busby buzzine

8/8/2019 Busby Buzzine

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BUZ -- 1

BUZ March 11, 1921February 17, 2005


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2 -- BUZ

Buz was a great fan and a ne writer.

--David G. Hartwell


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BUZ -- 3

BUZ is a fanzine dedicated to the memory of Francis Marion Busby, known as Buz tohis friends and F.M. Busby to the readers of his ction. BUZ is edited by VictorGonzalez, and all errors, omissions and typos (or even typoes) are his; it wouldhave been impossible without support from Vonda McIntyre and Marilyn Holt. Above isone of the illustrations that graced the many letter columns of CRY OF THE NAMELESSand CRY, and thats what this fanzine really is a collection of letters from friendsand fans across the world to remember this kind and intelligent man. BUZ is also dedi-

cated to the woman who was dedicated to Buz Elinor Busby. It is to her that many ofthese letters are addressed. Both Buz and Elinor gave me a warm welcome into fandomwhen I was a neo; Buz was one of the rst professional writers I met, and set a stan-dard few have equaled since.

The number of letters posted to the CaringBridge website and other venues was over-whelming; do look at the We Also Heard From list on page 20.

The photos printed here are from far and wide; the illos, however, all come fromCRY 178, published in December 1968: Wally Weber (3); William Rotsler (5); Irene Wan-ner (12); Paul Stanberry (15); and Tim Kirk (18).

Buz and Elinor in Alaska


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4 -- BUZ

Vonda N. McIntyre:

A COINCIDENCE OF COINCIDENCES led me to Buz and Eli-nor Busby. Chance meetings with Elinorsniece and with Karen and Astrid Anderson bothresulted in Oh, youre in Seattle? Youreinterested in SF? You should call Buz andElinor.

They welcomed me, a shy science geek. I wasa freshman in college. It was 1966. They in-troduced me to SF fandom, and like many ofus, I felt like Id nally found my real com-munity.

Buz was a member of the 1971 Clarion West,the rst year of the rst incarnation of theSeattle workshop. He was older than the oth-er writers, but he had no trouble at all ina group whose ages ranged from late teens tonearly fty. It was a pleasure to watch himresume his ction writing hed publishedseveral stories a decade or more before, butlife and work intervened.

His stories were space opera of the high-est order adventures, with compelling char-acters and serious underlying themes. Likemost of us on the publishing midlist, he tooka serious hit in his career, in these days ofmultinational corporations and instant suc-cess or oblivion. But Buz work is having asecond incarnation in electronic form.

I know he already has many fans. At the

rehab center, I was patiently explaining toan orderly that Buz name is BUZ that hewouldnt reply to Francis.

Ive known Buz for 40 years, I said, andIve never of cially known that his name isFrancis Marion.

One of my favorite writers is named Bus-by, said Scott the orderly. I wonder iftheyre related?

Scott was able to tell Buz how much Buzwork had meant to him, how much he enjoyedit, and though Buz was very sick, he heardwhat Scott said.

Im glad I got to tell Buz how much I ap-preciated his and Elinors kindness to me allthose years ago. And how much he meant to me.

Robert Lichtman:

As someone who knewhim (originally fromthe pages of CRY, butsoon after in person atWestercons) since 1958and was currently inthree apas with him andhad a regular correspon-dence besides, Im goingto miss him a lot. Myheart goes out to Eli-nor.

Amy Thomson:

I knew Buz for a quartercentury. He was stillone of the rst science ction writers I evermet. In many ways, Buzwas part of the reasonI became an SF writermyself. Back then, as astarry-eyed neofan, Ibelieved that writers

were godlike beings who oated approximately sixinches off the oor.Buz made me realize thatwriters drank beer andcommitted fanac justlike real people. Know-ing Buz made it possibleto envision myself asa writer. Im going tomiss him terribly.


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BUZ -- 5

Ted White:

I MET BUZ AND E LINOR , face to face,at a mid-50s Midwestcon. Itwas an extraordinary convention G.M. Carr was also there, aswere the Toronto Derelicts (Rae-burn, Kidder, Steward and Lyons)

it was like a mini-Worldcon,attracting people from all overthe country.

Buz looked then exactly ashe did for all the years I knewhim: very close-cropped hair,and a short mustache and goa-tee. I, still a teenager, thought he was MuchOlder, virtually an Old Man in fact, but itdidnt have any effect on our friendship. AndElinor! I loved Elinor. (Still do.) Some ofmy favorite convention memories of the 50sare of sitting in somebodys room party, be-ing engaged in a conversation with the Bus-bys.

There were times when Buz and I found our-selves on the opposite sides of some fannishfences, but it never had any effect on ourfriendship.

Farewell, my old friend....

