[1] He was also an important science fiction fan and historian of fandom and Washington County, Maryland, as well as a classical musician.
[2] Warner started as a reporter at The Herald-Mail on May 17, 1943, covering governmental agencies and the farming community, along with obituaries and general news.
A rapid typist and fast writer, Warner would often begin composing his stories while taking down information from sources.
[1] Warner became active in science fiction fandom in 1936, although he was extremely reclusive, earning the nickname "The Hermit of Hagerstown" by the 1950s.
Although in the 1930s he welcomed such visitors as Frederik Pohl, Jack Speer, Wilson "Bob" Tucker, Milt Rothman and Russ Chauvenet,[5] ultimately, he discouraged the visits from other fans.
In 1938, he published the first issue of Spaceways, one of the most important science fiction fanzines of its period,[1] and beginning in 1939, supplemented it with Horizons, which was for decades a mainstay of the Fantasy Amateur Press Association.
[4] Using a manual typewriter,[4] Warner wrote literally tens of thousands of letters commenting on fanzines.
Today I can see my name on a full-page ad for a movie with disinterest, but what Harry Warner or Buck Coulson had to say about me — well, that was important.