FORGOTTEN BOOKS: TWO BY 4SJ

The Expanded Science Fiction World of Forrest J Ackerman & Friends PLUS by Forrest J Ackerman (2002)

Ackermanthology:  65 Astonishing, Re-Discovered Sci-Fi Shorts, edited by Forrest J. Ackerman (1997)

Forrest J Ackerman was a giant in science fiction fandom and it could be safely said that he was a major influence in getting young readers hooked on the genre.  From age nine he was obsessed with this strange type of literature and all its many offshoots.  He entered fandom early and never looked back.  He was good friends with most of the professionals in the field, amassed a 300,000-item library and a collection of mememorabilia in his home (the Ackermansion) that was the envy of many.  Ackerman also:  was a literay agent for many SF writers, edited a number of magazines (including the horror-movie related Famus Monsters of Filmdom, published hundres af articles, was the proud coiner ofd the term "sci-fi," was given a 1953 Hugo Award for "#1 Fan Personality" (the only time that particular award was given),  among his other awards were two Retro-Hugos for fanzines, and both the Bram Stoker Award and th World Fantasy Award for Lifetime Achievement,   over the years entertained over 50,000 people -- including astronaut Buzz Aldrin -- at his home, authored or co-authored 50 short stories, named the comic book character Vampirella (nd wrote the very first Vamperella story, appeared in more than 210 films (mainly B movie SF flicks, but he also appeared in Michael Jackson's Thriller), appeared as a character in a Man from U.N.C.L.E. novel and in a novel  by Philip Jose Farmer, enjoyed atrocious puns and wordplay (incorporating many into his writings), a fervent promoter of Esperanto, an even more fervent promoter of science fiction, and one-half of a spontaneous duo (along with my bride) belting out their rendition of "42nd Street" at our table during a long-ago world Science Fiction Convention

After a life in science fiction, in which he was known as "Mr. Science Fiction" or "Mr. Sci-Fi," Ackerman died in 2008, at age 92.  During his illness he had vowed not to die before voting for Barack Obama in the presidential election.  He kept that promise.

Ackerman edited a number of anthologies, including the retrospective best-of-the year The Gernsback Awards, Volume 1: 1926 (there was no Volume 2;  1926 was the year the first science fictionmagaine, Amazing Stories, was pubished), Best Science Fiction for 1973 (continuing Ace Books' best of the year series by Donald A. Wollheim and Terry Carr, and then by Frederik Pohl), and such wordplay titles as Martianthology, Womanthology, Ackermanthology, and Rinbow Phantasia:  35 Spectrumatic Tales of Wonder, and one who's title was an obvious bow to the twelve-yer-old in all of us, Gosh!  Wow!  (Sense of Wonder) Science Fiction.  Most of Ackerman's anthologies were derived from old pulp chestnuts and inor shaggy dog, pun-filled stories by little heard of authors.  (Ackerman took great pride in nurturing and promoting new authors to the field,)

In 1969, Ackerman began editing the Perry Rhodan series for Ace books, a popular German juvenile science fiction series by various writers and the longest-running science fiction series in history.  Most of the stories were translated by Ackerman's wife, Wendayne.  Each of these "bookazines" contained a Perry Rhodan novel or novella, along with other material, usually short stories or articles, to pad out the page count. .Ackerman used this extra space to print many stories by new or unknown authors.  Many of these stories found their way into other Ackerman anthologies, such as the one listed below.

So here are two books by Ackerman.  The first, a collection of stories often in collaboration with others.  (And when Ackerman says collaboration, at times the word i squeezed pretty hard.)  The secons, an anthology of 65 short-short stories, a number of them original to, or reprinted in, the various Perry Rhodan books.

Strap yourselves in, gang!

**********

[Just a couple of notes on the contents list below.  Ackerman sometimes signed his middle initial with a period and sometimes not.  Since the cover of the book had no period after the J, I have whimsically followed that pattern even when an original story by-line may have included one.  Where I have included the phrase "first publication thus," I am referring to either this this expanded 2002 edition OR to the original 1969 edition, whichever had published the story first; it would involve too much typing for me to do otherwise.  I have not included all the publications where many of the stories appeared (again, too much typing -- my fingers tire) but I have included a note when to stories have also appeared in the Ackerman edited Perry Rhodan series for Ace Books.]