Gregory Benford:

As Marta said, grumpy

in the right ways andone of my oldest fanfriends. I met him &Elinor at Westercon in1963...

He made a whole newcareer as a writer andalways got my attention;the Rissa K novels weregreat and deserve re-printing. He was alwaysthe sharpest mind in theroom.

Buz with Carol & Terry Carr, 1969


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6 -- BUZ

Astrid & Greg Bear:

Greg and I are so sorryto hear of Buzs pass-ing. Someone should postthe details of the anec-dote of one of the staffmembers at the nursinghome being a reader ofhis a lovely littlegift of validation thatIm sure pleased himgreatly. When we visitedlast week, he was Buz tired, but all there.The last time before thatwed been together was Ithink around the open-ing festivities of theScience Fiction Museum Mother and I had lunch

with Buz and Elinor atChandlers, a nice tableby the windows overlook-ing the lake. I thinkBuz had crab cakes, andenjoyed himself greatly.A nice memory. He willbe missed.

John D. Berry:

BUZ AND ELINOR ARE very old friends. The very rst time I visited Seattle as an adult (Idbeen here once when I was 12, for my broth-ers wedding), I stayed with them, in theirbook- and fanzine- lled house on Queen AnneHill. I remember Buzs homebrew, and his ex-

planation of the House Rules, which fea-tured prompt, courteous, ef cient self-ser-vice: Ill get you the rst one; after that,youre on your own. They took me walkingwith them around Green Lake, a stroll of 3+miles that they did every Sunday. They tookme to a favorite beach, on the Sound the rst place on the West Coast where I had everfelt that the sea smelled right and soundedright and looked right... then I raised myeyes and saw the Olympics in the distance,which was not what I expected at all. (I knownow that that beach was Golden Gardens, andIve been there many times.) Just last night,to avoid a traf c jam, I took a back routeacross town that Buz had rst driven me onmore than thirty years ago, on the way to aNameless Ones gathering at Horizon Books.

And at least two of Buzs short storiesare, to me, small classics that I cant for-get.

Ill miss him.

Jonathan Vos Post:

I SAW YOU AND Buz less often after Boeing relo-cated me in 1982 from the Kent Space Centerto JPL. But youve always been in my heart,and that of my Physics professor wife Chris-tine Carmichael. Your husband encouraged meas a writer. I might not have 1,200 publi-cations presentations and broadcasts to mycredit had he not taught me so much about au-thorial discipline. He taught me a lot about

the practical engineering of rockets, anddeserved some credit for the work I did forNASA subsequently on the Space Shuttle, SpaceStation, Moonbase designs, Marsbase designs,and articles Ive published in refereed jour-nals about interstellar spacecraft. He taughtme things about the human heart, which havemade me a better husband and Father. He haschanged my world, and helped to make the en-tire universe a better place.


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BUZ -- 7

Jessica Salmonson:

WHEN I PUBLISHED my first fanzine early in the 1970s, Buz wasvery nearly the rst person who got and touch with me ea-ger to connect me to live-and-in- esh fandom, rather thanjust through-the-mails fandom I was barely getting toknow. An instant invitation to his and Elinors house wasa joy and a revelation, a house lined packed with books,

books, oh glorious books, intelligent folk devoted to thesame sorts of things that had long obsessed me, and whowere close chums to authors Id read with tremendous plea-sure.

Entering fandom through Hugo-winning fan-editors likeElinor and Buz was about the best way to go about it. Andthrough Buz I was soon involved with the Expository Lumpwhere professional writers critiqued one anothers worksin progress and occasionally condescended to include anovice writer the Lump members thought worth cultivat-ing. So that meant Buz was one of the rst people I everknew who took for granted that I would one day and soonbe a professional writer. Thats a wonderful assumptionto encounter when one is young and unproven. A few of my rst published stories had fewer stumbling-blocks betweencomposition and publication thanks to Buzs critiques. Idoubt my critiques of his works-in-progress were as use-ful, but I seriously tried.

For years Id see Buz at least once a month and oftenmore than that, but at the very least monthly at the ages-old Nameless Ones when it met at Capitol Hills HorizonBooks. I remember those faanish days with tenderness anddont expect to experience so close-to-hand such an ex-

tensive community of endearing caring sensitive bookishpeople ever again, many of us in walking distance of eachothers homes, many more short bus rides away. Buz has thusremained a permanent resident of my memory of days markedby deep emotions and enriching friendships.

Its impossible to know what to say at a time like this,to nd something perfect that avoids the sloppily senti-mental while conveying my great affection for Buz. Sinceleaving Seattle almost six years ago, and since I stoppedattending conventions, I havent hung out with Buz, Ivebeen an utter homebody if not hermit. I sometimes feelvery far away from everyone and everything. Yet I somehowthought Id run into Buz again now and then, as an eternalcomponent of the best parts of fandom.

