John Magnus

(1934 – )

7th Fandomites Bill Dignin, John Magnus and Harlan Ellison, from left, at Clevention in 1955. Photo by Howard DeVore.

John L. Magnus, Jr., was an East Coast fan in the 1950s and 1960s. He entered fandom in 1952, receiving Opus and Cosmag as his introduction to fanzines, and attended Chicon II, the Worldcon that year.

Harlan Ellison called him “Maggie.” He was one of the eager young 7th Fandomites whom Ellison gathered at HEcon in 1953. Magnus also played a role in the Midwestcon Door Incident the next year.

He was a member of The Cult, Fanvariety Enterprises and the National Fantasy Fan Federation (N3F), and in 1953–1954, he edited the club's fanzine, The National Fantasy Fan.

Peter Graham described Magnus at SFCon in Psychotic 18 (January–February 1955):

Magnus is a very quiet, shy sort of person, and one of the nicest people I've ever met. He's not the type of person you'd expect right off-hand of being a BNF, but somehow after you get to know him you can visualize him doing just about any fannish thing. His personality is not the one you'd expect after reading his mag, VARIOSO, but after meeting him you are able to see how his writing personality ties in with his actual personality. He's much younger than I'd thought, being 20 years old, but has moments when he acts somewhat younger and much older. One or two candid pictures that I took make him look actually slightly lonely. He was one of the last people any of the San Francisco group expected to see at the con.

Magnus promoted the Flagpole at the Clevention, and organized the group HYPERSPACE.

In the January, 1960, issue of Fantastic Universe, he published an essay, "The Detroit Convention," with Forrest J Ackerman and others.

Fanzines and Apazines:

• Double Whammy
• Fahrenheit (for 7APA)
• The National Fantasy Fan (some issues)
• Rumble [1957-58]
• Saturday Morning Gazette [1953]
• SF [1952-53]
• Vamp [1953 or 54]
• Varioso [1954-58]

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Person

1934—

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