Fred Patten

Fred Patten
Born Frederick Walter Patten
(1940-12-11) December 11, 1940
Los Angeles, California, United States
Occupation Writer, historian
Subject Science fiction, fantasy, manga, anime, furry fandom

Frederick Walter Patten (born 1940) is known for his work as a historian in the science fiction, fantasy,[1] anime, manga, and furry fandoms, where he has gained great distinction through a substantial contribution to both print and online books, magazines, and other media.

Background

Patten was born in Los Angeles on December 11, 1940 to Shirley Marie (Jones) Patten and Beverly Walter Patten. He has two younger sisters: Loel Anne Patten (born 1943) and Sherrill Clare Patten (born 1947). He learned to read at a young age, starting with comic strips in both the Los Angeles Times and Examiner, and later was introduced to Walt Disney's Comics and Stories around 1945. Much of his early reading also came from magazines and books, and he showed an interest in superhero comic books as well.

Science fiction became a key interest around age 9, and Patten began to collect books from Ace Books, Ballantine Books, and other publishers around that time, as well as major science fiction magazines including Astounding, F&SF, and Galaxy Science Fiction. In the late 1950s, he became involved in the science-fiction fandom. He entered the University of California at Los Angeles in 1958, and its graduate School of Library Science in 1962. He became active in fandom after discovering the Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society in 1960. By the time he graduated with a Master's degree in Library Science in 1963, he had been writing for science fiction fanzines and publishing his own stories for three years. His Master's thesis was on the books of Andre Norton.

Work in anime and F/SF fandoms

In 1972, Patten partnered with Richard Kyle to create Graphic Story Bookshop in Long Beach, California. In an interview posted on the (now defunct) website of Pulp Magazine, Patten said he had discovered manga at Westercon, one of the largest science fiction conventions on the West Coast, in 1970. At the time, he had been aware of television shows like Astro Boy, but had no idea then that they were Japanese. Through his bookshop, he wrote to Japanese publishers, asking to import their manga, achieving some success and in the process becoming a pioneer in the anime and manga fandom. He was one of the founders of the Cartoon/Fantasy Organization, the first American anime fan club, in 1977.[2]

During this time, Patten worked in numerous library positions, notably that of technical catalogue librarian at Hughes Aircraft Company's Company Technical Document Center (CTDC), in El Segundo, Calif., from 1969 to 1990. After leaving that position, he served from 1991 to 2002 as the first employee of Streamline Pictures, one of America's pioneering anime specialty production companies, founded by Carl Macek and Jerry Beck in 1988. He has been a presenter at major conventions and guest lecturer at universities in the U.S. and Australia.

Patten wrote numerous monthly columns and individual articles for Animation World Magazine, Newtype U.S.A., the Comics Buyer's Guide, and other magazines, including serving as the Official Editor for the Rowrbrazzle Amateur Press Association, until March 2005, when he suffered a stroke. No longer able to keep his collection, which had grown over more than 40 years, he donated everything – almost 900 boxes (~220,000 items ) of comic books, records, tapes, anime, manga, programs from science-fiction conventions dating back to the 1930s, convention T-shirts, paperbacks, and an array of sci-fi fanzines back to the 1930s – to the J. Lloyd Eaton Collection at the University of California, Riverside, which houses the world's largest collection of science fiction, fantasy and horror .

He continues to write online reviews of furry-themed stories and novels.

Bibliography

As author
As editor
As contributor

Comic books

Stories by Fred Patten have appeared in comics including Mangazine, The Ever-Changing Palace, Albedo: Anthropomorphics, and Furrlough (which included the series "Theriopangrams," in 36 issues between 1997 and 2003).

Patten adapted into English volumes 2–7 of The Skull Man by Kazuhiko Shimamoto; created by Shotaro Ishinomori.

Filmography

Anime staff

Tekkaman, the Space Knight, (1984, TV) – Writer/adapter
Robot Carnival (1991) – Publicity
Fist of the North Star (1991) – Publicity
Vampire Hunter D (1992) – Marketing and Promotion
The Castle of Cagliostro (1992) – Translation
Nadia (1992–1993, TV) – Story Editor
Neo-Tokyo (1993, featurette) – Unit Publicist
Silent Möbius (1993, featurette) – Unit Publicist
The Professional: Golgo 13 (1993, featurette) – Unit Publicist
Wicked City (1993) – Unit Publicist
Lupin III: Tales of the Wolf (1993–1994, TV) – Story Editor
Crying Freeman (1993–1995, featurette) – Publicity
Doomed Megalopolis (1993–1994, featurettes – Story Editor
Dirty Pair: Project Eden (1994) – Story Editor
Dirty Pair: Flight 005 Conspiracy (1994) – Story Editor
8 Man After (1994, featurettes) – Script Editor
Lily-C.A.T. (1994) – Publicity
8 Man (1995, live-action) – Script Editor
Lupin III: The Mystery of Mamo (1995) – Story Editor
Crimson Wolf (1995) – Story Editor
Babel II (1995, featurette) – Story Editor
Casshan, Robot Hunter (1995, featurettes) – Story Editor
Barefoot Gen (feature, 1995) – Story Editor
Megazone 23, Part 1 (1995) – Story Editor

Accolades

References

  1. Martin Goodman; Fred Patten. "Fire and Ice". The Animated Movie Guide. p. 84. ISBN 978-1-55652-591-9.
  2. Patten, Fred (2004). Watching Anime, Reading Manga: 25 Years of Essays and Reviews. Stone Bridge Press. p. 24. ISBN 1-880656-92-2.

External links

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