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Slan
| Synonyms: | |
| See also: | Fan, Stan |
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Slan is a older, science fiction word for "fan."
The word originated from the book "Slan" by A.E. Van Vogt, serialized in 1940 and published in hardcover in 1946.
From Wikipedia: "In science fiction fandom, the slogan "Fans are slans"[1][2] quickly developed, analogizing the perceived greater intelligence and imaginative capability of science fiction fans with the superior abilities of slans in the novel, and their harassment by non-fans to the persecution of slans in the novel. Although some regard the usage as a symbol of fandom's elitism, along with the related term "mundane" for non-fans, others regard it as a reaction to the disapproval of science fiction and the fans of it by non-readers/non-fans. The related term "slan shack" came to be used in fanspeak to designate a house or building occupied entirely or primarily by fans."[3]
Marion Zimmer Bradley said: "One of the sayings I remember from my early days in fandom, back in the dim dark ages of the early '40's, something in the science fiction of those days, was that fans are (or were) slash - slans bringing one of the mutants created by the book of the same name (SLAN, a novel by A.E. Van Vogt, was published sometime in the forties). There was also a general feeling that fans were eccentric or just plain crazy." [4]
References
- ^ Laney, F. Towner (1950). "Fanzine Scope," Spacewarp 36, March 1950. online reprint: "Fanzine Scope"
- ^ Eney, Richard (1959). Fancyclopedia 2, 1959, 1979, p. 63, The Mirage Press. online reprint: "Fans are Slans"
- ^ Wikipedia:Slan
- ^ from Darkover Newsletter #66