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(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]
born Crossett, Arkansas: 24 November 1929
died Tecate, Mexico: 6 February 2020
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Doctor Death
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Entry from The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (2011-current) edited by John Clute and David Langford.
Accessed 16:46 pm on 20 April 2024.
<https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/kemp_earl>