Anthony R. Lewis

(February 8, 1941 –)

Tony Lewis at MagiCon, 1992.
Photo by Lenny Provenzano.

Tony Lewis is a longtime Boston fan who was born in Gotham City Hospital (he claims no relation to the Wayne family). He joined MITSFS in 1957 and was very active in the club while he earned a Ph.D. in Nuclear Physics from MIT, including serving as Librarian and Onseck. He was known as the Evil Dr. Lewis, a title he relished.

There is a story that a MITSFS member (a Radcliffe undergrad) was eating lunch with her family in the Catskills after Freshman Year. She was telling them about this strange guy who was the club Librarian. The waiter leaned over and said “Don’t say bad things about Tony Lewis -- he has agents everywhere.” (The waiter was a Teaneck High School friend on a summer job.)

Lewis was a member of the short-lived BoSFS, and a founder of NESFA. While others also contributed to the creation of NESFA and modern Boston fandom, his contributions were paramount, and Boston fandom today in many ways still reflects Tony Lewis. (The editors of the NESFA Press book Ingathering dedicated it, "To Tony Lewis who created NESFA in his own image.") An early NESFA custom was a regular Friday night trip to The House of Roy in Boston’s Chinatown, followed by dessert in the Belmont Center Baskin-Robbins, followed by a fannish get-together at the nearby apartment of Lewis and his wife, Suford Lewis (see also Neopro)

He chaired Noreascon, the 1971 Worldcon, ran program for Noreascon Two and was on the Noreascon 3 and Noreascon 4 committees. He was heavily involved in WSFS organization during the pivotal 1960s and 70s and probably coined the name Nasfic. He was a charter member of MCFI and of SFRA. He was a member of the Boston in '67, Boston in 71, Boston in '89, Boston in '98, Boston in Orlando in 2001 and Boston in 2004 bid committees. He chaired Boskone 7, Boskone 14 and co-chaired Boskone 44. He chaired Codclave VII and was one of the organizers of Smofcon 0 in 1972. He has worked on numerous other conventions and was a well-known (and skilled) auctioneer. He has held numerous positions within NESFA, as well. He was a founding member of the Houston Science Fiction Society.

He published the fanzine Stroon, and the APAzine Along Alpha Ralpha Boulevard. As those names will suggest, he was very interested in Cordwainer Smith and published the Concordance to Cordwainer Smith in several editions over the years. He invented the term "recursive SF" and wrote An Annotated Bibliography of Recursive Science Fiction, published by NESFA Press, a bibliography of recursive SF . He was active for many years in compiling the NESFA Index. He edited a number of issues of Proper Boskonian as well as Fanfare 11. He has been a member of the Technology Amateur Press Association and APA-NESFA as well as MCFI's various con-running APAs.

He was a cast member in a number of fannish musicals at Boskone. He invented the Fanzine Control Board, was a member of the Hawaii in 1981 and Highmore in '76 Worldcon bids. He coined the term NASFiC and has edited Analog's "Upcoming Conventions Calendar" since the 1970s, making him the longest serving contributor at a single position at any prozine ever.

Space Travel by Ben Bova and Anthony R. Lewis from Writer's Digest Books was nominated for the 1998 Best Non-Fiction Book Hugo and Concordance to Cordwainer Smith, Third Edition by Anthony R. Lewis from NESFA Press was nominated for the 2001 Best Related Book Hugo. He is an active member of SFWA.

Tony has been married to fellow fan Suford Lewis since 1968. They have a daughter, Alice Naomi Sophronia Lewis, who was born in 1979.

When he was in grad school, he witnessed a test nuclear explosion in New Mexico (he told the story that he was possibly the only fan injured by an atomic bomb: he stood up too quickly after the blast and was knocked on his rear by the ground shock.) He spent most of his career in a "safer" industry, computers, as a technical writer then technical writing manager for Prime Computer.

• Entry in The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction.

• “Boston in the '60s” video with Tony Lewis, Leslie Turek and Mike Ward, moderated by Mark Olson: Part 1, Part 2.
• His reminiscences of several Worldcons:
  • Noreascon
  • Noreascon 2
  • Heicon '70

Fanzines and Apazines:

• Along Alpha Ralpha Boulevard [1970s-2010] (fir APA-NESFA)
• Fanfare 11 [1989]
• Proper Boskonian [1973-74] (some issues)
• Stroon [1966-67] (for TAPA, some issues with Richard Harter)

Awards, Honors and GoHships:

• 1976 -- Fellow of NESFA
• 1978 -- Conebulus 2
• 1979 -- Windycon VI
• 1999 -- Lunacon 42
• 2003 -- Arisia '03
• 2021 -- Skylark Award
• 2024 -- Buffalo NASFiC 2024

---

Person

1941—

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.