S P A C E L I G H T
INDEX
Name: BUSBY, Francis Marion
Aged: 83
Born: March 11, 1921
Where: Indianapolis, IN
Died: February 17, 2005
Where: Seattle, WA
Interred: _ _ _
Married: Elinor Doub
When: 1954
Awards: Shared Hugo Awards in 1959 and 1960 for Best Fanzine: Cry of the Nameless.
F. M. Busby
(And when I started the first one, I thought I was only beginning a rather bitter little novelette.)
Life is full of surprises. The good ones are worth the rest."
Buz made his career move at about age 50, becoming a free-lance science fiction writer in 1970. But even then he missed his calling. He was a very intelligent, calm, logical, get-it-done-right person....in short, he could have been a national leader, a born diplomat. The effects of that you will see in all of his books and stories.
Even though he started late, Buz wrote over 20 books, 40 plus short stories, and multiple articles, when most people's energies are waning. He created two series, the Rissa Kerguelen (Hulzein Dynasty) and the Demu alien novels. He had been actively involved in science fiction for about 20 years before he began professional writing, so he hit the floor running...as his name was widely known. And it didn't hurt to have a supporting help-mate like Elinor, who was with him every step of the way.
We met at Pittcon in 1960 and stayed in touch...often disagreeing but never becoming angry with one another. The following is from a 1998 email in answer to my query about why I hadn't seen any stories from him : "No, I haven't been writing fiction for some time. Many if not most of us "midlist" writers have been frozen out like a third party on an Eskimo honeymoon. The IRS started it by getting the Thor Power Tools decision stretched to cover an inventory tax on books in publishers' warehouses (so they don't keep 'em in print no more), and the bookchains wrapped it up by setting one book's GROSS order on that writer's previous book's NET sales. 4-5 books under those rules, and you're road kill; a publisher can't be expected to buy a book the chains won't pay out on."
With the exception of two turns in the U.S. Army and some time spent in Alaska, Buz was a life-long resident of Washington state.
But back in Indiana, where Buz was born, there had been another Francis Marion Busby, who lived several generations earlier. Of him it was said by one of his political rivals: "Vengeance had no abiding place in his heart. He never suffered a wrong he did not freely forgive. The virtue of goodness in Francis M. Busby made him great. He never made a brow look dark, nor caused a tear but when he died." And the apple never falls far from the tree.
PEN NAMES:
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Mine here.
OBITUARY: Seattle Times.
WWII DATA: Army SN 20943392, Francis M. Busby II, res Whitman county, Washington. Enlisted Spokane, WA, on July 23, 1943. Pvt. Born 1921 in Indiana. White. 2 years of college.
