Science fiction fandom or SF fandom is a community of people actively interested in science fiction Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with the impact of imagined innovations in science or technology, often in a futuristic setting. It differs from fantasy in that, within the context of the story, its imaginary elements are largely possible within scientifically established or scientifically postulated laws of nature . Exploring the and fantasy literature Fantasy literature is fantasy in written form. Historically speaking, the majority of fantasy works have been literature. Since the 1950s however, a growing segment of the fantasy genre has taken the form of films, television programs, graphic novels, video games, music, painting, and other media, and in contact with one another based upon that interest. SF fandom has a life of its own, but not much in the way of formal organization (although clubs such as the Futurians The Futurians were a group of science fiction fans, many of whom became editors and writers as well. The Futurians were based in New York City and were a major force in the development of science fiction writing and science fiction fandom in the years 1937-1945 [1937-1945], the Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society The Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society, Inc., or LASFS is a membership fan club in North Hollywood, California, a district in the San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles, California. It is the oldest continuously operating science fiction club in the world, helped considerably in that record by being one of the few to own a clubhouse. LASFS [1934–present], and the National Fantasy Fan Federation The National Fantasy Fan Federation is one of the world's oldest science fiction fandom organizations. The organization was founded in April 1941 when all science fiction, horror, and fantasy literature was lumped into one category called "fantasy." The group actively encourages the development of writers, editors, and artists [1941–present] are recognized features of fandom).
Most often called simply "fandom" within the community, it can be viewed as a distinct subculture In sociology, anthropology and cultural studies, a subculture is a group of people with a culture which differentiates them from the larger culture to which they belong, for example, if a particular subculture is characterized by a systematic opposition to the dominant culture, it may be described as a counterculture,[1] with its own rituals and jargon Jargon is terminology which is especially defined in relationship to a specific activity, profession, or group. The philosophe Condillac observed in 1782 that "Every science requires a special language because every science has its own ideas." As a rationalist member of the Enlightenment he continued, "It seems that one ought to; marriages and other relationships among fans are common, as are multi-generation fannish families.
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Origins and history
Science fiction fandom started through the letter column of Hugo Gernsback's Hugo Gernsback , born Hugo Gernsbacher, was a Luxembourg American inventor, writer and magazine publisher, best remembered for publications that included the first science fiction magazine. His contributions to the genre as publisher were so significant that, along with H.G. Wells and Jules Verne, he is sometimes popularly called "The Father fiction magazines. Not only did fans A fan, sometimes also called aficionado or supporter, is a person with an intense, occasionally overwhelming liking and enthusiasm for something. Fans of a particular thing or person constitute its fanbase or fandom. They often show their enthusiasm by starting a fan club, holding fan conventions, creating fanzines, writing fan mail, or promoting write comments about the stories — they sent their addresses, and Gernsback published them. Soon, fans were writing letters directly to each other, and meeting in person when they lived close together, or when one of them could manage a trip. (Travel was slower and costlier in the 1930s than it would become by the 21st century.) In New York City, David Lasser, Gernsback's managing editor, nurtured the birth of a small local club called the Scienceers, which held its first meeting in a Harlem apartment on December 11, 1929. Almost all the members were adolescent boys.[2] Around this time a few other small local groups began to spring up in metropolitan areas around the United States, many of them connecting with fellow enthusiasts via the Science Correspondence Club. In May 1930 the first science fiction fan magazine, The Comet The Comet was the first science fiction fanzine, and was first published in May 1930 by the Science Correspondence Club in Chicago. Its original editors were Raymond A. Palmer and Walter Dennis. The second issue of the magazine, dated July 1930, was called "?", and was the first issue to refer directly to science fiction. The third issue,, was produced by the Chicago branch of the Science Correspondence Club under the editorship of Raymond A. Palmer Raymond Arthur Palmer was the influential editor of Amazing Stories from 1938 through 1949, when he left publisher Ziff-Davis to form his own company. Palmer was also a prolific author, publishing stories under many pseudonyms (later a noted, and notorious, sf magazine editor) and Walter Dennis.[3] In January 1932 the New York City circle, which by then included future comic book editors Julius Schwartz and Mort Weisinger Mortimer Weisinger was an American magazine and comic book editor best known for editing DC Comics' Superman during the mid-1950s to 1960s, in the Silver Age of comic books. He also co-created such features as Aquaman, Green Arrow, and Johnny Quick, served as story editor for the Adventures of Superman television series, and compiled the often-, brought out the first issue of their own publication, The Time Traveller, with Forrest J. Ackerman Forrest J Ackerman was an American collector of science fiction books and movie memorabilia and a science fiction fan. He was, for over seven decades, one of science fiction's staunchest spokesmen and promoters of the embryonic Los Angeles group as a contributing editor.