Expanded Science Fiction Worlds of Forrest J Ackerman & Friends PLUS (2002) 

The contents:

• "Earth's Lucky Day" by "Francis Flagg" and Forrest J Ackerman (first published in Wonder Stories, April 1936; included in Perry Rhodan #46, May 1974)   Flagg was the pseudonym of Henry George Weiss, who published pulp science fiction stories from 1927 to 1937.  He published about 25 storoes and is best known for his first published story, "The Machine Man of Ardathia", and The Night People. a rare chapbook published in 1947.
• "Dwellers in the Dust" by Forrest J. Ackerman (first published in Fantasy Book #4, November 1948; revised for S.F. Digest #1, February 1954; included in Perry Rhodan #48, June 1974)
• "Micro-Man" by Forrest J Ackerman (first published in New Worlds #2, October 1946, as by "Alden Lorraine"; reprinted in Fantasy Book #1, July 1947, as by "Weaver Wright"; included in Perry Rhodan #43, April 1974, AS BY "Weaver Wright")
• "A Martian Oddity" by Forrest J Ackerman.  (first published without author credit as "Behind the Ate Ball:  A Martian Oddity" in Marvel Science Stories, November 1950; included in Perry Rhodan #17, September 1972, as by "Weaver Wright")
• "Confessions of a Science Fiction Addict" (essay) by Forrest J Ackerman (first published in After Hours #4, 1957)
• "The Big Sleep" by Forrest J Ackerman (first published in Other Worlds Science Stories, May 1950)
• "Metropolis Uber Alles" (essay) by Forrest J Ackerman (first published as an introduction to a 1963 edition of Thea von Harbou's Metropolis)
• "Born Witch, Burn!" (essay) by Forrest J. Ackerman (first published in Sex & Censorship, 1958)
• "And Then the Cover Was Bare" by Forrest J Ackerman (first publication thus; originally planned for a cover contest for Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, then reworked many times over the years)
• "The Lure and Lore of The Blind Spot" (essay) by Forrest J Ackerman.  (first published as the introduction to the 1951 edition of Auston Hall and Homer Eon Flint's The Blind Spot)
• "Task of the Temponaut" by Norbert F. Novotny & "Van del Rio" (Forrest J Ackerman) (first published in Perry Rhodan #33, November 1973, as by Novotny alone)  There is no information for Novotny in ISFDb except for two short stories published in the Perry Rhodan series.  The FictionMags index notes three stories in Perry Rhodan and one in Adam, alng with three stories by other authors that Novotny translated for Perry Rhodan. 
• "Yvala" by C. L. Moore and "Amyrillis Ackerman" (Forrest J Ackerman) (a "Northwest Smith" story first published in Weird Tales, February 1946, as by Moore alone; Ackerman provided the plot and the name of the character for the story; C. L. (Catherine) Moore was one of the most popular science fiction and fantasy authors of the 30s, 40s, and 50s, creator of Northwest Smith and Jirel of Joray; she was married to Henry Kuttner and the two collabrated seamlessly on many stories, to the point that it is difficult (and sometimes impossible) to determine who wrote what
• "The Cosmic Kidnappers" by Christian Vallini & "S, F, Balboa" (Forrest J. Ackerman) (first publication thus)  There is no information on Christian Vallini in ISFDb beynd this story; the FictionMags index does not refence Vallini at all.
• "The Girl Who Wasn't There" by "Tigrina" (Edythe Eyde, or Eide), William F. Nolan, Charles E. Fritch, and Forrest J Ackerman (revised from a story titled "The Lady Takes a Powder" -- see the next item -- by Tigrina and Ackerman published in Inside, 1953, without credit to Tigrina; then published under the present title in Gamma #1, 1963, as by Ackerman alone, with editorial tinkering by William F. Nolan and Charles E. Fritch so the the final result was "75% Tigrina, 15% Fritch, 9% Nolan, and 1% Ackerman;" IMHO, the editorial work therein much improved the tale.)   Tigrina was a well-known science fiction fan, fanzine writer, one-time secretary of the Los Angeles Science Fiction Society, poet, musician, ardant lesbian (often writing under the name "Lisa Ben" (rearrange the letters), and a good friend of Ackerman (who reportedly once proposed to her before he realilzed she was a lesbian).  She published a few professinal science fictin tales.  Just for the heck of it, here's a recording of a lesbian song she wrote, along with her versin of "Frankie & Johnnie":  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AatohqFOGmo
