----------------------------------------------------------------------------- PRELIMINARY OUTLINE FOR A PROPOSED FAN HISTORY BOOK OF THE 1960s Comments on this outline-in-progress are requested!!! (last modified on July 22, 2002) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- A) WORLD EVENTS * JFK and RFK assassinations - (find mention of this in fanzines - people might talk about where they were, what they were doing when they heard Kennedy was shot) - (info from QUARK #7) - After the shooting of Robert Kennedy in 1968, L.A. fan Jane Gallion found out that her quiet next-door neighbor in Pasadena had been Sirhan Sirhan [source: Ellern 23Feb01 email] * Cuban Missile Crisis/Cold War - Shaws moved to California (need more on this, if that's why they did it) - during the 1960s, 1940s fan Willis Conover did two daily shows on Voice of America, featuring music and commentary > he received fan mail from all over the world, including from behind the Iron Curtain > because of this, Conover may well be the most famous person ever to emerge from science fiction fandom, even though he remained mostly unknown to everyone in North America - Boston fan Russell Seitz gained notoriety in August of 1969 by building an intercontinental ballistic missile from some subassemblies he purchased from salvage yards around Boston > the missile was never anywhere close to operational; Seitz pointed out that to fully complete the missile, it would take another 500 man years, plus computer facilities and an industrial complex that was beyond any ordinary means -- the purpose of his 'exercise' was to show that *any* small nation could beome a nuclear power by merely buying parts as he did > the story was featured on page one of the Boston GLOBE on August 1, 1969 -- also made the pages of other newspapers around the U.S., and also on the radio -- he was referred to as "the world's first one-man nuclear power" > he later was called to Washington, D.C. for a hearing before a Congressional subcommittee * Man in Space/Space Race/First Lunar Landing - early manned missions > At 1965 Worldcon, banquet toastmaster Tom Boardman began proceedings by announcing successful splashdown of Gemini 5, to great applause - Apollo missions > Apollo 8, first circumlunar flight, December 1968 -- Beryl Mercer's fanzine DEC. 27TH, 1968 about the Apollo 8 mission -- Isaac Asimov appeared briefly in a NASA film, DEBRIEFING: APOLLO 8 but was unhappy about it because he had no prior knowledge of his appearance >> he also was a bit put off by the statement in the film that 'ordinary Americans' were accomplishing the moon voyages and not 'some pretentious intellectual'; Isaac joked that he resented being grouped with ordinary Americans, and claimed that he was definitely a pretentious intellectual > Apollo 11, first moon landing, July 1969 -- SF notables present at the launch included Arthur C. Clarke, Robert Heinlein, and Dave Kyle >> after Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon, Heinlein was quoted as saying that "This is the first day of a new age." >> there were many moon landing parties thrown by fans; the largest was in Los Angeles, where one arranged by Bjo Trimble and Earl Thompson had about 100 attendees, including astronomer and SF author R. S. Richardson -- Special Committee Award at the 1969 Worldcon, for "The Best Moon Landing Ever" -- News coverage received Hugo Award in 1970 -- 1970 Eastercon programme book featured photos from Apollo 11, had dedication: "As Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon, he smelled a sweet pungent odour, and observed an elderly gentleman in doublet and hose. On Armstrong's expressing some surprise and enquiry, his welcomer said 'I am the spectre of those who have said for so long that science fiction is not for real.' He then vanished, with a faint, musical twang. AND GOOD RIDDANCE!" * Civil Rights - reportedly, Harlan Ellison was one of the participants in the civil rights march on Selma, Alabama (when?) - MLK speech in Washington prior to 1963 Worldcon > (find mention of this in fanzines) - a New York City fan, Eugenia Arnold, went to King's March on Washington > her description of events published by Tom Perry in his fanzine, LOGORRHEA > some subsequent letters of comment demanded to know what that sort of thing was doing in a science fiction fanzine - King's assassination in 1968 did have its effect on the sf world > the following year, John Brunner founded the Martin Luthor King Memorial Prize, which was an annual award of 100 pounds sterling for the literary work that best reflected the ideals of Dr. King (more details needed here) * Politics and Fandom - the influence of politics on fan