Forrest J. Ackerman ( born Forrest James Ackerman ; November 24, 1916 – December 4, 2008 ) was an American collector of science fiction books and movie memorabilia and a science fiction fan.

Also called " Forry ," " The Ackermonster ," " 4e " and " 4SJ ," Ackerman was central to the formation, organization, and spread of science fiction fandom, and a key figure in the wider cultural perception of science fiction as a literary, art and film genre.

Ackerman was born Forrest James Ackerman ( though he would refer to himself from the early 1930s on as " Forrest J Ackerman " with no period after the middle initial ) on November 24, 1916 in Los Angeles, to Carroll Cridland ( née Wyman ; 1883 – 1977 ) and William Schilling Ackerman ( 1892 – 1951 ).

Ackerman was fluent in the international language Esperanto, and claimed to have walked down Hollywood Boulevard arm-in-arm with Leo G. Carroll singing La Espero, the hymn of Esperanto.

Ackerman was an early member of the Los Angeles Chapter of the Science Fiction League, and became so active in and important to the club, that in essence he ran it, including after the name change the Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society, a prominent regional organization, as well as the National Fantasy Fan Federation ( N3F ).

Ackerman was a board member of the Seattle Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame, where many items of his collection are now displayed.

Ackerman was credited with nurturing and even inspiring the careers of several early contemporaries like Ray Bradbury, Ray Harryhausen, Charles Beaumont, Marion Zimmer Bradley and L. Ron Hubbard.

He kept all of the stories submitted to his magazine, even the ones he rejected ; Stephen King has stated that Ackerman showed up to a King book signing with a copy of a story King had submitted for publication when he was 11.

The particles were never observed to rise above 6 km and when combined with scavenging by clouds gave the smoke a short residency time in the atmosphere and localized its effects ; Professor Carl Sagan of the Turco, Toon, Ackerman, Pollack, Sagan ( TTAPS ) study hypothesized in January 1991 that enough smoke from the fires " might get so high as to disrupt agriculture in much of South Asia ...." Sagan later conceded in his book The Demon-Haunted World that this prediction did not turn out to be correct: " it was pitch black at noon and temperatures dropped 4 °– 6 ° C over the Persian Gulf, but not much smoke reached stratospheric altitudes and Asia was spared.

Bradbury was invited by Forrest J. Ackerman to attend the Los Angeles Science Fiction Society, which at the time met at Clifton's Cafeteria in downtown Los Angeles.

Though much of the dialogue in Curb Your Enthusiasm is improvised, the plot was scripted, and the Seinfeld special that aired within the show was scripted and directed by Seinfeld regular Andy Ackerman, making this the first time since Seinfeld went off the air that the central cast appeared together in a scripted show.

It was originally described in detail by Yale Law School professors Bruce Ackerman and Ian Ayres in their 2004 book Voting with Dollars: A new paradigm for campaign finance.

Jon D. Levenson, Susan Nidditch and Susan Ackerman have stated that at least some Israelites believed child sacrifice was a legitimate part of ancient Israelite religion.

An island in the middle of the Arkansas River, named Ackerman Island was home to an amusement park, and a dance pavilion.

It was incorporated under a city manager government in 1968, the first city manager being J. M. Ackerman.

The act was a hit and convinced CBS executive Harry Ackerman that a Ball-Arnaz pairing would be a worthwhile venture.

Meeting Burke " was not purely kismet ," as Wexler and Ertegun were aware of Burke and his talent, as " Wexler ’ s former mentor at Billboard, Paul Ackerman, had been urging him to sign Burke for several years ," but were waiting for Burke's contract with Apollo Records to expire.

CBS liked the Culver version better, and Ackerman was told to proceed.

Ackerman invited Ray Bradbury to attend the Los Angeles Chapter of the Science Fiction League, then meeting weekly at Clifton's Cafeteria in downtown Los Angeles.

In January 1932, the New York City circle, which by then included future comic book editors Julius Schwartz and Mort Weisinger, brought out the first issue of their own publication, The Time Traveller, with Forrest J Ackerman of the embryonic Los Angeles group as a contributing editor.

Forrest J Ackerman later wrote, " The first meetings of the club were held in what was called the Pacific Electric Building in downtown Los Angeles.

Charter group number four, in Los Angeles, had an active member in Forrest J. Ackerman, who missed the first few meetings ( he was living in San Francisco with his parents ), but whose enthusiasm and imagination provided a focus for the group.

Bradbury and Harryhausen joined a Los Angeles-area Science Fiction League formed by Forrest J. Ackerman in 1939, and the three became lifelong friends.

Born in Los Angeles, Ackerman began his career as a videotape editor on WKRP in Cincinnati ( 1979 – 82 ) and Newhart, winning an Emmy for the former.

