Larry Shaw

(November 9, 1924 – April 1, 1985)

Lawrence T. Shaw was an American fan who was also a pro editor.

Curfew Publications was his publishing house. He joined the Futurians in the early ’40s and lived in Little Jarnevon. In 1945, he was one of the leaders of the major Futurians feud around the X Document and was one of its editors.

He became involved with Claude Degler and became a member of the Cosmic Circle in 1943 and for a time was one of Degler's disciples. He was possibly the only member of both the Slan Slum and the Empire State Slans, which Degler created. He was also one of the two known members of the Claude Degler-created Hannes Bok Art Society. Later that year he apostatized, as Degler was becoming notorious and because Degler called on a girl Shaw knew after having been warned off.

In the ’50s and ’60s, he was a member of the Hydra Club, the Second Futurian Society of New York, the Fanarchists, and the Fanoclasts. He triggered the Little Interregnum when he resigned as OE of FAPA. He was a member of the FATE Tape.

He married Lee Hoffman (whom he met at the Clevention) 1955) in Spring 1956. They were divorced in 1958. He then married Noreen Falasca July 17, 1959 (she had co-chaired Clevention with her then-husband Nick Falasca) and they had two sons and stayed together until his 1985 death from cancer.

Along with Noreen Shaw, he was nominated for the 1962 Best Fanzine Hugo for Axe.

Professionally, in the late '40s and early '50s, he wrote sf (both short fiction and novels) and in the mid-50s became an editor for If and later Infinity Science Fiction. He published Harlan Ellison's first magazine story "Glowworm" in Infinity Science Fiction.

After those magazines died in 1958, he edited monster movie magazines, automotive magazines and other material until 1963, when he began editing for Lancer Books. At the same time he was involved in comics, including writing for Flash Gordon. He continued working as an editor until 1975, when he began work mainly as a literary agent with the Larry T. Shaw Literary Agency.

The Shaws moved from New York to Los Angeles in 1969, when Larry became editorial director of the Parliament News Company. They bequeathed their New York apartment to Ted and Robin White -- along with a cat. And joined LASFS, of course.

Towards the end of Shaw’s life, at the L.A.con II Hugo Ceremony Robert Silverberg and Harlan Ellison together spoke of Shaw's long service to SF and presented him with a Special Committee Award from L.A.con II for being one of the early unsung editors in the field.

• Entry in The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction
• See File 770 52, p. 21 for an obituary by Len Moffatt.
• Timeline of Larry Shaw's life

Photo at NyCon III, 1967.

Fanzines and Apazines:

• Axe [1961-63] (with Noreen Shaw)
• Banshee [mid-40s] (for FAPA)
• Beulah's Scrapbook [1944]
• Blue Funk [1946]
• Caliban [early-40s] (for FAPA)
• Claude Degler and the FAPA [1944]
• Cruise of the "Foo Foo Special Jr." [1943]
• Destiny's Child [1945]
• Dimensions [1956-57] (for OMPA)
• Excelsior [1957] (with Lee Shaw)
• Fanzine Yearbook [1943] (with Bob Tucker and Art Widner)
• FAPA Bulletin [1944]
• FAPA Index (Mailings 1-28) [1944]
• FATE [mid-50s] (for OMPA)
• Fling [1945]
• Ice Age [1960-61] (for FAPA)
• It [1945] (with Damon Knight)
• Laundry [1958] (for FAPA, with Lee Shaw)
• Leprechaun [early 40s]
• McSnoyd's Bulletin [mid-40s]
• Nebula [1940s] (some issues)
• Other People's Mail (with Noreen Shaw for FAPA)
• Pan
• Pavlat Report [1959] (for FAPA, to which Bob Pavlat replied with the The Shaw Retort)
• Science*Fiction [1946] (with Judith Merrill and Dan Zissman)
• The Steff Nyaa-aa-a!! [1943] (for FAPA)
• The Unknown Madman [mid-40s] (for FAPA)
• Thump [1956] (with Lee Shaw and A. J. Budrys)
• Vanguard Variorum [mid-40s] (for VAPA)

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Person

1924—1985

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