Steven H Silver (no period after the ‘H’) is a fans’ fan and an exemplar of the word “fanac”. To date, Mr. Silver has produced the annual Argentus for thirteen years, garnering no less than three nominations for the Best Fanzine Hugo Award, not to mention the Chronic Rift Roundtable Award for Best Fanzine in 2009; he has managed the news section for the SFSite for several years; he founded the Sidewise Award for Alternate History works in 1995 and has served as a judge continuously since; he has also served as a judge for several Nebula Award categories, and regularly coordinates the Nebula Award Weekend event.
Mr. Silver is also an accomplished author and editor, working with Martin H. Greenberg on several anthologies, editing the NESFA Press’ volume on Lester Del Rey and is frequently caught helping to run conventions in various capacities. Oddly enough, he is also the industry’s go-to guy for obituaries, of which he has contributed several to Amazing Stories. Which brings up what is perhaps Mr. Silver’s crowning achievement – contributing to Amazing Stories – though we do admit that there may be some bias attached to that last accolade.
Argentus is a regular round-up of the year that was, largely a “sercon” zine, but one that treats its serious subjects with a light touch. Contributors to this year’s edition include several other Amazing Stories contributors (actifandom being a relatively small place); as always, you should find the contents interesting, provocative and fannish.