John Bangsund
(1939 – August 22, 2020)
John Bangsund, a Melbourne, Australia, fan, became active starting in 1963 and continuing through the 80s. He was a major force behind Australia winning the right to host Aussiecon, the 1975 Worldcon, and was its toastmaster. For years, he was central to Melbourne fandom, a charter member of the Nova Mob and a member of the Melbourne Science Fiction Club.
He was nominated for the 1975 Best Fan Writer Hugo, and under his editorship, the fanzine Australian Science Fiction Review was nominated for the 1967 Best Fanzine Hugo, and the 1968 Best Fanzine Hugo.
He was a founding member of ANZAPA (his apazines were The New Millennial Harbinger and Procrustean Papers) and publisher of the Australian Science Fiction Review from 1966 through 1969, before it was renamed Scythrop (1969 and Summer 1973-74). He was co-chair of the 1970 Australian Natcon, and Fan GoH at Ozcon (the 1974 Australian Natcon).
He coined “Muphry’s Law” in 1992: “If you write anything criticising editing or proofreading, there will be a fault of some kind in what you have written.”
He won the 2001 A. Bertram Chandler Award, a Ditmar Award, the 2016 FAAn Award for Lifetime Achievement, and ran for 1974 DUFF Race in 1974, though he withdrew before the vote. (For years afterward, he continued to get write-in votes.) With Ronald E. Graham, he published John W. Campbell -- An Australian Tribute.
He married Sally Yeoland in 1974; they met in 1973 as a result of an ad she took out in the “dalliance column” of Nation Review. The couple split up in 1998, but remained married and close friends. In mundane life, Bangsund was a freelance editor and copy editor.
He died of Covid-19. He had suffered a major stroke in 2005, but had recovered.
Awards, Honors and GoHships:
- 1967 -- 1967 Best Fanzine Hugo nomination
- 1968 -- 1968 Best Fanzine Hugo nomination
- 1969 -- Ditmar Award for Best Australian Amateur Science Fiction Publication or Fanzine (Australian Science Fiction Review)
- 1970 -- Golden Caterpillar Award
- 1972 -- BYO-Con
- 1974 -- Ozcon
- 1975 -- 1975 Best Fan Writer Hugo nomination
- 2001 -- A. Bertram Chandler Award
- 2016 -- FAAn Award for Lifetime Achievement
- three other Ditmar nominations
- Australian Science Fiction Monthly [1970-71]
- Australian Science Fiction Review [1966-69]
- Bundalohn Quarterly [early 70s]
- John W. Campbell -- An Australian Tribute [1972] (with Ron Graham
- The Cosmic Dustbag
- First Draft [mid-70s]
- Lodbrog [1970-72] (for ANZAPA)
- The New Millennial Harbinger (for ANZAPA)
- Parergon Papers
- Procrustean Papers [1979] (for ANZAPA)
- Scythrop
- Philosophical Gas
- Revolting Tales of Sex and Super-Science
- Stunned Mullet
| Person | 1939—2020 |
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