Sam Moskowitz

Infobox Writer
name = Sam Moskowitz

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pseudonym = Sam Martin
birthdate = Birth date|1920|6|30
birthplace = Newark, NJ
deathdate = Death date and age|1997|4|15|1920|6|30
deathplace = University Hospital Newark, NJ
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period =
genre = Science Fiction
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Sam Moskowitz (June 30, 1920-April 15,1997) was an early fan and organizer of interest in science fiction and, later, a writer, critic, and historian of the field. As a child, Moskowitz greatly enjoyed reading science fiction pulp magazines. As a teenager, he organized science fiction clubs in the New York City area. At this time, Moskowitz had an association with Donald A. Wollheim in the NYC science fiction clubs, but Wollheim's desire for an overt political direction for science fiction fandom caused a temporary rift between the two. While still in his teens, he became chairman of the first World Science Fiction Convention held in New York City in 1939, during which he had several politicized Futurians expelled from the convention, an event jocularly referred to by historians of fandom as the "Great Exclusion Act" [Kyle, David. "The Great Exclusion Act of 1939," "Mimosa" #6] , [Kyle, David. "SaM -- Fan Forever," "Mimosa" no. 21, pp. 7-10, Dec. 1997 [http://www.jophan.org/mimosa/m21/kyle.htm] ] Moskowitz later worked professionally in the science fiction field. He edited "Science-Fiction+", a short-lived genre magazine owned by Hugo Gernsback, in 1953. He compiled about two dozen anthologies, and a few single-author collections, most published in the 1960s and early 1970s. Moskowitz also wrote a handful of short stories (three published in 1941, one in 1953, three in 1956). His most enduring work is likely to be his writing on the history of science fiction, in particular two collections of short author biographies, "Explorers of the Infinite" and "Seekers of Tomorrow". While Moskowitz has been justly criticized for eccentrically assigning priorities and tracing influences regarding particular themes and ideas based principally on publication dates, as well as for inaccuracy, [According to the late fan and usenet poster Gharlane of Eddore, the biography of E.E. Smith in "Seekers Of Tomorrow" is "error-ridden": [http://www.outel.org/decomposed/goe/LFQ7.html LensFaq section 7] . Gharlane provides no details, but Moskowitz does get as basic a fact as the editorship of "Amazing" in 1927 wrong, on page 15.] his exhaustive cataloguing of early sf magazine stories by important genre authors remains the best resource for nonspecialists. Moskowitz's most popular work may be "The Immortal Storm", a historical review of internecine strife within fandom. Moskowitz wrote it in a bombastic style that made the events he described seem so important that, as fan historian Harry Warner, Jr. quipped, "If read directly after a history of World War II, it does not seem like an anticlimax." [cite web
url=http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/mglyer/f770/page10.html
title=Harry Warner's "All Our Yesterdays"
accessdate=2007-08-15] [cite web
url=http://jophan.org/mimosa/m21/resnick.htm
title=The Literature of Fandom
work=Mimosa 21
publisher=Nicki and Richard Lynch
pages=17-24
first=Mike
last=Resnick
month=December
year=1997
accessdate=2007-08-15] Moskowitz was also renowned as a science fiction book collector, with a tremendous number of important early works and rarities. His book collection was auctioned off after his death. As "Sam Martin", he was also editor of the trade publications "Quick Frozen Foods" and "Quick Frozen Foods International" for many years.cite web
url=http://www.allbusiness.com/wholesale-trade/merchant-wholesalers-nondurable/633782-1.html
title=Retired QFFI editor and SF historian Sam Martin, 1920-97, dies in Newark
date=1997-07-01
work=Editor Biography
publisher=Quick Frozen Foods International @ AllBusiness.com
accessdate=2007-08-15] [cite web
url=http://www.depauw.edu/sfs/backissues/70/moskowitz70art.htm
last=Moskowitz
first=Sam
authorlink=Sam Moskowitz
title=The First College-Level Course in Science Fiction
work=Science Fiction Studies #70 Volume 23 Part 3
month=November
year=1996
accessdate=2007-08-15] [cite web
url=http://www.qffintl.com
title=Quick Frozen Foods International
work=Sam Martin death article not found
accessdate=2007-08-15]
First Fandom, an organization of science fiction fans active before 1940, gives an award in Moskowitz' memory each year at the World Science Fiction Convention.

Moskowitz smoked cigarettes frequently throughout his adult life. A few years before his death, throat cancer required the surgical removal of his larynx. He continued to speak at science fiction conventions, using an electronic voice-box held against his throat. Throughout his later years, although his controversial opinions were often disputed by others, he was indisputably recognized as the leading authority on the history of science fiction.

References

*cite web
url=http://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.sf.written/msg/8f256a79017d0e57
title=More doughnuts (was Re: Doc Smith--
author=Gharlane of Eddore
authorlink=Gharlane of Eddore (Pen-name)
date=1996-09-12
publisher=Usenet rec.arts.sf.written
accessdate=2007-08-15

External links

*cite web
url=http://libraryasp.tamu.edu/cushing/collectn/lit/science/sci-fi/cbsff/moskowitz.htm
title=Sam Moskowitz - A Preliminary Bibliography
date=2005-04-25
first=Hal W.
last=Hall
work=Center for the Bibliography of Science Fiction and Fantasy
publisher=Cushing Library, Texas A&M University
accessdate=2007-08-15
*cite web
url=http://www.lib.utexas.edu/taro/tamucush/00256/tamu-00256.html
title=Inventory of the Sam Moskowitz Collection: 1940-1993
work=Center for the Bibliography of Science Fiction and Fantasy
publisher=Cushing Library, Texas A&M University
accessdate=2007-08-15
*cite web
url=http://www.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs/user/roboman/www/sigma/may97sig.html
title=In Memoriam: Sam Moskowitz 1920-1997
month=May
year=1997
first=Eric Leif
last=Davin
work=SIGMA
publisher=The Official Newsletter of PARSEC
accessdate=2007-08-15