Forrest J. Ackerman
Forrest James Ackerman (* November 24, 1916 in Los Angeles, † December 4, 2008 ibid ), even Mr. Science Fiction called, was an American publisher, writer and publisher of science fiction literature.
- 3.1 Non-fiction
- 3.2 Short stories
Life
Forrest Ackerman studied 1934/35 at the University of California at Berkeley, worked as a projectionist and served from 1942 to 1945 in the U.S. Army. Also known as " Forry ," " 4e " or " 4SJ " he had great influence on the development, organization and dissemination of science fiction fandom and was a key figure in the cultural acceptance of the genre in books, art or film form.
Writer and editor
1926 Ackerman began to read science fiction and also to write my own short stories, some with co- authors such as AE van Vogt, Robert AW Lowndes, CL Moore and Donald A. Wollheim. In addition, Ackerman was also active for the international language Esperanto.
As an editor, he worked at the magazines Famous Monsters of Filmland and Monster World and Spacemen. He also worked as a literary agent, represented Ray Bradbury, Charles Beaumont and Marion Zimmer Bradley and brought the Perry Rhodan series in the United States. He was a friend of Walter Ernsting and helped him to cultivate the German SF- fan scene.
Spectacle
Acting- Ackerman is operated in a variety of horror, fantasy and SF movies, mostly in small guest roles, which he did not shrink even before Billigstproduktionen. However, his probably very short appearance took place in the most successful of all the music videos, namely in Michael Jackson's Thriller. With horror legend Lon Chaney Jr. He played in his last movie Dracula vs.. Frankenstein from 1971.
Collection Ackerman
With its comprehensive collection dedicated to science fiction Ackerman was one of the greatest connoisseurs of fantastic literature and the fantastic film. The collection comprised of film history exhibits such as props and costume pieces by Lon Chaney in the silent film London after Midnight; on his fingers he wore in private life rings, wore Bela Lugosi in Abbott and Costello meet Frankenstein and Boris Karloff in The Mummy. 2002 included the collection housed in the Ackermansion 200,000 exhibits, before the collector for health reasons was forced to sell the pieces gradually partially. For Ackermann's private friends included genre greats such as Vincent Price, Ray Harryhausen, Ray Bradbury and Christopher Lee; in Germany, he maintained close contacts with the author Rolf Giesen and the show and puppeteer Gerd J. Pohl.
Honors
After the Forry Ackerman Award was named by the Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society awards for special achievements in the science fiction since 1966. Ackerman himself won the prize in 2002.
Works
Non-fiction
- Sci-fi / Forrest J. Ackerman bags 1998, ISBN 3-8228-7295-4, ( Forrest J. Ackerman 's world of science fiction 1997)
Short stories
- Donovan's idea Pabel 1955
- The question of the mutant Pabel 1955 ( The mute question 1950)