• "The Lady Takes a Powder" by "Tigrina as told to Karlon Torgosi" (the earlier verson of "The Girl Who wasn't There" -- see above.  This was evidently slightly revised by Ackerman -- there is a passing reference to Dark Shadows.)
• "The Atomic Monument" by Forrest J Ackerman and Theodore Sturgeon (Sturgeon gave permission for Ackerman to translate into Esperanto the "essence" of his April 1946 Astounding Science Fiction story "Memorial" for Fantasticonglomeration [or Glom], a mimeographed fanzine for the Fantasy Amateur Press Association.  Ackerman later translated it back into English and it appeared kin the Mexican magazine Los Cuentos Fantasticos.  The story is a mere 400 words.)
• "Nyusa, Nymph of Darkness" by Catherine L. Moore and Forrest J Ackerman (a Northwest Smith story, first published in Fantasy Magazine, April 1935, as "Nymph of Darkeness" and as by C. L. Moore and Forrest J Ackerman; an expurgated version appeared in Weird Tales, December 1939; this version adds the name Nyusa to the title.)  Also inclulded here is an afterward by Ackerman "The Genesis of an Invisible Venusienne," as well as an article, "The ;Nymph' O' Maniack" [from the January-February 1948 issue of Shangri-LA] which details "the story behind the story," and in which Ackerman explains that he had provided the outline for the story..
• "Time to Change; or, Mirror Image" by Forrest J Ackerman and Marcial Souto.  (first publication  thus; originally published -- most likely in Argentina, but possibly in Uruguay -- by Souto and later translated by the author into English; Ackerman added about fifty words to make the English translation more clear)  Souto edited a landmark anthology of Argentine science fiction, La scencia ficcion en la Argentina and he won the Karel Prize for science fiction translation.
• "Great Gog's Grave" by Forrest J Ackerman and Donald A. Wollheim (first published in Fantasy Book, December 1981)  Wollheim was the legendary publisher and editor (Avon Books, Ace Books, DAW Books) who also compiled the annual World's Best SF series from 1965 to 1990; among the books he has written are the eight volumes of the Mike Mars juvenile science fiction series and three books in the juvenile (now, we'd call it young adult) Winston Science Fiction series.
• "The Naughty Venusienne" by "Otis Kaye" (Ackerman) and "Morgan Ives"  (first published in Caper, December 1956, as by Morgan Ives" and ""Spencer Strong" (Ackerman); Ackerman provided the plot for this story, noting that "Ives" was a now-deceased professional wirter who preferred anonimity; but everybody nows that "Morgan Ives" for Marion Zimmer Bradley, right?)  Bradley, of course, was the once-popular author of the Darkover series and the best-selling novel The Mists of Avalon; in 2014, she was posthumously  accused by two of her children of child sexual abuse and rape, a charge made more serious because of her complicity in former husband Walter H. Breen's pedophilia.  Nonetheless, she was very sweet in 1974 with Jessamyn when she was just a few months old.
• "The Time Twister" by "Francis Flagg"(George Henry Weiss) and "Weaver Wright" (Forrest J Ackerman) (first published in Thrilling Wonder Stories, October 1947:  Ackerman's title, Ackerman's plot; Flagg's prose)