Im of an age that loss of friends and family members isbecoming rather too commonplace. I will always have closeto my heart the warmth and support Buz extended to methrough the years, and his eagerness to treat me as a peereven when I was not. His goodness had a lasting impact onmy life, and I hope occasionally Ive managed to be asgood to people as he was to me.


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8 -- BUZ


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BUZ -- 9

Marilyn J. Holt (married to Clifford R. Wind):

WHEN BUZ LEFT THIS LIFE , he knew he was loved by Elinor, friends,and fans. I think he knew that he was loved and respectedthroughout his life. The day he died, we talked about hisdeath and dying. I have no idea if he contemplated live af-ter death. We talked about death after life, and he said itwas his time to go. He was not happy to go, his spirit had

more conventions to attend, books to write, and parties to goto. His body did not. He had the wisdom to meet fate head-on,like the characters in his books with no apology, no bargain-ing, no fear.

I have no idea when or where I met Buz. It was about 1975.Since then, I drank more whiskey with him than I drank withanyone else, hoisted any number of beers, and even shared asophisticated martini while he regaled me with fannish sto-ries First Fandom, second fandom, and the kids. His originstory of Scientology was wry and witty. Through Buzs storytelling, I met A.E. Van Vogt, L. Ron Hubbard, Bob and GinnyHeinlein, Alan Nourse, and many more. Hanging out with him atconventions, I met many others. He told me not to ask for au-tographs be cool.

When I told Buz, as did others, how much he helped me whenI was young, he said that he did not remember doing anythingspecial. That is, as Cliff has said, what is special: Buz andElinor did many kind things because that was what was neededand right at the time. To them there was nothing special indoing that. Yet, there was and is something special and en-during. I lived in Buz and Elinors next-door apartment forabout three months twenty-seven years ago, during a particu-larly nasty patch. Drinking some of that whiskey at midnight

in their kitchen, he told me two things that have helped meshape my life: Oh, kid, this aint so bad. And, You dowhat you got to do, and just tough it out. A few years lat-er, when I told him that Cliff and I were going together, hetold a long story of how and when he had rst met Cliff (atall, gawky boy) at Nameless, then he said,Its good whenfans marry fans. Makes it much easier going to conventions.

Since Buz died, I have realized how true to himself hisstories are. Instead of writing this, I spent time with TheBreeds of Man. His characters live and die with the samegrit that he did. The book reads like a blog: immediate andemotionally naked. His writing touches a lot of people. On-line, I found Buzs books quoted by soldiers, boxers, gamers,and prisoners. Oddly, it was reading in the French paper LeMonde, Lauteur de science- ction amricain Francis MarionBusby est mort, brought home to me how far ung his in uenceextends.

As one of Buzs characters, Rome dos Caras, wrote, Weare, all of us, lucky that the future is normally opaque.However, I know the future will be poorer for his loss, butricher for his memory. I really miss him.


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10 -- BUZ

My Plow has Tender Gripes

AND MY TENDER BLUE-E YED BICYCLE, you just wouldnt believe!Seeing me in an unfamiliar non-Selectric typeface here, the astute will deduce that

I am facing an unfamiliar typer-keyboard (Elinors Smith-Corona 250, which she boughtlast month after she Got Rich) and will not cavil at a few extra typoes, I hope.

There was a squib in a fanzine some years ago that read something like this: Mis-spellings in fanzines are evil and abominable, andto be deplored. Typoes, on theother hand, are accidental and lighthearted and fun-loving and cute. In this zine you

will nd no misspellings, but only typoes. At the moment, Ill drink to that.We try to stay apolitical around here as much as possible, but I have a question.If, as many say (and perhaps correctly, for all I know), the U.S. ABM program is sucha goof and invitation-to-disaster, how come the Russian ABM setup with 2 years head-start on us is not equally a No-No? I can never understand these One-Way Protests.

At hand is a clipping from the Wall Street Journal which presages (by implication)the total collapse of the budget of the Republic of Mexico. The headline is MOVEOVER, TABBY: YOUTHS FIND CATNIP HAS PSYCHEDELIC JOLT. Sub-headline: Doctor LikensIt To Marijuana, But It Is Cheaper And Legal; A Catnip Producer Rejoices. Then Wil-liam M. Carley, Staff Reporter of the Wall Street Journal, goes on the say that cat-nip is the timid citizens answer to pot-Prohibition and the Treasure Dept. My word;what wont they think of next? Of course, everybody knows what a radical scandal-sheet that WALL STREET JOURNAL is! Probably just beating the drum for The Great Cat-nip Monopoly...

