F. M. Busby

Francis Marion Busby (March 11, 1921 – February 17, 2005) was an American science fiction writer. In 1960 he was a co-winner of the Hugo Award for Best Fanzine.

Francis Busby was born in Indianapolis, the son of Francis Marion Busby and Clara Nye Busby. The family settled in Colfax, Washington, in 1931 and Busby attended high school there. He subsequently attended Washington State College until he joined the National Guard. He was subsequently discharged and returned to college. He did not remain long, however, and enlisted in the United States Army on July 23, 1943, at Spokane, Washington.

Busby served during World War II as part of the Alaska Communications System, assigned to Amchitka Island. At the end of the war he was discharged from the army and returned to college to graduate as an engineer. He subsequently returned to the Alaska Communications System to work in a civilian role based in Seattle.

In 1954 Busby married Elinor Doub, who was also a science fiction author. He had one daughter, Michele. Together with his wife and others he published a fan magazine named Cry of the Nameless which won the Hugo Award for Best Fanzine in 1960, making Doub the first woman to win a Hugo Award.

Busby continued to work for the Alaska Communications System until 1971, when the organization was sold to private industry and renamed RCA Alascom and he took early retirement from the company.

From 1974 to 1976 Busby was vice-president of Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. At the age of 50 he became a freelance science-fiction author. He wrote 19 published novels and numerous short stories between 1973 and 1996.

Robert A. Heinlein in part dedicated his 1985 novel The Cat Who Walks Through Walls to Busby.

Busby ceased writing fiction some time after 1996, claiming this was due to the 1979 Thor Power Tool Co. v. Commissioner case's impact on the taxation of unsold books, although he wrote several novels after the case decision.

In November 2004 Busby was diagnosed with severe intestinal problems. He went into the Swedish Medical Center, in Ballard, Seattle, for surgery and suffered complications. He underwent further surgery before being moved to Health and Rehabilitation of Seattle, where he died on February 17, 2005.