Gosh! Wow! (Sense of Wonder) Science Fiction

by Forrest J. Ackerman (Editor)

Book by Ackerman, Forrest J

Genres: Science Fiction

561 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1982

About the author

Forrest J Ackerman (born Forrest James Ackerman; November 24, 1916 – December 4, 2008) was an American collector of science fiction books and movie memorabilia and a science fiction fan. He was, for over seven decades, one of science fiction's staunchest spokesmen and promoters.

Ackerman was a Los Angeles, California-based magazine editor, science fiction writer and literary agent, a founder of science fiction fandom, a leading expert on science fiction and fantasy films, and possibly the world's most avid collector of genre books and movie memorabilia. He was the editor and principal writer of the American magazine Famous Monsters of Filmland, as well as an actor, from the 1950s into the 1980s, and appears in two documentaries related to this period in popular culture: writer and filmmaker Jason V. Brock's The Ackermonster Chronicles!, (a 2012 documentary about Ackerman) and Charles Beaumont: The Life of Twilight Zone's Magic Man, about the late author Charles Beaumont, a former client of The Ackerman Agency.

Also called "Forry," "The Ackermonster," "4e" and "4SJ," Ackerman was central to the formation, organization, and spread of science fiction fandom, and a key figure in the wider cultural perception of science fiction as a literary, art and film genre. Famous for his word play and neologisms, he coined the genre nickname "sci-fi". In 1953, he was voted "#1 Fan Personality" by the members of the World Science Fiction Society, a unique Hugo Award never granted to anyone else.

He was also among the first and most outspoken advocates of Esperanto in the science fiction community.

Ackerman was born Forrest James Ackerman (though he would refer to himself from the early 1930s on as "Forrest J Ackerman" with no period after the middle initial), on November 24, 1916, in Los Angeles, to Carroll Cridland (née Wyman; 1883–1977) and William Schilling Ackerman (1892–1951). His father was from New York and his mother was from Ohio (the daughter of architect George Wyman); she was nine years older than William.[13] He attended the University of California at Berkeley for a year (1934–1935), worked as a movie projectionist, and spent three years in the U.S. Army after enlisting on August 15, 1942.

He was married to teacher and translator Wendayne (Wendy) Wahrman (1912–1990) until her death. Her original first name was Matilda; Forry created "Wendayne" for her. Wendayne suffered a serious head injury when she was violently mugged while on a trip to Europe in 1990, and the injury soon after led to her death.

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

Ackerman was an atheist.

More: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0009969/

http://fancyclopedia.org/forrest-j-ac...

http://www.amazon.com/Forrest-J.-Acke...

http://content.time.com/time/magazine...

Reviews

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a big book of pre-Golden Age (before John Campbell assumed the editorship of Astounding SF magazine) science fiction stories; they appeared in the late 1920's through the mid 1930's. Most of them are terribly dated by modern standards, of course, but they're still mostly good stories that represent the best writing in the genre of the time. 4SJ interjects a little too much of himself into the book, I think, from the title all the way through, but when his reminiscences and introductions to the stories get to be a little too over the top one always has the option to skip ahead to the stories themselves. His effervescent ebullience goes better with the movies he was raving about in Famous Monsters of Filmland Magazine articles than in literary analysis. Imagine Jerry Lewis on amphetamines doing film criticism. He includes some classic stories such as Raymond Z. Gallun's Old Faithful, A. Merritt's The Face in the Abyss, and Don A. Stuart's (a pseudonym of John W. Campbell) Twilight, along with a mix of stories from both well known writers such as Jack Williamson and Edmond Hamilton, and now almost forgotten pioneers like Stanley G. Weinbaum and Capt. S.P. Meek. This is a sadly over-looked book with historical value, and serves as a great companion volume to Isaac Asimov's anthology Before the Golden Age.

[Cheryl]

Dang. Saved this for years, as a sort of 'treat.' But when I finally made time for it, I realize it's too dated even by my standards, and that Ackerman and I just don't have common tastes or interests. I hope that someone on paperbackswap.com (or one of you) are interested in it as a bit of SF history; I look forward to shipping it (free) to a new home.

Oct. 2021