I keep reading books and ushing the fallout into coumns of this type (columns?).Well, for instance: everybody talks about BUG JACK Barron, by Norman Spinrad, but no-body DOES anything about it. So I will. In the rst place, the title is not a nounwith modi ers, but a complete imperative sentence. No other reviewer gives you theselittle clues, but I do, being as were buddies and all. OK; aside from that, how didyou like the book, Mister Interlocutor? :: As a matter of fact I liked it more thannot. Its true that the author said *fuck* more times in this book than his majorcharacter could have managed to do it in the allotted time, and my personal opinion isthat doing is a lot more fun than saying. Its also true that the Kerouacy stream-of-consciousness style got in the way of the plot and the characters and the readersunderstanding of either, more often than this reader would have preferred. But nonethe less I dug this awed but powerful story. (Thats dug, obscured by the underlin-ing there.) Norman Spinrads people here are more real than not, and a couple of themhave the necessary larger-than-lifesize whammy. I admit I got tired waiting for theother shoe to drop, for the author to kill the chick off; I cant recall exactly whatclued me so early, but it was obvious for a long time that the lady wouldnt make itto Page Ultimate, and she didnt. The why of her exit was reasonable in the terms ofthe story; what BUGged me was seeing so far ahead of time that Spinrad just had toinsert this plug-in module of Tragedy to avoid (of all things) a Happy Ending, whichmight otherwise have ensued. He was right to avoid the Happy Ending in this instance,I think, but he telegraphed his punch altogether Too Damn Much.

In general, however, I think this book is a lot more Plus than Minus.Curt Siodmak is back, and really, he hasnt changed a bit! Back in the late 40s he

wrote Donovans Brain and it was like Frankenstein Revisited. Now he has come up with

Hausers Memory and guess what? Its still And heres to you, Mrs. Robinson Shelley.My guess is that if Curt Siodmak had had anything to say about it, Man would neverhave invented re or the wheel or the arch or L. Ron Hubbard, because Curt Siodmakspredictable pitch is that all Scienti c Advances turn to organic fertilizer. Mr.Siodmak writes a good stick if you read only halfway-thru.

Once in a while we have to look at a little non- ction, to keep our Image up sosyoull take us seriously, more. This time were on the trail of Robert Ardrey andKonrad Lorenz in search of our ancestry and how to live with it, with Desmond Mor-ris The Naked Ape. Well, now. I dont care whether or not you agree with this book(parts I do, and parts I dont), but-- well, if this book bores you, you probablydidnt read this far down this page anyway, and Im wasting page-space to no purpose.

////////


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BUZ -- 11

The book deals with the evolutionary origins of your-and-my in-stincts and built-in con icts, and while the writer seems (tome) to settle occasionally for too-pat answers, he also bringsup enough new questions to ring a lot of worthwhile bells.Srecommended.

Also there is Philip Dicks Do Androids Dream of Elec-tric Sheep? At 160pp its a little skinny for Signets 75price in PB, but in ation seems to be here to stay. :: Herewe have Dicks familiar fan-sheaf of similar but not identical

future worlds all stemming from a World War Three that didntquite kill us off but left us limping badly. (Oops, only onesuch world to the book, usually, and this time.) One big thingin this one is that most animal life other than human has beenwiped out. (Howcome? I dont believe it either.) So possession of a live critter ofany kind is THE Status Symbol; people who cant afford the very rare living creaturefake it with electrically-powered fakes. Meanwhile back at the ranch we have esh-typehumanoid androids commercially-produced for scut-labor on Mars. These androids occa-sionally escape and get back to earth, where they must be hunted down and destroyed,because the only way they can escape is to kill their human masters. Obviously. (Allright; Im not convinced, either. Snowed, maybe, but not convinced.) Our protag-onists desperate job is to hunt down these criminal androids, who would otherwisehide out and pretend to be human on Earth. This only gets really silly when eventu-

ally it comes out that the poor gahdamn androids only have about a 5-year life-span inany case, because the manufacturers havent solved the cell-renewal problem. SomehowI cant quite see the vital necessity for hunting down even a killer who is by na-ture doomed to wear out and go on the scrap-heap in a couple more years at most: if hetakes further action hell spotlight himself and get nailed, anyway, so why sweat it?(The android-hunter thing is vastly over-emphasized here, is what I mean.) Perhaps ifDick had convinced me that androids couldnt escape without killing humans, instead ofjust saying so, every time he happened to think of it, I might have bought more of thepackage; but as is, no. :: Phil Dick is beginning to disturb me. His protagonistslately seem to combine an extraordinary amount of dedicated motivation with a degreeof personal pessimism, desperation, and inability to derive any enjoyment out of theGOOD spots. He has people carrying on with incredible dedication, who according to theway he sets them up emotionally, should be either suicides or catatonic. This scaresme-- does he know something I dont know? I mean, if there are really people likethat running around here these days in of cial capacities, I WANT A GOOD HEAD START,friends.

