KNOXVILLE FANDOM

[From Irv Koch] "Before there was anything else there was Janie Lamb, R.I.P. I did a con called Janiecon at her house and then went into the Army. When I came out, Jim Corrick III and I started a club...which turned into something else and eventually died. [...The present] godmother [of Knoxville fandom] is Chloie Airoldi. Vern Clarke was a previous godfather." [Vern put on the highly successful Satyricon 2, DSC 21 in 1983.--TKFW]

[From Curt Phillips] "Knoxville has had at least 5 separate fan groups that I know of and I've been told there were several others. Chloie's is the only one that's lasted any length of time. [...] Janie Lamb was a tremendously important fan in the '50s and early '60s who is nearly forgotten today, probably because she devoted most of her fanac to the National Fantasy Fan Federation. I know that Janie gafiated after a house fire destroyed her huge fanzine collection (and nearly killed her) and she died in the early '70s."

[From Ned Brooks] "I was at the Janiecon that Irv mentions--somewhere there is a flyer or ad for it where she promises to serve attendees skunk fried in possum grease, or perhaps the other way around. I also knew Janie Lamb as the benevolent dictator of the NFFF. She lived in a house full of books and guns back behind Knoxville--her husband collected Lugers and she collected SF and Marie Corelli, a curious occult novelist of the early 1900s. Wally Weber (who was living in Huntsville then) was at that con, too, and we sat up all night watching his 8mm worldcon movies."

[I do not have enough material for a separate article about later Knoxville fandom, but we must acknowledge fans like Vern Clarke, Rusty Burke, and the renowned fan artist Charlie Williams (not to be confused with the Charlie Williams from Nashville or the female Charlie Williams from Chattanooga). Charlie still contributes superb artwork to Guy Lillian's fanzine Challenger. For a while, Knoxville fandom had a hard-living atmosphere that equalled any other outpost in Southern fandom. Also RIP to J. J. Johnson, who worked with Rick Albertson to produce the video program at ConFederation. If my faulty memory is correct, J. J. was killed by a mugger.--MLR]

 

Special thanks go to Samuel A. Smith, who digitized the SFC Handbook 2nd edition and gave gracious permission to use his existing work in the preparation of the 3rd edition. The main text of this page came from Sam's hard work.--MLR

 

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