CARL JOSHUA BRANDON

from Fancyclopedia 2

The name of a reputed Berkeley fan for several years; a Bay Area fandom hoax up until the SoLACon, and after that a sort of house name for Berkeley Fandom. Carl's first name appeared in a letter, February 1953, but he did not really become an actifan till the middle of 1956. From that time up to the revelation of the hoax during the SoLACon he was one of the most popular writers in fandom. (His specialty, rather appropriately, was parody.)

About 75% of Brandon was the work of Terry Carr, with Rike, Graham, Ellik and Stewart seconding him or using the name independently from time to time. A mythos gradually was built up; Carl was a Negro, a Moldy Fig [traditionalist jazz fan] in musical tastes, ktp. In 1958, Carl even established a false identity for himself (!!) as "Norman Sanfield Harris" a sercon-fuggheaded type. And when the gaff was blown Carl was well ahead in the voting race for FAPA OE, after having been drafted to serve as OA of the Cult.

Comparison with the Joan Carr and John A Bristol hoaxes gives Carl Brandon honors for the most successful hoax of all fan history; neither of the others successfully ran for office in a national/international fan group; Bristol, tho living in fanhabited territory, was not notably active; JoCa, tho hyperactive as a writer and publisher, "lived" in the Middle East (with the British forces there). Brandonhaus [he used the addresses of inactive local fans] was located in a very hotbed of actifandom and specialized in crifanac, yet the hoax remained unrevealed for over two years.

There actually was a Carl Brandon at one time; a small black cat owned by Pete Graham. He died, and Pete got another cat named Josh Brandon.