So we can blame him for giving Hubbard his start? Not something I'd brag about. ;)
That was before Dianetics and Scientology. Hubbard was just a sci-fi author back then, before he found he could get rich by other means.
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Unlike all of those who found they could get rich writing science fiction...
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but Scientology's foundational mythology is based on Hubbard's sci-fi works. i'm sure by now most people have heard of Xenu, the galactic dictator who scientologists believe flew billions of people to Earth on DC-8s [wikipedia.org], stacked them around volcanoes, and blew them up with H-bombs [wikipedia.org]. well ever heard of Battlefield Earth [wikipedia.org]?
he doesn't even seem like that great of a sci-fi author. i mean, DC-8s? really? that's the best design he could come up with for an intergalactic ship?
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He is easily the worst writer I have ever had the misfortune to read a published novel from.
In the novel I tried to read the hero saves the world from the energy crisis by making a carburetor which splits water into hydrogen and oxygen which is then burned by a V8 cadillac.
In L. Ron's house, they do not obey the laws of thermodynamics.
Re:L Ron? (Score:4, Funny)
he doesn't even seem like that great of a sci-fi author. i mean, DC-8s? really? that's the best design he could come up with for an intergalactic ship?
He was going to use DC-10s but he was worried because of the cargo door problem.
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This is a good clip about it; Harlan Ellison discusses the science fiction scene and L. Ron in particular: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9AGVARpqdk [youtube.com]
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hey, i never claimed that the holy bibble was divinely inspired literature.
and i actually agree with you that other theists are being hypocrites when they single out mormons or scientologists as being irrational cult members. the only difference between mainstream religions and these "cults" is that Christianity/Judaism/Buddhism/Hinduism/Islam/etc. have become well-established social institutions over the centuries and are thus socially acceptable to most people. but every one of these religions started off
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there's folie à deux (madness shared by two), folie à trois (by three), folie à quatre (by four), and folie à plusieurs (by many)--all of which are considered psychiatric disorders. but there's no discrete boundary between mass delusion and a legitimate subculture. so how many people have to share in an irrational belief before it becomes socially acceptable?
It's not a simple matter of just numbers. One factor that helps is when rulers, leaders, or influential figures begin to embrace the delusion (e.g., one of the early critical turning points for Christianity was Constantine's conversion). Once that happens, the masses begin to be strongly encouraged, if not coerced, into following suit. There is also a point at which a large enough critical mass of citizens have done this, so that the symbolism, basic belief system, and overall culture of the delusion begins
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That's fantasy, not SciFi. Fantasy doesn't need to explain itself, a wizard did it anyway.
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The only reason we're talking about Hubbard is ignorance. We don't know enough about what Ackerman really ought to be remembered for. I know him mostly as an anthology editor.
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Apparently he even wrote in one of his story something like "in the 21st century the easiest way to make a fortune is to create a new religion..."
so we should thank F.A. for giving us access to the warning ;-)
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Yeah, I've been thinking of setting up a church myself. Imagine: No more taxes and sheeple that will donate to you :)
I think the Perl Monks are up to something. Would a high priest in the Church of Perl be tax exempt? I'd qualify.
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Re:L Ron? (Score:4, Interesting)
If you want to hear about Hubbard's real start check out the book Strange Angel.
http://www.amazon.com/Strange-Angel-Otherworldly-Scientist-Whiteside/dp/0156031795/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1228595734&sr=1-1 [amazon.com]
Parsons not only invented the first feesible JATO propulsion (the foundation for the JPL), but showed Hubbard the roadmap for getting what he wanted through occult organizations before falling prey to his own system.
The book provides insight into early sci-fi fans as well, as Parsons would give presentations to sci-fi fan clubs about his reasearch during the period that no one respectable would talk to him.
I believe Ackerman makes an appearance in the bio, and I am sure several other sci-fi authors do as well... I just don't recall which ones ATM.
Anyhow, RIP Ackerman... Yet another legend that I will never meet in this life.
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I knew Forry and he had a massive affect on science fiction, fantasy and horror as well as literature. He was a sweet guy and if you managed to accomplish 10% of what he did in his life you'd be a giant in the industry. He was the original eccentric and loved puns. One of his favorite saying was he'd read every last word of every book in his massive library. He literally turned to the end of every book as he got them and read the last word just so he could say that. He read most of them he just liked to be
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Lo about 1999 or 2000 a group of us fans went on the tour of his house in L.A. Sat in his living room on the floor and listened to him tell us stories, wandered up and down stairs and all around the house looking and a veritable treasure trove of Sci-Fi memorabilia, paintings, props, brickabrack and the books- gods... the sheer number of books! Even got to scrabble around under the house in the "graveyard" or whatever he called it, just a dirt cellar really, but full of ghouls,zombies, eerie stuff and gods
link? (Score:5, Funny)
lesbian fiction in the 1940s.
Um, link?
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Ackerman wrote over 2,000 articles and short stories, including, oddly enough, lesbian fiction in the 1940s.
Oddly enough ? The guy was a sci-fi geek. The closest he was going to get near a woman, never mind a lesbian, was to write a fictional one.
I know you're going for a Funny mod but this actually makes you an asshole.
Re:link? (Score:4, Informative)
Wendy Ackerman would probably disagree, and I seriously doubt that any man who owned an 18 room mansion would lack for girlfriends.
He created Vampirella [google.com], as well.
