Ackerman, Forrest J.

   (b. 1916).

   American agent, author, editor. Ackerman has been a science fiction fan since the late ‘20s; he corresponded sporadically with HPL from around 1931 onward. (One letter to him by HPL, dated December 24, 1935, was published in the fanzine Imagination [January 1938].) He instigated a controversy in “The Boiling Point” column ( Fantasy Fan,September 1933f.) when he criticized Clark Ashton Smith’s “The Dweller in Martian Depths” ( Wonder Stories,March 1933); HPL and his colleagues wrote numerous responses sharply criticizing Ackerman. All responses are reprinted in The Boiling Point(Necronomicon Press, 1985). HPL poked fun at Ackerman in “The Battle That Ended the Century” (1934; with R.H.Barlow), referring to him as “the Effjay of Akkamin,” and “In the Walls of Eryx” (1936; with Kenneth Sterling), where mention is made of “wriggling akmans” and “efjehweeds.” He was later editor of Famous Monsters of Filmlandmagazine (1958–80), which was instrumental in maintaining fan interest in weird fiction (and specifically horror films) during an otherwise lean period for the horror genre.