• "Dhactwhul -- Remember?" by Robert A,. W. Lowndes and Forrest J Ackerman (from Super Science Stories, April 1949, as by "Wilfred Owen Morley" [Lowndes] and "Jacques DeForest Erman" [Ackerman]; included in Perry Rhodan #44, April 1974, under the authors' own names; Ackerman's main contribution was some high-falutin' phrasing, including 'lustrum,' which has always been one of his favorite words)  Doc Lowndes, former Futurian and sporadic author, is best remembered for his editorial work, wherein he produced readable magazines on a budget smaller than a shoestring -- Science Fiction, Science Fiction Quarterly, Science Fiction Stories, Future Science Fiction, Future cpommbines with Science Fition Stories, Dynamic Science Fiction, Magaz nine of Horror, Startling Mystery Stories, Famous Science Fiction, Bizarre Fantasy Tales, Weird Terror Tales, Thrilling Western Stories, World-Wide Adventure, and a long string of crime, detective, western, and sports pulp magazines for Columbia Publications, as well as a number of nonfiction magazines for Heath Knowledge, and the Gernsback Publiations Sexology.  He published first stories by Stephen  King, F. Paul Wilson, Edward D. Hoch, and others.
• "Tarzan and the Golden Loin" by Forrest J. Ackerman (evidently first published in a French girly magazine, V, some time in 1948)
• "Count Down to Doom" by Forrest J Ackerman and Charles Neutzel (first published in Famous Monsters of Filmdom, Jamuary 1962)  Nuetzel was a prolific writer of soft-core sex novels undr a variety of pseudonyms, as well as a number of paperback original science fiction and fantasy novels.  He edited a line of science fiction books for paperback publisher Powell Books.  He wrote the five-volume Noomas series, and his paperback novelization of the film Queen of Blood is highly sought after by collectors, and currently goes for $300-400 on abebooks.  I once had a copy of that one but it went walkabout and I doubt I'll ever afford another copy.
• "The Far-Out Philosopher of Science Fiction" (essay) by Forrest J Ackerman (this id "basically' the back cover dust jacket blurb for 1949 collection Worlds of Wonder, three short novels by Olaf Stapledon)
• "Laugh, Clone, Laugh" by Forrest J Ackerman and A. E. Van Vogt (first publication thus)  Van Vogt was one of the greats from the Golden Age of science fiction, the author of Slan, The Weapon Shops of Isher, The Worlds of Null-A, and many other classics.
• "When Frighthood was in Flower, and Monsters Were a Boy's best Friend"  (essay) by Forrest J Ackerman (first publication thus; originally commisioned by Playboy but never published; an article about the grat horror movies of the past)
• "The Record" by Forrst J. Ackerman, "with an assist by ?" (first ;published in Ray Bradbury's teen-age fanzine futria fantasia, Summer 1939: the ? who assisted in the story was Bradbury, who editorially [and anonymously] added to the story; Bradbury's contributions are printed in italics here)
• "The Man Who Was Thirsty" by Forrest J Ackerman (first publication thus, althougAckerman notes that he once submitted this short-short to Anthony Boucher 'Via Western Union in TELEGRAM form!')
• "The House in the Twilight Zone" (essay) by Forrest J Ackerman (first publication thus; another commssioned article, this time from Esquire, that never saw print; FJa gives a tour of the Ackermansion)
• "The Radclyffe Effect" by Forrest J. Ackerman (first publication thus; rejected by Sam Merwin for the Wonder Stories group of science fiction magazines in 1947, the story was published as "de Soledad" in the Mexican science fiction magazine Los Auentos Fantasticos, July 8, 1948; the current version was significantly revised
• "Letter to an Angel" by Forrest J. Ackerman (first publicstion thus; originally submitted [and rejected] by the nostalgia magazine P.S. because they did not run fiction)

