Fred Smith
(1927 – October 2, 2024)
Frederick 'Fred' L. Smith was a fan, fanzine editor and fanwriter from Glasgow, Scotland, first active in the 1950s and then again from the 1990s.
He began reading science fiction around 1936 at the age of nine, discovering first Thrilling Wonder Stories, closely followed by Amazing Stories and Astounding. Later, the public libraries introduced him to H. G. Wells, Jules Verne and Edgar Rice Burroughs.
During World War II, he maintained a direct subscription to Astounding and the British reprint Unknown. In 1946, his subscription expired and, the postal regulations having altered meanwhile, he was unable to renew it. At the same time, his interest in sf waned anyhow:
I was in the RAF from '45 to '48 end after being released spent a couple of years helling it up with local musicians, poets and artists and reading Litrachure – Gogol, Dostoevsky, James Joyce, Henry Miller, Dylan Thomas, etc[1].
He began reading sf again around early 1950 with BRE Astounding and New Worlds and through ads in the latter discovered Wally Gillings's Fantasy Review,
thereby realising all the good things I had been missing. So I went on a spending spree buying all the back issues of aSF I'd missed and lots of other books and magazines as well. From the reviewer in TWS and SS I found Slant and Operation Fantast and since that day I've never looked back, except with nostalgia (my favourite position)[2].
In 1952, he was one of the founders of the New Lands SF Club. This group sponsored the first issue of Haemogoblin in late 1953, which he edited 'or rather “assembled” as Walt Willis put it'.
In 1954, he was the 17th person to join OMPA, thus becoming a Founder Member. His Ompazine was first Needle and then a revived Haemogoblin. He attended the 1954 Eastercon (Supermancon), where, according to Ethel Lindsay, he was 'best remembered there for his impersonation of Boris Karloff. Very lifelike.' In 1957, he joined FAPA.
In a profile of 'Scottish Fandom' in Contact #8 (February 1957, p. 4) Ethel Lindsay described Smith as
the most active [Scottish] fan nowadays. A member of OMPA, he is also a great subscriber to fanzines. Often seen in letter columns[,] his judgment on fanzines is good. He has been rather hampered this last year by studying for a music exam. Once this is past, you will be all hearing from him.
In Haemogoblin #4, Smith confirmed that he had
managed to prise an ARCM Diploma out of the Royal College of Music. This has opened the doors to a teacher training college (Jordanhill, Glasgow) where I'm currently working a six months course terminating at Easter, when I should be a full fledged music teacher. Apart from studying “straight” or “serious” music for years I also play modern jazz piano and have worked professionally with several bands. Hobbies, apart from stf are record collecting and gliding, and at one time I built rather a lot of model aircraft; may even do something in that line again if I ever find the time.
Smith did nevertheless largely drop out of fandom shortly afterwards. He still maintained some contacts, attending Faircon '78, the first sf convention in Scotland, where guest of honour James White signed his copies of Slant. He became more active again in the 1990s, contributing letters and articles to fanzines including Banana Wings, Mimosa, Relapse, Trap Door and Vibrator among others. Two articles in Banana Wings formed the first two parts of the book Once There Was A Magazine: A Personal View of Unknown and Unknown Worlds (2002). He also attended Interaction, the 2005 Worldcon, and Concussion, the 2006 Eastercon, both in Glasgow.
He moved to Edinburgh for the last seven months of his life.
- Haemogoblin [1953–59] (first issue for the New Lands SF Club, second and third for OMPA, fourth and fifth for OMPA and FAPA)
- Needle [1954–1955] five issues, OMPA; #6 incorporated into Haemogoblin #3 [1957]
____
- ↑ Haemogoblin #4 (November 1957).
- ↑ Ibid.
| Person | 1927—2024 |
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