Temple at the Bar

Temple at the BarThe collected fanzine writing from 1938 to 1963 of William F. (Bill) Temple, SF author, fan and close friend of Arthur C. Clarke. Compiled, edited and introduced by Rob Hansen. First published as an Ansible Editions ebook for the Trans Atlantic Fan Fund website in November 2017; paperback version released 2022. 41,000 words. The cover photo shows Arthur C. Clarke (left) and Bill Temple at the 1951 London SF convention (Festivention). FROM ROB HANSEN'S

The collected fanzine writing from 1938 to 1963 of William F. (Bill) Temple, SF author, fan and close friend of Arthur C. Clarke. Compiled, edited and introduced by Rob Hansen. First published as an Ansible Editions ebook for the Trans-Atlantic Fan Fund website in November 2017; paperback version released 2022. 41,000 words. The cover photo shows Arthur C. Clarke (left) and Bill Temple at the 1951 London SF convention (Festivention).

FROM ROB HANSEN'S INTRODUCTION: Why choose to collect BillÕs fan writing? Well, quite apart from these pieces being entertaining and informative in their own right, Bill deserves credit for introducing humour and wit into British fanzines where, apart from the occasional wry comment in a D.R. Smith review, they had been entirely absent. Before Bill came along, the writing in our fanzines was largely stolid and po-faced, the advancement of science fiction being a serious business that left little room for levity. Then Bill wrote ÒThe Diary of a SupperÓ, his report on the 1938 convention (the first piece reprinted in this volume). It was the opening salvo in the battle to get SF fans to loosen up.

Presented here in roughly chronological order and written over a twenty-year period, these pieces offer a fascinating look at a time long gone when SF fans and writers in the capital were few enough in number to form a small, tightly-knit community, and of the part Bill played in that community.

ALL PROCEEDS FROM SALES OF THIS PAPERBACK WILL GO TO THE TRANS-ATLANTIC FAN FUND.