Did you know one of science fiction’s oldest pioneers, longest-running fans and most beloved figures called Bloomington home until just several months ago?
The sad fact of the matter is this beloved figure, while famous across the land and beyond, was something of a hidden treasure locally.
Wilson “Bob” Tucker was a man of modest means, not a publicity-seeker. His work — around 150 editions of 24 novels and 50-odd short stories — spoke for itself.
Much of it was science fiction, but a lot of it was also mystery and adventure. The books’ settings were often Bloomington-Normal and McLean County.
When we first visited him in his east-side Bloomington residence back in the mid-’80s, he was 70, and already retreating from active duty.
Never mind that he was a winner of science fiction’s highest honor, the Hugo Award (for fan magazine writing). Never mind that his 1970 novel “Year of the Quiet Sun” had won the prestigious John W. Campbell Memorial Award.
Never mind that, as we spoke in the summer of 1985, the book was being readied for filming by legendary producer Dino De Laurentiis (alas, it never came to be, and perhaps just as well — Tucker called the script adaptation by another writer “hilarious”).
Tucker told us writing was “just” a hobby and he was “just” a fan. He only indulged in it when the weather was foul or he wasn’t attending a science fiction convention, which was about once a month.
He said his greatest satisfaction was gazing at those shelves bending under the weight of those 150 editions.
Now that he is gone — he died Friday just a month shy of his 92nd birthday — we’re concerned that even that legacy may be imperiled outside of the world of SF fandom. Most of his books, several of them award-winners, are long out of print.
But Tucker himself is still revered, assures Keith Stokes, who runs the news section of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America Web site.
Stokes said memorial observances will be forthcoming at “many upcoming science fiction conventions,” that “Bob was a national figure … one of the two best-known science fiction fans of all time.”
Says Stokes, “Many of the traditions in science fiction can be traced to Bob.” He is credited with coining the term “space opera.” Tucker is immortalized in the Oxford English Dictionary via the term “Tuckerism,” the practice of using names of real people in stories. He began publishing one of the world’s first SF fan newsletters, The Planetoid, in 1932.
In 2003, he was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame.
Arthur Wilson “Bob” Tucker was born Nov. 23, 1914, in Deer Creek, and raised in Bloomington. He was a stage electrician at Illinois State University and projectionist at Twin City movie theaters.
Success began in the early ’40s with a story sale to Super Science Novels, edited by celebrated SF author Frederik Pohl.
In 1941, Tucker’s “The Chinese Doll” featured a detective named Charlie Horne, was set in Bloomington and led to a series of Horne novels. With “City in the Sea” (1951), he moved into science fiction, and with “The Long Loud Silence” (1952) he confirmed his standing as one of science fiction’s leading lights.
An ESP thriller, 1954’s “Wild Talent,” became his biggest seller, and 1957’s “The Lincoln Hunters” was his most interesting use of local terrain (time travelers from the future are sent back to 1856 to record Lincoln’s lost speech in Bloomington).
Greatest of all, perhaps, was 1970’s award-winning “Year of the Quiet Sun,” another time-travel tale.
Earlier this year, Tucker lost his wife, Fern, and moved away from town to live with a son.
Bob may have been a hidden treasure locally but in Heyworth during the 50’s and 60’s, he was very special to my family–he and his family were our neighbors and best friends. When we were young, we didn’t know that he was a famous writer–he never bragged about it. We just knew him as the guy who would sit out back with our dad, have a beer and smoke a smelling cigar. He was the guy that would bring out his telescope on special nights and teach us about the stars and moon. He was the guy that would pile us into his van and take us to “town” to see the movies. Most of us realized he was famous for the first time when we discovered his picture on the back of a book at the library and we loved to read the dedications to see if he mention one of his kids or someone else we knew. He won’t be forgotten by a bunch of kids who grew up on Poplar St. in Heyworth–he is a character who will always be fondly remembered. Thanks Bob.
That love of children carried well into his later life,in his 60’s I needed to go to the grocery store next door to the house he was visiting, it was easier for me & quieter for the others in the store if I could find someone to watch her. I drove by that house on my way into the parkng lot. On the porch were Tucker & the Author he was visiting, Robin Bailey, they asked what I was doing, I told them & Tucker offered to watch her, while I shopped, I gave him her bottle, she was about 1, but not her diaper bag, some things you just do not expect impromptu help to do. Sure enough when I got back, she was howling her head off, she was sopping, so I changed her right there on the porch. We also share the same birth date, just a few years in between us, like about 39, plus or minus a few hours. Once I got to take him to Starlight Theater to see the folk Opera Porgy & Bess preformed as an Opera by the Houston Lyric Opera Company & received a small lesson in backstage operations & lighting, almost as interesting as the opera, that was before the baby. our seats were on Tuesdays to give us time to get home from cons before we had to stay up late again for Starlight John was on call that night so he really could not go & I did not want to go by myself so I shopped the idea around the local fen [plural for sf & f fans] but no takers. Finally Tucker who was visiting Robin again, said it would be nice to see such a production as he was usually on the other side of things. We went & had a lovely time discussing various aspects of the show on the way home. From Kansas City, MO
when Bob Tucker moved to Heyworth, his son, was one year behind me in school. We became friends. He told me that his dad wrote books and I did not believe him. But, to my amazement, he did indeed write books, wonderful books. I have several of them autographed to me. Wilson Tucker, please say hello to Robert Heinlein for me and rest in peace SIR. Your dear friend Bill Coomer magician.
Bob was friend, mentor and surrogate parent for many, including myself. I met him in 1975 at my first con when I was 21. There were 40 years between us-but we got along like we grew up together. Bob’s sense of fun and playfulness was always balanced with a generousity of spirit and gentlemanly, even courtly behavior. He was loved and respected in the science fiction community. He will be missed more than I can say.
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Interesting post. I came across this blog by accident, but it was a good accident. I have now bookmarked your blog for future use. Best wishes Torrie
I lived in Heyworth, IL from 1957-1960, graduating from Heyhi in 1960. I enjoyed Sci-fi, and I remember looking for Sci-fi books in the town library. The librarian told me that a science fiction writer lived right there in Heyworth, and she introduced me to the works of Wilson Tucker. I read everything he wrote that she had. I don’t think I ever actually met Mr. Tucker or talked to him, though. I went off to college, and became a teacher and professional photographer. I’m now retired, and more for the fun of it than anything, I have started writing a novel. It’s a mystery, though, not Sci-fi. I was needing a name for a character in my book–a science fiction writer–and the name Wilson Tucker, long dormant in my brain, popped up. I looked him up on the Internet and found all sorts of interesting information, including the fact that “tuckerization” is the term for using the names of friends in fiction books. In his honor, I may very well do just that.
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