Many of the same caveats above apply to this anthology.  I used the 1997 edition, although a "Millenium Edition" appeared in 2000.  Although given a separate listing in ISFDb, the Millenium Edition lists exactly the same stories as the 1997 edition.  The page count differs by two pages between the two editions.  I am acting on the assumption that these two editions are exactly the same book.  Again, I have made specific not of any stories that appeared (or were reprinted) in the Ackerman-edited Perry Rhodan series.  Re: the book's title -- please remember that it was Ackerman who coined the dreaded term sci-fi.

Ackermanthology:  65 Astonishing, Rediscovered Sci-Fi Shorts, compiled by Forrest j Ackerman, Mr. Sci-Fi (1997)

The contents:

• "I (Alone) Stand in a World of Legless Humans" by Dennis Palumbo (first piubished in Perry Rhodan #105, October 1976)  This is Palumbo's only short story listing inn ISFDb; he has 24 stories and articles listed in the FictionMags Index, mainly in mystery, susense, and crime publication, and most from 2000 on.  He published one science fiction novel, City Wars, in 1979.
• "Under the Lavender Skies" by Adrian Hayworth (from Perry Rhodan #51, August 1974)  Another "one and done" author in ISFDb; ditto for the FictionMags Index.
• The Cat & the Canaries" by Helen M. Urban (first published as "The Cat and the Canaries" in Fantastic Universe, February 1957; included in Perry Rhodan #54, September 1974, using the ampersand in the title)  Urban published five genre stories kin the late 50s/early 60s.
• "Eye of the Beholder" by Shirley Parenteau (first published in Perry Rhodan #103, September 1976)  This is the author's only science fiction short story listing in ISFDb; FictionMags index lists six stories in Adam and Adam Bedside Reader in the early 60s. she has written at least one science fiction novel (The Talking Coffins of Cryo-City, 1979) and one romnce novel (Hot Springs, 1983).
• "Litter of the Law" by J. Douglas Burtt (first published in Perry Rhodan #69, April 1975)  Ackerman evidently confused this author (born 1947) with J. Lewis Burtt, who wrote for Amazing Stories in the 1930s, including the six stories comprising the then-popular "Lumerian Documents" series.
• "Traders in Treasures" by C. P. Mason (first published in Wonder Stories, May 1934, as by "Epamindondas T. Snooks, D.T.G.")  Mason was the associate editor of Air Wonder Stories, Space Wonder Stories, and Wonder Stories in the early 1930s; he published three stories as by "Snooks," as well as three articles under his own name in Wonder Stories and Thrilling Wonder Stories.
• "Pressure Cruise" by Andrei Gorbovskii (most likely first published in Serbian as "Ualudnost" in 1985 as by Andrej Gorbovski; first English translation published in Vortex:  New Soviet Science Fiction, edited by C. G. bearne, 1970; this English translation by Norbert F. Novotny and Forrest J Ackerman firt appeared in Perry Rhodan #58, November 1974)  Gorbovskii (1930-2003) had four science fiction stories translated into English between 1970 and 1981.
• "Alien Catastrophe" by Henry Melton (first published in Perry Rhodan #52, August 1974)  Henry Melton has been writing science fiction since the 70s and has published over 25 books, including the Small Towns, Big Ideas series and the The Project Saga.
• "The Tweenie" by Isaac Asimov (first published in Astonishing Stories, February 1940, under the title "Half-Breed")  Asimov needs no introduction; this is an early story from him.
• "Deathrace 2000" by Ib J. Melchior (first published in Escapade, October 1956 as "The Racer" by Ib Melchior;included in Perry Rhodan #97, June 1976; adapted twice as a film -- the cult classic Death Race 2000 in 1975 [with David Carradine and Sylvester Stallone, among others], and as Death Race in 2008 [with Jason Statham and Joan Allen])  Melchior was the son of famed opera.  In addition to being a novelis, Melchior was a film writer, producter, and director, mainly for low budget science fiction films, including The Angry Red Planet, The Time Travelers, Robinson Crusoe on Mars, Reptilicus, and Journey to the Seventh Planet.  He provided the English script for Mario Bava's Planet of the Vampires, and claimed to have come up with the original concept for the Lost in Space television series although he received no screen credit.
• "The Swordsmen of Varnis" by Clive Jackson (first published in Slant, Spring 1950, as by "Geoffrey Cobbe" -- the table of contents had the story "The Swordsman of Varnis" as by "Geoffrey Cobb"; reprinted as by Clive Jackson in The Science Fiction Carnival, edited by Fredric Brown and Mack Reynolds, 1953; included in Perry Rhodan #16, August 1972)  Jackson published eleven short stories in the 60s, mainly in fanzines.
• "Starburst" by Robert Lulyk (first published in Perry Rhodan #97, June 1976) As far as I can tell, Lulyk published only one other story (in Ed McBain's 87th Precinct Mystery Magazine in 1975)
