The Ackermonster Passes

[NeilUnreal]

A sad moment. Forrest J. Ackerman, the great doyen of all things scifi and horror, has passed away. Almost every scifi/horror fan who grew up in the 1960s or 1970s is familiar with this greatest of all fans, or was touched by his tireless work epitomizing and publicizing those genres.

I know any “Ackermonster” fans will want to keep his family and friends in their prayers.

-Neil

[The Curtmudgeon]

The passing of an epoch. 4J was the epitome of sci-fi fandom.

The (now I'm really feeling old) Curtmudgeon

[Jin-Roh]

I'm sad that I don't know of him. Then again, I can't think of much before Star Wars for movies and Dune for books...

[The Curtmudgeon]

I'm sad that I don't know of him. Then again, I can't think of much before Star Wars for movies and Dune for books...

4J was a phenomenon in sci-fi fandom. From the 60s through the 80s you practically couldn't go to a major sci-fi convention without running into him, or at least hearing that he was there, and often, of course, he would be a participant on discussion panels, or one of the judges of the costume contest, or whatever. He helped a lot of the young up-n-coming authors get their start, or make important contacts with publishers (he was literary agent for a lot of them) and the like. His contacts with the movie industry were probably just as important, although I don't know as much about that personally.

He touched pretty much all aspects of sci-fi-dom in those days. It's hard to think of anyone comparable in any other area.

The (laughing, boisterous, at times you'd believe he had never bothered growing up) Curtmudgeon