Electrolite: More on the late Harry Warner, Jr.:

April 1, 2003

More on the late Harry Warner, Jr.: The Hagerstown (Maryland) Herald-Mail belatedly covers the fact that Harry was a worldwide celebrity in a peculiar subculture—something few of them knew about, since he said almost nothing about it for the many decades that he worked for the paper. (Via Lenny Bailes.) [07:44 AM]

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Comments on More on the late Harry Warner, Jr.::

Jim Meadows ::: (view all by) ::: April 01, 2003, 10:29 AM:

Thanks for linking to the Herald-Mail's obituary for Harry Warner Jr. Besides giving its readers at least an outline of Warner's life in fandom, it also gave me a glimpse of his life outside fandom. Since my window to fandom has been almost exclusively fanzines, I've become familiar with the paper personalities of a lot of fans, without really knowing about their actual lives, even what they look like. Warner's obituary gave me more information about him personally than Warner's fan writing ever did.

Jonathan Vos Post ::: (view all by) ::: April 01, 2003, 10:30 AM:

William Shakespeare was morned today in Stratford-on-Avon. An historian neighbor, surprised by the crowds at the funeral, including Royalty, said "I had no idea that Bill was known outside this neighborhood."

Amazed that the son of the local hatmaker was a published poet and playwright, the historian said "we thought he was just an aristocrat wannabe, busy managing his family estate and that of his wife Anne Hathaway. Something about a 'second-best bed.'"

William Shakespeare hung out at the local pub, telling war stories, tall-tales, stories about star-crossed lovers, and the occassional Greek or Roman myth bedecked in modern details. "He must have been an ex-soldier," said one pub attendees, because he knew so much about those old wars, the Roses, that sort of thing."

"No way, dude," said his companion. "He must have been a lawyer or a doctor because he knew so much stuff about bones and suits and long Latin words."

"We thought he was just a silver-tongued booze-hound," said the publican.

"I guess if we knew he was kind of famous, we would have paid more attention, and maybe written down some of his stories.

Soren deSelby ::: (view all by) ::: April 01, 2003, 11:06 AM:

That's one of the most careful and respectful newspaper pieces I have ever seen about fandom, or a fan. Thank you for linking to it. Jeez, somehow I had missed the fact that Warner taught himself seven languages.

Lenny Bailes ::: (view all by) ::: April 01, 2003, 11:21 AM:

It is a good piece. The only thing the writer missed was a mention that Harry was also a professional science fiction writer.

Discussion of this was tossed around on the [Memoryhole] mailing list, last week. Robert Lichtman, who discovered the Herald-Mail article on Harry, also turned up the following bibliography of Harry's published stories:

But the Patient Lived, (ss) If Dec '56
Cancer World, (ss) Imagination May '54
Cold War, (nv) Future Mar '53 (AND Future Science Fiction (UK) #9 '53)
Curtain Going Up, (nv) Spaceway Science Fiction Jun '55
Earth Aflame!, (nv) Science Fiction Adventures Oct '57
Rattle OK, (ss) Galaxy Dec '56
Recoil, (nv) Authentic #48 '54
Think No Evil, (nv) Science Fiction Quarterly
Feb '56
Ujutjo, (ss) Nebula #11 '54
The World Is Yours, (nv) Future May '53 AND Future Science Fiction (UK) #10 '53

Jeff Smith ::: (view all by) ::: April 01, 2003, 03:50 PM:

Actually, Lenny, the article does include the line, "Warner also wrote science fiction stories..."

It is a very good piece.

Mitch Wagner ::: (view all by) ::: April 03, 2003, 03:32 AM:

God knows I am only one one-millionth the fan Harry Warner was, but I can sympathize with his desire to keep his fannish activities a secret. Mundane society isn't really any more tolerant of fandom than it was in the 1930s.

My friends and family know about my being an sf fan, but I don't talk about it. Best not to call attention to it if you want to be taken seriously in the mundane world.

Mitch Wagner ::: (view all by) ::: April 04, 2003, 11:28 AM:

Hmmm.... my previous post makes me sound, I think, like more of a big chicken than I really am. I posted after midnight my time, after reading a couple of hours of war news. That'll get anybody depressed.

Truth is, I think the main reason for my secret fannish life is that I think most non-fans are interested. Plus, while I am very fannish -- I even have one of the two basic fannish body types, minus beard and long hair -- I am not very active in fandom.

Of course, probably nobody is reading this. That's the thing I hate about comments sections on Weblogs -- even the most popular discussion thread will die out after a day or two or three, as people move on to the current thing.

Which means NOBODY'S WATCHING. I can post WHATEVER I WANT HERE, without fear of being disemvowelled or otherwise obfuscated by TNH. I can drop my pants down around my ankles and post with my wing-wang flapping in the breeze and NOBODY WILL NOTICE.

Mitch Wagner ::: (view all by) ::: April 04, 2003, 07:29 PM:

Of course I meant to say that most non-fans are NOT interested.

Elise Matthesen ::: (view all by) ::: April 05, 2003, 02:36 AM:

Thanks for the link; that article is ... well, gentle and sweet. Nicely done. A fitting tribute. Especially the last line.

Are you trying to tempt me? ::: (view all by) ::: April 05, 2003, 10:50 AM:

(*ahem*)

I can't munch your text because you haven't misbehaved. But it's a real pity MT comments doesn't support color, because if it did, your last paragraph would now look like this:

Which means NOBODY'S WATCHING. I can post WHATEVER I WANT HERE, without fear of being disemvowelled or otherwise obfuscated by TNH. I can drop my pants down around my ankles and post with my wing-wang flapping in the breeze and NOBODY WILL NOTICE.

Don't imagine I'm a Just God like Yog Sysop. I don't remember "duty" nearly as fast as I notice "entertaining".