Nan Gerding
Nan Gerding was a writer, poet and fanzine editor.
Beginning with the onset of the 1950s she began working on fanzines. Her first fanzine was Starlanes, subtitled "The International Quarterly of Science Fiction Poetry", published with Orma McCormick. The first issue appeared in 1951 and the publication ran for a decade, ending in 1961, though Gerding left as co-editor after the 26th issue (April 1957). Starlanes was dedicated to science fiction and weird fantasy poetry. Writers who appeared in the fanzine included Joseph Payne Brennan (editor of Macabre), Philip Jose Farmer, Lilith Lorraine, Edith Otgutsch, and many others.
Nan Gerding released a series of fanzines whose titles played with variations of her name. The first issue of Nandu appeared in December 1952. At least 29 issues were published, the 29th coming out in January 1965. Nandidn't appeared in January of 1954. Two issues of Nangel followed this series; the first in February 1958 and the second in May 1959. That same year she published Nantz for the Offtrails Magazine Publishers Association.
In 1954 she edited the first issue of Spectator, which was then turned over to other editors. In the summer of the same year, she and Wrai Ballard published DYAD.
The Chigger Patch of Fandom is Nan Gerding's other best known fanzine, edited with Bob Farnham and Ed Cox. It was also published in the 1950s and included contributions from Robert Bloch, Orma McCormick and many others.
Gerding also served as co-editor for at least two issues of The National Fantasy Fan in 1953 and 1954.
The 1951 Nation Fantasy Fan Federation fan poll awarded Gerding Best New Fan, and ranked her second in the Best Overall Fan category, and fifth in the Best Fan Poet category.
Readers of Starlanes also voted her poem "Smoke Vistas" the best poem in the sixth issue (Summer 1952).
Nan Gerding continued contributing to fanzines into the 1960s.
The book The Green Odyssey by Philip Jose Farmer is dedicated to Nan Gerding.
Zines
- The Chigger Patch of Fandom (with Bob Farnham)
- Committeezine
- DYAD (with Wrai Ballard) (1954)
- Nandidn't (1954)
- Nandu (1952)
- Nangel (1958)
- Nantz (1959)
- The National Fantasy Fan
- Spectator (1954)
- Starlanes (with Orma McCormick) (1951)
