Stephen Willis Stiles (July 16, 1943 – January 11, 2020) was an American

cartoonist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comics illustrators/artists in that they produce both the litera ...

and writer, coming out of the

science fiction fanzine A science-fiction fanzine is an amateur or semi-professional magazine published by members of science-fiction fandom, from the 1930s to the present day. They were one of the earliest forms of fanzine, within one of which the term "''fanzine''" ...

tradition. He won the 2016

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 ...

for Best Fan Artist.

Early life and education

Steven Willis Stiles was born to Norma and Irvin Stiles. He had two brothers, Randy and Jeff. Stiles studied at

The High School of Music & Art The High School of Music & Art, informally known as Music & Art (or M&A), was a public specialized high school located at 443-465 West 135th Street in the borough of Manhattan, New York, from 1936 until 1984. In 1961, Music & Art and the High Sc ...

and the

School of Visual Arts The School of Visual Arts New York City (SVA NYC) is a private for-profit art school in New York City. It was founded in 1947 and is a member of the Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design. History This school was started by Silas ...

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

and later wrote about this in his essay, "Art School":

Illustration and design

His first cartoon for a fanzine appeared in ''Cry of the Nameless'', edited by F.M. Busby and Elinor Busby. A fanzine interlineation he coined ("Death is nature's way of telling you when to stop") became a national

catchphrase A catchphrase (alternatively spelled catch phrase) is a phrase or expression recognized by its repeated utterance. Such phrases often originate in popular culture and in the arts, and typically spread through word of mouth and a variety of mass ...

after it was reprinted in '' Pageant'' in 1962. His work (art and text) has since appeared in leading fanzines ('' Xero'', '' Void'', ''

Mimosa ''Mimosa'' is a genus of about 600 species of herbs and shrubs, in the mimosoid clade of the legume family Fabaceae. Species are native to the Americas, from North Dakota to northern Argentina, and to eastern Africa (Tanzania, Mozambique, and ...

'', '' Trap Door'') as well as the more obscure (''Vojo de Vivo''). He publishes his own fanzine, ''SAM''. There were nine years between ''SAM'' #14 and #15, the latter being published in 1983; and ''SAM'' #16 was published 31 years later, in 2014, in anticipation of the 2014 Corflu

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 ...

Professional work

His first professional sale was in 1961, which was a cartoon for

Paul Krassner Paul Krassner (April 9, 1932 – July 21, 2019) was an American writer and satirist. He was the founder, editor, and a frequent contributor to the freethought magazine ''The Realist'', first published in 1958. Krassner became a key figure in t ...

's ''The Realist''. After a stint in the

military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. Militaries are typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with their members identifiable by a d ...

as an illustrator, he worked in advertising before becoming a

freelancer ''Freelance'' (sometimes spelled ''free-lance'' or ''free lance''), ''freelancer'', or ''freelance worker'', are terms commonly used for a person who is self-employed and not necessarily committed to a particular employer long-term. Freelance w ...

in 1975. He worked in genres ranging from

underground comix Underground comix are small press or self-published comic books that are often socially relevant or satirical in nature. They differ from mainstream comics in depicting content forbidden to mainstream publications by the Comics Code Authority, ...

to children's books to

superhero A superhero or superheroine is a fictional character who typically possesses ''superpowers'' or abilities beyond those of ordinary people, is frequently costumed concealing their identity, and fits the role of the hero, typically using their ...

comics a Media (communication), medium used to express ideas with images, often combined with text or other visual information. It typically the form of a sequence of Panel (comics), panels of images. Textual devices such as speech balloons, Glo ...

. He designed a Peace and Humanitarian Achievements medal for the Samaritan community in Israel. The medal's first recipient was

Shimon Peres Shimon Peres ( ; ; born Szymon Perski, ; 2 August 1923 – 28 September 2016) was an Israeli politician and statesman who served as the prime minister of Israel from 1984 to 1986 and from 1995 to 1996 and as the president of Israel from 2007 t ...

Awards

In 1968, Stiles was the

Trans-Atlantic Fan Fund The Trans-Atlantic Fan Fund, often known as ''TAFF'', is a crowdfunding project created in 1953 for the purpose of providing funds to bring well-known and popular members of science fiction fandom familiar to fans on both sides of the ocean, acro ...

winner, attending Thirdmancon, the 1968

Eastercon Eastercon is the common name for the annual British national science fiction convention. The convention is organised by voluntary self-organising committees, rather than a permanent entity. Overview Eastercon attracts 800-1200 fans of scien ...

Buxton Buxton is a spa town in the High Peak, Derbyshire, Borough of High Peak, Derbyshire, in the East Midlands region of England. It is England's highest market town, sited at some above sea level.Alston, Cumbria also claims this, but lacks a regu ...

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, and South Yorkshire to the north, Nottinghamshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south-east, Staffordshire to the south a ...

. ''Harrison Country'', a compilation of his writings and drawings about this trip, was published in 2007. Stiles won eleven Fan Activity Achievement (FAAn) Awards for best artist (2001, 2003–2006, 2010–2012, 2014–2016). In 1998, Stiles won the first Bill Rotsler Award, named after prolific fan artist Bill Rotsler. He was a

nominee as Best Fan Artist in 1967, 1968, 2003 through 2008, and 2010 through 2016, winning in 2016.

Personal life and demise

Stiles was married to Elaine Stiles (née Mandell). On January 7, 2020, Stiles announced his most recent cancer diagnosis on Facebook, "So, the word is: I've got a few months, more or less." He died on January 11, 2020, of the aforementioned cancer.

References

External links

Official website archived at eFanzines.com

1998 Rotsler Award: Steve Stiles
at scifiinc.org

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stiles, Steve 1943 births 2020 deaths American comics writers American comics artists American science fiction artists American magazine illustrators American role-playing game artists Hugo Award–winning artists The High School of Music & Art alumni School of Visual Arts alumni Underground cartoonists