The Frank Arnold Papers
by Frank Arnold

edited by Rob Hansen

ISBN 978-1-916508-27-9 (trade paperback)
ISBN 978-1-913451-35-6 (ebook)

Ansible Editions, October 2024

Cover photo, left to right: Ted Carnell, Ted Tubb, and Frank Arnold at the 1952 London convention. Photo from the Vince Clarke collection.

The Frank Arnold Papers was first published in ebook form only in December 2017. It has now been much expanded, from 44,000 to 58,000 words, for the first ever trade paperback released simultaneously with the revised ebook in October 2024. 129 paperback pages, with several photos of the author. All proceeds from sales go to the TransAtlantic Fan Fund.

Frank Arnold was a long-time regular of the London First Thursday science-fiction pub meetings from their beginning in the 1940s until his death in 1987, and kept the famous Visitors’ Book. He had been active in British SF fandom since the very early days of the 1930s. Although he published one SF collection, a handful of articles and several book reviews, most of his nonfiction never appeared in print. Rob Hansen has compiled, edited and annotated this generous selection of his essays, reviews and memoirs, including much previously unpublished work. There is an introduction by Michael Moorcock, a historical foreword by Rob Hansen and a personal afterword by Dave Rowe.

From the Introduction
by Michael Moorcock

Frank’s career as an sf writer was pretty much over by the time we met. I liked him a great deal and respected him considerably so I was glad to republish the fine long essay I included in New Worlds: An Anthology (Fontana/Flamingo, 1983; revised Thunder’s Mouth Press, 2004) because Frank had the scope and knowledge to give me exactly the perspective I felt we needed. It seemed fitting that one of the magazine’s founders should be included in what was intended to be a kind of memorial to my version of New Worlds, remembering that it had originally been founded by fans and professionals pooling their enthusiasm and sustained by amateurs and professionals, just as so much else is achieved in science fiction. Frank was a living corner-stone of New Worlds and his involvement with it was as much part of British science fiction as the magazine itself.