activities is nothing new, with many examples through the decades > the Futurian Fan Club of New York, in the 1930s, openly espoused a variant of communism called 'Michelism', and several of the fans attended meetings of the Young Communist League > several fans had leanings toward running for elected office; the most successful was Jack Speer, who was elected (what?) in the Seattle area in the 1950s > however, it was not until the 1960s that politics intruded intrusively into the lives and activities of fans - Chan Davis, one of the members of The Stranger Club of 1940s Boston fandom, made news in 1960, when he was sentenced to serve a 6-month jail term for Contempt of Congress, after he refused to answer questions asked by the U.S. House of Representatives Un-American Activities Committee > he was an instructor at the University of Michigan at the time, and had sought protection under the First Amendment when he was asked about his political beliefs, and his association with a studen group at Harvard (where he had been a student after World War Two) that had published a pamphlet criticizing the Committee > Davis saw the main issue as an unwarranted invasion of his constitutional rights: "No one should be forced by any Congressional committee to disclose ideas or to testify his allegiance. My purpose in starting this case was to try to get free of that monstrosity, the committee." > the Un-American Affairs Committee was one of the last left-over vestiges of the McCarthy era, which had gotten a life of its own in the succeeding years; it was eventually abolished when it became outrageous enough that even its conservative supporters in Congress had to distance themselves from it. - members of Nottingham fan group, in England, participated in "Committee of 100" which advocated Gandhi-style passive resistance (1960) - in October 1964, L. Sprague de Camp went door-to-door in his precinct, working for the Democratic Party. His reason was that "somebody in sf ought to do something to offset Heinlein's activities" - more likely was fans becoming involved with liberal or left-wing causes > Mike McInerney, while at college in early 1960s, became involved with such perceived radical-left organizations as the Student Peace Union, Committee for Nonviolent Action, and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee -- later, while living in New York City, he attempted to join as many organizations as possible on the Attorney General's list of subversive organizations, as a creative way of avoiding conscription into the military > in the mid 1960s, the Free Speech Movement, which seemed to be centered in the San Francisco area, counted among its advocates some of the fans in that area -- an album of protest songs titled BASTION OF TRUTH was released in 1965, and included at least one song written by a fan (Kevin Langdon) > 1968 Democratic National Convention demonstrations against nomination of Hubert Humphrey -- Neil Rest was one of group that was tear-gassed while demonstrating in Grant Park near the convention -- Tom Perry also in demonstration, but escaped being gassed >> did not totally escape bad fortune, however; suffered injury when he was stabbed later that night in an unrelated incident elsewhere in Chicago - lest everyone would think science fiction fandom was comprised only of liberals, there were also a significant number of conservatives too > one of the more vociferous conservatives was Curtis Janke, who had been a fairly well known fan in the decade of the 1950s -- Janke was an ardent conservative who didn't think much of the Kennedys or Lyndon Johnson; he resigned from FAPA in late 1964, purportedly because Barry Goldwater had been defeated in the U.S. presidential election -- that was pretty much the last that was heard of him in fandom - politics affected West German fandom in the last half of the 1960s; fans of the Perry Rhodan series of books consisted of conservatives who were in support of American involvement in the Vietnam War > they were often denounced as fascists by the anti-war fans > unpleasantness escalated, with the result that the main fan club in Gemany, the Science Fiction Club Deutschland (SFCD), suffered a rapid decrease in its membership rolls - in Great Britain, the conservative political party there was the Tories; there were several fans who were members of the Tories, though for varying reasons > Terry Jeeves made no secret that he was a conservative and a Tory > John Dyke, from Nottingham, joined the Tories so that he could bring the rest of Nottingham fandom into their bar on the university campus [source: JLinwood 5Mar99 email] > Michael Moorcock was also a member, but he also belonged