Uncle Forry, R.I.P.

It makes me so sad that Forrest J. Ackerman has passed on to... I should have a pun there that has something to do with monsters in the afterlife, but I am just not that clever. But, like I said, I am sad. He had such an amazing life that every nerd dreams of having. He coined the term "Sci-Fi" and he knew Ed Wood, Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi and even Fritz Lang. For years he lived in the Ackermansion, near Hollywood, Karloffornia. His home housed the largest Sci-Fi and Horror film memorabilia collection on earth. I first heard of him in an American Lit class in high school. The teacher I had took two weeks out of the year to devote it entirely to the history of science fiction. (As a side note, I have to mention that over the summer I found out that teacher had passed away. Maybe someday I will write and entry for him.) After telling us that the first science fiction book was Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, and talking in great detail about Ursula Leguin and the Big Four (Asimov, Bradbury, Heinlein and Clark) he wrote a phone number on the blackboard. It said 213-Moon Fan. That was Forry's home phone number. You could call after 6 to make reservations to take a tour of his place. I really regret that I never called that number. I met Forry in 1995. I got to chat with him for a bit. I asked him about Ed Wood and what he thought of the Tim Burton film. He made it very clear that Bela Lugosi NEVER said the F word. But other than that, that Depp guy was a pretty good actor. He then gave me his card and I put it in my wallet and still never called to make arrangements go see his collection. damn. Lucky for you, and me, there is a ton of stuff on youtube about him and his Ackermansion. Let's enjoy that now, shall we?

Forrest J Ackerman is truly one of the greatest people I have ever known.