Longtime fan, Lovecraftian, critic, and author Ben P. Indick (11 August 1923-28 September 2009), of “Scenic Teaneck” (as he called it), New Jersey, died Monday morning, after a lengthy period of illness.
A member of First Fandom, he was initially rejected on the basis that he was too young (he was already over 50 at the time). He retorted sarcastically that he would form his own group, “First and a Half Fandom”. Soon afterward, he received from fellow fan Claire Beck a small box of neatly printed cards: “First and a Half Fandom, Pres., Ben P. Indick.” The organization of one was disbanded later when the group accepted his credentials. At Anticipation in Montreal, this year’s SF Worldcon, First Fandom’s Hall of Fame Award was bestowed on him, an honor he shared with James Gunn.
He was publisher of the fanzine Ibid and a charter member of the H.P. Lovecraft apa (amateur press association) the Esoteric Order of Dagon (or E*O*D). “I had loved HPL’s work for many years,” he recalled, and was “old enough to have purchased a copy of the cornerstone Lovecraft volume, The Outsider and Others, while it was still in print!” He participated as well in other apas, including FAPA and RAPS (the latter with this writer).
Additionally, he published two books, The Drama of Ray Bradbury (alternately titled Ray Bradbury, Dramatist), and George Alec Effinger, From Entropy to Budayeen, and was the author of several works of short fiction. (Among his co-authors in The Dunwich Cycle: Where the Old Gods Wait were August Derleth, H.P. Lovecraft, and Arthur Machen.) His numerous articles of commentary on SF and Fantasy writers appeared in Starmont, Borgo, T-K Graphics, the Underwood-Miller books, The Stephen King Newsletter, Science-Fiction Studies, The Penguin Encyclopedia of Horror and the Supernatural, etc., and in Hippocampus Press’s Dead Reckonings.
In his other life, he served in the military during World War II (carrying his HPL safe within its mailing box through four basic training camps, before shipping overseas), and subsequently toiled as a pharmacist. Besides First Fandom and his apas, he was a member of HWA (Horror Writers of America), the Dramatists Guild, and the Shaw Society.
He is survived by his wife Janet and his children.