In 1934, Gernsback established a correspondence club for fans called the Science Fiction League, the first fannish organization. Local groups across the nation could join by filling out an application. LASFS (the Los Angeles Science Fiction Society) was founded at this time as a local branch of the SFL, while several competing local branches sprang up in New York City and immediately began feuding among themselves.
Soon after the fans started to communicate directly with each other came the creation of fanzines A fanzine is a nonprofessional and nonofficial publication produced by fans of a particular cultural phenomenon (such as a literary or musical genre) for the pleasure of others who share their interest. The term was coined in an October 1940 science fiction fanzine by Russ Chauvenet and first popularized within science fiction fandom, from whom it (see also science fiction fanzines A science fiction fanzine is an amateur or semi-professional magazine published by members of science fiction fandom, from the 1930s to the present day. They were one of the earliest forms of fanzine, and at one time constituted the primary type of science-fictional fannish activity). These amateur publications might or might not discuss science fiction and were generally traded rather than sold. They ranged from the utilitarian or inept to professional-quality printing and editing. In recent years, Usenet Duke University graduate students Tom Truscott and Jim Ellis conceived the idea in 1979 and it was established in 1980. Users read and post messages to one or more categories, known as newsgroups. Usenet resembles a bulletin board system (BBS) in many respects, and is the precursor to the various Internet forums that are widely used today; and can newsgroups A usenet newsgroup is a repository usually within the Usenet system, for messages posted from many users in different locations. The term may be confusing to some, because it is usually a discussion group. Newsgroups are technically distinct from, but functionally similar to, discussion forums on the World Wide Web. Newsreader software is used to such as rec.arts.sf.fandom, websites and blogs A blog is a type of website or part of a website. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in reverse-chronological order. "Blog" can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a have somewhat supplanted printed fanzines as an outlet for expression in fandom, though many popular fanzines continue to be published. Science-fiction fans have been among the first users of computers, email, personal computers, and the Internet.
Many professional science fiction authors Note that this partial list contains some authors whose works of fantastic fiction would today be called science fiction, even if they predate, or did not work in that genre. There is also a considerable overlap with the List of fantasy authors, since many authors are equally comfortable with both genres, and in any case some works deliberately started their interest in science fiction as fans, and some still publish their own fanzines or contribute to those published by others.
A widely regarded (though by no means error-free) history of fandom in the 1930s can be found in Sam Moskowitz Sam Moskowitz was an early fan and organizer of interest in science fiction and, later, a writer, critic, and historian of the field. As a child, Moskowitz greatly enjoyed reading science fiction pulp magazines. As a teenager, he organized a branch of the Science Fiction League. Meanwhile, Donald A. Wollheim helped organize the Futurians, a rival's The Immortal Storm: A History of Science Fiction Fandom Hyperion Press 1988 ISBN 0-88355-131-4 (original edition The Atlanta Science Fiction Organization Press, Atlanta, Georgia 1954). Moskowitz was himself involved in some of the incidents chronicled, and has his own point of view which has often been criticized.
