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I never read Famous Monsters. I never knew him as "Uncle Forry". Growing up, I was never a fan of horror movies. It was 2002 before I sat down to watch the original Frankenstein, Dracula, Wolfman, Mummy. Before then I had never seen Karloff or Lugosi. (I think it was Richard and the rest of the Scarlet Streeters who made me think it might be a good idea).

Science fiction was always my great love. And by that I don't mean Star Trek or Babylon 5. I mean science fiction as a literary form -- the written word.

I first tried to read science fiction when I was about 10 years old but found it inaccessibly adult. A book of Alfred Bester short stories -- the allusions were lost on me. An Arthur C Clarke novel. Again, I didn't get it. But I wanted to get it.

Then Forry and Wendy came along with their English editions of Perry Rhodan. And Forry used Rhodan to teach the history of science fiction, just as he used FM to teach the history of horror movies.

Everything I know about SF I learned from Forry Ackerman. And frankly he knew all there was to know about it.

Joe Moe once opined to me that Forry had probably stopped reading science fiction back in the 1950s. No way. Forry read it throughout the 1970s and probably well into the 1980s. He had to. As an agent he was repping writers and selling their stuff into Analog and Asimov's and the other sci-fi journals of the day. He anthologized the "Best Science Fiction of 1973" for Ace Books and if memory serves he did 1974 and 1975 as well. So Forry was up on it, until well into his sixties.

It's true that he didn't like the "new wave" SF movement which started sometime in the 1960s, and said so. But that didn't mean he wasn't up on it.

And of course, he knew EVERYONE. Almost every famous science fiction author you can think of, from Arthur C Clarke to Brian Aldiss to Harry Harrison to Philip Jose Farmer to ... hell, EVERYONE has a Forry story to tell.

Forry was not some guy on the periphery hanging round the World SF Convention signing autographs for Famous Monsters readers, as some folks seem to think. He was in the thick of it, on panels, being interviewed, giving talks, meeting editors, looking for opportunities for the writers he repped. For every Worldcon but three or four.

Just how important was Forry to science fiction fandom?

- he was a founding member of LASFS, the world's oldest continually running science fiction fan club. LASFS credits its continued existence to Forry's dynamism in the 1930s and 1940s, his refusal to let the club die. He was extremely active in until he gradually withdrew in the late 1950s to concentrate on editing FM and agenting.

- he was a lifelong ambassador for science fiction travelling all over the world not just to attend the Worldcons but to be guest of honor at conventions.

- he instituted the "E Everett Evans Big Heart Award" (now the Forry Ackerman Big Heart Award) which he presented at every Worldcon

- he instituted the "Big Pond" scheme to raise money for fans to travel from overseas to attend Worldcons

- he did everything he could to encourage the publication in the US of transations of foreign language science fiction (not just Perry Rhodan) despite the apathy of publishers; he wanted us to be able to access every bit of science fiction we could, no matter where in the world it was from, just as he had done with his collection

- he repeatedly pointed out the link between science fiction and humanism that seems to constantly elude those who see it only as ecapist entertainment, in interview after interview, article after article

- he was regarded as the savior of German science fiction after writing an article "Science Fiction: Messenger of Light" which was submitted to a censorship body who were planning to ban SF in West Germany

- and of course, he welcomed fans from all over the world into his home to share his collection

There's many more things I could mention but those are the main ones. Forry was much much more than "the horror guy". He was, indeed, Mr Science Fiction - a title he earnt more than anyone else living or dead.

Forry was one of the few surviving members of science fiction First Fandom -- a bunch of people who truly tried to "see the future", who hoped science fiction could show us the way to a better world. "Save humanity through science and sanity" was their motto.

At the time -- before the atrocities of World War II, before the cynicism of the postwar world -- they really believed it.

And I think Forry held true to that ideal -- even when the world seemed out to prove him wrong.

Although lots of people remember him, as Don said, with a twinkle in his eye and never too serious, he did have a very serious side. It came through in his writing. He had a lot of what reads like weary cynicism about the world, which he lightened with humor. But the cynicism and the disappointment is clearly there. It was balanced, though, by his hope.

I've met people in LA who have suggested that Forry was naive. Once again I have to disagree. I've read so much of his writing. He wasn't naive at all. He knew human nature very well. He simply chose to hope for the best in people, in spite of what he knew.

Forry was a fine writer. He often regretted that he had never achieved his ambition of editing a really classy science fiction magazine aimed at adults. But of course, he would never have been able to prevent his humor from creeping in, and that would have alienated many of his "serious" readers.

A few years ago I decided to buy some copies of Famous Monsters and see what all the fuss was about.

I read them but, of course, I didn't really 'get' them. They don't trigger any nostalgia in me. They don't take me back to being a child or a 'monster kid'.

They are cute and funny, yes. But there was much more to Forry and his writing than that magazine.

Of course, I respect Famous Monsters and its fans. But to me Forry will always be FJA - Mr Science Fiction - Weaver Wright - Spencer Strong - Laurajean Ermayne - Jack Erman - and Seena and Nader Mason.

Letter to the editor in Perry Rhodan, c 1973:
"I'm a little disadvantaged because I'm only young (not everyone can be a 55 year old science fiction expert)"

Forry's reply:
"If you mean ME, even I can't be a 55 year old science fiction expert, having turned 56 in the meantime"