The Temple of Set II by Michael Aquino

Author:Michael Aquino [Aquino, Michael]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2014-04-07T03:00:00+00:00

A22: Why I Collect Science Fiction

- by Forrest J Ackerman, Honorary Setian Scroll of Set #II-1, September 1976 You ask me why I collect science fiction, what I get out of it.

First of all, I got my whole life out of it. It brought me, after 47 years of collecting, to a $250,000 mortgage that will take me til 1998 when I am 84 years old to pay off, just to house the results of my collecting in a 4-story 17-room house in Hollywood that will be a proper repository for the collection.

Al Jolson had to sing. Fred Astaire was born to dance. I discovered science fiction when it was still scientifiction, in the October 1926 Amazing Stories, and by 1929 my collection encompassed not only Amazing but Amazing Stories Annual, Amazing Stories Quarterly, Science Wonder Stories, Science Wonder Quarterly, Air Wonder Stories, Science & Invention, some Weird Tales, and any issues of Argosy, Bluebook, Liberty, Popular or any other mundane magazines that turned up with “stf” stories in them, plus books by Burroughs, Kline, Cummings et al. By then I was corresponding with about 117 fans & authors. Soon I was into collecting stills from “scientifilms” and trying my hand at writing sf of my own, and at the beginning of 1932 the first fanzine was started and I was associated with it as a contributor.

In the beginning I collected sf avidly because I was thirsty for more than existed and it was like a man collecting dew in a desert oasis when he didn’t know where his next drop of water was coming from.

In 1975 I am still collecting science fiction because it has long been a way of life. Years ago I conceived of the creation of a Fantasy Foundation. I thought that many people would help me. Few have. To those who have, I am immensely grateful. But many moons ago it became evident that I was mainly going to have to do it myself.

I wonder how much I’ve spent in collecting in nearly 50 years? Several hundred thousand dollars? I wouldn’t be surprised - it seems to me I’ve spent money on very little else. And it’s meaningless to tell me it s been a valuable investment; that those 100,000 stills and the other 100,000 books, magazines, paintings, posters, props, manuscripts, etc. are worth over $1 million in today’s inflated market for out-ofprint rarities & collectors’ items. I may be a millionaire, but only theoretically, because I’m never going to cash in my chips, auction off my holdings, or sell them to libraries & institutions, tempting as it would be to retire. Don’t delude yourself that I wouldn’t love it, that I wouldn’t be happy to be free of the treadmill of 37 professional deadlines a year and all that agentorial work.

But I have a voracious white dinosaur to feed: the Ackermansion, the Museum of Imaginative Literature. Have I collected it, or has it collected me?

Well, when I go, it will be with the sense of satisfaction that I have left the world its greatest collection of science fiction & fantasy.

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