Robert Coulson
{{short description|American novelist}}
{{for multi|the American baseball player|Bob Coulson|the Illinois politician|Robert E. Coulson}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2018}}
{{Infobox writer
| name = Robert Coulson
| image =
| caption =
| pseudonym = Thomas Stratton
| birth_name = Robert Stratton Coulson
| birth_date = {{birth date|1928|5|12}}
| birth_place = Sullivan, Indiana, U.S.
| death_date = {{death date and age|1999|2|19|1928|5|12}}
| death_place =
| occupation = Writer, filk songwriter
| nationality = American
| period =
| genre = science fiction
| subject =
| movement =
| debut_works =
| influences =
| influenced =
| signature =
| website =
| footnotes =
}}
Robert Stratton "Buck" Coulson (May 12, 1928 – February 19, 1999) was an American science fiction writer, well-known fan, filk songwriter, fanzine editor and bookseller from Indiana.
Biography
He served as Secretary of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America from 1972 to 1974.[http://www.sfwa.org/news/coulson.htm Obituary in SFWA News] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070822121615/http://sfwa.org/news/coulson.htm |date=August 22, 2007 }}
Coulson and his wife, writer and filker Juanita Coulson, edited the mimeographed fanzine Yandro, which was nominated for the Hugo Award 10 years in a row, from 1959 through 1968, and won in 1965.[http://www.nesfa.org/data/LL/Hugos/hugos1965.html The Hugo Awards] Yandro featured Coulson's incisive reviews of books and, especially, fanzines.
Film critic and one-time active fan Roger Ebert wrote: "Locs (letters of comment) were the currency of payment for fanzine contributors; you wrote, and in the next issue got to read about what you had written. Today I can see my name on a full-page ad for a movie with disinterest, but what Harry Warner or Buck Coulson had to say about me – well, that was important."{{cite web | last =Ebert | first =Roger | title = Thought Experiments: How Propeller-Heads, BNFs, Sercon Geeks, Newbies, Recovering GAFIAtors, and Kids in the Basements Invented the World Wide Web, All Except for the Delivery System | work = Asimov's Science Fiction | year = 2004 | url =http://www.asimovs.com/_issue_0501/thoughtexperiments.shtml | accessdate = March 2, 2009 }}
Buck was a regular attendee, panelist, and bookseller at several Midwest science fiction conventions, including InConJunction and Chambanacon, as well as frequently attending Capricon, DucKon, Windycon, and Wiscon. He was frequently seen wearing a skunkskin cap. Characters modelled on and named after him appear in two novels by Wilson Tucker, To the Tombaugh Station and Resurrection Days.
Outside of science fiction, he worked as a technical writer. Coulson died on February 19, 1999, following a long illness.
Bibliography
Coulson's novels include But What of Earth? (1976, {{ISBN|0-373-72044-0}}) (with Piers Anthony), To Renew the Ages (1976, {{ISBN|0-373-72026-2}}), and Lazer Tag: Adventure No 1: High Spy (1987, {{ISBN|0-88038-515-4}}).
With Gene DeWeese, he wrote two novels set in science fiction fandom, Now You See It/Him/Them... (1975, {{ISBN|0-385-05624-9}}) and Charles Fort Never Mentioned Wombats (1977, {{ISBN|0-385-12111-3}}); and two Man from U.N.C.L.E novels under the pseudonym of Thomas Stratton, The Invisibility Affair and The Mind-Twisters Affair (both 1967). Thomas Stratton may be the only author to have a book accepted and the dedication rejected (the editor thought 'To my wives and child' was too risque for the intended audience).{{citation needed|date=January 2015}}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{isfdb name|id=Robert_Coulson|name=Robert Coulson}}
- [http://www.locusmag.com/SFAwards/Db/HugoNomList.html Locus Index to SF Awards]
- [http://fanac.org/fanzines/Yandro/ Yandro #122 Volume XI – No 3]
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Coulson, Robert}}
Category:20th-century American novelists
Category:Hugo Award–winning editors
Category:American male novelists
Category:American science fiction writers
Category:American speculative fiction editors
Category:American science fiction critics
Category:American male short story writers
Category:20th-century American short story writers
Category:20th-century American male writers
Category:American male non-fiction writers
{{US-sf-writer-stub}}