Ken Krueger

Frank Robinson, in his memoir, Not So Good a Gay Man (TOR, 2017), writes of "having a crush" on his friend, Ken Krueger, and almost making a pass at him during the Michicon.

For the rest of his life Krueger worked as a publisher, editor, and distributor for the comic and sci-fi industries. He published and released the first works of several science fiction and comic authors, including Greg Bear, Scott Shaw, Dave Stevens, and Jim Valentino. In 2009, Valentino called Krueger "my mentor".

Krueger and other co-founders were honored for their contributions by the San Diego Comic-Con International in 2009.

Krueger died of a heart attack on November 21, 2009 in Lockport, New York at age 83, eighteen days after the passing of fellow Comic-Con founder Shel Dorf. Krueger was survived by his eight children.

Krueger moved to Buffalo, New York, in 2002. Retired, but not quite done, Krueger continued to attend the local Buffalo-area pulp and comic conventions with his lifelong pal, and fellow co-founder of Pegasus Publications and the Buffalo Fantasy League, Paul Ganly.

Food for Demons (1971) consisted of story selections and “appreciations” from Doc Smith, Mel Hunter, Forrest J Ackerman, A.E. van Vogt, Ray Bradbury, Walter J. Daugherty, Henry M. Eichner, Walt Leibscher, and of course, one by Ken Krueger.

Food for Demons (Shroud: Publishers, San Diego, CA, 1971, 154 pp., $3.95) was printed for Ken Krueger by Donald M. Grant in 1959, but not bound until 1969. The cover was done in 1970. Some are hand-colored by either Henry M. Eichner or Krueger. The “true” hardcovers (13 issued to contributors and friends) reflect the original New York address of Shroud. However, all of the paper copies reflect Krueger's mid-1960s move to San Diego.

Krueger was also an inspiration and focal point for an ambitious group of young comic book fans who planned and hosted the event that became San Diego Comic-Con International, serving as Chairman of the group’s first multi-day event, the San Diego Golden State Comic-Con held August 1–3, 1970.

On August 1–3, 1970, Ken Krueger hosted the first local comic book convention. The first San Diego Golden State Comic Convention, held in the basement of the U.S. Grant Hotel. The Con, for its day, was a rousing success. The U.S. Grant Hotel was not the snazziest of venues, but it was the only one in town willing to risk hosting an event that would garner such a low bar-attendance. Ken Krueger was instrumental with founding the event. Krueger invited his long time friend from science fiction fandom, Earl Kemp, Vice President of Greenleaf Classics, to speak at the Con. Earl Kemp followed San Diego Evening Tribune editorial cartoonist Bob Stevens onto the podium.

By 1968 Krueger had relocated to San Diego, and partnered with a local pulp collector, John Hull, to open a bookstore in Ocean Beach, California. John Hull, who lived in Chula Vista, was a neighbor of Greg Bear, and let the precocious teen have the run of his garage-stored science fiction collection, thus bringing Bear into fandom.

Kenneth J. Krueger used his own name for his next publishing operation (1958-1965) after Shroud had lapsed; even though Krueger kept selling his leftover copies as well as being a general book dealer.

Under the Kenneth J. Krueger imprint, Krueger published such notable classic titles from the early predawn era of science fiction and horror literature as: The Moon Maker, by Arthur Train and Robert Wood (1958); and what is undoubtedly the very best, now long forgotten, horror story ever written, The Fearsome Island, by Albert Kinross (1965).

Shroud: Publishers, begun in 1954, was financed, in the beginning at least, by one Robert J. Fritz, a friend and fellow member of the Buffalo Fantasy League. Kenneth J. Krueger was editor-in-chief, and became so identified with Shroud that few people even remember R.J. Fritz. The press was also associated with a paperback publisher, SSR (Snappy Space Rocket) Publications (including early works by one of the original five Advent:Publishers founders Robert Briney writing as Don Duane). All of it—Shroud and SSR—passed finally to Ken Krueger, who retained the back stock, the copyrights, and the Shroud name as a series title.

Under the Shroud imprint, Krueger published such titles as: The Maker of Moons, by Robert W. Chambers (1954); Look Behind You, by Arthur J. Banks (1954); The Female Demon, by William McDougle (1955); and perhaps his best-known publication, The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath, by H.P. Lovecraft (1955); which was followed by one of his least-known titles, The Motive Key, by Jack Woodford (1956).

