There have been several reports that Forry (age 91) died yesterday, and then some saying not.

Forrest J. Ackerman, although not a great writer, editor or critic, was very much a part of the Golden Era of science fiction. I know of him through his Famous Monsters magazine, which I used to buy when I was 9 or 10.

Forry was always the perfect Spec Fic fan. He went to the conventions, wrote letters to the editors of all the magazines, met and made friends with every science fiction writer that he could. There was no one who didn’t know Forrest J. Ackerman (4SJ in his letters) and there was no one that Forry didn’t know.

I bought a few items when he put his Garage Mahal on sale – the garage where he stored his memorabilia. I got a nice note from him signed with his 4SJ tag line.

Forry is, by most accounts, on his death bed. Everybody, please have good thoughts about a nice guy who is very much a part of the basic fabric of Speculative Fiction.