Jon D. Swartz
(December 28, 1934 --)
A member of First Fandom, Jon David Swartz was president of the N3F in 2010 and 2011 and as of 2013 was the N3F Historian and serves on its Directorate. From 2003 until 2011 he was Book Review Editor for The National Fantasy Fan. He also serves (since 2002) as special features editor of First Fandom's publication Scientifiction: The First Fandom Report. He and John L. Coker, III, current president of First Fandom, edited/published the 2015, 2016, 2018, and 2019 First Fandom Membership Directories. Swartz edited the expanded 2017 Directory. In addition, he and Coker wrote a series of biographies of original members of First Fandom for Scientifiction and a First Fandom Annual for 2016. First Fandom Annual 2018 was published in August, 2018, and First Fandom Annual 2019 is currently in the works. He was named Co-Editor of Tightbeam, the N3F literary fanzine, in 2018. Tightbeam won a Neffy Award as best fanzine in 2019.
His fanzine, The Ultraverse, was a longtime a member of the Carboniferous Amateur Press Alliance, (CAPA). His The E-Ultraverse e-zine appeared in the N'APA mailings from 2008 until 2011. When writing on psychological topics, he called his fanzine Cognitive Dissonance. He was named to the Fan Contact position for the revived fanzine, Ionisphere (edited by John Thiel for N3F), in 2016. In 2018 N3F president George Phillies appointed him to the club's new 3-person Information Technology Committee, along with David Speakman and Jefferson Swycaffer. Also, in 2018 he was appointed to the club's Fandom History and Research Bureau that publishes the fanzine Origin. In 2019 he was appointed the N3F's official Election Teller after serving in this capacity, off and on, since 2017.
His academic and non-fiction publications number more than 500, including 40+ books and monographs. His popular culture publications also number more than 500, giving him 1,000+ signed publications in his career. He has published three books on old-time radio (OTR), and several short stories featuring OTR characters. His The A to Z of Old-Time Radio appeared in 2010.
His genre publications include Pseudonyms of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Authors, 2010 (N3F Fandbook No. 5); The Hugo Awards for Best Novel, 2013 (N3F Fandbook No. 6); The Nebula Awards for Best Novel, 2016 (N3F Fandbook No. 7); The Buck Rogers Big Little Books and Other Collectibles, 2013. He is a regular contributor of articles on science fiction and fantasy topics to The Big Little Times and Paperback Parade. He and Jim Harmon co-authored "On the Trail of Professor Proteus," a science fiction story set during World War II, in It's That Time Again 3 (2006), edited by Harmon. He and Harmon had corresponded since 1964, when both of them were named Charter Members of the Executive Board of the Academy of Comic-Book Fans and Collectors by Jerry Bails. When active in comic book fandom, Jon sometimes used the pseudonyms of A. Reader and David Black.
He has attended many local SF conventions/meetings; and he and his son Eric attended the 1997 Worldcon (LoneStarCon2) in San Antonio, Texas.
Genre Awards: Franson Award, 2004, 2007, 2017; Kaymar Award, 2010; First Fandom Sam Moskowitz Archive Award, 2017. He was elected to Life Member Status in the N3F in 2018.
He wrote a profile of Sam Moskowitz that was included in the second edition of Hal Hall's bibliography/guide of the work of Moskowitz, published in 2017.
He received his Ph.D. in 1969 from The University of Texas at Austin and was Chief of Psychological Services at Central Counties Center for Mental Health-Mental Retardation until his retirement in 1999. Previously, he was Associate Dean for Libraries and Learning Resources at Southwestern University, Georgetown, Texas, where he was also Brown Professor of Psychology and Education.
When he was on the faculty at The University of Texas, he was friends with Chad Oliver, who was on the faculty at the same time. He and Oliver were active at the time in the University's science fiction club, and arranged for science fiction writers such as Walter M. Miller, Jr., and Randall Garrett to speak to club members. Jon wrote an article about Oliver that was published in Paperback Parade #66 (September 2006 issue). Other articles for Paperback Parade have been on the works of such SF authors as Wilson "Bob" Tucker, George O. Smith, E. E. (Doc) Smith, Jim Harmon, Ron Goulart, Rog Phillips, Neal Barrett, Jr., and A. E. van Vogt. His most recent articles for Paperback Parade were "Science Fiction in Dime Novels, Penny Dreadfuls, and Shilling Shockers" (August, 2017 issue), "The Ace/Ballantine Rivalry Over the Books of Edgar Rice Burroughs" (April, 2018 issue), and "A. E. van Vogt" (February, 2019 issue). Others in this current series will include Robert Heinlein and Alfred Bester.
He is currently writing a series of articles on "neglected" genre authors for The National Fantasy Fan. Authors remembered so far include E. F. Benson, Robert W. Chambers, Marjorie Bowen, D. K. Broster, Miles J. Breuer, Thorp McClusky, A. Clark Russell, J. D. Beresford, F. Marion Crawford, Don Wilcox, Amelia Reynolds Long, E. Hoffmann Price, Mindret Lord, Curt Siodmak, Frank Gruber, Michael Fessier, William Gray Beyer, Joseph E. Kelleam, Mary Elizabeth Counselman, David H. Keller, M.D., and Russ Winterbotham.
A brief biography of Swartz appeared in Scientifiction (New Series #53, 3rd Quarter, 2017), which also announced he was recipient of the 2017 Sam Moskowitz Archive Award.
He writes many of the obituaries that appear in Scientifiction in his role as STF's Special Features Editor.
| Person | 1934— |
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