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Sci-fi's grand old man, Forrest J Ackerman, dies By JOHN ROGERS LOS ANGELES (AP) — Forrest J Ackerman, the sometime actor, literary agent, magazine editor and full-time bon vivant who discovered author Ray Bradbury and was widely credited with coining the term "sci-fi," has died. He was 92. Ackerman died Thursday of heart failure at his Los Angeles home, said Kevin Burns, head of Prometheus Entertainment and a trustee of Ackerman's estate. Although only marginally known to readers of mainstream literature, Ackerman was legendary in science-fiction circles as the founding editor of the pulp magazine Famous Monsters of Filmland. He was also the owner of a huge private collection of science-fiction movie and literary memorabilia that for years filled every nook and cranny of a hillside mansion overlooking Los Angeles. "He became the Pied Piper, the spiritual leader, of everything science fiction, fantasy and horror," Burns said Friday. Every Saturday morning that he was home, Ackerman would open up the house to anyone who wanted to view his treasures. He sold some pieces and gave others away when he moved to a smaller house in 2002, but he continued to let people visit him every Saturday for as long as his health permitted. "My wife used to say, 'How can you let strangers into our home?' But what's the point of having a collection like this if you can't let people enjoy it?" an exuberant Ackerman told The Associated Press as he conducted a spirited tour of the mansion on his 85th birthday. His collection once included more than 50,000 books, thousands of science-fiction magazines and such items as Bela Lugosi's cape from the 1931 film "Dracula." His greatest achievement, however, was likely discovering Bradbury, author of the literary classics "Fahrenheit 451" and "The Martian Chronicles." Ackerman had placed a flyer in a Los Angeles bookstore for a science-fiction club he was founding and a teenage Bradbury showed up. Later, Ackerman gave Bradbury the money to start his own science-fiction magazine, Futuria Fantasia, and paid the author's way to New York for an authors meeting that Bradbury said helped launch his career. "I hadn't published yet, and I met a lot of these people who encouraged me and helped me get my career started, and that was all because of Forry Ackerman," the author told the AP in 2005. Later, as a literary agent, Ackerman represented Bradbury, Isaac Asimov and numerous other science-fiction writers. He said the term "sci-fi" came to him in 1954 when he was listening to a car radio and heard an announcer mention the word "hi-fi." "My dear wife said, 'Forget it, Forry, it will never catch on,'" he recalled. Soon he was using it in Famous Monsters of Filmland, the magazine he helped found in 1958 and edited for 25 years. Ackerman himself appeared in numerous films over the years, usually in bit parts. His credits include "Queen of Blood," "Dracula vs. Frankenstein," "Amazon Women on the Moon," "Vampirella," "Transylvania Twist," "The Howling" and the Michael Jackson "Thriller" video. More recently, he appeared in 2007's "The Dead Undead" and 2006's "The Boneyard Collection." Ackerman returned briefly to Famous Monsters of Filmland in the 1990s, but he quickly fell out with the publisher over creative differences. He sued and was awarded a judgment of more than $375,000. Forrest James Ackerman was born in Los Angeles on Nov. 24, 1916. He fell in love with science-fiction, he once said, when he was 9 years old and saw a magazine called Amazing Stories. He would hold onto that publication for the rest of his life. Ackerman, who had no children, was preceded in death by his wife, Wendayne. DON GRANT BOOKS announces the availability of THE LITTLE SISTERS OF ELURIA by Stephen King. This is information from their email newsletter. As the book is still not bound and the tray cases and slipcases are not yet made we hope to be able to begin shipping orders on December 15 but can’t make any promises. The books will have 13 full color plates and many black and white illustrations by Michael Whelan and is released in 2 editions. ARTIST EDITION: There are 4,000 numbered copies signed by Michael Whelan which are issued in a foil stamped slipcase. Retail price is $95.00 plus shipping and we are initially reserving the first 1,500 numbers for people who hold a matching number of THE DARK TOWER VII. We expect that this will be a sufficient number to allow people to order more than one copy but we reserve the right to limit the number in any order to ensure that as many of our customers who want to buy a copy can if we receive more orders than we have copies. Michael told us that he did drawings on 30 - 50 of the signature pages when he was signing them and we have no idea which numbered copies they ended up in. He sent us photos of two of them and they are posted on our web site. If you receive one of these be aware that the value of these books are probably in excess of $1,000 as copies of the Artist Edition of THE DARK TOWER VII in which Michael made similar drawings sold on eBay or to collectors for over $1,200 each. I expect that most of these copies will remain undiscovered for years as many collectors never take the shrink wrap off their books. DELUXE EDITION: There are 1,250 numbered copies signed by both Stephen King and Michael Whelan which are issued in a fully enclosing foil stamped clamshell tray case. It has a different binding material than the Artist Edition and also has a ribbon bound in. The retail price is $300. As usual there is a much greater demand for our Limited Editions than copies available, so in keeping with our policy of supporting our long time customers the S&N Deluxe Edition can be ordered only by those who have a S&N The Dark Tower VII (you must still own it when we ship The Little Sisters of Eluria or your order will be cancelled). We will then do a lottery drawing for remaining available copies but as we expect there to be very few copies available the lottery will be restricted to owners of Numbered DT VII above 1250. LOTTERY: Send us a POSTCARD (NOT an email or letter) which reads: Please put me in the lottery to purchase a copy of the signed & numbered Deluxe The Little Sisters of Eluria. I have # ____ of The Dark Tower VII. Include your name, address, phone number, and if you wish, email address. REMEMBER, only send in ONE post card. If we receive more than one request from anyone we will throw them ALL away. We want everyone to have an equal chance. TO ORDER ON-LINE GO TO: https://secure.grantbooks.com/z-sk-dt-1-lsoe.html ORDER CONFIRMATION: If you send a check and the check is cashed we have received your order. If you sent an order via our website you will receive as confirmation an email titled "RE WWW Form Submission". As we expect to receive 1,500 or more email orders within 24 hours of sending this Newsletter you may not receive your confirmation for several weeks. If you call or email, this will only delay getting orders ready to ship. We have a small staff and will be hiring extra help but it will take time to process orders, especially for people expecting a specific numbered copy. We appreciate your patience. Please do not call or email us for further details as we will just refer you to our web site and suggest you remain subscribed to our email newsletter. We will send out another Newsletter when we know when shipping will begin. Thank you. Robert K. Wiener, President Donald M. Grant, Publisher, Inc.
contents - editorial - reviews

