The First Geeks

The writer Ray Bradbury, science fiction expert Forry Ackerman, and special effects genius Ray Harryhausen are world-famous for their careers involving tales of the imagination. Before anyone had heard of them, they were friends as teens and college-aged boys enjoying all that 1930s L.A. had to offer: getting celebrity autographs, watching blockbuster movies, and haunting dozens of bookstores. As members of the Los Angeles chapter of the Science Fiction League, the three belonged to a tight-knit group that was involved in the earliest science fiction conventions and the birth of cosplay.
This book follows the lives and careers of these three literary and film legends and tracks the origins of science fiction fandom. Each chapter builds a chronology of how their paths intertwined, and ultimately connected to, the beginnings of renowned fan conventions like Comic-Con. Devoted science fiction fans and new readers alike will learn how a young friendship launched three illustrious careers and changed the face of science fiction forever.

Orton Ortwein is a librarian living in Chicago. He has been published in the Saturday Evening Post and has given numerous talks on Ray Bradbury and science fiction fandom.

Orty Ortwein
Format: softcover (7 x 10)
Pages: 244
Bibliographic Info: 20 photos, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2024
pISBN: 978-1-4766-8630-1
eISBN: 978-1-4766-5172-9
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments ix
Prologue: ­Comic-Con, 2010 1
1. The Bradburys Come to Hollywood 5
2. Shep’s Shop 12
3. Hugo Gernsback and the Science Fiction League 14
4. Bradbury Joins the League 25
5. Forry Ackerman 28
6. Bradbury’s First Meeting 38
7. Imagination! and the Start of Bradbury’s Career 40
8. Imagination!, the Second Issue 48
9. Imagination!, Issues 3 and 4 50
10. Ray Harryhausen Joins the League 55
11. The Two Rays Meet 64
12. Rocket Boys 68
13. The Summer of 1938 71
14. Futuria Fantasia 77
15. Ackerman and Harryhausen, 1939 81
16. Futuria Fantasia, the Second Issue 83
17. The First Worldcon, 1939 84
18. Bradbury and Ackerman Arrive at Worldcon 86
19. “I have seen the future!” The 1939 World’s Fair 89
20. Worldcon, Day One, July 2, 1939 92
21. Worldcon, Monday, July 3, and Tuesday, July 4 99
22. Worldcon, the Aftermath 100
23. Back to LA 103
24. Robert A. Heinlein Joins the League 106
25. The Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society 111
26. The End of Futuria Fantasia 114
27. The Second World Science Fiction Convention 116
28. The Milwaukee Fictioneers 117
29. Chicon 121
30. The First Organized Cosplay 126
31. Ray Bradbury Is Done Selling Papers 128
32. The First Clubroom 130
33. The War Comes Home 134
34. Denvention 136
35. The Fans Go to War 139
36. The Second Clubroom 146
37. The War on Bixelstrasse 150
38. Goodbye, Morojo; Hello, Tigrina 153
39. Victory 157
40. Significant Others 161
41. Dark Carnival 163
42. The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms 166
43. Forry Ackerman’s Agency 172
44. The Ackermansion 180
45. Harryhausen Moves to London 186
46. The First ­Comic-Con 187
47. Passing the Torch 190
48. Growing Old, Never Growing Up 196
49. The End of the Ackermansion and Famous Monsters 199
50. Afterlife 202
Chapter Notes 205
Bibliography 221
Index 223