Eofandom

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Synonyms: fandom
See also: Ninth Fandom
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Eofandom is a little-used term from Science Fiction Fandom. It was coined by sf fandom historian Jack Speer as part of the numbered fandoms schema to refer to proto-sf fandom between 1930 and 1933.

From Fancyclopedia:

In his first exposition of the notion, Speer apparently started First Fandom a bit on the late side. Rather than back up and start all over with new numbering, he named the preceding period (in which fandom was in the process of coalescing into a planet around the new star known as magazine scientifiction anyway) Eofandom. Keep in mind that the first issue of the first all-stf prozine, Amazing Stories, had been published only four years prior to this and that it took a while for protofans to take advantage of the fact that it printed complete addresses in its lettercolumns to begin contacting other enthusiasts, corresponding with those who lived far away and meeting those who lived nearby. The first fanzine, The Comet, was published during this period (its first issue was May 1930); letterhacking was a major activity. Strange new air-breathing lifeforms were said to have crawled off the bottom of the sea and up onto the land where they immediately began to suck life from the varied plants abounding there; we who were not there can only imagine.[1]

Media fan Jeff Johnston used the term more generally to mean "the period between the time when the potential for a fandom exists, but has not been realized".[2] This period of time has become infinitesimal or nonexistent in the Internet era, when people often set up LiveJournal communities, etc., based on movie trailers or show promos.

References

  1. ^ Numerical Fandoms, Fancyclopedia. Accessed February 16, 2014.
  2. ^ Comlink #30, June 1987.