Chuck Harris
(1927 — 1999)
Charles "Chuck" Harris (also sometimes called Chuch — from “Chuck Harris” — or Charles Randolph Harris) was a major British fan, active in fandom from the 1950s. He ran Tentacles Across the Sea with Dean Grennell and was an English member of Irish Fandom.
With Walt Willis he was one of the editors of the distinguished fanzine Hyphen in the 1950s. It was nominated for the 1956 Best Fanzine Hugo, the 1957 Best Fanzine Hugo, the 1959 Best Fanzine Hugo and, in 2004, the 1954 Best Fanzine Retro Hugo.
He and Willis also indulged in the Harris-White Feud, an early ’50s hoax. Later in the decade, they would be involved in the very real TAFF Wars, as a result of which Harris gafiated for many years. He emerged briefly to attend Loncon II in 1965, but wasn’t heard from again for more than a decade. He returned to full activity in the 1980s.
His regular fanzine columns included "Random" for Hyphen (also revived in Science-Fiction Five-Yearly) and "Creative Random History" for the UK Microwave and Pulp. He was the subject of the Chuch Harris Appreciation Magazine. "Creative Random History" and later columns were stitched together from letters, which he found easier to write than formal articles. After his return to fandom in 1984 he circulated copies of letters (both sent and received) to a select audience, first as untitled bundles and then stapled up as Quinsy alias Q, with 23 numbered issues from September 1985 to November 1989 — the final #23 being a more widely circulated trip report on his and his wife Sue's attendance of Corflu 6 as special guests. Q was followed by Charrisma, a more fanzine-like group letter or letter-substitute personalzine with 15 known issues from February 1993 (numbered #1) to August 1995 (like most issues not numbered). A large collection of his articles and correspondence was published as Creative Random Harris (Ansible Editions, 2021).
- Goontact (one-shot for OMPA in 1957)
- Harris School of Motoring (for OMPA)
- I Wish I Knew What 'Nuces Tibi' Meant [1958] (for OMPA)
- It's Tycho's Floor in '54 (one-shot, with Ken Slater, for FAPA 64)
- Lonconfidential (one-shot for OMPA and FAPA in 1957 with Vin¢ Clarke, H. P. Sanderson, and Joy Goodwin)
- Meander (for OMPA)
- Off the Cuff for Gertrude (one-shot for FAPA)
- Swan Song for OMPA
- This Goon for Hire (one-shot with John Berry for FAPA)
- Through Darkest Ireland (for FAPA)
- Toto (a multi-editor fanzine)
- Tucker Hotel (a one-shot, multi-editor FAPAzine in 1952)
Awards, Honors and GoHships:
- 1956 -- Best Fanzine Hugo nominee
- 1957 -- Best Fanzine Hugo nominee
- 1959 -- Best Fanzine Hugo nominee
- 1989 -- Corflu 6 Special Guest
- 2004 -- 1954 Best Fanzine Retro Hugo nominee
Free download of Creative Random Harris from TAFF ebooks
| Person | 1927—1999 |
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