Forrest J Ackerman coined 'sci-fi' 1916-2008

[zengrifter]

Ironic that the Day That Time Stood Still remake opens this month. zg

Forrest J Ackerman, writer-editor who coined 'sci-fi,' dies at 92

The Los Angeles native influenced young fans with his Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine and spent a lifetime amassing a vast collection of science fiction and fantasy memorabilia.

By Dennis McLellan
December 6, 2008

Forrest J Ackerman, who influenced a generation of young horror-movie fans with Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine and spent a lifetime amassing what has been called the world's largest personal collection of science-fiction and fantasy memorabilia, has died. He was 92.

Ackerman, a writer, editor and literary agent who has been credited with coining the term "sci-fi" in the 1950s, died Thursday of heart failure at his home in Los Angeles, said John Sasser, a friend who is making a documentary on Ackerman.



As editor of Famous Monsters of Filmland, Ackerman wrote most of the articles in the photo-laden magazine launched in 1958 as a forum for past and present horror films.

"It was the first movie-monster magazine," Tony Timpone, editor of horror-movie magazine Fangoria, told The Times in 2002.

Timpone, who began reading Famous Monsters as a young boy in the early '70s, remembered it as "a black-and-white magazine with cheap paper but great painted [color] covers. It really turned people on to the magic of horror movies."


Primarily targeted to late pre-adolescents and young teenagers, Famous Monsters of Filmland featured synopses of horror films; interviews with actors such as Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi and Vincent Price; and articles about makeup and special effects.

The magazine reflected Ackerman's penchant for puns, with features such as "The Printed Weird" and "Fang Mail." Ackerman referred to himself as Dr. Acula.

"He put a lot of his personality into the magazine," said Timpone, who became friends with Ackerman. "It was a pretty juvenile approach to genre journalism, but as kids that's all we had."

Among those who grew up reading Famous Monsters of Filmland was author Stephen King. Other childhood readers included movie directors Joe Dante, John Landis and Steven Spielberg, who once autographed a poster of "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" for Ackerman, saying, "A generation of fantasy lovers thank you for raising us so well."

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[Sandy Eggo]

I have had the pleasure of knowing Forry for a few years now, working on conventions in southern California. While I wasn't a member of LASFS, so many of my friends are, and he was a regular there until his heath caused him to stop attending the club meetings.

Way back at a one-off convention called Bill and Ted's Exellent Convention, I was working on the security team. That was when I was still a young, skinny thing. I had Forry and a few of the other Guests of Honor sign my jeans (while wearing them) and he sketched out a monster for me. I still have them in a box somewhere.

He will be missed.

[N&B]

He will be missed here too. Just that cover shown in the post says most of it. He brought alot of Sci-Fi to the masses, by letting us keep in touch with it, long before the internet made it SOOO easy.

[shadroch]

In the late 80s, I sat at a table with him during an award dinner at The San Diego Comic Con. I wasn't a big fan of the genre but was amazed how many comic artist and writers approached him as if on a pilgrimage.
To a whole lot of people, he was THE MAN.