Subject: A BOOKMAN'S FANTASY by Fred Lerner

From: "Evelyn C Leeper" <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 25 Apr 1995 22:57:17 GMT

A BOOKMAN'S FANTASY by Fred Lerner
        NESFA Press, ISBN 0-915368-65-X, 1995, 97pp, US$11.95?
                   A book review by Evelyn C. Leeper
		    Copyright 1995 Evelyn C. Leeper

     Every year NESFA prints a book of the writing of its Boskone Fan Guest
of Honor.  This year Fred Lerner was the guest, and the book is A BOOKMAN'S
FANTASY, a collection of twenty-four of his essays.

     Lerner was one of the founders of the Science Fiction Research
Association, and his academic background shows through in several of the
articles, such as "How Science Fiction Became Respectable," "Towards a
Definition of Science Fiction: A Reply to James Gunn," and "Lester and Me"
(about how Lester Del Rey was one of the examining committee for Lerner's
doctoral dissertation, "Modern Science Fiction and the American Literary
Community").  But Lerner allows comes through as a fan in his opinions about
Kipling, Heinlein, horror, and his favorite books.  And a surprising number
are about Vermont, and why he lives there, and what he likes about it (and
what he doesn't).  The most harrowing is his "Farewell to Alexandria," in
which he describes culling his library.  It's enough to send shivers down
the spine of any dedicated book collector.

     Many of the articles are reprinted from Lerner's fanzine LOFGEORNOST or
Ed Meskys's NIEKAS, with a few from other sources.  But the original sources
are hard to come by, so it's nice to have this excellent selection reprinted
in convenient form.  If nothing else, it should remind a few people that
they want to nominate LOFGEORNOST for best fanzine Hugo.

     [This is not going to be in your local super-store.  If you don't have
a science fiction speciality shop nearby, order by mail from someplace like
the Science Fiction Shop or Uncle Hugo's, or direct from NESFA Press, P. O.
Box 809, Framingham MA 01701-0203.]

%T      A Bookman's Fantasy
%A      Fred Lerner
%C      Framingham, Massachusetts
%D      February 1995
%I      NESFA Press
%O      trade paperback, US$11.95
%G      ISBN 0-915368-65-X
%P      97pp

-- 
Evelyn C. Leeper | +1 908 957 2070 | [email-masked]
"I don't think adversity necessarily builds character, but it certainly gives
you an opportunity to display it."  --Gary Bean (Open Systems Today, 1/9/95)
--
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