Kemp, Earl
Entry updated 27 February 2023. Tagged: Publisher, Editor, Fan.
(1929-2020) US editor and publisher, father of Earl Terry Kemp; an important figure in American Fandom from the 1950s on, who was one of the founders of Advent: Publishers (which see) in 1956. Kemp was an associate of William L Hamling (whom see for details), an association which caused his imprisonment. It is now acknowledged that he edited The Science Fiction Novel: Imaginative and Social Criticism (anth 1959), previously ascribed to Basil Davenport; but he is much better known for his compiling of Who Killed Science Fiction?: An Affectionate Autopsy: The First SaFari Annual (anth 1960; rev vt The Compleat and Unexpurgated Who Killed Science Fiction? 2006 web; further rev vt Who Killed Science Fiction?: Compleat & Unexpurgated 2011) with his then wife Nancy Kemp (1923-2013). In this symposium, – following assurances of the compilation's highly limited distribution – a number of sf writers, editors and fans explored the titular question, sometimes very seriously, often with an understandable focus on the crisis that had afflicted American SF Magazines at the end of the 1950s. Well-known named contributors ranged from Poul Anderson and Isaac Asimov to Jack Williamson and Donald A Wollheim; Robert A Heinlein insisted on anonymity for his comments [see under links below]. Kemp received a 1961 Hugo Award in the Fanzine category for this work. He also edited The Proceedings: Chicon III (anth 1963), having been Chairman of the 1962 World SF Convention in Chicago (see Conventions; Worldcon).
In later life he published the online fanzine eI (60 issues 2002-2011 plus final letters supplement 2012), including many chapters of autobiography and mostly backward-looking contributions by notable fans and professionals, the latter including Mike Ashley, John Baxter, Rob Latham, Richard A Lupoff, Michael Moorcock, Alexei Panshin, Christopher Priest, Frank M Robinson and Ted White.
For his long-term contributions to Fanzines and Fandom he received a FAAn Award for lifetime achievement in 2012. [JC/DRL]
Earl Kemp
born Crossett, Arkansas: 24 November 1929
died Tecate, Mexico: 6 February 2020
works
nonfiction
- The Memoirs of an Angry Man: The Wit, Wisdom, and Sometimes Humor of The Fourth King of Pornography (Golden Valley, Arizona: Goldleaf Books/The Last Stand, 2013) [nonfiction: introduction by Earl Terry Kemp: pb/Robert Bonfils]
works as editor
series
Doctor Death
- Death's Loving Arms & Other Terror Tales (New York: Corinth, 1966) as Jon Hanlon [anth: pb/Robert Bonfils]
- Stories from Doctor Death and Other Terror Tales (New York: Corinth, 1966) as Jon Hanlon [anth: pb/Robert Bonfils]
- The House of Living Death and Other Terror Tales (New York: Corinth, 1966) as Jon Hanlon [anth: pb/Robert Bonfils]
individual titles
- The Science Fiction Novel: Imaginative and Social Criticism (Chicago, Illinois: Advent: Publishers, 1959) [anth: with intro by Basil Davenport, who is wrongly also listed as editor: hb/Jon Stopa]
- Who Killed Science Fiction?: An Affectionate Autopsy: The First SaFari Annual (Chicago, Illinois: SaFari/Earl and Nancy Kemp, 1960) with Nancy Kemp [nonfiction: anth: compiled questionnaire: pb/Ed Emshwiller]
- The Compleat and Unexpurgated Who Killed Science Fiction? (Kingman, Arizona: Earl Kemp/eI, 2006) with Nancy Kemp [nonfiction: anth: ebook: exp vt of the above with annotations: compiled questionnaire: na/Ed Emshwiller]
- Who Killed Science Fiction?: Compleat & Unexpurgated (West Warwick, Rhode Island: The Merry Blacksmith Press, 2011) [nonfiction: anth: rev vt of the above: pb/Ed Emshwiller]
- The Compleat and Unexpurgated Who Killed Science Fiction? (Kingman, Arizona: Earl Kemp/eI, 2006) with Nancy Kemp [nonfiction: anth: ebook: exp vt of the above with annotations: compiled questionnaire: na/Ed Emshwiller]
- Why Is a Fan?: The Second SaFari Annual (Chicago, Illinois: SaFari/Earl and Nancy Kemp, 1961) with Nancy Kemp [nonfiction: chap: compiled questionnaire: pb/Richard Bergeron]
- Robert Bloch. The Eighth Stage of Fandom (Chicago, Illinois: Advent: Publishers, 1962) [nonfiction: coll: hb/Jon Stopa]
- The Proceedings: Chicon III (Chicago, Illinois: Advent: Publishers, 1963) [nonfiction: anth: pb/Jon Stopa]
links
- Earl Kemp
- Earl Kemp at eFanzines.com (including eI archive)
- The Compleat and Unexpurgated Who Killed Science Fiction?
- Internet Speculative Fiction Database
- Picture Gallery
previous versions of this entry