• "The Cosmic Kidnappers" by Christian Vallini and "S. F. Balboa" (Ackerman) (also included in Expanded Science Fiction Worlds of Forrest J Ackerman & Friends PLUS; see above)
• "Cosmic Parallel" by Arthur Louis Joquel II (most likely first published in 1941, possibly in a fanzine)  Joquel was the editor of the fanzine Sun Trails, Summer 1941; it's likely that that isnwhere the story first appeared.  [that issue, BTW, featured artwork by Ray Bradbury.]
• "The Sky's an Oyster, The Stars Are Pearls" by Dave Bischoff (first published in Perry Rhodan #66, March 1975)  David Bischoff (1951-2018) was a popular science fiction writer with about seventy-five original novels published, as well as numerous film novelizations and tie-ins.
• "And Satan Came" by Robert A. W. Lowndes (first published in Polaris, December 1940, as by Robert W. Lowndes)  Lowndes added the "A," -- for Augustine -- to his name later in life.
• "Experiment" by R. H. Barlow (first piublished a "The Experiment" in Unusual Stories, May 1935; included in Perry Rhodan #32, March 1974)  Robert H. Barlow was young friend and correspondent of H. P. Lovecraft, who made several expended visits to the Barlow Florida home where the teenager lived with his parents.  Barlow was active in fan publications, and co-authored a few stories with Lovecraft.  He typed many of Lovecraft's manuscripts for him an exchange for original autographed manuscripts.  Lovecraft named Barlow his litersry executor.  Barlow went on to become went on to teach at Mexico City College, eventually becoming Chairman of that school's Department of Anthropology (the author William S. Burroughs studied junder him).  Barlow committed suicide in 1944 at age 32, apparently fearing exposure as a life-long homosexual by a disgruntled student.
• "Golden Nemesis" by David H. Kyle (first published in Stirring Science Stories, February 1941)  Kyle was an active member of science fiction fandom, the co-founder of Gnome Press, the author of two pictoril histories of science fiction, and the author of three licensed novels set in the "Lensman" universe created by E. E. Smith.  He dies in 2016 at age 98, his life spanning that of his favorite genre.
• "Secret of the Sun" by Ray Cummings (first ;piublished in Thrilling Wonder Stories, August 1939; included in Perry Rhodan #98, July 1976)  Cummings was an amaxingly prolific pulp writer.  In the science fiction field he is best known for The Girl in the Golden Atom and other stories about micro-universes as part of his "Matter, Space, and Time" series.  In the 40s he also wrote comic book stories about Captain America, the Human Torch, and Sub-Mariner.
• "Pallas Rebellion" by Donald A. Wollheim (first published in Out of This World Adventures, July 1950, as by "W. Malcolm White"; included in Perry Rhodan #22, March 1973, as by Wollheim)  
• "The Curious Adventure of Thomas Dunbar" by G. M. Barrows (firt published in The Argosy, March 1904; included in Perry Rhodan #84, December 1975)  Ackerman speculates that the ajuthor was Gertrude Barrows, better known under her pseudonym of "Francis Stevens" as the author of several classic fantasy novels such as The Heads of Cerebus, Claimed, and The Citadel of Fear.  This speculation appears to be correct because both ISFDb and FictionMags Index agree with it.
• "A Scientist Rises" by Harry Bates and Desmond Winter Hall (first published in Astounding Stories, November 1932 as by "D. W. Hall"); included in Perry Rhodan #83, November 1975, under the authors' full names)  Bates was the editor of Astounding Stories (1930-1933) and the co-author (with Hall) of the Hawke Carse series under the name "Anthony Gilmore;" he also wrote the classic stories "Alas, All Thinking!" and "Farewell to the Master" (which was the basis of the film The Day the Earth Stood Still).  Hall was the assistant editor of Astounding under Bates, continuing in that position for a year when F. Orlin Tremaine took over the editorship; Hall was then  promoted to editor of Madamoiselle.
• "Homecoming" by J. Harvey Haggard (first published in Fantastic Universe, August 1955; included in Perry Rhodan #55, October 1975)  Haggard was a popular science fiction author in the 1930s and 40s, often publishing in Wonder Stories and Astoundng Stories.
• "The Impossible Invention" by Robert Moore Williams (first plublished in Astonishing Stories, June 1942)  Moore was a prolific science fiction pulpster who also had a string of novels published from Ace Books.  His Tarzan-like Jongar series of novels from Fantastic Adventures was republished by Lancer, for which he also did four original novels about Zanthar, a superscientist.
• "The Smile" by Ray Bradbury (first published in Fantastic, June 1952)
