Forrest J. Ackerman or, "Mr. Science Fiction", saw his first "imagi-movie" in 1922 (One Glorious Day), purchased his first science fiction magazine, Amazing Stories, in 1926, created The Boys' Scientifiction Club in 1930 ("girl-fans were as rare as unicorn's horns in those days"), contributed to both of the first science fiction fanzines, The Time Traveller, and the Science Fiction Magazine, put out and edited by Shuster & Siegel of Superman fame, in 1932, and by 1933 had 127 correspondents around the world. He attended the 1st World Science Fiction Convention in 1939, where he wore the first "futuristicostume" (designed and created by Myrtle R. Douglas) and sparked fan costuming or cosplay. He has since attended every Worldcon but two thereafter. Ackerman invited Ray Bradbury to attend the now legendary Clifton’s Cafeteria Science Fiction Club, where Ray met the writers Robert A. Heinlein, Emil Petaja, Fredric Brown, Henry Kuttner, Leigh Brackett, and Jack Williamson. And with $90 from Forrest, Bradbury launched a fanzine, Futuria Fantasia, in 1939.

Ackerman helped found the Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society, a prominent regional organization in science fiction fandom, as well as the National Fantasy Fan Federation (N3F). He also provided publishing assistance in the early days of the Daughters of Bilitis, and (as the author of several lesbian novels under the name "Laurajean Ermayne") was dubbed an "honorary lesbian" at a DOB party. He was personally acquainted with many twentieth-century writers of science fiction. Hewas noted for having amassed an extremely large and complete collection of science fiction, fantasy and horror film memorabilia, which was, until 2002, maintained in a remarkable home/museum known as the 18-room "Ackermansion" in the Los Feliz district of Los Angeles, filled with 300,000 books and pieces of movie memorabilia. He has entertained approximately 50,000 fans at open houses beginning in 1951, including 186 fans and pros in one memorable night, including astronaut Buzz Aldrin. Ackerman is a board member of the Seattle Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame, where many items of his own collection are displayed. Ackerman received a unique 1953 Hugo Award for "#1 Fan Personality" which some might say is the equivalent of the present-day Hugo Award for Best Fan Writer.

Ackerman is credited with nurturing and even inspiring the careers of several early contemporaries like Ray Bradbury, Ray Harryhausen, Charles Beaumont, Marion Zimmer Bradley and L. Ron Hubbard. He was Ed Wood's "illiterary" agent and has represented 200 authors of science fiction and fantasy.

Ackerman has had 50 stories published, including collaborations with A. E. van Vogt, Francis Flagg, Robert A. W. Lowndes, Marion Zimmer Bradley, Donald Wollheim and Catherine Moore and the world's shortest — one letter of the alphabet. His stories have been translated into six languages. Ackerman named the sexy comic-book character Vampirella and wrote the origin story for the comic.

Ackerman is fluent in the international language Esperanto, and claims to have walked down Hollywood Boulevard arm-in-arm with Leo G. Carroll singing La Espero, the hymn of Esperanto.

Through his magazine, Famous Monsters of Filmland (1958–1983), Forrest J Ackerman introduced the history of the science fiction, fantasy and horror film genres to a generation of young readers. At a time when most movie-related publications glorified the stars in front of the camera, "Uncle Forry", as he was referred to by many of his fans, promoted the behind-the-scenes artists involved in the magic of movies. In this way Ackerman provided inspiration to many who would later become successful artists, including Peter Jackson, Steven Spielberg, Tim Burton, Stephen King, Penn & Teller, Billy Bob Thornton, Gene Simmons (of the band Kiss), Rick Baker, George Lucas, Danny Elfman, Frank Darabont, John Landis and countless other writers, directors, artists and craftsmen.

In the 1960s, Ackerman organized the publication of an English translation in the U.S. of the German science fiction series Perry Rhodan, the longest science fiction series in history. These were published by Ace Books from 1969 through 1977. Ackerman's German-speaking wife Wendayne ("Wendy") did most of the translation. The American books were issued with varying frequency from one to as many as four per month. Ackerman also used the paperback series to promote science fiction short stories, including his own on occasion. These "magabooks" or "bookazines" also included a film review section, known as "Scientifilm World", and letters from readers. The American series came to an end when the management of Ace changed and the new management decided that the series was too juvenile for their taste. The last Ace issue was #118, which corresponded to German issue #126 as some of the Ace editions contained two of the German issues, and three of the German issues had been skipped. Forry later published translations of German issues #127 through #145 on his own under the Master Publications imprint. The original German series continues today and passed issue #2400 in 2007.

He has also contributed to film magazines from all around the world, including Spanish speaking La Cosa: Cine Fantástico magazine, from Argentina, where he had a monthly column for over four years.