Krueger began editing his first science fiction fanzine, Abortions, in 1952. Science fiction writer Rog Phillips reviewed the first issue in his The Club House column in the February 1952 issue of Amazing Stories.

Not content with editing his own fanzine, Krueger was a regular contributor to the Buffalo Fantasy League's official club fanzine, Hyperopia, which was edited by fellow club member, Robert J. Fritz. Even as far back as July 1952, when the first issue of Hyperopia appeared, readers knew Ken Krueger and held him in very high regard.

In 1952 Krueger was nominated and elected as Progressive Fandom's candidate to the post of president of the National Fantasy Fan Federation. Alas, in his self-effacing manner, he declined the nomination.

Grant continued in the military, went on to college after he was discharged, and in 1949 started The Grandon Company; still hooked on publishing science fiction and fantasy.

Of some small note: The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath as published by Shroud was the very first appearance of this title in hardcover. August Derleth had published the story for the first time in his periodical, Arkham Sampler (Winter 1948 issue) under his Arkham House imprint. Krueger, with his Shroud imprint published the first separate appearance and the first hardcover of this title. It is the most elusive and costly of all Lovecraft's printed works, equal to if not exceeding even The Outsider and Others, the first hardcover title published by Arkham House.

Kenneth J. Krueger, Jr. was born in upstate New York. Krueger was a Buffalo, New York, based member and co-founder of the Buffalo Fantasy League, Bohemia Club, and publisher of the semi-pro Pegasus Publications—most noted for the first appearance of science fiction writer Wilson Tucker’s Prison Planet in Space Trails (Pegasus Publications, Summer 1947).

The Slan Shack, which first appeared at the end of October 1943, was where a batch of active Battle Creek, Michigan, science fiction fans lived for nearly two years. Here dwelt the Ashley's, Walt Liebscher, and Jack Weidenbeck, and later noted science fiction author E. Everett Evans. They all moved en masse on September 7, 1945, to another site on Bixel Street, Los Angeles, cheek by jowl with the LASFS (Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society) clubroom. (It was the ground floor of a duplex next door. Its upper floor, “Slan Shack Annex”, was rented occasionally to struggling fen and pros.) The place didn't break up till the building was torn down in March 1948 to make room for an office building.

In 1945 Grant-Hadley Enterprises published its first, and only, modest effort. It wasn't a book; rather it was a 26-page pamphlet. Rhode Island on Lovecraft consisted of five articles on H.P. Lovecraft by Rhode Islanders who had been associated with the writer during his lifetime. Two editions of this title were printed.

In 1945, The Buffalo Book Company was formed by Donald M. Grant, Thomas G. Hadley of Providence, Rhode Island, and Kenneth J. Krueger, who lived in Buffalo, New York (hence the name). Krueger even designed their distinctive colophon.

The fourth Michicon was held at Slan Shack from June 17 to 19, 1944. While in attendance, the young Ziff-Davis office boy, Frank Robinson, showed extreme valor by publishing two issues of Fanewscard during the con. Some 23 fans were there, including travelers Lynn Bridges, of Florida, and a seventeen-year-old Ken Krueger of Buffalo.

In the fall of 1944, over Labor Day weekend, Krueger hosted the first BuffaloCon, in his mother's house. In attendance were Don Wollheim and Elsia Balter (later Mrs. Wollheim), Damon Knight, and Larry Shaw. Oliver “Ollie” Saari of Flint, Michigan, a mechanical engineer working for GM, was there. As well as Frank Robinson, all the way from Chicago.

The original Battle Creek Slan Shack opened on October 30, 1943, when the Ashley's bought the eight-room house at 25 Popular Street, and simultaneously held the first Michicon.

As a resident of the New York area, he attended the first World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon) on July 2–4, 1939, at age twelve, in New York City, the first science fiction convention ever held. Already an ardent science fiction fan, by age seventeen Krueger was also a member of the Slan Shack crowd (along with a very young Frank M. Robinson, Jr.).

Krueger began writing letters to science fiction magazines in 1938, at the age of eleven, and was an attendee of the very first “scientifiction” convention held in 1939, officially making him a member of the elite-if-obscure group known as First Fandom.

Ken Krueger (October 7, 1926 – November 21, 2009) was an American publisher and retailer. Krueger co-founded and organized the first San Diego Comic-Con International convention, then called "San Diego's Golden State Comic-Con," in 1970. Krueger co-created the annual convention with a group of San Diego friends, including Shel Dorf, Richard Alf and Mike Towry.