Warren stated in a reply to the Los Angeles Times report of Ackerman ’ s death, “ When director William Asher requested that I growl during my brief sequence, my ever-protective agent, ' Uncle ' Forry quickly reminded him that said role had now become a ' speaking part ' and, as such, I was entitled to a cast credit as well as the Screen Actors Guild pay standard of an additional 250 bucks.

Alex Soma's Horrors of the Screen, Calvin T. Beck's Journal of Frankenstein ( later Castle of Frankenstein ) and Gary Svehla ’ s Gore Creatures were the first horror fanzines created as more serious alternatives to the popular Forrest J Ackerman 1958 magazine Famous Monsters of Filmland.

Ackerman saw his first " imagi-movie " in 1922 ( One Glorious Day ), purchased his first science fiction magazine, Amazing Stories, in 1926, created The Boys ' Scientifiction Club in 1930 (" girl-fans were as rare as unicorn's horns in those days ").

Through his magazine, Famous Monsters of Filmland ( 1958 – 1983 ), Ackerman introduced the history of the science fiction, fantasy and horror film genres to a generation of young readers.

* Forrest J Ackerman, magazine editor, coined " sci-fi "

* Forrest J. Ackerman as Forry ( Tourist at Zoo with Monsters of Filmland magazine )

Another long-time close friend was " Famous Monsters of Filmland " magazine editor, book writer, and sci-fi collector Forrest J Ackerman, who loaned Harryhausen his photos of King Kong in 1933, right after Harryhausen had seen the film for the first time.

Other prominent writers who edited or wrote for the magazine in these years include senior editor and TRB columnist Jonathan Chait, Lawrence F. Kaplan, John Judis and Spencer Ackerman.

When Rosemary Ackerman takes the stand, Beverly destroys her credibility by revealing that it was Ackerman's magazine which was the source for the nuisance letters to Dottie Hinkle, Ackerman's firepoker ( which she purchased at the same swap meet where Carl was killed ), which was used to kill Carl Pageant, and Ackerman's scissors ( which Beverly " borrowed ") that were found at the Sterner murder scene.

Ackerman was a long-time fan who created Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine, which celebrated the monster / SF movies that were frowned upon by many hardcore science fiction fans as being too poor in quality to be taken seriously, and definitely not to be confused with " real " science fiction.

In 1999, the magazine reported the student uproar that followed a University decision to invite conservative commentator Piers Ackerman to speak at a graduation ceremony.

In announcing that the February 8, 1969, issue would be the magazine's last, Curtis executive Martin Ackerman stated that the magazine had lost $ 5 million in 1968 and would lose a projected $ 3 million in 1969.

Yale law professor Bruce Ackerman wrote an article in the February 2001 edition of the liberal magazine The American Prospect that encouraged the use of the filibuster to stop Bush from placing any nominee on the Supreme Court during his first term.

Linaweaver publishes the movie magazine Mondo Cult, featuring literary contributions and articles from and about Linaweaver's eclectic list of celebrity friends and contacts, including Battlestar Galactica actor Richard Hatch ; science fiction author and collector Forrest J. Ackerman ; the conservative commentator, publisher, and television personality William F. Buckley, Jr .; actress Traci Lords and poetry from Ray Bradbury.

Famous Monsters of Filmland is a genre-specific film magazine started in 1958 by publisher James Warren and editor Forrest J Ackerman.

The magazine regularly published photos from King Kong ( 1933 ), including one from the film's infamous " spider pit sequence ", featured in Issue # 108 ( 1974 ) which, until Ackerman discovered a photo of a spider in the cavern setting, had never been proven definitively to have actually been filmed.

In the early 1980s, the magazine folded after Warren became ill and unable to carry on as publisher, and Ackerman resigned as editor in the face of the increasing disorganization within the captainless Warren Publishing Company.

In 1997, Ackerman filed a civil lawsuit against Ferry for libel, breach of contract, and misrepresentation ; Ferry had publicly claimed that Ackerman ’ s only connection with the new FM was as a hired hand and that Ferry “ had to let Forry go ” because he was no longer writing or editing for the magazine.

In late 2007, Philip Kim, an entrepreneur and a private equity investor, purchased the rights to the logo and title, entering into an agreement with Ackerman to use his trademarks to retain the magazine ’ s original look and feel.

The Sci-Fi Boys, a 2006 documentary by Paul Davids, focuses heavily on Famous Monsters magazine and Forrest J Ackerman.

The film features interviews with Ackerman and several of the current top names in the science fiction genre, including Peter Jackson and Rick Baker, who attest to the influence of the magazine and of Ackerman himself.

Begun by James Warren, Warren Publishing's initial publications were the horror-fantasy -- science fiction movie magazine Famous Monsters of Filmland and Monster World, both edited by Forrest J Ackerman.