Lee Hoffman

(August 14, 1932, - February 6, 2007)

Lee Hoffman, born Shirley Bell Hoffman in Chicago, was an American fan, an editor of early folk music fanzines, and an author of science fiction, Western and romance novels. She was called LeeH and, while married to Larry Shaw, Lee Shaw and LeeH Shaw.

From 1950 to 1953, while living in Savannah, GA, she edited and published the highly-regarded science fiction fanzine, Quandry. In November 1951, she began publication of Science-Fiction Five-Yearly, which has appeared regularly for 55 years. The last issue (she was no longer involved) in 2006 ran 58 pages and won the 2007 Best Fanzine Hugo Award at the Nippon 2007 Worldcon).

Since her initial fanac was exclusively by mail, and since "Lee" was a unisex name, and since this was an era when women were still a small minority in fandom, few fans at first were aware she was actually a woman. (She certainly made no attempt to correct the error and is reported to have gone so far as to tell people that the then-current Korean War draft had not been a problem "because I couldn't pass the physical," leading people to think she was crippled or ill. When Walt Willis found out, his first actions were to grab the telephone and call Bob Shaw (Transatlantic!): "Lee Hoffman is a girl!" Bob Tucker's reaction, when he met her at the 1951 Nolacon was more understated, but still amazement: "I'll be damned!" (It was a marvelous hoax.)

In 1956 she won TAFF, but for personal reasons declined to go on the trip. She was a member of FAPA and of the FATE Tape. Lee was prominent in many of the mythical (and often funny) stories that develop in fandom. See Savannah/Belfast Axis, Steam, Fort Mudge Steam Calliope Company among others.

She was briefly married to editor Larry Shaw from 1956 to 1958, and she was the assistant editor on the science fiction magazines he edited, Infinity Science Fiction and Science Fiction Adventures. During that same time, she began editing and publishing her folk music publications, Caravan and Gardyloo, which found a readership through Izzy Young's Folklore Center as the folk music scene expanded during the late 1950s. Much later she received nominations for the 1951 Best Fan Writer Retro Hugo and the 1951 Best Fan Artist Retro Hugo as well as the 1954 Best Fan Writer Retro Hugo. She won the 1987 Rebel Award.

Science-Fiction Five-Yearly won the 2007 Best Fanzine Hugo at Nippon 2007 (Worldcon), Yokahama, Japan. Co-edited with Geri Sullivan and Randy Byers.

Quandry was the focal point fanzine of its period. It was the main venue where Walt Willis wrote and gained his massive influence and popularity. Quandry was so influential that when Hoffman announced that it would no longer be published, Harlan Ellison declared that it was the end of the era of Sixth Fandom and that Seventh Fandom had begun.

Besides her fanac, she wrote several SF novels, including The Caves of Karst and Telepower.

Hoffman won the Western Writers of America Spur Award for her novel The Valdez Horses (Doubleday, 1967). In Spain, John Sturges directed the 1973 film adaptation, The Valdez Horses/Valdez, il Mezzosangue (aka Chino), starring Charles Bronson and Jill Ireland. Under the pseudonym Georgia York, she wrote historical romances for Fawcett Books during the years 1979 to 1983.

Lee was Fan GoH at Chicon IV

See the festschrift Happy Birthday, LeeH!.

She was Honorary Co-chairman of Tropicon 1-10 and worked on Tropicons 1-7.

Fanzines and Apazines:

• Bad Day at Lime Rock
• Cutty Fapazine (for FAPA)
• Fanhistory [1956]
• Fantasy Jackass (with Bob Tucker)
• A Fanzine for Ger Steward
• Forty Four Forty or Fight
• Gods Graves and T.V. Sets [1950s] (probably for FAPA)
• Harlequinade [1953]
• Off of the Planet Adventures
• Quandry [1950-53]
• Science-Fiction Five-Yearly [1951-2006] (many co-editors)
• Self Preservation [1961-71] (for FAPA)
• Ye Boiffion Boy Birdwatchers Bugle-Blast (with Andy Young, Jean Young and Larry Stark)

Awards, Honors and GoHships:

• 1951 -- Best Fan Writer Retro Hugo and Best Fan Artist Retro Hugo nominee, Past president of the FWA
• 1954 -- Best Fan Writer Retro Hugo
• 1956 -- TAFF
• 1967 -- Western Writers of America Spur Award
• 1982 -- Chicon IV, Tropicon I
• 1987 -- DeepSouthCon 25, Rebel Award
• 2007 -- Best Fanzine Hugo

From Fancyclopedia 2, ca. 1959

Lee Hoffman. Coined by Boggs, 1953, to differentiate between Hoffwoman and other Lees then active in fandom: Lee Jacobs (who adopted "Leej" in imitation), Lee Riddle (who published fanzine Leer in APAs), Lee Tremper, and Lee Bishop.

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Website

1932—2007

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