I had a recent Piers Anthony (that I liked) around here but cant nd it now. JoeGreen said maybe it was Chthon. Not so. Any time the author has to write a longexplanation of how to read a book to make sense out of its involutions and convo-lutions, as with Chthon, the book is not likely to nd a place on my To Rereadshelf. But ol Piers (a determined non-reader of CRY) did get off a good one lately.Since you asked.

From the Plow to the Bicycle: the evening of this page was the occasion for Elinorand me to celebrate our 15th anniversary, so we did. Down at the Edgewater with lotsof fancy booze and fancy food and a view of the bay with assorted seafowl and all, welived it up for a couple of hours. There was an added llip: this one fella with thefour-syllable surname, who is our Legal Beagle down at work, was paged about 6 timeswhile we were having dinner. The lady announcer never got his name right twice in arow but we knew who she meant. We made several interesting speculations about howcomea guy could be at the Edgewater and be paged and never answer (ignoring the probablemundane answer that maybe he just didnt show up, or left ahead of announced sched-ule). Tomowwor I shall have to look in on this gentleman at his of ce and needle thehell out of him, about that. (Tomowwor is of course a drunken lisp, not a misspell-ing or even a typo.)

I see the blue-pencil STOP-line, and youll never know what a comfort that is.--Buz.

From CRY No. 181, May 1st, 1969.


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12 -- BUZ

John G. Cramer:

Pauline and I are verysad to hear about Buz.He was one of my favor-ite people in the SFcommunity. I will alwaysbe grateful to him forsitting me down, after Ireceived the bewilderingcontract for Twistor,and telling me in clearand careful detail howone should deal with abook contract. He wasalways glad to helpother writers with ad-

vice and encouragement.We will miss him. I doalready.

Kathie:

Buz, you were part of

the tapestry of my lifeand your passing leavesa hole. We only saw eachother at conventions buthad long and wonderfultalks. I remember spend-ing time talking aboutRissa and who she wasand why she did thingswith you. When I toldsomeone about it theylooked shocked and saidyou were arguing with an

author about his charac-ter? I though about itfor a minute and real-ized that I had but itwas only because to youand I she was a realperson.

Steve Stiles:

I T WAS CRY OF THENAMELESS that waslargely responsiblefor getting me intofanzine fandom. Eachmonth I would eager-

ly await the next issue. Through its pages Igot to know many people, and some like richbrown and Les Gerber would become lifelongfriends.

As corny as it undoubtedly sounds, Ivealways rather regarded Buz and Elinor as myfannish ghodparents. Ive also always wantedto visit Seattle, and one of the reasons wasto see them.

Ive only met the Busbys a handful oftimes, and each time its been a pleasant ex-perience.

For four plus decades there has hardly beena month when I havent read something by Buz.Its going to be strange without him.

J.E. Silverstein:

I FIRST BECAME ACQUAINTED with Buz when I was aneditorial assistant at Bantam Spectra nearly20 years ago.

I desperately wanted to write as part ofmy job. After some badgering, I received my rst assignment: to write cover copy for oneof the novels we were about to publish. Thebook: F.M. Busbys The Breeds of Man. I en-joyed the book hugely and went at the copy-writing with gusto. My very rst draft wasaccepted and is what youll see on the bookscover.

After we sent out the cover ats to Buz andhis agent, Buz called to tell me how much he

liked what Id written. It meant a great dealto me; more than any praise I received fromstaff in-house, getting positive feedbackfrom the author himself meant Id really donewell by the book. It was an act of great gen-erosity to an upstart baby editor.

Buzs left behind some wonderful stories,great adventures for us all, and a legacy oflove for the community that will certainlysurvive. I raise a glass. Hell be missed.


13/22

BUZ -- 13

Margaret Oliver:

His books had a lot ofin uence on me as I grewup. Ive always enjoyedhis richly developeduniverses and charac-ters. Im sad hes gone.

S. Leigh:

This is one author thatmy ex and I both en-joyed. His books are inthe keeper box.

Christopher Browne:

Its always a sorrything to see an authorpass on. I only ran into

Busbys work relativelyrecently; I was pleasedto see as much of abody of work as I did,as he did get a goodlyamount published that Icould look back to.

Renata Russell:

May Buz be in Snug Har-bor, lifting a steinwith Heinlein, Verne,and all the great menand women of science c-tion.

rich brown:

F.M. B UZ AND ELINOR BUSBY were very much myfannish mentors. I was a gooky silly neofanwho didnt know how to go on; they took meunder their wing, advised me, talked to me,explained to me, guided me, protected me frommy own folly while advising me to be myself

Buz with gruff home truths, Elinor with herangelic voice.I listened because they (with Burnett R.

