Tom Perry

(???? – July 8, 1997)

Thomas Perry was a fan beginning in the 1950s who published the fanzine Logorrhea (later re-named Quark) was well as writing a column for Hyphen. Quark was also home to Walt Willis’s "The Harp That Once or Twice" column. He was also a historian of the field, contributing many articles to Ted White’s Amazing, some of which revised the anecdotal history of Hugo Gernsback's loss of control of Amazing Stories in 1929 (which alienated Sam Moskowitz, who had first pieced together that history).

He was one of the founders of Lilapa and a member (and officer) of FAPA.

In mundane life, he was involved in the anti-Humphrey demonstrations at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, but escaped being gassed -- only to be stabbed by a mugger later that night in an unrelated incident. He attended Woodstock, but only for the first day. Having become separated from the people he came with, he had to walk out and hitchhike home.

He lived in Omaha, NE, in the 1960s and during a period of gafia in the late ’60s and early ’70s moved to the UK, where he again became active and published at least two issues of Quark. He moved back to the US and died of cancer in Gainesville, FL in 1997.

Gary Farber said of him, "Tom's zines were like his writing: always thoughtful, carefully done, fannish, yet substantive and of import. He combined the faanish touch of a Lee Hoffman or a Bob Tucker with the care and weight of a Redd Boggs. He was a fan always to be taken seriously, yet who rarely, if ever, fell into taking himself too seriously or indulging in pomposity. He was, simply, one of the greats."

• “Ham and Eggs and Robert Heinlein” by Thomas Perry.

Fanzines and Apazines:

• Back Porch [1988] (for FAPA)
• First Draft [late 80s] (for FAPA)
• Logorrhea [1956-64]
• No Award [late 80s] (for FAPA)
• Quark [1964-77]
• Questying Party [1988] (for FAPA)

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Person

????—1997

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