Doc Lowndes
(September 4, 1916 – July 14, 1998)
Robert A. W. "Doc" Lowndes (pronounced LOWNDZ, one syllable) was a fan, author, and editor. He found sf with the July 1926 Amazing. He subscribed to Science Fiction Digest in 1933 and joined the SFL in 1935, organizing the Stamford, CT SFL.
He was a principal member of the Futurians (and one of the six kept out of the first Worldcon by the Exclusion Act. He later became editor of Future Science Fiction, Science Fiction Weekly, Science Fiction, and Science Fiction Quarterly, and outside the SF field, western, crime-fiction, sports-fiction, and other magazines for Columbia Publications. He also worked on the Gernsback Publications' non-fiction magazine, Sexology. After the War, he founded Vanguard Records with James Blish.
He received the First Fandom Hall of Fame award in 1991 and was GoH at Lunacon 12, and Boskone 10.
Probably his best known fanzine is Le Vombeiteur, but he also published the VAPA and FAPA zine Agenbite of Inwit. He was a prolific user of pen names in his fannish writing with estimates over over fifty, including Satyricus. He also published the "interminable" fan fiction "Trigger Talk at Green Guna". Other fanzines included Afterthoughts and Vagrant.
He is remembered by SF historians today for his book, Three Faces of Science Fiction, published by the NESFA Press in 1973.
He was recognized as a Founding Member of N3F in an article by Jon D. Swartz that appeared in July, 2016 National Fantasy Fan.
| Mystery of the Third Mine | Novel | Winston Juvenile | 1953 |
| The Duplicated Man (with James Blish) | Novel | Avalon | 1959 |
| Believer's World | Novel | Avalon | 1961 |
| The Puzzle Planet | Novel | Ace Double | 1961 |
| Three Faces of Science Fiction | Essays | NESFA Press | 1973 |
| The Gernsback Days with Mike Ashley | History | 2004 |
For an early short biography, see Who's Who in Fandom 1940, page 9.
Awards, Honors and GoHships:
- 1956 -- Philcon 1956
- 1969 -- Lunacon 12
- 1973 -- Boskone 10
- 1991 -- First Fandom Hall of Fame
- Afterthoughts [1945] (for VAPA)
- Agenbite of Inwit [1942-46] (for VAPA and FAPA)
- Le Vombeiteur [1938-40]
- Science Fiction Weekly [1940]
- Vagabondia [1941] (for FAPA)
- Vagrant [1938-40]
- Venal [1946]
- Vombiteur Litteraire [1939]
| Person | ????—1998 |
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