Fandom in Sweden
Fandom in Sweden ("Sverifandom") emerged in the 1950s. The first Swedish science fiction fanzine was started in the early 1950s. The oldest still existing club, Club Cosmos in Gothenburg Gothenburg (Swedish: Göteborg; pronounced [jœteˈbɔrj] ) is the second-largest city in Sweden (after Stockholm) and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated on the southwest coast of Sweden, the city proper has a population of 509,847, with 510,491 in the urban area and total of 922,938 inhabitants in the metropolitan area, was formed in 1954, and the first Swedish science fiction convention, LunCon, was held in Lund Lund (Swedish pronunciation: [lɵnd] ) is a city in the province of Scania, southern Sweden. The town has 76,188 inhabitants in 2005, out of a municipal total of 105,000. It is the seat of Lund Municipality, Skåne County. The city is believed to have been founded around 990, when the Scanian lands belonged to Denmark. It soon became a major in 1956.
Today, there are a number of science fiction clubs in the country, including Skandinavisk Förening för Science Fiction, Linköpings Science Fiction-Förening and Sigma Terra Corps. Between one and four science fiction conventions are held each year in Sweden. An annual prize is awarded to someone that has contributed to the national fandom by the Alvar Appeltofft Memorial Fund.[4][5]
Conventions
Since the late 1930s, SF fans have organized conventions Science fiction conventions are gatherings of fans of various forms of speculative fiction including science fiction and fantasy. Historically, science fiction conventions had focused primarily on literature, but the purview of many extends to such other avenues of expression as movies and television, comics, animation, and games, non-profit gatherings where the fans (some of whom are also professionals in the field) meet to discuss SF and generally enjoy themselves. (A few fannish couples have held their weddings at conventions.) The 1st World Science Fiction Convention The First World Science Fiction Convention was held in the Caravan Hall in New York from 2 July to 4 July, 1939, in conjunction with the New York World's Fair, which was themed as "The world of tomorrow". The convention was later named "Nycon I" by Forrest J Ackerman (who attended the convention in a costume designed by his or Worldcon Worldcon, or more formally The World Science Fiction Convention, is a science fiction convention held each year since 1939 . It is the annual convention of the World Science Fiction Society (or WSFS). The members of each Worldcon are the members of WSFS and vote both to select the site of the Worldcon two years later and (since 1955) to select the was held in conjunction with the 1939 New York World's Fair The 1939-40 New York World's Fair, which covered the 1,216 acres of Flushing Meadows-Corona Park , was the largest world's fair of all time. Many countries around the world participated in it, and over 44 million people attended its exhibits in two seasons. The NYWF of 1939-1940 was the first exposition to be based on the future, with an opening, and has been held annually since the end of World War II Albania · Australia · Austria · Azerbaijan · Belarus · Belgium · Brazil · Bulgaria · Burma · Cambodia · Canada · Ceylon (Sri Lanka) · Channel Islands · China · Czechoslovakia · Denmark · Dutch East Indies · Egypt · Estonia · Finland · France · Germany · Gibraltar · Greece · Greenland · Hong Kong · Hungary · Iceland ·. Worldcon has been the premier convention in fandom for over half a century; it is at this convention that the Hugo Awards The Hugo Awards are given every year for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year. The award is named after Hugo Gernsback, the founder of the pioneering science fiction magazine Amazing Stories. Hugo Awards have been presented every year since 1955 are bestowed, and attendance can approach 8,000 or more.
SF writer Cory Doctorow Cory Doctorow is a Canadian blogger, journalist, and science fiction author who serves as co-editor of the blog Boing Boing. He is an activist in favour of liberalising copyright laws and a proponent of the Creative Commons organisation, using some of their licences for his books. Some common themes of his work include digital rights management, calls SF fandom "perhaps the most social of all literary genres", and states "Science fiction is driven by organized fandom, volunteers who put on hundreds of literary conventions in every corner of the globe, every weekend of the year." [6]
SF conventions can vary from minimalist "relaxacons" with a hundred or so attendees to heavily programmed events with four to six or more simultaneous tracks of programming, such as WisCon and Worldcons.
Commercial shows dealing with SF-related fields are sometimes billed as 'science fiction conventions,' but are operated as for-profit ventures, with an orientation towards passive spectators, rather than actively involved fans, and a tendency to neglect or ignore written SF in favor of television, film, comics, video games, etc. One of the largest of these is the annual Dragon*Con in Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia with an attendance of more than 20,000 since 2000.
