Lyell Crane
(???? – )
Lyell Crane was an Australian fan from Sydney who lived for a while in Toronto, Canada before returning to Australia in May 1952[1]. He was as of 1953 the only fan to have attended conventions in UK, USA, Canada and Australia[2]. He was a member of the N3F, volunteering in its Correspondence Bureau, and of the Derelicts.
Crane moved to Toronto at some point after the Second World War. He joined the Derelicts and worked on Torcon, the 1948 Worldcon. He also appeared on the Cinvention roster. With Julian May, he organized the international club SF International around 1949. Sam Moskowitz said that Crane was Chairman of the Board of the Association, and claimed that him being resident in Canada was what made the group international[3]. He was also a member of Nolacon but probably didn't attend as in May 1951 he sailed to the UK to attend the Festivention in London.
In Stopgap #8 (May 1952) Graham Stone detailed his travels:
Lyell Crane, Australian-born co-founder of Science Fiction International, left his base of operation, Toronto early last year, and has since been once around the world — North of the Equator — and back again to Australia. He attended the First International S.F. Convention in London last May, then spent a few more months in Britain, getting around to visit fan groups all over the place, including W.A.Willis[4] and the Belfast bunch. Then he saw a fair amount of NATO Europe, with Paris as headquarters but calling on Capt. Ken Slater in NW Germany. Then on back to Canada via the Mediterranean route to Pakistan and India, Singapore and points East West. Then over the Pacific to Sydney. 'I wanted to see sunlight again' he explains. Lyell is the first fan with direct experience of fandom in more advanced countries we've ever had the chance to meet in the flesh. We're learning a lot about what goes on in the U.S. in particular. Lyell finds we compare pretty well with the run of fan groups for numbers and organisation, taking account of isolation. But he advises, 'Go all out for an overseas publicity drive — they just haven’t heard about Australian fans over there'.
By November 1952 he was General Secretary of the Australasian Science Fiction Society. He organized the Riverina Conference in Australia in 1953 and was among the group of fans who met Robert A. Heinlein during his visit to Sydney in February 1954.
Peon #33 (November 1954) reported:
If you've written Lyell Crane down in Australia recently, and not received a reply, here's why — he's given up fandom entirely (or so, he says, but I bet you he'll be back with us in a short time because it's very hard to give up something like this.
Crane was a civil engineer, and studied Dianetics.
- Interim Newsletter [early 50s]
- UnStopped Gap
Awards, Honors and GoHships:
- 1951 – Festivention
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- ↑ Proud and Lonely, Leigh Edmonds, page 89.
- ↑ Etherline #5 (1953.
- ↑ Foundation #45 (Summer 1989).
- ↑ Mentioned by Willis in Tangent #1 (January 1952) where he expressed surprise that Crane had never heard of Laney.
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