Toskey and Wally Weber) edited CRY OF THENAMELESS, the rst fanzine I ever received,which published my rst articles, stories,artwork and LoCs. All the promising neos ofthe period, including but not limited toBruce Pelz, Steve Stiles, Bill Meyers, EsAdams and Les Gerber, were CRY letterhacks,but frankly I needed more help than most. Andgot it from Buz and Elinor (Effemeny a.k.a.the Busbixii). For which I am eternallygrateful.

I am only consoled to hear that, at theend, Buz was not in as much pain and discom-fort as he had been earlier.

I am diminished by his passing. We all are.


14/22

14 -- BUZ

Vicki Mitchell:

Im so sorry to hearabout Buz. He has been agood friend every sinceI got started in fandom,and I owe him a lot forall the devastatinglyaccurate critiques he

dished out in writersworkshops. I learnedso much from him, andI hope Im passing atleast some of it on toothers.

Terry A. Garey:

I certainly remember Buzfrom when I was a neoback in the 1970s. Ihad just met a real proauthor whose work I hadactually read, and readmy rst fanzine and metthe fannish author, andthen someone pointed Buzout at a con and an-nounced he was both apro and a fan! I wasamazed.

Mike Parker:

It is hard to imagine anOrycon without him on apanel, signing books,and especially in Hos-pitality where he (andElinor) were always justso friendly and engag-ing.

Debbie Miller:

I LEARNED OF BUZ S ILLNESS only a few days ago whenI was chin-deep in work. Today, I thought Idstop by the site and tell you and Buz that Iwas thinking of him and you when I found outI was too late to say it to Buz himself! Ihope your many happy memories of him, as wellas the many friends and family you no doubthave, will help you through this time. Iveseen that others have shared special memo-ries. Mine is of the last time I saw the twoof you at a convention a few years ago. (Imsorry I cant remember if it was InCon orMosCon!) We were at a room party where thehost had a couple of small snakes. Buz wasabsolutely fascinated by them and insistedthat you take photos of him with them. Illnever forget the little-boy excitement on hisface as he held those reptiles!


15/22

BUZ -- 15

Reggie C. Grothe:

Mr. Busby was the solidrock foundation uponwhich I built my love ofSci Fi. Rissa is my alltime favorite characteralong with Zelda.

Alfred T. Johns:

To Cage A Man had aprofound effect on myview of individualityand freedom. Tonight Ifeel like Ive lost afriend I never met andshould have known bet-ter.

Gail Weiss:

I admired Fs work forso many years before wemet in the pages of Apa-nage. I have felt that I

grew to know him throughknowing you and althoughwe have never met in per-son, I feel like you aremembers of my family andI shall miss Anna and F.I hope that F knew inthese later years howmany of us still lovedand reread his work. Mythoughts are with you.

Harriet Lynch:

I N READING THE MANY TRIBUTES to Buz, the impact ismost clear that Uncle Buz and Aunt Elinorhave made to the SciFi world with wonderfulconnections as mentors, friends, and inspira-tion.

We remember the very words: Ill serve you

the rst one, then after that youre on yourown. In the busyness of lives, it was toolong and too few times ago. Buz recalled hisColfax roots to Mike recalling the WSU Cou-gars bid to the Rose Bowl in (when?) 1930(with Buzs personal memory as clear as theradio station that carried the game), and thememories of the Palouse rolled through againthis fall when we were caught up in our ownH.S. championship hoorah. Buz could with hissincere good wishes share in our walk. Nowwith his walk over, Im left with a renewedpurpose to read alot more good books startingwith Busby. Well see you soon, Elinor andMichele. My heart is with you.

Megan Lindholm:

I FIRST LEARNED ABOUT SFWA when I received a let-ter, following publication of a couple ofshort stories in magazines (I hope Im re-calling this right). I think it was from

Andrew Offutt. I was invited to join. Ididnt have the money at that time, so it wasa couple years later that I joined. I joinedbecause F.M. Busby took time to help me, gra-tis, with my very rst contract. (I had no

agent.) And he recom-mended I join SFWA. SoI did. (At the sametime, he told me thatwriters could never payback their mentors, andinstructed me to payforward. Im stilldoing my best at that,Buz.) Id have to saythat Buzs act, as anindividual member ofSFWA prior to my join-ing, was the most sig-ni cant bene t I everreceived.


16/22

16 -- BUZ

C. M. Stultz

Im so sorry to hear ofMr. Busbys passing. He,and you, have been amongthe bright lights ofmany Norwescons for me,and he always had some-thing encouraging to say

about my own writingduring our brief conver-sations. Thank you forsharing him with us.

