Terrestrial Fantascience Guild
| Fan Club | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Terrestrial Fantascience Guild |
| Dates: | 1934-? |
| Founder(s): | |
| Leadership: | |
| Country based in: | United States |
| Focus: | Science Fiction |
| External Links: | |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
The Terrestrial Fantascience Guild was a short-lived science fiction fan club that began as the Impossible Story Club. It was then known as the International Science-Fiction Guild, and took its final name in 1935.
About
According to General Manager Wilson Shepherd, the club started around September or October of 1934.[1] Edward E. Evert claimed in 1935 that the Impossible Story Club had been founded by his father in 1909, that it had 40 members by 1920, and that it had held a convention in 1926.[2] Historian Sam Moskowitz later concluded that this was an invented history intended to date the club before the founding of Amazing Stories.[3]
IT HAS been proposed to us.(And on carefull consideration we recommend this measure) To change the nameof our organization, from THE INTERNATIONAL SCIENCE FICTION GUILD, to THE TERRESTRIAL FANTASCIENCE GUILD.... THE FOLLOWING very good reasons have been brought forth, that recommend this change:-(1)-REASON FOR TERRESTRIAL:-We fantastic fans are great Utopians. We believe in other worlds. Almost all of us look forward to that great day in the future when there will be NO individual nations but only a great union of peoples. The Parliament of Man, Federation of Earth. In that respect we do not regard ourselves as "international". We see no nations. We are all Terrestrials together. Let us consider ourselves in that light.
(2)-REASON FOR FANTASCIENCE:-This word was coined by John Taine, and covers both the Weird and Science groups of the Fantastic Literature field.
(3)-REASON FOR GUILD:-Is as you already know, GUILD means a group of person of kindred pursuits or aims. That is eneough. WE ALSO MIGHT ADD THAT THE SCIENCE FICTION LEAGUE, IS CALLING ITSELF "The International Science Fiction League; the difference from our name is very small, and leads to confusion.
Poll printed in The International Science Fiction Guild's Bulletin #1 pg 1. January 1935. (As originally typed)
Its bulletin was first known as the The International Science Fiction Guild's Bulletin, then the Terrestrial Fantascience Guild Bulletin, and was finally renamed to The Phantagraph. Donald A. Wollheim served as The Phantagraph's final editor, and under his editorship the zine continued past the end of the TFG itself.
The TFG itself was mostly known for its bulletin, which published Wollheim's 1935 report that the prozine Wonder Stories was failing to pay for manuscripts. This sparked a clash known as the ISA-SFL War, which sowed the seeds of a massive fandom-wide feud that took place from 1937-1941. (See Timeline of the New Fandom-Futurians Feud.)
References
- ^ Wilson Shepherd: What the Guild is Doing. The International Science Fiction Guild's Bulletin #6 pg 4. June 1935.
- ^ Edward E. Evert: Terrestrial Fantascience Guild, History, Past Present and Future. Terrestrial Fantascience Guild Bulletin #3 pp 3-4. May 1935.
- ^ Impossible Story Club on Fancyclopedia. Text quoted from Fancyclopedia 2 (1960).