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NSFMP
Not safe for my penis.
Re:Nothing wrong with lesbian fricton (Score:3, Informative)
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What do lesbians have to do with the quantum mechanical pseudo-particle for friction?
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Not to be confused.... (Score:2)
("Its value grows rapidly, even for small inputs. For example A(4,2) contains 19,729 decimal digits.")
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Its sister assignment was to code an implementation of horner's rule using no multiplication and bit-shifting. Another bitch was to code a program which printed arbitrary-length factorials using only arrays and without using datatypes like BigInteger. Speaking of BigInteger, the class was called "scientific programming" but the language used was Java!
We are missing the big picture (Score:1)
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Hey now, I've never read any of his "lesbian fiction" but it's *possible* it's not porn.
It might be unlikely for this case sure, but there are more than a few non-pornographic romance stories out there about two (or more!) women falling in love.
These stories might feature graphic sex, or subtle references to sex having happened, or no sex at all. ... That said, if you find the stories, gzip them up and upload them to some file host like rapidshare/megaupload please? =P I'd like to test my hypothesis that t
Pics or it didn't happen. (Score:1)
...Ackerman wrote over 2,000 articles and short stories, including, oddly enough, lesbian fiction in the 1940s...
'world's biggest fan' wrote lesbian fiction (Score:2)
Not very surprising to the Slashdot crowd.
Our fond attachment to lesbians is very well known. [penny-arcade.com]
costly medical care (Score:1, Insightful)
He must be an American or live in America. I see he had to sell off his assets to pay for health care.
Re:costly medical care (Score:4, Informative)
Forrest Ackerman needed 24-hour home care and as late as 2003 was still engaged in a long, debilitating, and expensive lawsuit against a former business partner. Welcome to his planet [latimes.com] [Jan 06,2003]
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Yeah, but in those countries he'd have been dead years ago.
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Maybe not, see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_life_expectancy [wikipedia.org]
USA ranks 45, Swaziland 221 according to the CIA.
USA ranks 38, Swaziland 195 according to the UN.
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Most people who want universal health care actually just want it because other countries have it. They rarely delve into the details of how good or not it is "over there", or who is determining the standards of practice
Most people who don't want universal health care actually don't want it just because they're afraid of how good it would be. They rarely delve into the details of why other countries continue to use it and are simply afraid of anything that might be considered "socialist", because they were told by their local pastor that socialists are evil. They don't exhibit any form of independent thought at all, and just mimick back talking points they've heard without thinking critically about it.
Queue the lesbian jokes (Score:2)
...in 5 4 3 2 1.
Slashdotters won't know what to make of this. Do they focus on the geeky, or focus on the boobies?
Re:"Cue" the lesbian jokes (Score:2, Informative)
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Posting for fixing grammar is never going to affect a person's grammar.
Too Bad (Score:2)
Ackerman was always known as a big-hearted, genuinely decent guy in addition to being a huge science fiction/fantasy fan. Stories of the parties, comings and goings and general happy weirdness at his house were legend.
He'll be missed.
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Sorry, I've heard otherwise, where he used the power of a big studio to obtain memorabilia for his own collection that was being cared for by the impoverished artist who created it.
No, he was decent all right (Score:1)
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there was an obnoxious Aussie fan, who managed to attract, by his vulgarity, drunkenness and hate-loaded speech mannerism, the unanimous detestation of the attendees
Wow, Mark Latham on tour!
(Australian political in-joke for the very few)
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Ackerman was always known as a big-hearted, genuinely decent guy in addition to being a huge science fiction/fantasy fan. Stories of the parties, comings and goings and general happy weirdness at his house were legend.
He'll be missed.
Ditto. He was an icon of the science fiction/horror genre. I'll miss him.
Mounting health bills ? in america ? (Score:2)
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From TFA:
"Famous Monsters of Filmland ceased publication in 1983, but returned a decade later with Ray Ferry as publisher and Ackerman as editor. Ackerman, however, reportedly had a falling out with Ferry and left the magazine. Years of litigation followed. In 2000, after a civil trial, Ackerman won a trademark infringement and breach-of-contract lawsuit against Ferry, though he said a year later that he had not yet collected a penny of the judgment.
In recent decades, according to a 2003 Times story, Ackerm
Lesbian Fiction (Score:2)
There's a typo in the summary (Score:2)
It says something about the geek.... (Score:3, Insightful)
Think a penny a word.
A quarter cent a word for anything that might be difficult or impossible to sell over the counter.
Payment on publication, at least in theory.*
Still, you had a realistic chance of placing your stories somewhere.
If you were sufficiently talented and adroit, you might chance submitting a story with strong sexual themes to a magazine like The New Yorker.
But not every writer is destined to reach such heights.
* - If you were being paid on acceptance, you were writing for the Saturday Evening Post, your stories were in production by MGM, and ground was being broken for your new house in Conneticut.
Esperanto (Score:3, Insightful)
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Regarding the 1960s movie Incubus with William Shatner, which was the first American movie to be done entirely in Esperanto:
The Man Who Was Skiffy (Score:2, Informative)
The term "sci-fi" was an alliterative way of honoring Hugo Gernsback, one of the early SF editors, who was also very much into radio and coined the term "Hi-Fi". Forry was trying to come up with a catchy title, and he did.
Most TruFen - hard-core science fiction enthusiasts - would pronounce it "Skiffy", though.
See 'ya on th