Avram Davidson letters

Avram Davidson

1963-1993

Letters

"I had long enjoyed the stories of Avram Davidson, and the issues of F&SF that he edited, so when he asked me in September 1977 to pick him up at the Williamsburg International Airport just north of where I lived in Newport News VA, I was glad to do it. He was to be Writer-in-Residence at William & Mary for a year. While he was in the area, he met occasionally with the local SF club, the Hampton Roads Science Fiction Association. After Avram moved back to Washington state, we continued to correspond until 1993, the year that he died. The content of the letters will have to explain itself - fans may become interested in anything. It might be better if my side of the correspondence were also here, but although almost all my letters to anyone in that period were computer files, I don't find any trace of them now.

The very first letter was not to me at all, but to "Phil" in May 1963 when Avram was editor at F&SF. This must have been Phil Harrell, the first fan I ever met. The content is obscure - Phil must have given me the letter, and at the time I no doubt knew what the issue was. Now I can only speculate that it had to do with the Werewolf Bookstore scandal. Werewolf had been a respected mail-order dealer who advertised in the SF prozines until apparently when the operation was taken over by the original dealer's son fans buying in quantity began to get boxes of useless rubbish."

Ned Brooks

For more infomation see Avram Davidson's page on Fancycloepdia III.


May 23, 1963
1
September 21, 1977
2
March 19, 1985 Page 1 of 2 3
March 19, 1985 Page 2 of 2 4
April ?, 1985
5
April 18, 1985 Page 1 of 2 6
April 18, 1985 Page 2 of 2 7
May 1, 1985 Page 1 of 3 8
May 1, 1985 Page 2 of 3 9
May 1, 1985 Page 3 of 3 10
May 20, 1985 Page 1 of 2 11
May 20, 1985 Page 2 of 2 12
May 23, 1985
13
June 7, 1985 Postcard 14
June 28, 1985
15
July 30, 1985
16
Four postcards 1985-88
17
August 24, 1988 Page 1 of 2 18
August 24, 1988 Page 2 of 2 19
September 18, 1988
20
September 20, 1988 Page 1 of 2 21
September 20, 1988 Page 2 of 2 22
September 23, 1989 Page 1 of 2 23
September 23, 1989 Page 2 of 2 24
October 8, 1989 Page 1 of 2 25
October 8, 1989 Page 2 of 2 26
November 29, 1989 Page 1 of 2 27
November 29, 1989 Page 2 of 2 28
October 15, 1991 Page 1 of 2 29
October 15, 1991 Page 2 of 2 30
October 15, 1992 Page 1 of 2 31
October 15, 1992 Page 2 of 2 32
October 20, 1992 Postcard 33
Four postcards 1989-93
34
March 11, 1993 Final letter 35



Scans by Ned Brooks from his collection


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