Science fiction societies
In the United States, many science fiction societies were launched as chapters of the Science Fiction League and, when it faded into history, several of the original League chapters remained viable and were subsequently incorporated as independent organizations. Most notable among the former League chapters which were spun off was the Philadelphia Science Fiction Society, which served as a model for subsequent SF societies formed independent of the League history.
Science fiction societies, more commonly referred to as "clubs" except on the most formal of occasions, form a year-round base of activities for science fiction fans. They are often associated with an SF convention or group of conventions, but maintain a separate existence as cultural institutions within specific geographic regions. Several have purchased property and maintain ongoing collections of SF literature available for research, as in the case of the Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society The Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society, Inc., or LASFS is a membership fan club in North Hollywood, California, a district in the San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles, California. It is the oldest continuously operating science fiction club in the world, helped considerably in that record by being one of the few to own a clubhouse. LASFS, the New England Science Fiction Association, and the Baltimore Science Fiction Society. Other SF Societies maintain a more informal existence, meeting at general public facilities or the homes of individual members.
Offshoots and subcommunities
As a community devoted to discussion and exploration of new ideas, fandom has become an incubator for many groups that started out as special interests within fandom, some of which have partially separated into independent intentional communities not directly associated with science fiction. Among these groups are comic book fandom, media fandom, the Society for Creative Anachronism The Society for Creative Anachronism is a living history group with the aim of studying and recreating mainly Medieval European cultures and their histories before the 17th century. A quip often used within the SCA describes it as a group devoted to the Middle Ages "as they ought to have been", choosing to "selectively recreate the, gaming Historically, the term "gamer" usually referred to someone who played role-playing games and wargames.[citation needed] More recently, the term has grown to include players of video games. While the term nominally includes those who do not necessarily consider themselves to be gamers , it is commonly used to identify those who spend much, and furry fandom Furry fandom refers to the fandom for fictional anthropomorphic animal characters with human personalities and characteristics. Examples of anthropomorphic attributes include exhibiting human intelligence and facial expressions, the ability to speak, walk on two legs, and wear clothes. Furry fandom is also used to refer to the community of people,[7] sometimes referred to collectively as "fringe fandoms" with the implication that the original fandom centered on science fiction texts (magazines and later books and fanzines) is the "true" or "core" fandom. Fandom also welcomes and shares interest with other groups involved in new ideas and lifestyles, including LGBT LGBT is an initialism referring collectively to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people. In use since the 1990s, the term "LGBT" is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase "gay community", which many within LGBT communities felt did not represent accurately all those to communities, libertarians Libertarianism is advocacy for individual liberty with libertarians generally sharing a distinct regard for individual freedom of thought and action, as well as a strong opposition to coercive authority, such as that of government. However, there are also broad areas of disagreement among libertarians. Broad distinctions such as left-, neo-pagans Neopaganism is an umbrella term used to identify a wide variety of modern religious movements, particularly those influenced by pre-Christian pagan beliefs of Europe. Neo-Pagan religious movements are extremely diverse, with beliefs that range widely from polytheism to animism, to pantheism and other paradigms. Many Neopagans practice a, and space activist groups like the L5 Society, among many others. Some groups exist almost entirely within fandom but are distinct and cohesive subcultures in their own rights, such as filkers Filk is a musical culture, genre, and community tied to science fiction/fantasy fandom and a type of fan labor. The genre has been active since the early 1950s, and played primarily since the mid-1970s. The term antedates 1955, costumers The term costume can refer to wardrobe and dress in general, or to the distinctive style of dress of a particular people, class, or period. Costume may also refer to the artistic arrangement of accessories in a picture, statue, poem, or play, appropriate to the time, place, or other circumstances represented or described, or to a particular style, and convention runners (sometimes called "SMOFs").
