Andy Porter

Andy Porter at Interthingy 2; Photo by Mark Olson

(March 24, 1946 --)

Born Andrew Ian Silverberg in Detroit, Michigan, he moved to New York City with his mother and brother in 1956 upon the death of his father the previous year. His name was legally changed in 1964 when his mother remarried.

He describes himself as a "convention fan, club fan], fanzine collector (second largest collection in NYC, after Moshe Feder), fan editor, fan writer, fan historian, Worldcon bidder, and collector (thousands of books, mags), etc."

He became active in fandom in 1960, in NY fan groups including the Lunarians, FISTFA (the Fannish and Insurgent Scientifictional Association) and the Fanoclasts, then hosted by Ted White. In 1960 he had his first news-related column on upcoming paperbacks, printed in James V. Taurasi's Science Fiction Times. He has also been a member of the N3F, British SF Association, LASFS, BCSFA, SFWA, HWA and others.

He edited and published the very long-lived semiprozine Science Fiction Chronicle from 1979. He also published the major fanizne Algol (later renamed Starship.) He has been a member of FAPA, TAPS, SFPA, APA-F, and APA-L.

He was a member of the NyCon3 committee, the organizer of the Montreal in '77 Worldcon bid, and ran unsuccessfully for DUFF in 1972.

He sold Science Fiction Chronicle to DNA Publications in May 2000 and was fired in 2002. In 2006, he was diagnosed with liver bile duct cancer, for which he was operated on successfully in 2007, followed by five months of chemotherapy. He is now cancer free.

Professional work

In publishing, he was a proofreader and copy editor, was assistant editor on The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction from 1966–74, associate editor at the paperback publisher Lancer Books in the late 1960s, and was a trade magazine editor and advertising production manager on such titles as Rudder, Quick Frozen Foods (under editor Sam Moskowitz), QFF International, Construction Equipment, and Electro-Procurement. He was editor/designer/publisher of The Book of Ellison, a hardcover/trade paperback published to honor Harlan Ellison's 1978 stint as Worldcon Pro GoH. His other publications, under the Algol Press imprint, are Dreams Must Explain Themselves, by Ursula K. Le Guin, Exploring Cordwainer Smith, Experiment Perilous: The Art and Science of Anguish in Science Fiction (with essays by Marion Zimmer Bradley, Alfred Bester, and Norman Spinrad), and The Fiction of James Tiptree, Jr. by Gardner Dozois. He has sold articles and photos to Publishers Weekly, Omni, and The New York Times. He is a New York City resident.

• Entry in The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction
• ConFiction GoH speech (audio)

Fanzines and Apazines:

• Algol
• Convention: Newsmagazine for SF Convention Planners
• Degler! (for APA-F)
• Fortran [1964-]
• Metrofan
• Monadnock.
• Quiescently Frozen (for TAPS)
• S. F. Critic
• S. F. Weekly from 1966–68
• South Norwalk
• Up From Here
• Twentieth Century Unlimited (for FAPA)

Awards, Honors and GoHships:

• 1974 -- Best Fanzine Hugo for Algol
• 1977 -- Summercon
• 1990 -- ConFiction
• 1991 -- Special Committee Award for Distinguished Semiprozine Work at Chicon V
• 1992 -- British Fantasy Awards Special Award
• 1993 -- Best Semiprozine Hugo for Science Fiction Chronicle
• 1994 -- Best Semiprozine Hugo for Science Fiction Chronicle
• 2002 -- Norwescon XXV
• 2009 -- Big Heart Award
• 2020 -- Asimov Centennial Meetup
• 23 additional nominations in the Best Fanzine and Best Semiprozine Hugo categories.

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Person

1946—

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