Forrest J Ackerman is the gent who edited Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine. He's a lifelong authority and devotee in the area of horror movies and science-fiction, and is credited with coining the term, "sci-fi." He's been an agent, a writer, an editor, an actor, a lecturer and a professional fan. And for much of the last decade, friends of his have been telling everyone he's about to die.
That has never seemed unlikely. Forry was born a long time ago in 1916 (you do the math) and he's been in and out of hospitals a lot the last ten years. In May of 2002, for example, Locus — the preeminent news source for the science-fiction community — reported he'd had a heart attack and was not expected to recover. He recovered. Seriously, I've lost track of the number of times I've been told or emailed to get my Forry obit ready because the ol' Ackermonster, as some call him, couldn't possibly last out the month. I think he's now outlived at least one person who told me that.
About three weeks ago, an email was circulated that told us all that this was it…it was a matter of days…any minute now. He couldn't possibly make it until his 92nd birthday.
Well, guess what. Today is Forry Ackerman's 92nd birthday and as far as I know, he's still with us. So we wish him a happy one and at the same time, I've decided I'm not falling for this any longer. As far as I'm concerned, he's not going.