Ned Brooks

Ned Brooks Art by Charlie Williams,
from Guy Lillian's Challenger.

(February 8, 1938 – August 31, 2015)

Cuyler Warnell “Ned” Brooks, Jr., was a longtime Virginia fan and collector. He maintained extensive, meticulously organized collections of books, fanzines, art and typewriters, at one point removing the usual equipment of his Newport News kitchen in order to house his typer collection, which he dubbed the Beroaldus Cosmopolita Museum. He eventually bought the house next door to hold more books.

His long-running perzines It Comes in the Mail and It Goes on the Shelf were largely devoted to reviews.

He entered fandom by answering one of Seth Johnson's Ads in a science fiction prozine — “Discover fandom for $2” — and, in 1963, attended his first Worldcon, Discon, in Washington, DC.

He was a member of N3F. He won the N3F's Kaymar Award in 1972 and the SFC's Rebel Award in 1976 and Rubble Award in 1992. He was one of the founders of Slanapa (Off to DeepSouthCon). He was a member of the Hampton Roads SF Association and published The Liberated Quark for it.

In the mid-1960s he edited the N3F's fanzine, Collector's Bulletin, and, in 1966, he was a member of the club's Directorate. He seems to have organized Hark!Con in 1978 and was a member of the Fellowship of the Purple Tongue, a Norfolk, VA, club, in the early ’60s. He was a member of the First Fandom club.

He published Guinevere and Lancelot and others by Arthur Machen and other reprint books under the imprint of the Purple Mouth Press.

He was FGoH at Rivercon IV, Ditto 4 and DeepSouthCon 39. He was posthumously awarded the Sam Moskowitz Archive Award in 2016.

He was born in Montana, the son of Cuyler Warnell Brooks, Sr., who was also nicknamed “Ned.” He went to work for NASA, in Hampton, Virginia, as a wind tunnel engineer in 1959, and worked there for 39 years. He moved to Lilburn, Georgia, on his retirement.

Brooks died at age 77 when he fell from his roof while doing repairs.

Ned Brooks with some of his collection.
Photo by Richard Dengrove.

• File 770 Obituary.
• Appreciations by John Hertz, Christopher M. O'Brien, and Jon D. Swartz in Scientifiction: The First Fandom Report (New Series #46, 4th Quarter, 2015.
• Obituaries by Tim Marion in File 770.
• Archived website.
• Ned Brooks’ Fanzine Index.

Fanzines and Apazines:

• Adzine for Addicts [1972]
• The Collector's Bulletin [1964–69]
• Conned Out [1979] for Slanapa)
• Down with Reality [late '60s] (for N'APA)
• Fellowship of the Purple Tongue and the Magical Folding Easter Egg [1967]
• The Hannes Bok Illustration Index [1970–2012]
• Harosfa Journal [early '70s] (for Slanapa)
• It Comes in the Mail [1972–78]
• It Goes on the Shelf [1985–2005]
• The Liberated Quark (some issues)
• The Mae Strelkov Trip Report [1976] (with Sam Long)
• The New Newport News News [late '60s]
• The New Port News [1967–2000] (for SFPA)
• Reality Is Not Enough [1967] (for N'APA)
• Skiffy [late '70s-early '80s] (for SFPA)
• Skiffy [late '70s-early '80s] (for SFPA)
• Skiffy Bag [1979]
• Skiffy Thyme [1980]
• Towel Day [2001] (for Slanapa)
• Train-Con [1975] (with others)

Awards, Honors and GoHships:

• 1972 -- Kaymar Award
• 1976 -- Rebel Award
• 1978 -- Rivercon IV
• 1991 -- Ditto 4
• 1992 -- Rubble Award
• 2001 -- DeepSouthCon 39
• 2016 -- Sam Moskowitz Archive Award (posthumous)

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Person

1938—2015

This is a biography page. Please extend it by adding more information about the person, such as fanzines and apazines published, awards, clubs, conventions worked on, GoHships, impact on fandom, external links, anecdotes, etc. See Standards for People and The Naming of Names.