Frank Arnold Archival Collection

Description

Frank Arnold was a long-time regular of the London First Thursday science-fiction pub meetings from their beginning in the 1940s until his death in 1987, and kept the famous VisitorsÕ Book. He had been active in British SF fandom since the very early days of the 1930s. Although he published one SF collection, a handful of articles and several book reviews, most of his nonfiction never appeared in print. Rob Hansen has compiled, edited and annotated this generous selection of his essays, reviews and memoirs, including much previously unpublished work. There is an introduction by Michael Moorcock, a historical foreword by Rob Hansen and a personal afterword by Dave Rowe.

The cover photograph of, from left to right, E.J. (Ted) Carnell, E.C. (Ted) Tubb and Frank Arnold at the 1952 London SF convention is from the Vince Clarke collection.

First published as an Ansible Editions ebook for the TransAtlantic Fan Fund site in December 2017. Now expanded with newly discovered material from the original 44,000 words to 58,000 words for this first ever paperback edition, published in October 2024.

ALL PROCEEDS FROM PAPERBACK SALES WILL GO TO THE TRANSATLANTIC FAN FUND.

From the Introduction by Michael Moorcock:

FrankÕs career as an sf writer was pretty much over by the time we met. I liked him a great deal and respected him considerably so I was glad to republish the fine long essay I included in New Worlds: An Anthology (Fontana/Flamingo, 1983; revised ThunderÕs Mouth Press, 2004) because Frank had the scope and knowledge to give me exactly the perspective I felt we needed. It seemed fitting that one of the magazineÕs founders should be included in what was intended to be a kind of memorial to my version of New Worlds, remembering that it had originally been founded by fans and professionals pooling their enthusiasm and sustained by amateurs and professionals, just as so much else is achieved in science fiction. Frank was a living corner-stone of New Worlds and his involvement with it was as much part of British science fiction as the magazine itself.

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