Sci-fi's grand old man, Forrest J Ackerman, dies

By JOHN ROGERS

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Forrest J Ackerman, the sometime actor, literary agent, magazine editor and full-time bon vivant who discovered author Ray Bradbury and was widely credited with coining the term "sci-fi," has died. He was 92.

Ackerman died Thursday of heart failure at his Los Angeles home, said Kevin Burns, head of Prometheus Entertainment and a trustee of Ackerman's estate.

Although only marginally known to readers of mainstream literature, Ackerman was legendary in science-fiction circles as the founding editor of the pulp magazine Famous Monsters of Filmland. He was also the owner of a huge private collection of science-fiction movie and literary memorabilia that for years filled every nook and cranny of a hillside mansion overlooking Los Angeles.

"He became the Pied Piper, the spiritual leader, of everything science fiction, fantasy and horror," Burns said Friday.

Every Saturday morning that he was home, Ackerman would open up the house to anyone who wanted to view his treasures. He sold some pieces and gave others away when he moved to a smaller house in 2002, but he continued to let people visit him every Saturday for as long as his health permitted.

"My wife used to say, 'How can you let strangers into our home?' But what's the point of having a collection like this if you can't let people enjoy it?" an exuberant Ackerman told The Associated Press as he conducted a spirited tour of the mansion on his 85th birthday.

His collection once included more than 50,000 books, thousands of science-fiction magazines and such items as Bela Lugosi's cape from the 1931 film "Dracula."

His greatest achievement, however, was likely discovering Bradbury, author of the literary classics "Fahrenheit 451" and "The Martian Chronicles." Ackerman had placed a flyer in a Los Angeles bookstore for a science-fiction club he was founding and a teenage Bradbury showed up.

Later, Ackerman gave Bradbury the money to start his own science-fiction magazine, Futuria Fantasia, and paid the author's way to New York for an authors meeting that Bradbury said helped launch his career.

"I hadn't published yet, and I met a lot of these people who encouraged me and helped me get my career started, and that was all because of Forry Ackerman," the author told the AP in 2005.

Later, as a literary agent, Ackerman represented Bradbury, Isaac Asimov and numerous other science-fiction writers.

