Difference between revisions of "Jack Speer"

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Revision as of 16:54, 27 July 2020

(August 8, 1920 -- June 28, 2008)

John Bristol Speer was one of the fathers of fandom and perhaps the first really important fanhistorian, writing Up to Now: A History of Science Fiction Fandom as well as the first Fancyclopedia in 1944. In 2004, he was Fan GoH at Noreascon 4 in Boston.

Jack Speer became became a fan around 1935 and was responsible for a long series of firsts:

Originally from Oklahoma, where he started reading sf at in 1928 at age 8. He found fandom through the letter columns of Wonder in the early 30s where he started a correspondence with Don Wollheim. He lived in DC during the War and later moved to the Pacific Northwest before retiring to Albuquerque.

By inventing the John Bristol persona he perpetrated one of the more successful hoaxes in the history of fandom. He was also known by the nicknames Juffus and the Hily Magnified Woggle-Bug

Winner of the First Fandom Hall of Fame award. He was brought to Ditto 14/FanHistoriCon 11 by the Don Ford Fund.

His fanzines included A, Allegory, Antaios, Avalon, Demeter, Deukalion, Eos, Epimetheus, Hesper, Oduooeus, Olympus, One Fingers Number Four Fingers Number One (with F. T. Laney, Charles Burbee, and Walt Leibscher), Phosphor, Photon, Science Fiction Forum, Stefnews, The Stefnews (with John Bristol), Stf and Nonsense (with Dan MacPhail) Sustaining Program, Synapse.

He was a member of FAPA (and was a leading member of the Brain Trust) and served in many offices.

Articles about Speer:

Jack was born in Comanche, Oklahoma. He became a lawyer and after WWII, he began practicing law in Washington State, where he was active in the Democratic Party and served a term in the State House of Representatives. He later moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico. He continued to practice law and served two terms as the judge of the Bernalillo County Small Claims Court.

While in New Mexico he was one of the founders of Bubonicon (though he protested the name, see Bubonicon 2) and was memorialized at Bubonicon 40.

His photograph appears on page 128 of Harry Warner, Jr.'s All Our Yesterdays (1969) and on page 19 of Warner's A Wealth of Fable (1992).

An obituary by Jon D. Swartz appeared in New Series #18, 3rd quarter, 2008, issue of Scientifiction: The First Fandom Report. Speer was also the subject of a Founding Members article by Swartz in the July, 2017 National Fantasy Fan.

Reading:

Fanzines and Apazines:

Awards, Honors and GoHships:


Person 19202008
This is a biography page. Please extend it by adding more information about the person, such as fanzines and apazines published, awards, clubs, conventions worked on, GoHships, impact on fandom, external links, anecdotes, etc. See Standards for People and The Naming of Names.