Science Fiction Fandom - Fanlore

Science fiction fandom formed in the 1920s around American pulp magazines^[1] and has expanded in scope since its humble beginnings with the development of sf novels, television, and movies. The fandom was born in the letter columns of the first sf-only magazine, Amazing Stories; Hugo Gernsback, the magazine's publisher, is credited by many with creating science fiction as a genre in its own right.^[1][2] Since the letter column included the letter writers' addresses, early SF fans found it easy to get in touch with each other.^[3] Soon, fans were writing letters directly to each other, then (in some cases) forming local fan clubs^[4], then creating fanzines to trade with each other, then having conventions so they could talk in person. Conventions started casually, and the first Worldcon was held in 1939 (in conjunction with the New York World's Fair).

Historically, SF fandom was overwhelmingly male, so much so that some female fans have been made to feel unwelcome. To this tension -- the sense that fandom for televisual sources, the sense that female fans were "doing it wrong" -- is attributed the splitting off of female-dominated media fandom from sf fandom beginning in the late 1960s. (See Star Trek for more on the split.)

SFF and Media fandom

Much of the early jargon and fan activity of media fandom came directly from SFF (fanzines, letterzines, BNF, filking and more). Many women do participate in SFF fandom, and many people feel equally comfortable in both SFF and media fandom, but the two fandoms do diverge in many ways, e.g. vocabulary, attitudes towards fan fiction, and behavior standards.

From the sixties on, producers of science fiction movies and television have used science fiction conventions to promote their work. Gene Roddenberry brought the pilot episode of Star Trek to a Worldcon before it aired on television. Nevertheless, TV and movie SF have stayed a small part of 'classic' non-profit SFF conventions such as Worldcon and others.

Eventually commercial organizations started putting on larger for-profit sf/media/gaming/comic conventions that combined many fannish interests, including TV and movie SF, under one large, expensive roof. The two largest of these in the US are Dragon*Con and Comic-Con. Interestingly, both media fans and classic SFF are just two small tracks of the larger whole, gamers are another, etc.

Science Fiction Fanzines

• Granfalloon #1-20 (Feb 1968-1976)
• Luna Monthly #1-? (Jan 1972-?)
• Minus 273
• Nargothrond (1968-?)

Science Fiction Fandom History

• Fanac Fan History Project
• Fan History Archive (a Timebinders project).
• Wikipedia:Science fiction fandom

References

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} Gary Westfahl, "The Popular Tradition of Science Fiction Criticism," Science Fiction Studies 26.2 (July 1999).
2. ↑ See also Hugo Gernsback: The man who invented the future by Michael A. Banks.
3. ↑ Sam Moskowitz, The Immortal Storm: A History of Science Fiction Fandom (Atlanta, GA: The Atlanta Science Fiction Organization Press, 1954; reprint, Westport, Conn.: Hyperion Press, 1974), 5.
4. ↑ Sam Moskowitz, The Immortal Storm: A History of Science Fiction Fandom (Atlanta, GA: The Atlanta Science Fiction Organization Press, 1954; reprint, Westport, Conn.: Hyperion Press, 1974). The Immortal Storm describes the activities of several early fan societies that also published fanzines (8-12). The "first professionally sponsored club for fantasy fans" was The Science Fiction League, formed in 1934 (32).