He died as approximately 3 a.m. Saturday morning in his home in Albuquerque, New Mexico, as discovered by Ruth, his wife of many years.

In the mundane world, John Bristol Speer was a retired lawyer who resided in Albuquerque since 1962; previously, he was a Democrat state representative from the Bend, Washington area during 1959-1961.

Jack was a giant in science fiction fandom, a founding member of N3F, FAPA and the original historian of science fiction fandom.

His 1944 Fancyclopedia has spawned many imitators over the years (including one on this site) and his 1939 book, Up To Now: A History of Science Fiction Fandom, is still used as a reference almost 70 years after first publication thanks to its recently resurrected electronic form on efanzines.com.

Fellow science fiction historian Harry Warner credited Jack Speer as “the first to stress [fandom's] subcultural aspects. Single-handedly, he made fandom’s ayjays something entirely different from the mundane amateur journalism groups.”

During his early prankster days in fandom, Speer was also known by the fannish name, John Bristol (his first and middle name sans surname).

A fandom innovator, he is also credited with being the father of the fanzine mailing comment.

Jack was the second editor of N3F’s The National Fantasy Fan in the 1940s, after founding editor, E. E. Evans.

LINKS:

• UP TO NOW is available as a free PDF at efanzines.com
• Jack’s entry on Wikipedia
• Jack’s bio at N3F.org

Please feel free to leave your remembrances of Jack in the comments section at the bottom of this article.

* Special thanks to Robert Lichtman for fact-checking details of Jack Speers’ life.

In the past 30 days, we’ve accomplished quite a few things:

1. Complete site redesign from a one-person blog to a Fan-based news zine.
2. Added many features that made it both writer and reader friendly.
3. Used as many Internet standard features as possible to allow for both compatibility with various types of computers, but also a way to speed up the adaption process for newbie readers.
4. Developed a viable e-zine for N3F with rolling deadlines.

As I write this, I am in the midst of summer finals at law school. So, developments over the next few weeks should be slower than June. Development speed should pick up in august, though.

Features to be added in the future, depending upon reader interest, could include:

• A fan fiction archive
• A master calendar of upcoming fannish events (Cons, etc.)

And for those of you who have asked:

• If you are looking for a BBS or Forum, one already exists on the main N3F website:
  http://www.n3f.org/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl

If you have any wish lists, comments or suggestion on how to make this site more responsive to your needs as a fan of SF/F/H, please use the comment feature below. I will read it and respond. And if your ideas are possible and practical, they will come to life as soon as we are able to figure out how do to it.

Along with the regular features of officer and bureau reports, this issue includes two essays: The Computer in Our Lives and The Power of Nothing by Jack Robbins.

Additionally, Jon Swartz reviewed the books The Contested Earth and Other SF Stories by Jim Harmon and Next by Michael Crichton. He also reviewed the fanzine, Notes from Bob Peterson #97 (Dec. 2007) by Robert (Bob) Peterson.

You can check out the public version at the N3F main website here: The Fan, March 2008

TiVo vs. SFTV: It appears a skirmish is brewing between Film Fidder and SF Signal as to whether or not TiVo and other DVRs are hurting or helping science fiction televiiosn.

Johnny Depp Vamps Up: Jack Sparrow to put on fangs in film version of Dark Shadows.

Big in Kenya: Science Fictio-themed films are becoming increasingly popular in Africa.

ComiCon: San Diego businesses woo the nerds this weekend.