• "The Far Way" by David R. Daniels (first publihed in Astounding Stories, July 1935; included in Perry Rhodan #77, August 1975)  Daniels published seven science fiction stories in 1935-6.  He died in 1936 at age 20 or 21 from a gunshot wound; it was never determined if his death was accidental or suicide.
• "Parasite Lost" by Raymond James Jones (first published in Perry Rhodan #57, November 1974)  I know nothing about the author.  This is the only story listed by him in either ISFDb or FictionMags Index.
• "Messenger to Infinity" by J. Harvey Haggard (from Science Fiction Quarterly, Winter 1942; included in Perry Rhodan #32, October 1973)
• "Sic Transit Gloria Mundi" by George Allen (first publication thus)  The author is not mentioned in ISFDb or FictionMags Index..  the story was copyrighted by George C. Allen
• "A Question of Priorities" by Allan J. Wind (first published in Perry Rhodan #65, March 1975)  Evidently one of only two stories credited to the author.
• "The Banning" by Carmel Lou Rhoten (first published in Perry Rhodan #108, February 1977)  No information on this author other than Ackerman's note that she is an Oklahoman.
• "The Last Poet & The Wrongness of Space" by A. Merritt. (first published in Fantasy Magazine, April 1934, as "The Last Poet and the Robots, " Chapter 11 of the round-robin story Cosmos; reprinted under the present title as Chapters 11a and 11b of Cosmos in Perry Rhodan #47 and #48, both July 1974)   Merritt was the author of a number of classic science fiction/fantasy novels, including The Moon Pool, The Face in the Abyss, and The Ship of Ishtar.  Cosmos was an 18-part serial, written by some of the biggest names in science fiction at the time:  Earl and Otto Binder, Arthur J. Burks, John W. Campbell, Jr., Lloyd Arthur Eshbach, Ralph Milne Farley, Francis Flagg, Abner J. Gelula, J Harvey Haggard, Edmond Hamilton, David H. Keller, M.D., Otis Adelbert Kline, Merritt, P. Schuyler Miller, Bob Olsen, Raymond A. Palmer, E. Hoffman Price, and Edward E. Smith.
• "Let the Future Judge" by L. Lester Anderson (first published in Perry Rhodan #41, March 1973)  His only story.
• "The Final Men" by H. G. Wells (an extract from an early magazine version of Wells' The Time Machine -- "The Time Traveler's Story" from The New Review, published in five parts from January-May 1895 -- the extract was not included in later printings; it was eventually published in 1940 in a chapbook published by Robert W. Lowndes [with the publisher's name misspelled as "Loundes;" it was republished in Satellite Science Fiction, August 1958, as ""The Missing Pages {from The Time Machine); the fragment was finally included ina 1960 edition of The Time Machine.)
• "Navigational Error" by Steve Tymon (first printing thus)  This is probably Steven M. Tymon, who published a handful of stories and poems from the late 70s to the mid-90s.
• "Devonshire's Song" by Matt Graham (first published in Perry Rhodan #48, June 1974)  Graham published five stories in 1973 and 1974, all in Perry Rhodan.
• "A Martian Oddity" by "Weaver Wright" (also published in Expanded Science Fiction Worlds of Forrest J Ackerman & Friends PLUS, which see)
• "Love" by Richard Wilson (first published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, June 1952; included in Perry Rhodan #87, January 1976)  Wilson, a Futurian, was a talented science fiction writer who should have published far more than he did (Damn, those day jobs!)  His three novels, highly recommended, are The Girls from Planet 5, 30-Day Wonder, and And Then the Town Took Off.
• "The Golden Pyramid" by Sam Moskowitz (first published in Fantastic Universe, November 1956; included in Perry Rhodan #56, October 1974)  Moskowitz was a longtime science fiction fan, occasional author, anthologist, magazine editor, and historian of science fiction.
• "The Biography Project" by Horace L. Gold (first published in Galaxy Science Fiction, September 1951, as by "Dudley Dell"; reprinted in The Old Die Rich and Other Science Fiction Stories by H. L. Gold, 1955; included in Perry Rhodan #92, April 1976)  Gold publlished over three dozen science fiction stories, beginning in the mid-1930s and was the founding editor of Galaxy, which -- along with The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction -- helped change the field in the early 1950s.
• "I'll Kill You Tomorrow" by Helen Huber (first published in If, November 1953)
• "Police Action" by S. C. Smith (first published in Perry Rhodan #85, December 1975)  This is one of two stories Smith published in Perry Rhodan.  Not to be confused with two other authors of that name, or with Scott C. Smith -- all of whom are also listed in FictionMags Index.
• "Where There's Hope" by Jerome Bixby (first published in If, November 1953.  Bixby a writer and magazine editor is perhaps best known for the story "It's a Good Life."  He also worked in film, where he provided the story for Fantastic Voyage.
• "The Queen & I" by Steven Utley.  (first published in Perry Rhodan #31, October 1973; the story was retitled "Ants" when publlished in Utley's collection The Beasts of Love, 2005) 