Nikki Quinn:

I have loved F.M. Bus-bys books since I wasa kid (possibly a bityounger than I shouldhave been to read them!)I have been absolutelyfascinated by the ideashe generated ever since,and have admired himenormously. I am sad tosee that he is gone, andIm glad we have hisbooks.

Herb Kauderer:

I wish I had gotten achance to know Buz be-yond his works. Illhave to settle for that.The Demu Trilogy isthe most stolen book byfar from my large per-sonal library. Eightcopies have disappeared.That is a tribute.

Mike Holsinger:

THE CREATIVE MIND emits a kind of glow that up-lifts the spirits and warms the souls ofthose around him or her. F.M. Busby was oneof those ne authors who helped inculcate alove of reading, creativity, and imaginationinto a young Pittsburgh boy in the 1950s. In

all truth, these writers had more to do withbuilding a desire to learn, read, and ques-tion than any of the teachers that I had.Although I enjoyed the products of his cre-ative talents, I never had the pleasure ofmeeting him. Perhaps we will yet meet, insome other kind of place or time. Buz, youwrote a good life. Thanks.

bandit:

I MET BUZ AS A NEO at some NW con and realizedhe was a character (somewhat obvious, I know:^), but that he was somebody famous nah

he never acted like a typical writer (atleast my perceptions of the breed). He wasalways ready to chat on any topic you couldthink of, and would listen when you knew morethan him. He was also willing to drink youunder the table... there was this merky deaddog....

Elinor always a rock and his keeper. Buzwas the type that needed a keeper. You didwell.

Elinor, we have you in our thoughts andprayers. You will do ne mourn, cry, curseat the old bastard. I suspect yall had somerighteous ghts any two strong-willed folkswill in any marriage, but I know you will re-member the best times.

When I rst learned Buz was a writer, Imade it a point to read one of his books be-fore the next con where we had a wonderfulchat about it. It is one of the memories Iwill always keep of him.

She watched Tendals face twist, and thought, It almost worked

no one could have done it better but theres no reasoning with amadman. She did not see how the knife came to Tendals hand itslashed toward her; frozen, she looked at death. Young Rissa


17/22

BUZ -- 17

Jan Stinson:

His Rissa Kerguelennovels were some of theearliest SF books I readand enjoyed as a youngperson, and I deeply re-gret Ill never have thechance to tell him so in

person.

Carol Klees-Starks:

May you nd some smallcomfort in knowing thatyour husbands wonderfulnovels brought joy andinspiration to some ofus when we were strug-gling to survive in darkplaces. The light ofthat kind of memory nev-er dies. (Thanks, Buz!)

Steve Forty:

Elinor, there were manyconventions where youI and Buz went and hada drink away from thecrowds, they have alwaysbeen amongst my favor-ite con memories. I willmiss him, and hope tosee you at a conventionin the not to distantfuture.

Dian Crayne:

I will always treasuremy years in SAPS withthe two of you, and re-member them with fond-ness.

Bobbie M. Smith:

I MET MR. B USBY through his books first, andin person several years ago at a Worldcon. Itold him I loved the Rissa books, and askedhim how to pronounce some of the charactersnames. He told me to pronounce them the wayyou like them, darlin, cause youll enjoy the

story more that way. A lovely man who willbe missed greatly.

Jari James (Jari Wood):

YOU AND BUZ (and Bill and Bubbles and Wally,et al) were my introduction to not only theworld of SF, but a place of intelligenceand a rite of passage from adolescence intoadulthood for me back in the 1960s. TheNameless Ones helped introduce me to whatthe world could really be like: a place wheredreamers could strive for their dreams ifonly they took that rst step. Both you andBuz were important parts of that rst stepfor me.


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18 -- BUZ

David Keener:

WHILE I DID NOT KNOW Mr. Busby personally, I knewhim through his books, especially the Ris-sa Kerguelan series. I can remember being ateenager, and spotting his books in my Dadscollection. Somehow, the books became liber-ated and ended up in my own edgling collec-

tion... where I still own them and enjoy themtoday.

Edd Vick:

Fare you well, Buz. Youand Elinor have beenconstants in my Seattlefannish experience fornineteen years. It maybe a couple of yearsbefore I stop looking

around at conventionsfor you.

Daniel Reitman:

I met Buz at RadConabout eight years agoand ended up playingGreat Dalmuti with himat the dead dog. He wasone of the nicest guysIve ever met and willbe missed. My deepestsympathies.

Marc Laidlaw:

I have fond memories ofworkshopping with you onOrcas Island in 1982,meeting Buz at Norwesconshortly thereafter, andreading the ne RissaK. shortly after that.Peace.