He said the term "sci-fi" came to him in 1954 when he was listening to a car radio and heard an announcer mention the word "hi-fi."

"My dear wife said, 'Forget it, Forry, it will never catch on,'" he recalled.

Soon he was using it in Famous Monsters of Filmland, the magazine he helped found in 1958 and edited for 25 years.

Ackerman himself appeared in numerous films over the years, usually in bit parts. His credits include "Queen of Blood," "Dracula vs. Frankenstein," "Amazon Women on the Moon," "Vampirella," "Transylvania Twist," "The Howling" and the Michael Jackson "Thriller" video. More recently, he appeared in 2007's "The Dead Undead" and 2006's "The Boneyard Collection."

Ackerman returned briefly to Famous Monsters of Filmland in the 1990s, but he quickly fell out with the publisher over creative differences. He sued and was awarded a judgment of more than $375,000.

Forrest James Ackerman was born in Los Angeles on Nov. 24, 1916. He fell in love with science-fiction, he once said, when he was 9 years old and saw a magazine called Amazing Stories. He would hold onto that publication for the rest of his life.

Ackerman, who had no children, was preceded in death by his wife, Wendayne.

DON GRANT BOOKS announces the availability of THE LITTLE SISTERS OF ELURIA by Stephen King. This is information from their email newsletter.

As the book is still not bound and the tray cases and slipcases are not yet made we hope to be able to begin shipping orders on December 15 but can’t make any promises. The books will have 13 full color plates and many black and white illustrations by Michael Whelan and is released in 2 editions.

ARTIST EDITION: There are 4,000 numbered copies signed by Michael Whelan which are issued in a foil stamped slipcase. Retail price is $95.00 plus shipping and we are initially reserving the first 1,500 numbers for people who hold a matching number of THE DARK TOWER VII.

We expect that this will be a sufficient number to allow people to order more than one copy but we reserve the right to limit the number in any order to ensure that as many of our customers who want to buy a copy can if we receive more orders than we have copies.

Michael told us that he did drawings on 30 - 50 of the signature pages when he was signing them and we have no idea which numbered copies they ended up in. He sent us photos of two of them and they are posted on our web site. If you receive one of these be aware that the value of these books are probably in excess of $1,000 as copies of the Artist Edition of THE DARK TOWER VII in which Michael made similar drawings sold on eBay or to collectors for over $1,200 each. I expect that most of these copies will remain undiscovered for years as many collectors never take the shrink wrap off their books.

DELUXE EDITION: There are 1,250 numbered copies signed by both Stephen King and Michael Whelan which are issued in a fully enclosing foil stamped clamshell tray case. It has a different binding material than the Artist Edition and also has a ribbon bound in. The
retail price is $300.

As usual there is a much greater demand for our Limited Editions than copies available, so in keeping with our policy of supporting our long time customers the S&N Deluxe Edition can be ordered only by those who have a S&N The Dark Tower VII (you must still own it when we ship The Little Sisters of Eluria or your order will be cancelled). We will then do a
lottery drawing for remaining available copies but as we expect there to be very few copies available the lottery will be restricted to owners of Numbered DT VII above 1250.

LOTTERY: Send us a POSTCARD (NOT an email or letter) which reads: Please put me in the lottery to purchase a copy of the signed & numbered Deluxe The Little Sisters of Eluria. I have # ____ of The Dark Tower VII. Include your name, address, phone number, and if you wish, email address.
REMEMBER, only send in ONE post card. If we receive more than one request from anyone we will throw them ALL away. We want everyone to have an equal chance.

TO ORDER ON-LINE GO TO: https://secure.grantbooks.com/z-sk-dt-1-lsoe.html

ORDER CONFIRMATION: If you send a check and the check is cashed we have received
your order. If you sent an order via our website you will receive as confirmation an email titled "RE WWW Form Submission". As we expect to receive 1,500 or more email orders within 24 hours of sending this Newsletter you may not receive your confirmation for several weeks. If you call or email, this will only delay getting orders ready to ship.

We have a small staff and will be hiring extra help but it will take time to process orders, especially for people expecting a specific numbered copy. We appreciate your patience.

Please do not call or email us for further details as we will just refer you to our web site and suggest you remain subscribed to our email newsletter.

We will send out another Newsletter when we know when shipping will begin.

Thank you.

Robert K. Wiener, President
Donald M. Grant, Publisher, Inc.

contents - editorial - reviews