George MacDonald Fraser, 82, author of 'Flashman' novels January 3, 2008

By Margalit Fox


George MacDonald Fraser, a British writer whose popular novels about the
arch-rogue Harry Flashman followed their hero as he galloped, swashbuckled,
drank and womanized his way through many of the signal events of the 19th
century, died Wednesday on the Isle of Man. He was 82 and had made his home
there in recent years. The cause was cancer, said Vivienne Schuster, his
British literary agent.

Over nearly four decades, Fraser produced a dozen rollicking picaresques
centering on Flashman. The novels purport to be installments in a
multivolume "memoir," known collectively as the Flashman Papers, in which
the hero details his prodigious exploits in battle, with the bottle, and in
bed. In the process, Fraser cheerfully punctured the enduring ideal of a
long-vanished era in which men were men, tea was strong and the sun never
set on the British Empire.

The Flashman Papers include, among other titles, "Flashman" (World
Publishing, 1969); "Flashman in the Great Game" (Knopf, 1975); and, most
recently, "Flashman on the March" (Knopf, 2005).

The second volume in the series, "Royal Flash" (Knopf, 1970), was made into
a film of the same title in 1975, starring Malcolm McDowell as Flashman.

In what amounted to an act of literary retribution, Fraser plucked Flashman
from the pages of "Tom Brown's School Days," Thomas Hughes's classic novel
of English public-school life published in 1857. In that book, Tom, the
innocent young hero, repeatedly falls prey to a sadistic bully named
Flashman.

In Fraser's hands, the cruel, handsome Flashman is all grown up and in the
British Army, serving in India, Afghanistan and elsewhere. Now Brigadier
General Sir Harry Paget Flashman, he is a master equestrian, a pretty fair
duelist and a polyglot who can pitch woo in a spate of foreign tongues. He
is also a scoundrel, a drunk, a liar, a cheat, a braggart and a coward. (A
favorite combat strategy is to take credit for a victory from which he has
actually run away.)

Last, but most assuredly not least, Flashman is a serial adulterer who by
Volume 9 of the series has bedded 480 women. (That Flashman is married
himself, to the fair, dimwitted Elspeth, is no impediment. She cuckolds him
left and right, in any case.)

Readers adored him. Today, the Internet is populated with a bevy of Flashman
fan sites. Flashman's exploits take him to some of the most epochal events
of his time, from British colonial campaigns to the American Civil War, in
which he magnanimously serves on both the Union and the Confederate sides.
He rubs up against eminences like Queen Victoria, Oscar Wilde, Florence
Nightingale and Abraham Lincoln. For his work, Flashman earns a string of
preposterous awards, including a knighthood, the Victoria Cross and the
Medal of Honor.

Fraser was so skilled as a mock memoirist that he had some early readers
fooled. Writing in The New York Times in 1969 after the first novel was
published, Alden Whitman said:

"So far, 'Flashman' has had 34 reviews in the United States. Ten of these
found the book to be genuine autobiography."

The son of Scottish parents, George MacDonald Fraser was born on April 2,
1925, in Carlisle, England, near the Scottish border. His boyhood reading,
like that of nearly every British boy of his generation, included "Tom
Brown's School Days."

In World War II, Fraser served in India and Burma with the Border Regiment.
His memoir of the war in Burma, "Quartered Safe Out Here" (Harvill), was
published in 1993.

After leaving the military, Fraser embarked on a journalism career, working
for newspapers in England, Canada and Scotland. He eventually became the
assistant editor of The Glasgow Herald and, in the 1960s, was briefly its
editor.

Tiring of newspaper work, Fraser decided, as he later said in interviews, to
"write my way out" with an original Victorian novel.

In a flash, he remembered Flashman, and the first book tumbled out in the
evenings after work.

"In all, it took 90 hours, no advance plotting, no revisions, just tea and
toast and cigarettes at the kitchen table," he said in an interview quoted
in the reference work "Authors and Artists for Young Adults."

His other books include several non-Flashman novels, among them "Mr.
American" (Simon & Schuster, 1980); "The Pyrates" (Knopf, 1984); and "Black
Ajax" (HarperCollins, 1997). With Richard Maibaum and Michael G. Wilson,
Fraser wrote the screenplay for the James Bond film "Octopussy," released in
1983.

Fraser's latest book, "The Reavers," a non-Flashman novel, is scheduled to
be published by Knopf in April.

Farewell, Jake

Kurt Vonnegut, farewell

First Joe Barbara and now this...

Iwao Takamoto, the US animator who created cartoon dogs Scooby-Doo and Muttley, has died aged 81.
He was responsible for characters from The Flintstones and The Jetsons when he worked for the Hanna-Barbera studio.

And he assisted in the design of films including Peter Pan, 101 Dalmatians and Cinderella, during a career spanning more than six decades.

Mr Takamoto was a vice-president at Warner Bros Animation at the time of his death, caused by heart failure.

He said he created Scooby-Doo after talking to someone who looked after Great Danes.

