Orb
Issue 2.1 1950
Cover art by Morris Scott Dollens
Orb was a science fiction fanzine by Bob Johnson and Charles L. Hames
Orb began publishing in October/November 1949 in Greeley, Colorado, U.S.A. It continued its run into 1952, the last issue being Volume 3, #2, with 11 issues published in all. In the ad for Orb printed in Wastebasket, it called itself "the avant garde fanzine".
Joe Green wrote in the first issue of Confusion, "ORB was the finest fanzine these palsied palms have ever clasped."
In his November 1952 "Clubhouse" column for Amazing Stories, Rog Phillips mentions that featured in the latest Orb (#3.1) was a three way collaborative play from Fritz Leiber, Judith Merril (Temper!, Science*Fiction), and Frederic Brown.
Contributions also came from Manly Banister (The Nekromantikon), Ralph A. Brady, Nelson Bond, David R. Bunch, L. Sprague de Camp, Charles Dye, Hilary Fonger, H.B. Fyfe, Charles L. Hames, Jim Harmon, Arthur Louis Joquel II (as Alojo), Martin Leff, Lilith Lorraine (Challenge, Different, Flame), Carol Lowrey, Reverend C.M. Morehead, Emil Petaja, James Pinkham, Lee D. Quinn.
Orb featured poetry by Henry Andrew Ackerman (Wavelength), Ronald Bourgea, Sandy Charnoff, Betsy Curtis (The Cricket), Isabelle E. Dinwiddie, Leah Bodine Drake, Joe Hensley, Robert E. Howard, Bob Johnson, R.M. Kidd, Lilith Lorraine, Len Marlowe, Calvin Marsdon, Orma McCormick (Starlanes), Charlotte Picard, Art Rapp (Spacewarp, The National Fantasy Fan), Agatha Grey Southern, Mario Stanza, Patty Tewksbury, Emili A. Thompson, and Bill Warren.
Illustrations were by Hannes Bok, Morris Scott Dollens (Fantasy Fiction Telegram), Frank Kelly Freas, Jack Gaughan, John Grossman, Lee Hoffman (Quandry), Roy V. Hunt (The Alchemist), Martin Leff, Ray Nelson, and others.
Cover art was by Morris Scott Dollens, John Grossman, Bob Johnson, and Ralph Rayburn Phillips.
Bob Johnson was a committee member for the Chicago Worldcon, and co-composer with Ray Nelson of the score for the ballet Asteroid performed at the Chicago Worldcon. He later published Postways, a fanzine sponsored by the National Fantasy Fan Federation
