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Monday, December 8, 2008

Books / Nerd Forrest J. Ackerman

Posted by Paul Constant on Mon, Dec 8, 2008 at 1:07 PM

The undisputed world's biggest fan of horror, fantasy, and science fiction died over the weekend at 92 years of age.

Ackerman might have created the term "sci-fi." His house, which was stuffed with memorabilia, was a kind of Nerd Mecca for decades. Here is Forrest Ackerman being menaced by the Flaming Carrot:

You sure can't say he didn't have fun.

Comments (9) RSS

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Ah, Forry Ackerman! It's too bad he never got to make it with the Tocs and the Ogs. I wonder if he got his painting back from Heepish.

Posted by smade on December 8, 2008 at 1:12 PM

Good god, I thought only 10 people ever read the magnificently obscure Flaming Carrot! (I have a pile of back issues bought cheap in mint condition from eBay via someone despairing over their own purchases.)

Posted by Glenn Fleishman on December 8, 2008 at 1:36 PM

Ut! Poobah! Is bad.

Posted by Flaming Carrot, PhD on December 8, 2008 at 1:42 PM

Paul,

I tried emailing you about this on Saturday, but alas, apparently not all Stranger email addys use the same format.

Sad all around. 4e was truly the fan's fan. I practically lived on "Famous Monsters of Filmland" in the late 1960's and early 1970's, when all the other kids were oogling "Tiger Beat" or "Dynamite"; got me through a lot of tough times, did those mags.

Sorry to see him go.

Posted by COMTE on December 8, 2008 at 1:58 PM

I'm sad.

Forry and I both loved a certain german SF book series that had hundreds of volumes. It was ... an acquired taste. Think of space opera, german style.

And he was a nice guy, too. Back when I lived in the boonies, he made me realize (pre-Net) that the world was a lot bigger than it seemed.

Bummer.

Posted by Will in Seattle on December 8, 2008 at 2:09 PM

Naw, I loved the Perry Rhodan books too, @5. Haven't seen one in years, though...

Posted by COMTE on December 8, 2008 at 2:15 PM

The inside of his house was amazing. For the longest time he owned the original fembot from "Metropolis."

Posted by elswinger on December 8, 2008 at 2:24 PM

Rhodanites of the world unite!

(grin)

Posted by Will in Seattle on December 8, 2008 at 3:01 PM

Thanks for this -- I've been saddened by how little notice his death has received. Forry -- yes 4e! -- was a hell of a guy, a fan among fen, and the world is smaller without him.

Posted by sherrold on December 9, 2008 at 8:37 AM