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Moskowitz, Sam
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Description area
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History
Sam Moskowitz was born June 30, 1920, in Newark, N. J. He served in the U. S. Army during World War II. He worked in the wholesale food industry for most of his life, but maintained a literary career also. He was a literary agent and science fiction magazine editor, and was very active in the science fiction fan communities. Among others, he was a member of the Science Fiction League, Fantasy Amateur Press Association, First Fandom, Science Fiction Writers of America, Eastern Science Fiction Association and others. His activity was rewarded by a special plaque from the 13th World Science Fiction Convention in 1955 for his history of fan life, The Immortal Storm, the Big Heart Award for contributions to Science Fiction, and was named to the New Jersey Literary Hall of Fame in 1979.
Moskowitz was one of the founders of the World Science Fiction Convention, now in its 64th year. He was one of the first, if not the first, to lecture on science fiction to a University class.
Moskowitz was widely recognized as the leading amateur historian of science fiction and fantasy during his lifetime. He wrote many articles in the science fiction magazines, about science fiction and individual authors. In many cases, those were collected into book form later. Moskowitz was also a prolific letter-writer, communicating with many fanzines with comments, corrections of information published in the fanzines, or short articles on the field.
His historical treatments of science fiction and fantasy include The Immortal Storm: A History of Science Fiction (1954); Explorers of the Infinite: Shapers of Science Fiction (1963); Seekers of Tomorrow: Masters of Science Fiction (1966); and Science Fiction in Old San Francisco (1980), and may other titles. Moskowitz frequently published his history and criticism in The Fantasy Commentator, a highly regarded amateur magazine. His final completed book, a history of John W. Campbell, will appear in that magazine beginning in 2006.