Leslie What:

I was so sorry to hearabout Buzs illness andnow his death. You twowere always so welcom-ing to newer writers andI hope you know how muchyour kindess was/is ap-preciated.

Stu Shiffman & Andi Shechter:

F OR BUZ HIMSELF as anindividual, a sci-ence ction fan and

writer, a very spe-cial person, we willgreatly miss him.Its a shame hisbooks have fallenout of print, butBuz was always adouble-bagged FirstEdition item in mintcondition.

Joyce Scrivner:

I MET BOTH OF YOU at various conventions and atleast one SAPS party that Anna Vargo took metoo (and shes gone as well). I feel my cir-cle of friends shrinking, but I wanted to letyou know that I plan to reach for the nexthand I see as a way of passing forward thegood will you (and Buz) have shown me in thepast.

Joe Green:

YOU AND BUZ HAD one of the longest and best mar-riages in SF. Im so glad Patti and I got tovisit you for a few days, just before I re-tired. Although the correspondence has beensteady, that was the last time I got to talk

with Buz in person. We had a strong friend-ship that lasted over 40 years and that isa memory that will be precious to me always.


19/22

BUZ -- 19

Susan Mohn:

We will all miss Buz he was a great light inthe world just for beingwho he was and thathonesty and wit will bemissed. As the sun riseson this morning, I hope

his next great adventurewill bear as much fruit and my prayers go outto you.

David Bratman:

Buz was a great man (anda good writer), lots offun to be around, andthe two of you alwaysmade a good couple to-gether. Our thoughts arewith you.

Geoffrey Kidd:

Busby was an author Inever got the chance tomeet in person. I only

know him by his writings.But if by their fruitshall ye know them hewas an uncommonly decenthuman being, and severalof his books to this dayhave places of honor onmy shelves.

Karen Anderson:

I thought Buz was tooornery to die. I knewhim rst through fan-zines when I was a neoin 1952; he and Elinorwere people I counted onseeing when I visitedSeattle. Im going tomiss him a lot. And makesure to see Elinor everychance I can.

Don Gaffney:

BUZ WAS A CHARACTER and I had the privilege tomeet him on a few occasions most notably atmy mothers jewelry store in Ballard. Wehavent just lost a member of our fannishcommunity but a neighbor and a friend. I willbe returning from my tour in Iraq in time forNorwescon and we will raise our glasses...

Fran Skene:

YOU AND BUZ WERE welcome guests at a number ofVancouver conventions in the seventies andeighties, and as I recall Buz was the GoH ata RAIN. There I was, thinking Id run intothe two of you before long and then yesterdayI got the news about Buz from Donna McMahon.Im so sorry.

Eva Whitley (Chalker):

I REMEMBER BEING IMPRESSED that Buz once mailed 65copies of a remaindered Demu novel as hiscontribution in FAPA one month. I know I en-joyed it more than some of the fanzines inthat bundle! The boys and I send you our sym-pathy.


20/22

20 -- BUZ

We Also Heard From:

Chris & Steve York, Dragon Lady, Gary Farber,Starshadow (Anne Fahnestalk), John Hopfner,Bubbles, Heidi (Pfeifer) Walker, A.P. Lukash-in, Brian McGuinness, Rise Sheridan-Peters,Linda & David Bray, Patricia Bradley, LindaL. Martelle, Steve Fahnestalk, Eric Hosmer,Kelley Kelly, Bev Clark & Steve Gallacci,Joyce Peterson, Mary Frances Zambreno, Elea-nor V. Miller, Sheryl Birkhead, Jean Weber,Kathy Routliffe, Byrd & Charley, Paula SigmanLowery, George C. Willick, David Binger, Jack& Fran Beslanwitch, Capn Bob Napier, TrevinMatlock, Debi Robinson-Smith, carlton mcken-

ney, Julie Zetterberg Sardo, Susan Shwartz,Susan (Dragon Mom), Bobbie DuFault, TamaraVining, Don Anderson, Joan Marie Knappen-berger, Kay Kenyon, Steve Perry, Cynthia Gon-salves, D Gary Grady, Earl Kemp, D. Potter,Bob Tucker, Jerry Kaufman, Jim Caughran, Wal-ter K. Willis, Mike Deckinger, Linda Dener-off, Berni Phillips Bratman, Joel Davis, GeriSullivan, and Lenny Bailes.

Robert Heinlein and Buz in 1961


21/22

BUZ -- 21

Ahead she saw it, then came abreast and

turned. Still climbing at full power, shepointed toward its center. First there wascalm this cannot be all of it then an in- visible current shook the car and thrust itdownward at a rate that shocked her. Drop-ping, the car lost forward speed; she saw only one choice and took it deliberately she

went into a dive.

Rissa and Tregare


22/22

busby buzzine

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