to the Liberal, Labour, and Communist Parties too; he reportedly took great pleasure in displaying his various membership cards to interested fans and pros; he also had a dog who he had trained to bark whenever he said "conservative" * Vietnam War - St. Louis fandom was a microcosm of the rest of the U.S.A., in terms of how the war affected people > many members of St. Louis fandom were strongly against the War -- Ray Fisher, co-chair of 1969 St. Louiscon, was strongly anti-war >> his fanzine ODD contained a lot of anti-war material, in form of editorials and political cartoons -- Bob Schoenfeld was tagged as an insurgent by the U.S. Government for his anti-war activities, which included organizing the St. Louis contingent for the March On Washington -- Steve Shucart, Hank Luttrell, and Leslie Couch were active in anti-war movements on University of Missouri campus in early 1970s [source: Shucart 20Feb02 email] > there was a belief by some of the members of St. Louis fandom that the FBI had tapped the home telephone of one of its members, Norbert Couch -- Couch, who had a security clearance, worked for U.S. Government, at a facility in St. Louis that made maps for the Air Force -- routine security check noted Couch's connection with fandom, and the discovery of the anti-war activities of St. Louis fandom >> reportedly, Couch was called into his supervisor's office and questioned about some of his conversations with other fans, which fed the belief in fandom that a phone tap had been ordered on the Couch home telephone --- however, members of the Couch family years later stated that all rumors of any phone taps were bogus -- at any rate, there were reports of phone taps of other St. Louis fans, including Ray & Joyce Fisher, though it's not certain if the FBI ever managed to figure out what 'gafia' and 'fiawol' meant > yet, St. Louis fandom had pro-war supporters, as well -- while participating in one peace march, members of St. Louis fandom were surprised to find that one of a group of hecklers was fellow club member Steve Gerber - anti-war riots > 1968 Worldcon affected, was taking place at about same time as Chicago demonstrations - GALAXY (June 1968) had paid advertisements both in support and against involvement in the war > a one-page ad on page 4 read: "We the undersigned believe the United States must remain in Vietnam to fulfill its responsibilities to the people of that country." [source: TMason 28Mar00 email] -- 'the undersigned' were 68 people, mostly professional authors, and included some of science fiction's biggest names: Poul Anderson, Lloyd Biggle, Marion Zimmer Bradley, Fredric Brown, F.M. and Elinor Busby, John W. Campbell, Jr., L. Sprague de Camp, Hal Clement, Richard Eney, Raymond Z. Gallun, Daniel Galouye, Robert A. Heinlein, Jay Kay Klein, David Kyle, R.A. Lafferty, P. Schuyler Miller, Sam Moskowitz, Larry Niven, Alan Nourse, Jerry Pournelle, Fred Saberhagen, George O. Smith, Thomas Burnett Swann, Jack Vance, and Jack Williamson >> reportedly, Anderson was the force behind the ad [source: Scrivner/ Malzberg 30Mar00 email] > and right next to it, on page 5, another one-page ad read: "We oppose the participation of the United States in the war in Viet Nam" [source: TMason 20Oct00 email] -- an equally if not even more impressive list of 80 people, again mostly professional authors, were listed as signers, including Forrest J Ackerman, Isaac Asimov, James Blish, Anthony Boucher, Ray Bradbury, Terry Carr, Samuel R. Delany, Lester del Rey, Philip K. Dick, Thomas Disch, Harlan Ellison, Philip Jose' Farmer, Ron Goulart, Harry Harrison, Damon Knight, Ursula K. Le Guin, Fritz Leiber, Robert Lowndes, Judith Merril, Mack Reynolds, Larry Shaw, Robert Silverberg, Norman Spinrad, Kate Wilhelm, Richard Wilson, and Donald Wollheim >> reportedly, the person who was the 'guiding spirit' behind the ad was Harrison, though both Merril and Wilhelm were listed as contacts for contributions to offset costs of future ads [source: Scrivner/Malzberg] > as a result, authors listed in the "support the war" ad were banned from publication in the Soviet Union, which had sided with and supported North Vietnam > Fred Pohl, who was editor of GALAXY at that time, used the $500 revenue from the ads to run a contest asking readers for their views on what they would do about Vietnam [source: MAshley 4Apr00 email] -- the November 1968 issue listed five winners, who each received $100: Poul Anderson and Mack Reynolds, plus three readers - other fan protests against the war > in 1972, John Foyster resigned as chair of Australia's worldcon bidding committee as part of a general reduction in contacts with U.S.A after then-President Nixon