Robert Coulson

American novelist

Robert Coulson
Born	Robert Stratton Coulson (1928-05-12)May 12, 1928 Sullivan, Indiana, U.S.
Died	February 19, 1999(1999-02-19) (aged 70)
Pen name	Thomas Stratton
Occupation	Writer, filk songwriter
Nationality	American
Genre	science fiction

Robert Stratton "Buck" Coulson (May 12, 1928 – February 19, 1999) was an American science fiction writer, well-known fan, filk songwriter, fanzine editor and bookseller from Indiana.

Biography

He served as Secretary of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America from 1972 to 1974.^[1]

Coulson and his wife, writer and filker Juanita Coulson, edited the mimeographed fanzine Yandro, which was nominated for the Hugo Award 10 years in a row, from 1959 through 1968, and won in 1965.^[2] Yandro featured Coulson's incisive reviews of books and, especially, fanzines.

Film critic and one-time active fan Roger Ebert wrote: "Locs (letters of comment) were the currency of payment for fanzine contributors; you wrote, and in the next issue got to read about what you had written. Today I can see my name on a full-page ad for a movie with disinterest, but what Harry Warner or Buck Coulson had to say about me – well, that was important."^[3]

Buck was a regular attendee, panelist, and bookseller at several Midwest science fiction conventions, including InConJunction and Chambanacon, as well as frequently attending Capricon, DucKon, Windycon, and Wiscon. He was frequently seen wearing a skunkskin cap. Characters modelled on and named after him appear in two novels by Wilson Tucker, To the Tombaugh Station and Resurrection Days.

Outside of science fiction, he worked as a technical writer. Coulson died on February 19, 1999, following a long illness.

Bibliography

Coulson's novels include But What of Earth? (1976, ISBN 0-373-72044-0) (with Piers Anthony), To Renew the Ages (1976, ISBN 0-373-72026-2), and Lazer Tag: Adventure No 1: High Spy (1987, ISBN 0-88038-515-4).

With Gene DeWeese, he wrote two novels set in science fiction fandom, Now You See It/Him/Them... (1975, ISBN 0-385-05624-9) and Charles Fort Never Mentioned Wombats (1977, ISBN 0-385-12111-3); and two Man from U.N.C.L.E novels under the pseudonym of Thomas Stratton, The Invisibility Affair and The Mind-Twisters Affair (both 1967). Thomas Stratton may be the only author to have a book accepted and the dedication rejected (the editor thought 'To my wives and child' was too risque for the intended audience).^{[citation needed]}

References

^ Obituary in SFWA News Archived August 22, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
^ The Hugo Awards
^ Ebert, Roger (2004). "Thought Experiments: How Propeller-Heads, BNFs, Sercon Geeks, Newbies, Recovering GAFIAtors, and Kids in the Basements Invented the World Wide Web, All Except for the Delivery System". Asimov's Science Fiction. Retrieved March 2, 2009.