Robert Stratton "Buck" Coulson (May 12, 1928 – February 19, 1999) was an American science fiction writer, well-known fan,

filk Filk music is a musical culture, genre, and community tied to science fiction, fantasy, and horror fandom and a type of fan labor. The genre has existed since the early 1950s and been played primarily since the mid-1970s. The genre has a ni ...

songwriter,

fanzine A fanzine (blend word, blend of ''fan (person), fan'' and ''magazine'' or ''zine'') is a non-professional and non-official publication produced by enthusiasts of a particular cultural phenomenon (such as a literary or musical genre) for the pleas ...

editor and bookseller from

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

Biography

He served as Secretary of the

Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, doing business as Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association and commonly known as SFWA ( or ) is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization of professional science fiction and fantasy writers. Whi ...

from 1972 to 1974. Coulson and his wife, writer and filker

Juanita Coulson Juanita Ruth Coulson (née Wellons) (born February 12, 1933) is an American science fiction and fantasy writer most well known for her ''Children of the Stars'' books, published from 1981 to 1989. She was a longtime editor of the science fiction ...

, edited the

mimeograph A mimeograph machine (often abbreviated to mimeo, sometimes called a stencil duplicator or stencil machine) is a low-cost duplicating machine that works by forcing ink through a stencil onto paper. The process is called mimeography, and a co ...

ed fanzine '' Yandro'', which was nominated for the

Hugo Award The Hugo Award is an annual literary award for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year, given at the World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon) and chosen by its members. The award is administered by th ...

10 years in a row, from 1959 through 1968, and won in 1965. Yandro featured Coulson's incisive reviews of books and, especially, fanzines. Film critic and one-time active fan

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert ( ; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American Film criticism, film critic, film historian, journalist, essayist, screenwriter and author. He wrote for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. Eber ...

wrote: "Locs (letters of comment) were the currency of payment for fanzine contributors; you wrote, and in the next issue got to read about what you had written. Today I can see my name on a full-page ad for a movie with disinterest, but what

Harry Warner Harry Morris Warner (born Hirsz Mojżesz Wonsal; December 12, 1881 – July 25, 1958) was an American studio executive, one of the founders of Warner Bros., and a major contributor to the development of the film industry. Along with his three y ...

or Buck Coulson had to say about me – well, that was important." Buck was a regular attendee, panelist, and bookseller at several Midwest

science fiction convention Science fiction conventions are gatherings of fans of the speculative fiction subgenre, science fiction. Historically, science fiction conventions had focused primarily on literature, but the purview of many extends to such other avenues of ex ...

s, including InConJunction and Chambanacon, as well as frequently attending Capricon,

DucKon DucKon was an annual science fiction science fiction convention, convention held every May or June in the Chicago area between 1992 and 2014. The name is a shortening of DuPage County, Illinois, DUpage County KONvention. DucKon served as a fu ...

Windycon Windycon is a science fiction and fantasy literature convention held in Oak Brook, Illinois, on the weekend closest to Veterans Day (United States), Veterans Day. ISFiC, the parent corporation that runs Windycon,Pavlac, RossWhat's an ISFiC ISFiC ...

, and Wiscon. He was frequently seen wearing a

skunk Skunks are mammals in the family Mephitidae. They are known for their ability to spray a liquid with a strong, unpleasant scent from their anal glands. Different species of skunk vary in appearance from black-and-white to brown, cream or gi ...

skin cap. Characters modelled on and named after him appear in two novels by Wilson Tucker, ''To the Tombaugh Station'' and ''Resurrection Days''. Outside of science fiction, he worked as a

technical writer A technical writer is a professional communicator whose task is to convey complex information in simple terms to an audience of the general public or a very select group of readers. Technical writers research and create information through a vari ...

. Coulson died on February 19, 1999, following a long illness.

Bibliography

Coulson's novels include ''But What of Earth?'' (1976, ) (with

Piers Anthony Piers Anthony Dillingham Jacob (born August 6, 1934) is an American author in the science fiction and fantasy genres, publishing under the name Piers Anthony. He is best known for his long-running novel series set in the fictional realm of Xan ...

), ''To Renew the Ages'' (1976, ), and ''Lazer Tag: Adventure No 1: High Spy'' (1987, ). With

Gene DeWeese Thomas Eugene DeWeese (January 31, 1934 – March 19, 2012) was an American writer of science fiction, best known for his ''Star Trek'' novels. He also wrote Gothic, mystery, and young adult fiction, totalling more than 40 books in his caree ...

, he wrote two novels set in

science fiction fandom Science fiction fandom or SF fandom is a community or fandom of people interested in science fiction in contact with one another based upon that interest. SF fandom has a life of its own, but not much in the way of formal organization (although ...

, ''Now You See It/Him/Them...'' (1975, ) and ''Charles Fort Never Mentioned Wombats'' (1977, ); and two Man from U.N.C.L.E novels under the pseudonym of Thomas Stratton, ''The Invisibility Affair'' and ''The Mind-Twisters Affair'' (both 1967). Thomas Stratton may be the only author to have a book accepted and the dedication rejected (the editor thought 'To my wives and child' was too risque for the intended audience).

References

External links

*
Locus Index to SF Awards''Yandro'' #122 Volume XI – No 3
1928 births 1999 deaths 20th-century American novelists Hugo Award–winning editors American booksellers American male novelists American science fiction writers American speculative fiction editors American science fiction critics Writers from Indiana American male short story writers 20th-century American short story writers 20th-century American male writers American male non-fiction writers {{US-sf-writer-stub