Donald A. Wollheim

Donald A. Wollheim (1914-1990) was a science fiction fan, fanzine editor, and professional editor and publisher. He founded the Fantasy Amateur Press Association in 1937, the Futurians science fiction club in 1938, and the publishing company DAW Books in 1971. He was also one of the group of Futarians barred from the 1939 Worldcon (aka The Great Exclusion Act).
He married fellow Futurian Elise Balter. See Wikipedia for more.
See also .
== Conflicts ==
Wollheim was involved in a number of feuds during his time in fandom. He was often personally disliked even by those who shared his politics or were on good terms with other members of the Futurians. He was featured as a minor villain in The Convention of 1960, a humorous story written in 1939 (post-Worldcon) by Milton A. Rothman, who had some leftist politics himself and was friends with Robert A. W. Lowndes. A 1938 story by William S. Sykora ("The Thousandth Raid") had modeled some characters after science fiction notables, including John B. Michel as "John the Silent" and Wollheim as "Don Magong". The story was most likely written before the Wollheim-Sykora feud, but the depiction was immediately recognized by reader Willis Conover, who wrote to Fantascience Digest to identify the character as "Don the Terrible": "Who else but Wollheim?"Willis Conover: Letter printed in Fantascience Digest #5 pg. 14 (July 1938)
In 1935, he banded a group of science fiction authors together against Hugo Gernsback's Wonder Stories, charging Wonder Stories with failing to pay for manuscripts.
According to Sam Moskowitz, one of Wollheim's archenemies, Wollheim had chosen Wonder Stories at random; Moskowitz claimed other publications were equally late about paying their authors. He said that contrary to popular opinion at the time, John B. Michel and William S. Sykora hadn't been involved in Wollheim's campaign against Wonder Stories and the Science Fiction League, but being lumped in with Wollheim and expelled from the Science Fiction League made them into his firm allies against the SFL. Sykora and Wollheim were allies for a time in several other minor feuds, but they came into conflict that destroyed both the International Scientific Association and the Queens Science Fiction League.
Sykora now allied himself with James V. Taurasi and Sam Moskowitz as the Triumvirs of New Fandom and the new Queens Science Fiction League. They would remain Wollheim's enemies from then on. After the Great Exclusion Act in 1939, Wollheim was vociferous in his own defense and that of the other Futurians. Robert A. W. Lowndes was his most vocal defender among the Futurians. When Sykora faded out of active fandom, Moskowitz succeeded him as their primary enemy.
In 1939, Wollheim had an article printed in Fantascience Digest in which he stated that publishers Street & Smith were in financial difficulties. A terse letter from Street & Smith appeared in Fantascience Digest #12, threatening a libel case. Editor Robert A. Madle retracted the statement and apologized. James V. Taurasi's Fantasy-News pounced, and Wollheim threatened Fantasy-News with a libel case himself over accusations that he was a member of the Communist Party.David Ritter for First Fandom Experience: The Hole Story: Fake News and Parenting in Early Fandom. April 17, 2021.
After The Great Exclusion Act, public opinion began to shift on Wollheim as the Triumvirs (Sykora especially) were now seen as the primary fandom troublemakers:
Wollheim would later feud with the Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society, which had publicly supported the Futurians after the Great Exclusion Act.
== Politics ==
Beginning in the 1930s, Wollheim identified as a Communist. In 1938 he was strongly opposed to the isolationist movement in the United States and United Kingdom. (See In Defense of Michelism). By late 1939, though, he was vehemently against to the United States entering World War II, as he felt the war would lead to an economic depression that would be bad for science fiction. However, he predicted that if "the confused state of the world" improved, it would also be bad for science fiction, since fewer people would be seeking escapism.
== Fanworks ==
=== Zines ===
* Science Fiction Progress
=== Meta Essays ===
* The First Side - The True Side, Science Fiction Collector,
* Phantagraphy, The Phantagraph #33 (1941)
== References ==
Category:Industry
Category:Science Fiction Fandom
Category:1990 Deaths
Category:Deceased