Bruce Gillespie
| Fan | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Bruce Gillespie |
| Alias(es): | |
| Type: | fan, fanzine editor |
| Fandoms: | science fiction |
| Communities: | Melbourne Science Fiction Club, Continuum, Nova Mob |
| Other: | |
| URL: | |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Bruce Gillespie (born 17 February 1947) is a prominent Australian science fiction fan best known for his long-running sf fanzine SF Commentary, which he founded in 1969 and continues to publish over fifty years later.
Along with Carey Handfield and Rob Gerrand, he was a founding editor of Norstrilia Press, which published Greg Egan's first novel.[1] As publishers of science fiction and related speculative fiction, they released thirteen books between 1975 and 1985.[2]
Early Life
Bruce grew up in the Melbourne suburb of Oakleigh and developed an interest in science fiction and fantasy from the age of six.[2]
On the fiftieth anniversary of SF Commentary, Bruce editorialised about why he had never become a professional writer (it turns out that he was a writer instead of fanfic but never pursued it):
When I was in Grade 1 my teacher, Miss Risk, told me I was going to become a Great Writer. My career has gone downhill ever since. While I was at primary school, I found that I could write fiction but could not invent plots. I would re-use ideas from serials I heard on the ABC Children’s Hour, or even from comics. A story I wrote in Form 6 (Year 12), printed in Bacchus Marsh High School’s annual magazine, is a quite good commercial SF story. But the idea I used is completely unoriginal — and I knew it at the time.So I was never going to become a writer of fiction. I was much better at writing opinion pieces. My favourite essay topic was not ‘What I did on my holidays’ but ‘What I would like to have done on my holidays’.[3]
Instead, he turned to other aspects of writing and publishing:
Bruce Gillespie entered fandom in late 1967 after sending Australian SF Review three essays about the works of Philip K Dick. Though not published until 1969, they led him to contribute criticism to several fanzines, and to join ANZAPA, the Australia and New Zealand Amateur Press Association.[4]
Bruce became a schoolteacher for two years, but gave up the job at the end of 1970 and instead ended up becoming an editor:
I gave up teaching because I was hopeless at it... a friend prompted me to do what I would have thought unthinkable — resign. When I did this, the Department wanted to keep teachers, so I was offered a series of bribes to stay officially a teacher. The last of these was a position in the Publications Branch of the Department. In 1971 and 1972 I received a full on-the-job training in professional editing and journalism. I left in mid 1973 to go overseas, visiting fans all over America for four months and a month in Britain. When I returned, I decided to try freelance book editing. I knew there was no editing work in SF in Australia, but my friend John Bangsund was making an intermittent living from freelancing, and there was plenty of work, especially in textbooks, in 1974.[5]
Fan Activities and Achievements
Here's my definition. A fan is a reader who is so interested in science fiction and fantasy that he or she makes contact with other fans and takes an active interest in the field. He or she may publish magazines about his or her favourite reading matter. That's what I do. Many fans concentrate on organising and attending conventions...Science fiction fans, in other words, form a group that is symbiotic upon science fiction itself, but also forms its own world. We call this world `fandom'. It is worldwide, multilingual and totally anarchic, and also still basically unsuspected by the rest of the world.[6]
Bruce has been a long-term member of the Melbourne Science Fiction Club and the Nova Mob, and a keen participant at many conventions including Continuum and Aussiecon. His first convention was Easter 1968 in Melbourne[7] and he received what he considers "the ultimate accolade", serving as Fan Guest of Honour for Aussiecon 3, the third Worldcon held in Melbourne in 1999[8].
He has edited a variety of fanzines, including SF Commentary, Steam Engine Time, The Metaphysical Review, brg, Scratch Pad, and Treasure.
Awards
He has won 23 Ditmar Awards, including Best Fan Writer and Best Fanzine; two William Atheling Jr Awards for criticism, World SF's Harrison Award (1983), the Chandler Award (presented 2007) and Peter McNamara Award (2007, presented 2008) for lifetime achievement in Australian science fiction, and the 2009 FAAN Award (worldwide fandom) for Best genzine (SF Commentary} in 2024. He is the literary executor of George Turner.[4][9]
See Also
- Bruce Gillespie index, eFanzines.
- SF Commentary Archive, fanac.
Personal Gallery
Older members of Melbourne Science Fiction Club at Aussiecon 3 in 1999: Standing: Mervyn Binns, Dick Jenssen. Seated: Bruce Gillespie, Bill Wright, Race Mathews. Photographer: Helena Binns.
Special panel at Aussiecon 3, 1999 to commemorate the history of the Melbourne Science Fiction Club:Standing: Bruce Gillespie, Merv Barrett, Bill Wright, Barry Sandler, standing at the side: John Foyster. Seated: Race Mathews, Helena Binns, Merv Binns, Dick Jenssen. (Photographer unknown, perhaps Cath Ortlieb.)
References
- ^ "Bruce Gillespie", Wikipedia, last updated 10 February 2024
- ^ a b Bruce Gillespie biography, Auslit, last updated 19 October 2021.
- ^ Bruce Gillespie, "I Must Be Talking to My Friends: What's A Few Decades Between Friends?", in SF Commentary #98, 50th Anniversary Edition (Part 1), April 2019, p. 5.
- ^ a b "Gillespie, Bruce", The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction], last updated 27 February 2023.
- ^ Rowena Corey Daniels, Meet Bruce Gillespie (SF Fan & Commentator of over Forty Years), blog interview, 11 July 2012.
- ^ Bruce Gillespie, Oz Odyssey: A Personal View of Science Fiction Writing from a Fan Down Under, Festivale, 25 August 1997.
- ^ Bruce Gillespie (editorial), "I Must Be Talking to My Friends", SF Commentary #80, 40th Anniversary edition, Part 1, p. 4.
- ^ Bruce Gillespie biography, eFanzines
- ^ Bruce Gillespie, email correspondence with Geoff Allshorn, 17 November 2024.