Nan Gerding
(December 30, 1923 – February 1982)
Nancy I. Gerding (née Staat), a fan from Roseville, Illinois, was a writer, poet and fanzine editor active in the 1950s and ’60s. Her first fanzine was Starlanes, subtitled The International Quarterly of Science Fiction Poetry, published with Orma McCormick for a decade beginning in 1951. Writers who appeared in the fanzine included Joseph Payne Brennan, Philip José Farmer, and Edith Ogutsch, but readers of voted Nan’s poem "Smoke Vistas" the best poem in the Summer, 1952 issue.
Gerding released a series of fanzines whose titles played with variations of her name. Nandu had least 29 issues. She also published Nandidn't, two issues of Nangel, and Nantz. With Lynn Hickman, she published Ob for OMPA. She was a member and OE of SAPS. In 1954, she edited the first issue of Spectator, which was then turned over to other editors. In the summer of the same year, she and Wrai Ballard published Dyad. She was assistant editor of Opus.
Chigger Patch of Fandom is one of Gerding's best known fanzines, edited with Bob Farnham and Ed Cox, with contributions from Robert Bloch, Orma McCormick, and many others. Gerding continued contributing to fanzines into the 1960s.
She was a member of the N3F, volunteering in its Correspondence Bureau. Gerding also served as co-editor (with Honey Wood) of The National Fantasy Fan in 1954. She was involved with Project Fan Club.
Nan married A. Phil Gerding (1918–2011) in 1945; they had three daughters, Paula, Betsy and Dawn, and one son, Thomas B. “Baptist” Gerding (1946–2014). Thomas, “an avid collector of vintage comic books, car and train models, action figures, and movies,” according to his obituary, drew illos for his mother’s zines.
- Her photo appears on page 40 of A Wealth of Fable by Harry Warner, Jr..
- FindaGrave entry.
- Dyad (with Wrai Ballard for FAPA) [Summer 1954]
- The Chigger Patch of Fandom (with Bob Farnham and Ed Cox) [1950s]
- Nandidn't
- Nandu (for SAPS) [December 1952–January 1965]
- Nangel [February 1958 and May 1959]
- Nantz
- The National Fantasy Fan (with Honey Wood) [1954]
- Ob (with Lynn Hickman for OMPA) [1958]
- Spectator #1 (for SAPS) [1954]
- Starlanes [1951–61]
Awards, Honors and GoHships:
- 1951 — National Fantasy Fan Federation fan poll Best New Fan, and second in the Best Overall Fan category
| Person | 1923—1982 |
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