John Brosnan

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(October 7, 1947 – April 8, 2005)

John Raymond Brosnan was a fan and pro writer and journalist active from the late 1960s, first in his native Australia and from 1970 onward in the UK. His early professional work was non-fiction, much of it relating to films. He later published several SF novels under his own name as well as collaborating on horror novels with Leroy Kettle under the pen-names Harry Adam Knight and Simon Ian Childer. The acronyms HAK and SIC were entirely intentional.

Born in Perth in Western Australia, Brosnan was an early member of Anzapa, contributing Why Bother? from its second mailing in December 1968 when it was still officially known as APA-A. He would rejoin, with Son of Why Bother?, in the late 1970s and contributed to the APA's twenty-fifth anniversary mailing in October 1993. In 1969 he was part of a (mostly non-fannish) party that set off to travel to Europe in a double-decker bus. The UK was the planned final destination but some of the party got no further than Greece while the bus broke down and was sold for scrap in Italy.

Brosnan, however, did make it to England and lived in London. His first British convention was Eastercon 22 in 1971. He also attended meetings at The Globe, describing his first meeting in Scythrop #22 (April 1971): 

My first Globe night was a bit overwhelming. I found it a bit hard to believe that all these people were actually fans or pros. The only place you get that many sf nuts together in Australia is at a convention. Needless to say I enjoyed myself immensely. I think the idea of holding such a gathering in a pub is great and one which the Sydney SF Foundation should adopt. I admit I did miss the trappings I normally associate with an sf meeting. No-one read out the minutes from the last meeting or attacked the constitution (somebody told me there wasn’t any constitution, but I didn’t believe him of course) and I had to fight the urge all night to put forward a motion or two.

In July 1971 Greg Pickersgill also arrived in London from Haverfordwest and moved into Brosnan's flat. The two of them would house-share off and on until 1974. Brosnan later moved to Ortygia House in the north-west London borough of Harrow, taking on the flat previously occupied by Chris Evans. Other contemporary tenants included Lisa Tuttle and Colin Greenland.

In the 1970s he was a member of Ratfandom and Pickersgill described him in Ritblat / Grim News #1 (March 1974): 

Brosnan, of course, is virtually Ratfan sans pareil, with Scab and excellent fanzine appearances (often with Tails of Ratfandom) all over. He's also most group oriented, inclined to join in on any social aspect, but entirely against any notion that Ratfandom might be anything more than a group of idiots hanging around together.

Reviewing Scab in the same issue, Pickersgill said: 

... it's a crummy (though in fact not usually as crummy as True Rat in production) four pager entirely obsessed with Ratfandom and other London phenomenons as seen by John Brosnan. Funny as hell, and most of it true.

Brosnan contributed to a number of fanzines in the UK and elsewhere, including Egg, Nabu, Speculation, SF Commentary and Mota. He was a regular attendee at conventions and at the Troy Club, a popular venue with fans and professionals in the 1980s and 1990s.

His funeral in 2005 was attended by many current and former fans. Some of those who had drifted into gafia, such as John Nielsen Hall and Ian Maule, were spurred into renewed activity.

You Only Live Once is a collection of Brosnan's fan writing, originally produced by Kim Huett in 2007 with an expanded edition released in 2018

Links

Fanzines and Apazines:

Awards, Honors and GoHships:

Person 1947—2005
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