Fandom encompasses subsets of fans that are principally interested in a single writer or subgenre, such as Tolkien fandom, Star Wars fandom and Star Trek fandom ("Trekkies A Trekkie is a fan of all or part of the Star Trek fictional universe"). Even short-lived television series may have dedicated followings, such as the fans of Joss Whedon Joseph Hill "Joss" Whedon is an American director, executive producer, occasional actor, and creator and head writer of the television programs Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Firefly, and Dollhouse. He has also written several film scripts and comic book series's Firefly Firefly is an American space western television series created by writer and director Joss Whedon, creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, under his Mutant Enemy Productions. Its future setting, modeled after traditional Western movie motifs, has been praised as an "oddball genre mix". Whedon served as executive producer, along television series and movie Serenity Serenity is a 2005 space western film written and directed by Joss Whedon. It is a continuation of the cancelled Fox science fiction television series Firefly, taking place after the events of the final episode. Set 510 years in the future, Serenity is the story of the captain and crew of a transport and cargo ship. The captain and first mate are, known as Browncoats Browncoat is a term applied to fans of the short-lived television series Firefly. The name is based on a nickname for the Independent Faction from the series.
Participation in science fiction fandom often overlaps with other similar interests, such as fantasy role-playing games, comic books A comic book is a magazine made up of narrative artwork in the form of separate "panels" that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog (usually in word balloons, emblematic of the comic book art form) as well as including brief descriptive prose. The first comic book appeared in the United States of America in 1934, and anime Anime (アニメ?, an abbreviated pronunciation in Japanese of "animation", pronounced [anime] in Japanese, but typically /ˈænəˌmeɪ/ (help·info) or /ˈænəˌmə/ in English) is animation originating in Japan. The world outside Japan regards anime as "Japanese animation", and in the broadest sense fans of these activities are felt to be part of the greater community of SF fandom.
There are active SF fandoms around the world. Fandom in non-Anglophone countries is based partially on local literature and media, with cons and other elements resembling those of English-speaking fandom, but with distinguishing local features. For example, Finland Finland (pronounced /ˈfɪnlənd/ ), officially the Republic of Finland Finnish: Suomi; Swedish: Finland (help·info), is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden on the west, Norway on the north and Russia on the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland's national gathering Finncon is funded by the government, while all conventions and fan activities in Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south. The characters that make up Japan's name mean "sun-origin", which is why Japan is are heavily influenced by anime and manga.
Fanspeak
Science fiction and fantasy fandom has its own slang or jargon, sometimes called fanspeak.
Fanspeak is made up of acronyms, blended words, obscure in-jokes, and standard terms used in specific ways. Some terms used in fanspeak have spread to members of the Society for Creative Anachronism ("Scadians"), Renaissance Fair participants ("Rennies"), hacktivists, and internet gaming and chat fans, due to the social and contextual intersection between the communities. Examples of fanspeak used in these broader fannish communities include gafiate, a term meaning to drop out of SF related community activities, with the implication to Get A Life. The word is derived via the acronym for "get away from it all". A related term is fafiate, for "forced away from it all". The implication is that one would really rather still be involved in fandom, but circumstances make it impossible.
Two other acronyms commonly used in the community are FIAWOL (Fandom Is A Way Of Life) and its opposite FIJAGH (Fandom Is Just A Goddamned Hobby) to describe two ways of looking at the place of fandom in one's life.
Science-fiction fans often refer to themselves using the irregular plural "fen": man/men, fan/fen.
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Sun, 11 Jul 2010 20:23:58 GMT+00:00
The Flickcast (blog) ... series science fiction thrillers that have been widely acclaimed by kids, adults, and SF fans alike (including Asimov's Science Fiction magazine). ...
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Science Fiction Professionals None dare call it Art George Jumper 1941 2001 2007 Galen A Tripp
Arachne Jericho
Mon, 04 Jan 2010 20:41:29 GM
It's a shame that nowadays NO two males in any piece of . fiction. who are friends can escape the pitiable clutches of slash/ship fans; those little nightcrawlers are everywhere, invading every type of . fandom. , even those devoted to ...
Q. Filkers write and play songs about science fiction and fantasy. They're associated with fandom.
Asked by Brad - Fri Mar 30 20:20:57 2007 - - 1 Answers - 0 Comments
A. No, the SCA and Amtgard have lots of filking. The SCA does straight historical work, while Amtgard also includes fantasy. One of my favorites was done to the tune of Friends in Low Places by Garth Brooks about both groups.
Answered by Jensenfan - Sat Mar 31 12:37:03 2007
