March 2nd, 2016

We lost a friend last week.




If
you knew Jef Smith, you knew that the man could talk. A lot. To anyone.
And if you spoke with Jef Smith, you would quickly learn about his many
passions: Speculative Fiction, Radical Politics, Indie Music, the cool
things his friends were doing, methods for surviving the zombie
apocalypse, and getting through life without wearing proper “pants” – to
name a few.
What
you might not learn, right away, is that Jef had spent most of his life
in and out of hospitals for a wide variety of debilitating maladies.
Instead of gathering sympathy for himself, he chose to work on bringing a
little bit more joy and justice to the world.
Over the course
of his life, he was an active supporter of Anti-Racist Action Chicago,
an organizer for the Chicago Anarchist Defense Fund, and a stalwart
member of Think Galactic, a reading group that discussed books with a
radical left analysis. He was a constant presence at the feminist
science fiction convention, Wiscon – where he would be seen on panels,
hosting parties, or working in the dealers room. He was also the impetus
behind the Think Galactic crew putting together their own bi-annual
convention (Think GalactiCon) – which focused on cross-pollinating
activism and fandom through mass amounts of discourse.
Jef
spent a decade working at IPG, an independent book distributor – which
helped to further his connections in the book world. He was an
evangelist for many small, smart presses such as Tachyon, No Media
Kings, and especially PM Press – who he continued to work with and table
for, even after his health issues made his office job impossible.
During the same time, he conceived of and brought to existence the
feminist SF anthology, Sisters of the Revolution – simply because he thought that such a thing should exist.
Jef
Smith died of cancer last week and the world of Anarcho-geekdom lost an
emissary. The rest of us, who knew him, lost a deep, supportive, wacky,
insightful comrade and friend. He will be sorely missed.