Allan Asherman (1947-2023)

[Bea Jonas]

Just saw this sad bit of news over at Mark Evanier's blog: writer Allan Asherman has died at age 76.

https://www.newsfromme.com/2023/09/24/allan-asherman-r-i-p/

For Trek fans in the pre-internet era, Asherman's Star Trek Compendium—and Bjo Trimble's Star Trek Concordance—were invaluable resources.

Alan Asherman (1947-2023) R.I.P.

 

[Rowdy Roddy McDowall]

If memory serves his was the first TREK book to list all the TOS adventures in production order. You can learn a lot from his Compendium..........including details of the first Shatner-Nimoy ''Project Strigas'' adventure* from the black-and-white days.

(*ultimately altered to Project Floorwax, but that's another tale.)

 

[Richard S. Ta]

RIP.

 

[drt]

If memory serves his was the first TREK book to list all the TOS adventures in production order.

I believe this is the case, the Concordance did them by air date.

As production order was how all of the TV stations around me showed it for 20+ years, I always appreciated it.

 

[elric428]

More info can be found on Doug Drexler's Facebook page

 

[Ronald Held]

RIO.

 

[Lord Garth]

RIP.

 

[DarrenTR1970]

Well darn, I still have the first version of the Compendium, the one that only goes up through the making of TMP.
R.I.P. Mr. Asherman.

 

[Sir Rhosis]

Bought the first edition of the Compendium in 1981. The cost ($8.99, iirc) was steep for a 17-year-old whose part time job (mopping school hallways and grading Freshman English exams during my free period) netted me about 66 dollars a month. His episode reviews, in which he occasionally cited bits from earlier script drafts, led to my interest in reading and collecting those drafts.

RIP

Sir Rhosis

 

[mb22]

From a fellow Brooklynite, RIP.

Here's something from a 70s DC Comics publication:

 

[Nerys Myk]

From a fellow Brooklynite, RIP.

Here's something from a 70s DC Comics publication:

RIP. A name a knew quite well from my comics reading days.

 

[mb22]

https://bobgreenberger.com/2023/09/...68OSphutRFByRMWRKMRgzxmUE-fNfythZkgmjChAhADoA

 

[Vger23]

I absolutely LOVED the Star Trek Compendium as a kid. I remember there was a year or two (which, as a 9-10 year old, is like an eternity) where Trek wasn’t being rerun on the local stations, and my mom bought that book for me and it kept me going until someone picked up TOS again. I read it cover-to-cover multiple times. Great stuff.

RIP

 

[publiusr]

Such a nice book

 

[Joanna McCoy-Kirk]

I have 2 editions of the book (including the first). RIP

 

[HIjol]

The Afterlife is getting its share of Star Trek Giants of every walk...I can only imagine the incarnations of Star Trek they are creating for all Eternity!

R.I.P., Mr. Asherman

(insert Klingon Death Ritual ceremony here)

 

[Bea Jonas]

Bought the first edition of the Compendium in 1981. The cost ($8.99, iirc) was steep for a 17-year-old whose part time job (mopping school hallways and grading Freshman English exams during my free period) netted me about 66 dollars a month. His episode reviews, in which he occasionally cited bits from earlier script drafts, led to my interest in reading and collecting those drafts.

RIP

Sir Rhosis

Sounds like we're about the same age. I can remember buying my copy at the Waldenbooks inside Fort Wayne's Southtown Mall back in '81. That mall was torn down over a decade ago, but I still have the first edition of Mr. Asherman's Compendium on my bookshelf.

 

[HIjol]

I got my 1976 copy of the Concordance for my 19th Birthday. I devoured it, and still remember!!!

I was in college (1.0) in 1981 in Iowa (!!!) and remember sitting by the river reading my Compendium, instead of doing my Computer Science homework.
(Fortran and Assembler, for those that remember those languages)

Funny what we can remember, when it was important and really stuck!

Thank you, again, Mr. Asherman

 

[hbquikcomjamesl]

As I recall, he also wrote for the short-lived Star Trek Poster Book magazine (a roughly 17x22 sheet, folded down to magazine size, with articles on one side and a poser on the other).

 

[Bea Jonas]

I got my 1976 copy of the Concordance for my 19th Birthday. I devoured it, and still remember!!!

I was in college (1.0) in 1981 in Iowa (!!!) and remember sitting by the river reading my Compendium, instead of doing my Computer Science homework.
(Fortran and Assembler, for those that remember those languages)

Funny what we can remember, when it was important and really stuck!

Thank you, again, Mr. Asherman

My older sibling had a copy of Bjo's Concordance—but would rarely let me touch it. I still remember the little index wheel built into the saucer of the Enterprise on the cover.

I think that's why I was so happy to get my copy of Allan Asherman's Compendium five years later—because of my sibling's stinginess!