If liking science-fiction, horror and fantasy is just a "phase" that most young boys abandon when they mature, Forrest J. Ackerman doesn't ever want to grow up.
"Well, the way I look at it is that I've lived 81 years, and I only wasted the first nine," said Ackerman during a telephone interview from his Hollywood Hills "Ackermansion," the 18-room "Fort Knox" of science fiction, horror and fantasy memorabilia. "It took me only that long to find the real love of my life, and it remains a very passionate affair to this day."With more than six decades of experience in editing science-fiction stories and magazines, Ackerman is known as the authority in that genre (he is also the man who coined the term "sci-fi").
In fact, "Forrest J. Ackerman's World of Science Fiction," a new hardcover "coffee table" book, traces the history of science-fiction, beginning with Mary Shelley's "The Man Demon" (later known as "Frankenstein") and including some of today's blockbuster films.
He is also the founder of Famous Monsters of Filmland, the magazine that presaged many of today's horror publications, and he really does live in the Ackermansion, his stately home and one of the most unusual museums in the world. More than 35,000 spectators have toured the mansion, which he opens to the public most weekends, with obscure but valuable books, magazines, film stills and other collectibles within its walls.
Judging from the reaction to some of his recent guest appearances (5,000 people in Cleveland turned out for one of his guest speaking engagements), Ackerman isn't the only one who loves the fantastic.
"I think people are tired of hearing stories about murders and broken marriages - they get that kind of thing in real life all the time. Besides, it's sort of depressing to hear about real-life horrors," he said. "People want to hear stories that will take them away from their lives and maybe give them some new outlook on their troubles - or at least scare them into forgetting about them for awhile."
Of course, it helps that he brings along some of his most valuable memorabilia for those appearances - including life masks of actors Boris Karloff and Vincent Price, as well as a rare, original hardcover copy of "Dracula," signed by author Bram Stoker and actors Bela Lugosi and Christopher Lee.
"I can't bear to be away from some of it for very long. It's just very reassuring to be around all of my treasures," he said. "It's always hard to select what I'm going to bring with me."
As an example of his encyclopedic knowledge of the three "fantastic" genres, Ackerman can still rattle off scenes and dialogue from the first fantasy movie he saw: 1922's "One Glorious Day," which featured a mischievous ghost character named "Ec" (short for "ectoplasm," or ghostly perspiration).
"Nobody else in the theater was very impressed with the picture, but I found it hysterical," he said.
But Ackerman said he is less impressed with the sci-fi and horror films he has seen lately.
"Science-fiction and horror has never been more popular than it is now in the movies, but it's sad to see that no one seems to be concerned with telling a story anymore," he said. "It's all effects, one after another, with no real characters."
Instead of making sequels to "Independence Day" or "Scream," Ackerman would like to see filmmakers draw on some of the classic novels, like Arthur C. Clarke's "Childhood's End" or Alfred Bester's "The Demolished Man."
"There are great stories out there," he said. "Why anyone isn't using them is a great mystery to me."
Ackerman's upcoming Utah appearance actually isn't his first. The sci-fi/horror historian was a featured guest at one of BYU's annual "Life, the Universe and Everything" symposiums and had a longtime friendship with the late Utah writer Raymond F. Jacobs (credited as one of the writers of the 1954 science-fiction film "This Island Earth").
He said Utah is an untapped science fiction and horror hotbed, with the next Alfred Hitchcock or H.G. Wells just waiting to be discovered.
"It's always the people in the most normal-looking places that surprise you," Ackerman said. "There's more going on in Utah than it would appear."
Ackerman will appear at the Tower Theatre, 876 S. 900 East, on Friday from 9 p.m. to midnight. He will also appear at the Institute of Terror, 300 W. 1300 South, on Saturday from 7-9:30 p.m.