An old rival and later-day friend has died. I'd only just got over the surprise of J.P. Morgan passing away around New Year's.

When I was a fresh new face in SF fandom, there was already a Big Name Fan in Toronto. His name was Mike Glicksohn, and he wore leathers, grew a bushy beard and rode a motorcycle. He also published a fanzine called Energumen that was highly regarded by other fans. Mike gave me my first look at a mimeograph machine and even allowed me to touch the handle of his. Despite sharing a love of fandom, we didn't really have much in common. Mike watched American baseball. I watched cartoons. Mike read Steven King. I read Roman history. Mike played poker. I built model cars. He drank whiskey and I drank Kahlua. It wasn't long before the instinct to emulate Mike turned into rivalry instead.

That phase of our relationship only lasted a few years, I’m happy to say. Eventually we realized that we moved in very different circle sin fandom, so there was no reason to feel as though we were in competition. Ironically, Mike was beginning to reduce the amount of time he spent on his fanac. I suppose, by then, he had achieved most of his goals. Mike had been the GoH of the 1975 Australian Worldcon, and he had won a Hugo for his fanzine. For a number of years he was celebrated as fandom's Number One letter hack. Just when it seemed as though I was really getting into my stride, though, Mike was concentrating more on his friends and home. He even cut back on the number of conventions he attended, saving money to pay down on a house.

In time, I'd reduce the amount of time I spent with SF fandom as well. I wandered for about twenty years in the wilderness of furry fandom instead, barely keeping up old contacts. A few years ago, though, I began to trace my steps back to SF fandom and started contributing heavily to fanzines again.

By that time, Mike had retired from his career teaching high school math. I saw him from time to time at local parties. Or sometimes we’d exchange a few words at the local fandom’s monthly Thursday-night get-together at The Silver Fox. Mike also joked about being retired from fandom. But, he was also battling cancer.

The struggle involved a couple of surgeries and a bout of chemotherapy each time. It seemed to go well at first, but the tumors reappeared and then Mike would begin another round of therapy. He was very reluctant to draw attention to himself and kept the news to a rather tight circle.

The last time I saw Mike was with his wife, Susan, last Fall. It was at a Toronto convention, and for the first time in a long while we just sat on a sofa and talked. He looked quite well, though he was plainly tired. He only came the one night.

This evening I got a note from a friend that said Mike had died. He had suffered a stroke!

About four years ago, as part of my return to SF fandom, I edited an elaborate CD Rom that collected all of Mike Glicksohn's important fanzines in .pdf form. I also added a photo section, Mike's only professionally published short story, an introduction and a long interview I conducted with Mike as features. At the time I produced “Strange Voyages” I had a premonition it would be a sort of memorial. Mike's vitality lasted four more years… but as it turned out, my premonition was right.

Anyone who would like to know more about Mike Glicksohn can find a sensitively written obituary by Mike Glyer at -- http://file770.com/?p=5545