Hydra Club

The Hydra Club was a social organization of science fiction professionals and fans. It met in New York City during the 1940s and 1950s.

It was founded October 25, 1947 in the apartment of Judith Merril and Frederik Pohl on Grove Street in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York. As nine founders were present, the club took its name from the legendary nine-headed monster, the Hydra.

Among its members were Lester del Rey, David A. Kyle, Frederik Pohl, Judith Merril, Martin Greenberg, Robert W. Lowndes, Philip Klass, Jack Gillespie, David Reiner, L. Jerome Stanton, Fletcher and Inga Pratt, Willy Ley, George O. Smith, Basil Davenport, Sam Merwin, Harry Harrison, Jerome Bixby, Groff Conklin, Bea Mahaffey, Murray Leinster, Jack Coggins, and J. Harry Dockweiler.^[1]

An article by Merril about the club in the November 1951 Marvel Science Fiction was accompanied by Harry Harrison's drawing caricaturing 41 members. ^[2] Members caricatured include:

1. Lois Miles Gillespie
2. H. Beam Piper
3. David A. Kyle
4. Judith Merril
5. Frederik Pohl
6. Philip Klass
7. Richard Wilson
8. Isaac Asimov
9. James A. Williams
10. Sam Merwin, Jr.
11. Martin Greenberg
12. Walter I. Bradbury
13. Bruce Elliott
14. L. Jerome Stanton
15. Jerome Bixby
16. Basil Davenport
17. Robert W. Lowndes
18. Olga Ley
19. Oswald Train
20. Charles Dye
21. Frank Belknap Long
22. Damon Knight
23. Thomas S. Gardner
24. Harry Harrison
25. Sam Bowne
26. Groff Conklin
27. Larry T. Shaw
28. Lester Del Rey
29. Frederic Brown
30. Margaret Bertrand
31. Evelyn Harrison
32. L. Sprague de Camp
33. Theodore Sturgeon
34. George C. Smith
35. Hans Stefan Santesson
36. Fletcher Pratt
37. Willy Ley
38. Katherine MacLean Dye
39. Daniel Keyes
40. H. L. Gold
41. Walter Kubilius

Harrison's caption adds, "The remaining twenty-odd members showed up too late at the meeting."

References

External links

• About the Hydra Club by Frederik Pohl
• Key to the Hydra Club by Mike Glyer in File 770