Ian Gunn

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Fan
Name: Ian Peter Gunn
Alias(es): Gunny
Type: fanartist, fanzines, conventions, clubs
Fandoms: science fiction, costumer, Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Communities: Melbourne Science Fiction Club
Other:
URL: Eclectic Omnibus
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Ian Gunn in convention mode
Ian Gunn as a Good Fairy for security guard work at Huttcon, 1990.

Ian Gunn (1st June 1958 – 8th November 1998) was a fanartist who was active in the Australian science fiction community for many years. He was also involved in SF conventions, fanwriting, and a variety of clubs. He even won a Hugo Award for his fanart.

Born in the UK, his family emigrated to Australia as "ten pound poms" when he was aged three. He grew up in Melbourne, where his involvement in scouts gave him a solid background in community group activity, networking and leadership.[1]

In 1973 (in Year 10), Ian began submitting artwork for his High School magazine, and by Year 12 he had become co-editor. It was later reported in his biography that he dropped out of school in Year 12 when some cartoons - submitted as a major project for his Art subject - were apparently lost.[1]

The following year, he joined the Public Service (Land Titles Office) and worked there his whole career until he left in 1998.[1]

In 1984, he created a book of cartoons entitled, "What to do with a Dead Kangaroo" which was published by Bandicoot Books in Shepparton. The book distributors did a bad job, and ended up pulping many copies.[1]

Science Fiction Fandom Activities

Meeting a bunch of scouts who were fans of Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy, Ian founded a HHGG fan club in late 1981, even though he was not officially aware of fandom at the time, and he did this entirely on his own initiative. He later reflected:

I discovered fandom in the early 1980s. Or rather, I invented it, and then it found me.


Oh, I'd read about it in SF encyclopaedias and such, but I thought it was something that only had happened in America back in the `50s. I didn't know it existed in Australia. When I discovered that friends of mine were also interested in a particular aspect of science fiction, I formed the Hitch-Hikers Guide to the Galaxy Fan Club and people began joining -- and bringing word about other clubs. It was all downhill from there.[2]

In 1985, he attended Aussiecon 2 as his first ever convention, and Galactic Tours followed the following year. He then began to attend many conventions, and this led to leadership positions and his nomination for many awards, mainly in fan artwork.

In 1986, he joined the Melbourne Science Fiction Club, and his artwork started to appear in Ethel the Aardvark newsletter and other science fiction publications.[2]

Accomplishments

Ian Gunn self portrait

Ian created a long and accomplished list of Fanzines and Apazines to his name, including:

One 1997 fanzine with which he became involved had an interesting story attached, as related by Irwin Hirsh:

One fanzine ... was Radiation Exposure. It ... had its own unique release... a number of people wearing radiation suits went around the crowd handing out, with tongs, what they'd produced the previous evening (Good Fryday, as they called it). This instant zine, sponsored by the local branch of Mutants Anonymous (their motto: We Gave Up Changing) was a fun read, a point I made to its perpetrators, one of whom gave me another fanzine by way of compliment. That was my introduction to Ian Gunn, Phil Wlodarczyk, James Allen and Lindsay Jamieson. These days they are in the fannish center, and I'm out on the fringe.[4]

Ian served as President of the Melbourne Science Fiction Club for 1989/90, 1990/91 and 1991/92. KRin Pender-Gunn notes:

Ian developed and drew the idea of a club calendar at this time which helped build up the club numbers. He also introduced the cardboard [horse] races, the betting money being the funeral money from Chinese newsagents in Box Hill, the sort burnt to send wealth to those who have passed on...


In 1990 at Huttcon in Melbourne... It was... his idea to have Good Fairies as the security force and he wrote and illustrated The Good Fairies Handbook to assist this security force. The Good Fairies wore tutus for their job... At the end of the convention Ian led the Good Fairy team on a run around the hall and tired them all well and truely [sic] out.[1]

He also co-chaired Basicon 1 in 1995 and Basicon 2 in 1997.[3]

Ian was keen to encourage excellence in Australian science fiction creativity and fandom, and opposed the classic Australian culture cringe that assumed overseas material was superior:

Australian Science Fiction is the way it is because the state of Australian everything else is the same. Unfortunately, due to the face that we have a very small population, we just don't have the money or resources to churn out blockbuster movies or million-seller books all by ourselves. The A.B.C. can't hope to produce programmes like the B.B.C. because it hasn't got the audience. Due to this, it has been ingrained into the Australian psyche that if it's from America or Britain it must be good... the cultural inferiority complex shows through... Maybe we will grow out of it someday, who knows?[5]

Awards

Ian Gunn with some of his awards

Ian was recipient of many awards, including:

Regarding his 1999 Hugo Award, KRin Pender-Gunn notes:

This is the first Fan Artist Hugo won by an Australian and only the Third Hugo won by an Australian. I accepted this on his behalf and it was the proudest moment of my life to stand there and hold it.[1]

Death and Legacy

By 1997, it was becoming known that Ian was sick with a "major illness" [6] and by the April 1998, it was reported that he was undergoing "heavy chemotherapy."[7]

KRin Pender-Gunn reports of Ian's tragic passing late in 1998, but proudly tells of associated community support at that time:

My dearest, beloved Ian passed away on the Sunday 8th November, after almost 2 years of illness associated with the stupid and pointless disease, cancer.

He was surrounded by friends and family and passed away quietly at 9.40 at night. He had struggled to the very end and it was only on this last day that the strain showed.

Ian and I were married the day before, 7th November, at Box Hill Hospital Chapel at 10.30 in the morning. We were surrounded by over 50 of our friends and family. Ian said his lines word-perfect, I stumbled twice over mine! The reception was in the lounge of the Oncology ward, with food provided by the nursing staff. Ian was joking and smiling for most of the time and was able to enjoy to day.[8]

Bruce Gillespie recalls Ian's funeral:

Today, Monday 16 November, at 2.15 p.m., under a clear sky and in bright spring sunlight, more than 200 friends and family of Ian Gunn gathered to celebrate his life and work. We worked hard at celebrating the fun and delight and friendship that this extraordinary man gave to us all, but somehow the sadness kept breaking through...


A whole lot of stories I’d never heard were told... Emails from overseas were read. At the end, various people spontaneously told their Gunny stories. Lots of laughter, lots of memories.[9]

Responses to his death came from around the world:

He was an important figure in Australian fandom, and will also be sorely missed. He is survived by his wife Karen. [10]

His presence was irrepressible; the void his passing leaves in fandom is enormous. [11]

For many years, KRin Pender-Gunn operated the Ian Gunn Memorial Fund,[12] but it no longer operates.[13] She uses Ian's cartoons (estimated between 3,000 to 5,000 in the collection) to raise funds for charity and to share his talent with others.[12]

Continuum conventions also run the Ian Gunn Memorial Award, known also as the Gunny.[14]

Gallery

All cartoons by Ian Gunn and photos as supplied, all used with permission of KRin Pender-Gunn.

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f KRin Pender-Gunn, Ian Gun - A Life, The Eclectic Omnibus.
  2. ^ a b Ian Gunn, Never Work with Children and Animals, Mimosa 29, pp. 45-46.
  3. ^ a b c Ian Gunn, Fancyclopedia 3.
  4. ^ Irwin Hirsh, VUG, Apparatchik No. 80, 20 June 1997.
  5. ^ Ian Gunn, cited in James Allen, The State of Australian Science Fiction. The State of Australian Science, Kalien No. 5, November 1986, p. 3.
  6. ^ Bruce Gillespie, Has Anybody Out There Anything Good to Say about 1997?, Scratch Pad No. 26, December 1997, p. 2.
  7. ^ Bruce Gillespie, Contents, Scratch Pad No. 27, April 1998, p. 2.
  8. ^ KRin Pender-Gunn, In Memorial, Ian Gunn, Eclectic Omnibus
  9. ^ Bruce Gillespie, No One Should Wear Black: The Funeral of Ian Gunn, Scratch Pad #31, December 1998, p. 2
  10. ^ Bridget Wilkinson, Fans Across the World Newsletter 81, December 1998
  11. ^ Introduction to Teddy Harvia, A Cartoonist Remembers Ian Gunn, Mimosa 24, August 1999
  12. ^ a b KRin Pender-Gunn, The Ian Gunn Memorial Fund, Eclectic Omnibus.
  13. ^ Personal email correspondence from KRin Pender-Gunn to Geoff Allshorn on 1 April 2024.
  14. ^ Ian Gunn Memorial Award, Fancyclopedia 3.
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