• "Untimely Interruption" by Matt Graham (first pubished in Perry Rhodan #54, September 1974)
• Extenuating Circumstances" by Ann Orhelein (first published in Perry Rhodan #108, February 1977)  This is one of two stories the author published in Perry Rhodan.  There are no further listings for her in ISFDb or FictionMags Index.
• "To Serf MAN" by "Coil Kepac" (Ackerman) (first published in Perry Rhodan #50, July 1974)  Also known as "To Serf Man")
• "Theory or Fact?" by Michael R. Farkash (first published in Perry Rhodan, #81, October 1975)  FictionMags Index also lists Farkash as authoring two other stories, one in 1978 and one in 1983.
• "Kiki" by "Laurajean Ermayne" (Ackerman) (first published in Lisa Ben's Vice Versa #7, December 1947)  As noted above, "Lisa Ben" (aka "Tigrina," aka Edythe Eyde) was a prominent lesbian friend of Ackerman, and he contributed many stoies, poems, and articles for her publications.
• "For the Good of Society" by Terri E. Merrit-Pinckard (first published in Vertex:  The Magazine of Science Fiction, December 1973, as by "Terri E. Pinckard")  Her name has been spelled both Merrit-Pinckard and Merritt-Pinckard, the latter was her legal name.
• "Twice Removed" by R. Michael Rosen (first published in Perry Rhodan #57, November 1974)  Rosen had one other story published in Perry Rhodan, and, in 1974, published a chapbook in Dutch, Dracula's triumf.
• "Replacement Part" by Greg Akers (first published in Perry Rhodan #53, September 1974)  Akers authored three stories for Perry Rhodan in 1974; that's all I know about him.
• "The Satellite-Keeper's Daughter " by Mark Reinsberg (first published in Fantastic Universe, December 1956)  Reinsberg was an active science fiction fn in the 1930s, and then again in the 1950s.  He was the author of ten short stories, complied the 1940 Worldcon Program Booklet with W. Lawrence Hamling, and was a book reviewer for Imagination for eleven months in 1953.
• "Nymph of Darkness" by Catherine L. Moore and Forrest J. Ackerman (also in Expanded Worlds of Forrest J Ackerman & Friends PLUS as "Nyusa, Nymph of Darkness," as are the essays ""The Genesis of an Invisible Venusienne" and "The 'Nymph' o' Maniack," which see above,)
• "Itself!" by A. E. van Vogt (first published in Scientific American, January 1963)
• "Big, Wide, Wonderful World" by Charles E. Fritch (first published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, March 1958; included in Perry Rhodan #22, March 1973)  This was one of Fritch's better-known stories.
• "The Door" by Oliver Saari (first published in Astounding Science-Fiction, November 1941; included in Perry Rhodan #99, July 1976)  Saari was a Finnish-born science fiction author and fan who was active in the field from the late 1930s to the mid-1950s.  He is pretty much forgotten and very much under-rated today.
• "Racial Memory" by Ralph O. Hughes, Jr. (first published in Perry Rhodan # 51, August 1974)  Hughes had only one other story published, in Perry Rhodan #47.
• "Tunnel" by Roger Aday ((first published in Perry Rhodan #107, January 1977)  Another "one and done" writer.
• "Inferiority" by James Causey (piublished in Popular Science Fiction #5, 1954; included in Perry Rhodan #76, August 1975, and again in #82, November 1975).  James O. Causey was active in the science fiction field, publishing about a dozen stories from 1943 to 1955.
• "Task of the Temponaut" by Van del Rio and Norbert F. Novotny (also published in Expanded Worlds of Forrest J Ackerman & Friends PLUS, which see above)
• "Beauty" by "Hannes Bok" (Wayne Francis Woodard) (first published in Future Fantasy and Science Fiction, October 1942)  Bok was one of the premier science fiction and fantasy illustrators of his time.  Bok is noted for his two fantasy novels, The Sorceror's Ship and Beyond the Golden Stair, as well as two posthumous novels with A. Merrit.
• "The Shortest SF Story Ever Told" by Forrest J Ackerman (first published in Vertex:The Magazine of Science Fiction, June 1973; included in Perry Rhodan #29, September 1973}  also known as "Cosmic Report Card:  Earth."
• "Final Victory" by Jill Taggart (first published in Perry Rhodan, #101, August 1976)  another "one and done."

Nothing earth-shaking here.  No literary pretensions.  Just a preponderance of shaggy dog tales, Feghoots, readily telegraphed endings, in-jokes, strained puns, and whatnot.  But, still...both books can be very entertainiing if taken in small doses.  More immportantly, they give a fairly accurate depiction of Ackerman's public persona, which, in itself, gives the reader a better understanding of why -- rightly or wrongly -- he was such an important figure in the science fiction scene his entire life.

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Yes, this [post did take me longer to write than it did for me to read the two books.