Lester Cole
(July 14, 1926 – late September 2019)
Lester Hines Cole, a Bay Area fan and pro, co-chaired SFCon, the 1954 Worldcon in San Francisco, with Gary Nelson. He was a member of the Elves, Gnomes and Little Men's Science Fiction and Chowder Society (and served as its president). He published Orgasm (along with his wife, Esther Cole, and Lee Jacobs.)
Les and Es were married in 1947 and collaborated on much fanac; they had two sons, Dana and Lance. The couple met when they were students at the University of California, Berkeley. They attended their first convention, Nolacon, in 1951, where Bob Bloch started a rumor that Es and Les were 15-year-old twin brothers.
The Coles gafiated after SFCon and didn’t return to fandom until 1993.
Les wrote about 50 SF short stories, published in F&SF, Amazing and Startling Stories, and six novels, sometimes under pseudonyms Roy Carroll, Les Collins, T. M. Mathieu, T. H. Mathieu, and Colin Sturgis. His novels include The Sea Kings, Lion at Sea, The Sea People (a prehistoric arch-aeological adventure trilogy), Baker’s Dozenth (a spy novel set against the American Civil War); and Spithead (an alternative universe spy/adventure).
More Reading:[edit]
- Obituaries, File 770, January 7, 2020.
- “I Married a Science Fiction” by Esther Cole, Mimosa 16, December 1994.
- Autobiographical statement by the Coles in Scientifiction (New Series #53, 3rd Quarter, 2017).
- Bibliography at ISFDB.
- Orgasm (with Esther Cole and Lee Jacobs)
Awards, Honors and GoHships:
- 2017 – First Fandom Hall of Fame (with Esther Cole)
| Person | 1926—2019 |
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