Informal training

The dog breeder showed him pictures and "talked about the important points of a Great Dane, like a straight back, straight legs, small chin and such", Mr Takamoto explained.

"I decided to go the opposite [way] and gave him a hump back, bowed legs, big chin and such. Even his colour is wrong."


Mr Takamoto also created Fred, Velma, Shaggy and Daphne
The character was named after a scat-style phrase at the end of Frank Sinatra's song Strangers in the Night, which contained the phrase "dooby-doo".

Mr Takamoto - who also co-directed the 1973 film Charlotte's Web - was born in Los Angeles in 1925.

He received informal training in illustration techniques from fellow Japanese-Americans in a prison camp, where he spent part of World War II.

His death occurred less than a month after that of Hanna-Barbera co-founder Joseph Barbera, who was 95.

Mr Barbera's business partner, William Hanna, died in 2001.

Mature Content. Do not click unless...

I know, it's old news

Puttin' on the Ritz in Paradise

I'd say he died of acute embarassment

Cause of Smith son's death investigated
By JESSICA ROBERTSON, Associated Press Writer

Police investigating the death of Anna Nicole Smith's 20-year-old son said they had no evidence that he had suffered a heart attack or that drugs were involved.

The cause of death remained under investigation Tuesday.

The Nassau Guardian, citing unidentified sources, reported Monday that Daniel Wayne Smith had died of a heart attack. On Tuesday, the newspaper reported that a preliminary investigation found that Smith had antidepressants in his system. It cited sources close to the case.

Reginald Ferguson, assistant commissioner of the Royal Bahamian Police Force, dismissed the reports. "That's just talk, we have no evidence at this time to suggest that," he told The Associated Press, when asked whether drugs had contributed to Smith's death.

Earlier, the commissioner told People magazine that there was no evidence "at this time" that the young man had suffered a heart attack.

Smith died Saturday while visiting his celebrity mother in the hospital three days after she gave birth to a girl.

A funeral home hired by the family said Tuesday it expected to receive Smith's body after an autopsy is completed.

"Once the hospital has released the remains to our establishment, we are then able to process all of the documents for repatriation to California," said Loretta Butler-Turner of Butler's Funeral Homes & Crematoriums.

Police said they were investigating the death as they would any other in the Caribbean country, and they were waiting for a pathologist's report to determine the cause.

"We have got to give them to time to do their job professionally and properly. I wait for them," Ferguson told the AP.

It was unclear whether a coroner had completed the autopsy, or if police would release the results.

"If the family requests that the information not be given out, then certainly, I imagine we would do as they ask," Ferguson said.

The body was identified at the morgue Monday by Smith's lawyer, Howard K. Stern, who is also handling arrangements with the funeral home, Butler said.

Smith was the product of his mother's 1985 marriage to Billy Smith. The couple, who met while working together at Jim's Krispy Fried Chicken in Mexia, Texas, divorced in 1987. The son had small roles in her movies "Skyscraper" and "To the Limit."

Robin Bonnema, a spokeswoman for Trimspa, the diet products company that has been endorsed by Anna Nicole Smith, said she did not know the name of the baby girl's father.

The 38-year-old reality TV star married Texas oil tycoon J. Howard Marshall II in 1994, when she was 26 and he was 89. He died the following year.

She then feuded with Marshall's son, Pierce Marshall, over her entitlement to the tycoon's estate before he died in June at age 67.

In the long-running dispute, Smith had won a $474 million judgment, which was cut to about $89 million, and eventually reduced to zero. In May, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Smith could continue to pursue her claim in federal courts in California despite a Texas state court ruling that Marshall's youngest son was the sole heir.

___

On the Net:

http://www.annanicole.com/

It's been a hard couple of weeks

Jim Baen has passed on

With great sorrow...

Kurt Lortz, RIP

Hammer Director and Producer VAL GUEST is dead

Stanislaw Lem is dead

WARSAW, Poland Mar 27, 2006 (AP)— Stanislaw Lem, a popular science fiction writer whose novel "Solaris" was filmed twice, died Monday in his native Poland, his secretary said. He was 84.

Lem died in Krakow, Wojciech Zemek told The Associated Press. Zemek did not give other details or the cause of death, citing only Lem's advanced age.

Lem was one of the most popular science fiction authors of recent decades to write in a language other than English, and his works were translated from Polish into more than 40 other languages. His books have sold 27 million copies.

His best-known work, "Solaris," was adapted into films by Andrei Tarkovsky in 1972 and by Steven Soderbergh in 2002. The latter starred George Clooney and Natascha McElhone.

His first important novel, "Hospital of the Transfiguration," was censored by communist authorities for eight years before its release in 1956 amid a thaw following the death of Josef Stalin.

Lem's other works include "The Invincible," "The Cyberiad," "His Master's Voice," "The Star Diaries," "The Futurological Congress" and "Tales of Prix the Pilot."