Sam Moskowitz
(June 30, 1920 – April 15, 1997)
Samuel Moskowitz, akaSaM, was one of the creators offandom, a member ofFirst Fandom,chairman of thefirst Worldcon, writer,critic,book andfanzinecollector, and historian of the field. He was large man — one friend described him as "physically massive" — with a booming voice.
His most well-known work is undoubtedlyThe Immortal Storm, a historical review ofinternecine warfare withinfandom in the 1930s, in whichfeuding he was an avid participant. It was written with so much over-the-top seriousness that, as fellowfan historianHarry Warner, Jr. said, "If read directly after a history ofWorld War II, it does not seem like an anticlimax." In spite of that, it remains theessential record of the invention offandom.
His detractorsnicknamed himFoghorn Samuel, theNewark Neanderthal andDe Fuhrer of Newark Swamps.
TheI-CON Sam Moskowitz Award and theSam Moskowitz Archive Award were named in his honor.
Fan[edit]
Sam found fandom as a teenager in 1936 and began published thefanzineHelios in June 1937. He also organized a branch of theScience Fiction League.
In 1938, after leading theFirst National SF Convention in his hometown,Newark, NJ, he organizedNew Fandom, while at the same timeDonald A. Wollheim and others were organizing theFuturians. The Futurians'Marxism conflicted withMoskowitz's focus onsf andfandom and he,Will Sykora andJimmy Taurasi (theTriumvirs)feuded with theWollheimists. At age 19, when Sam becamechairman of theFirst Worldcon held inNew York City in 1939, he barred several Futurians from theconvention, allegedly for fear they would disrupt it, an event usually called theExclusion Act.
He was the founder ofESFA. Heco-chairedMetrocon 1 and was an adviser to theSilverconcommittee.
He was Mystery Guest at theClevention in 1955. The Mystery Guest was one of theGoHs, but his identity was not announced in advance of the convention. Moskowitz was not informed in advance, either, and many people feel that this was a sort of second-rateWorldcon GoHship, which was surely less than his due.
He was a notedcollector. “I never threw anything away,” SaM told the BBC in 1965.
Pro[edit]
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Starting in 1953 Moskowitz editedScience-Fiction Plus, aprozine owned byHugo Gernsback. In the 1960s and ’70s, he edited two dozen anthologies, and a few single-author collections, but his most enduring work is likely to be his writing on the history of science fiction, in particular two collections of short authorbiographies:
- Explorers of the Infinite, a book of articles on the predecessors of modernSF, mostly reprints of articles previously published inprozines. It was published in hardcover by World Publishing in 1963 with a paperback edition from Meridian Books in 1966.
- Seekers of Tomorrow.
He also publishedUnder the Moons of Mars: A History and Anthology of "The Scientific Romance" in the Munsey Magazines.
Personal Life[edit]
He was married to fellow fan Dr.Christine Haycock (Chris Moskowitz). SaM’s siblingsPearl,Morris andHerman "Harry" Moskowitz attended thefirst Worldcon, possibly only in support of their brother, as we’ve so far found no evidence of their continuingfanac.
Inmundane life, Sam was for many years editor of the trade publicationsQuick Frozen Foods andQuick Frozen Foods International, for which he used thepseudonym Sam Martin.
A few years before his death, he had throat cancer, which required the surgical removal of his larynx. He was able to speak via an electronic voice-box held against his throat, and continued to appear atcons.
More Details[edit]
- Entry inThe Encyclopedia of Science Fiction.
- A short, early biography:Who's Who in Fandom 1940, page 11.
- Sam Moskowitz: A Bibliography and Guide byHalbert Hall (2017): abibliography/guide to the writings of Moskowitz including a profile of SaM as a fan.
- Audio interview of SaM byFred Lerner, 1963.
- Amazing BBC interviews of SaM andHugo Gernsback, 1965.
- Brief biography inSeptember, 2017 National Fantasy Fan.
- After All These Years: Sam Moskowitz On His Science Fiction Career (Niekas, 1991) is a 96-page paperback publication, edited byFred Lerner, "based on a postal interview conducted by Jeffrey Elliot." Contents include Moskowitz's memories of the beginnings of SFfandom, his interactions with important early SF writers and editors, his published anthologies (and ghost editing), his personal SFcollection, and a comprehensivebibliography of his work in the field.
- Moskowitz materials at the Internet Archive:Page 1,Page 2.
- Works at Project Gutenberg.
- FindAGrave entry.
- SaM’s reminiscences ofWorldcons for theNoreascon ThreePB:
- After Ten Years -- A Tribute to Stanley G. Weinbaum [1945] (withGerry de la Ree)
- Charles Fort: A Radical Corpuscle [1976]
- Current Fantasy [1938]
- Different [1938-1977] (withChristine Moskowitz forFAPA)
- Helios [1937–38] (withAlex Osheroff)
- The Science Fiction Circular [1938]
- Vad-Jong [1939]
Awards, Honors and GoHships:
- 1955 --Clevention
- 1956 --Philcon 1956
- 1971 --DeepSouthCon 9
- 1974 --First Fandom Hall of Fame Award
- 1981 --Pilgrim Award
- 1990 --Raymond Z. Gallun Award
- 1982 --MystiCon II
- 1987 --VCON 15
- 1995 --Archon 19
| Person | 1920—1997 |
| This is abiography 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. SeeStandards for People andThe Naming of Names. |
