Ken Cheslin
(October 21, 1936 – August 4, 2000)
Ken M. P. Cheslin was a fan from Stourbridge, UK, active from the 1950s until his death. He was a member of the Stourbridge Circle (SADO), the BSFA, the Birmingham Science Fiction Group and The Fellowship of the Ring. He was a member (and OE) of OMPA and of Pieces of Eight. He was on the Brumcon II committee and was made a Knight of St. Fantony at Loncon II.
Cheslin says that he knew fellow fan Mike Kilvert from around 1944 when Cheslin was eight years old[1]. Kilvert himself said SADO was formed during the winter of 1957–58[2], although he, Cheslin and Peter Davies had known each other since 1947. Davies said the group was formed in the immediate aftermath of Brumcon in 1959. Cheslin was chairman, Davies treasurer and Kilvert secretary[3]. The two versions are not necessarily incompatible to the extent that Davies dates the named group to one week after Brumcon but it's also clear from his account that the trio were meeting before the convention even if they weren't named.
His first convention was Brumcon in 1959[4]. He joined the BSFA shortly thereafter and produced Les Spinge, his first fanzine, with Davies that Autumn.
He republished Vin¢ Clarke's ATom: A Tribute, and published his own ATom 2000. He collected the Goon Defective Agency tales by John Berry, Atom and others in several volumes as The Bleary Eyes and, with Berry, published Fables of Irish Fandom. He published the first British J. R. R. Tolkien fanzine, Nazgul's Bane.
- The Adventures of Hemlock Soames (and Flotsam)
- ATom 2000 [2000]
- Berserk!!! (for OMPA, with Archie Mercer and possibly Fred Hunter)
- The Bleary Eyes
- Brumble [1964–65]
- Childs Garden of Olaf
- Envoy (for OMPA)
- Fables of Irish Fandom (with John Berry)
- Les Spinge
- Marauder (for Pieces of Eight)
- Millennium Travels [2000]
- Nazgul's Bane
- Odds, Sods, and Hogwash [late ’90s]
- Olaf [1989–99]
- Olaf Alternative [1992–94]
- Outhouse
- Robbery with Violets [2000] (with John Berry)
- Sally-Port
- Whatsit [1962–76]
- Wholly Berry [2000] (with John Berry)
Awards, Honors and GoHships:
- 1965 — Knight of St. Fantony
____
- ↑ SADO and the 1960s Brum Group - a memoir at fiawol.org.uk.
- ↑ Letter to Prolapse #7 (June 2007).
- ↑ Les Spinge #1 (Autumn 1959).
- ↑ Kilvert says that he, Cheslin and Davies attended Cytricon IV in 1958 but it seems likely that writing nearly 50 years after the event he was getting his conventions mixed up.
| Person | 1936—2000 |
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