Bio:Jon D. Swartz

Jon David Swartz, born December 28, 1934, was a psychologist in mundane life (Ph. D., 1969). He retired from Central Counties Center for MH-MR Services (Temple, Texas) in 1999, where he had been Chief of Psychological Services for ten years, to write full-time on popular culture topics. He has been a fan of popular culture since the early 1940s.

As a teenager, he worked on a science fiction (SF) fanzine, and was a member of a SF club. Later, at The University of Texas, he belonged to SF clubs and worked on club fanzines. A charter member of the Executive Board of the Academy of Comic-Book Fans and Collectors in 1964, he is currently a member of the National Fantasy Fan Federation (N3F), First Fandom, and CAPA – and is a former member of various other SF and old-time radio organizations.

With Robert C. Reinehr he wrote the Handbook of Old-Time Radio: A Comprehensive Guide to Golden Age Radio Listening and Collecting (1993); he and Reinehr had another book on OTR, Historical Dictionary of Old-Time Radio, published in 2008. This book was reissued in 2010 as a paperback with the title of The A to Z of Old-Time Radio.

Swartz has served as President of N3F (2010-2011), Reviews Editor of N3F’s fanzine, The National Fantasy Fan (2003-2011), as club Historian (since 2004), as a member of the club’s Directorate (since 2008), and as a Contributing Editor to FanDominion, the club's website. In addition, he has been Special Projects Editor for First Fandom’s fanzine, ScientiFiction: The First Fandom Report, since 2002. Since 2004 he has been writing articles on paperback books for the pop culture magazine Paperback Parade and on big little books for The Big Little Times. He also has written articles and reviewed SF (and science) books for other print publications, including Science Books & Films, and for various websites on the Internet.

Swartz was twice recipient of the N3F’s President’s Award (Franson Award) in 2005 and in 2007, and won the club's Kaymar Award in 2010; he was also nominated as outstanding fan in the club’s Neffer Awards competition in 2005 and 2010. His history of N3F was published on the club’s website, and most of it was reprinted in installments in The National Fantasy Fan. He began contributing a series of Historical Vignettes to The Fan early in 2007.

His SF publications include two Fandbooks for the N3F, Pseudonyms of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Authors (2010) and The Hugo Awards for Best Novel (2013), and a book for members of The Big Little Book Club, The Buck Rogers Big Little Books and Other Collectibles (2013) [with Larry Lowery].

In 2006 he became a member of the Carboniferous Amateur Press Alliance (CAPA) and contributor of his fanzine, The Ultraverse, to this apa’s monthly 5X5 mailings. When he writes on psychological topics, he calls his fanzine Cognitive Dissonance.