Nils Helmer Frome

Nils Helmer Frome (1918 -1962) was a zinester and artist from Fraser Mills, British Columbia, Canada.

Nils Helmer Frome was born in Sweden in 1918 and came to Canada with his family in 1924. He worked in the cook house at the Bloedel lumber camp. He later returned to Sweden for major surgery and ended up in Wales, where he died destitute at the age of 43.

Nils Helmer Frome is likely the first Canadian zinester. Frome was the publisher of Supramundane Stories, a Science Fiction fanzine which is believed to be the first Science Fiction zine to appear in Canada, and perhaps the first zine to be published in Canada. The first issue was published by Frome in January 1937. The second issue appeared in March 1938. It contained two pieces by H. P. Lovecraft; "Nyarlathotep" and "Notes On Writing Weird Fiction". Other contributors included Rider Haggard and Clarke Ashton Smith. Only two issues were ever published, although Frome remained active in Science Fiction fandom clubs and circles.

Nils Frome was a contributor to the 1940's SF fanzine Canadian Fandom. He also contributed to Light, another early Science Fiction fanzine edited by Leslie Croutch of Ontario, Canada, where his artwork appears on two covers. As well, he contributed to the The Golden Atom, including an article entitled "But the Stars Still Shine!".

Frome regularly wrote to H.P. Lovecraft, and their correspondence has been collected and published in the books Uncollected Letters by Necronomicon Press in 1986 and in Howard Philips Lovecraft and Nile Helmer Frome: A Recollection of One of Canada's Earliest Science Fiction Fans, edited by Sam Moskovitz and published by Moshassuck Press, Moshassuck Monogram Series Number 5, in 1989.

Zines

• Supramundane Stories

Contributions

• Canadian Fandom
• The Golden Atom
• Light
• The Planeteer
• Spaceways

External Link

• A History of Canadian Science Fiction fanzines, including Supramundane Stories
• Sam Moskovitz on Nils Helmer Frome (second article) from Science Fiction Studies #38