Science Fiction Worlds of Forrest J. Ackerman & Friends
Reviewed date: 2026 Oct 18
223 pages
I always loved the idea of Forrest J. Ackerman. A guy who was so good at being a fan of science fiction that they gave him a Hugo! Zounds!
The reality of Forrest J. Ackerman, though, is that his writing is dreadful, he's morally reprobate, he's guilty of a great deal more than he ever got caught for (allegedly), and it's best if he's forgotten.
Dwellers in the Night
Incomprehensible time travel story
Micro-man
Guy in a train finds a miniature man. He scoops him up, takes him home, intending to show him off as a curiosity. But when typing up a press release, he accidentally smashes the micro man in his typewriter.
A Martian Oddity
A Stanley Weinbaum and O. Henry pastiche, built on the strength of bad puns and slapstick humor. It might be funnier if I'd read Weinbaum's A Martian Odyssey, but I doubt it.
The Atomic Monument
by Theodore Sturgeon
A story by Theodore Sturgeon, excerpted and translated into Esperanto by Forrest J. Ackerman, then translated back into English also by Forrest J. Ackerman. Plot: a humanitarian sets off a nuclear bomb as a warning to mankind, so that all will see the tremendous power and resolve never to start a nuclear war. But of course it ends up triggering a nuclear war and the extinction of mankind.
Confessions of a Science Fiction Addict
Ackerman explains and defends the science fiction genre. He spends far too much time discussing the sex appeal of the female characters for my comfort, particularly knowing Ackerman's penchant for boundary-crossing sexually-harassing behavior.
The Big Sleep
Frog survives 2 million years buried in a mineral bog before being dug up by a workman digging a cellar.
Metropolis, Ueber Alles
Ackerman's introduction to the paperback edition of Metropolis. I am beginning to realize that I loathe Ackerman's writing style. His literary tone and style embody much of what I dislike about science fiction fandom. There is the arrogance of believing that sf fans are better than everyone else paired with the inferiority complex that comes with realizing the rest of the world considers sf to be trash. Top that off with egotistical name-dropping, irrational exuberance, and an overuse of jargon and in-group slang that's designed to be both gate keeping and to make the writer feel smart at other people's expense.
Or perhaps I'm reading too much into Mr. Ackerman's dreadful writing.
Burn, Witch, Burn!
An ode to the occultish, blasphemous, and obscene artwork of Rosaleen Norton—most of whose work had been destroyed by Australian censors, but not, unfortunately, before one copy made it way to Hollywood where creepy Uncle Forry got a look at it.
And Then the Cover was Bare
A complaint about the inevitable future when every magazine sells itself with nude models on the cover and not on the quality of the stories within.
Time to Change, or Mirror Image
by Marcial Souto
A mirror that copies living things falls and breaks into 23 pieces, which turn into 23 butterflies and fly away.
The Lure & Lore of "The Blind Spot"
Introduction to the book "The Blind Spot" by Austin Hall and Homer Eon Flint.
Dhactwhu!—Remember?
With Robert A.W. Lowndes
An ancient dying race of Elders tries to awake a forgotten ancestral memory in human beings—a phrase that begins with Dhactwhu.
Tarzan and the Golden Loin
An imagined interview with ERB about Tarzan as the world's greatest lover.
Count Down to Doom
With Charles Nuetzel
Dracula meets his doom when he tries—and fails—to get blood from a purple vegetable turnip-man from outer space.
The Far-Out Philosopher of Science Fiction
A eulogy for Olaf Stapledon
The Girl Who Wasn't There
Minorly by Ackerman and majorly by Tigrana
The problem with being invisible
The Girl Takes a Powder
by Tigrana
A better version of The Girl Who Wasn't There, marred by a printer's error that omits portions of the story.
Laugh, Clone, Laugh
Boo. A shaggy clone story.
When Frighthood Was in Flower
A history of early monster movies in general and Frankenstein in particular, told in Ackerman's dreadful and tiresome style.
The Record
Mankind solves poverty, hunger, science—everything. Boredom leads them to war, and when only a handful of humans remain, they rediscover music and end the war.
The Man Who Was Thirsty
Something about vampires or werewolves.
The House in the Twilight Zone
Three thousand words about the Ackermansion, aka Forrest Ackerman's home which houses his collection of sci-fi and monster books, movies, and memorabilia.
Letter to an Angel
A surprise twist at the end makes this a genuinely touching story. Little Timmy dies of a broken heart when his hero Lon Chaney dies. Then he goes to heaven and meets Lon Chaney.
The Radclyffe Effect
All the men of the world disappear—except for one. All the women chase after him, but it's for naught. He turns out to be a she, courtesy of sex-change surgery.
Epilog: Coming Attractions
FJA promises a volume two, which never happened. There was an expanded edition of volume one published years later.