orders mining of Haiphong harbor in North Vietnam - fans who served in Vietnam in the 1960s > it is not known how many science fiction fans served in the armed forces in Vietnam, since the definition of a science fiction fan is in itself somewhat subjective -- however, it is known that there were many science fiction readers in Vietnam; in April 1969, THE MAGAZINE OF FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION's largest market outside the U.S. was reported to be Saigon -- VENTURE magazine found strong sales in Sydney, Australia, where many U.S. servicemen were on R&R leave > Rich Wannen -- one of founders of St. Louis's Ozark SF Association -- was Treasurer of the 1969 St. Louiscon -- had gotten draft notice after graduation from college in 1968 >> did series of appeals, all were denied >> appeals delayed his induction in army long enough so that he was able to complete his duties as Worldcon Treasurer in 1969 -- Wannen avoided Vietnam by actually enlisting in the Army in 1970, before he was drafted, and spent his military tour of duty in Europe > Joe Haldeman -- was born in 1943, lived in several parts of the U.S. (including Puerto Rico and New Orleans) before becoming involved in fandom in the Washington, DC area -- drafted in 1967 after graduating from University of Maryland with a degree in Astronomy -- fought in the Central Highlands of Vietnam with the 4th Division, 1/22nd Airmobile Battalion [source: Haldeman's web site] -- his column "Letters from Vietnam" published in Ray Fisher's ODD -- received Purple Heart after he was wounded in September 1968, when a booby-trapped rocket exploded >> had a series of operations, and suffered no lasting physical disability -- after returning to the U.S., became a full-time writer in 1970 >> went on to win Hugo Awards in 1970s and later decades > Colin Cameron -- fan artist who often worked in ditto medium -- was machine gunner on helicopter at times during the war >> mostly, he was a company clerk there -- was wounded during summer of 1967, and received Purple Heart -- had career as a professional musician after he returned >> played lead guitar for country music singer John Herald -- also was later involved in movies; his name appears in the credits of the 1974 film PHANTOM OF THE PARADISE [source: NBrooks 13Dec96 email] > Richard Tatge -- Minneapolis fan -- was a Consciencious Objector; served in Vietnam as an unarmed medic -- did not prevent him from being shot at > Milt Stevens -- Los Angeles fan -- served aboard the USS Coral Sea > Hank Davis -- contacted fan groups in Australia while on R&R there > Mike Horvat -- contacted fan groups in Australia while on R&R there > Don D'Ammassa -- wrote of his experiences in apazines > Eric Ives -- (who was he?) -- stationed (where?) in 1969 -- wrote that he was "desperate for mail and fanzines" > Bob Davenport -- survived a year in Vietnam only to die in an auto accident in November 1969 > David Thayer -- served in Vietnam from July 1970 to August 1971 >> became a fan in the mid 1970s >> wrote series of articles about his war experiences for fanzines in the 1980s and 1990s -- became better known as his fan artist pseudonym, Teddy Harvia >> won fan artist Hugo Awards in 1991 and 1995 > Roy Lavender, Jr. -- son of Roy & Deedee Lavender -- served in Vietnam in 1966 -- was marginally active in Los Angeles area fandom > Neil Rest -- served in the U.S. Navy from September 1967 through September 1968 -- most of 1968 he was stationed at Mare Island in Vallejo, California -- while there, he heard there was a big science fiction convention coming up in Berkeley over Labor Day weekend, and thus attended his first convention [source: NRest 26Nov97 email] -- Rest was active in fandom for decades after that, with one of his more interesting efforts a failed bid for the 1988 worldcon that would have been held aboard a cruise ship > Dick Eney -- had come into fandom in 1950s, his most celebrated activity in that decade being the editing and publication of the second FANCYCLOPEDIA >> this led to a fannish catch-phrase: "It's Eney's fault!", in spite of the fact that the edition was so excellent in quality and difficult to put together, there never was a third version -- was employed by U.S. Agency for International Development, a branch of the State Department that handles international foreign aid and humanitarian assistance >> many fans had come to mistaken conclusion that Eney was involved in covert activities while in Vietnam, which might have been started by John Boardman after Eney referred to himself as being employed by 'The Agency' without mentioning *what* Agency [source: Eney 4Mar99 email] --- in an issue of Boardman's fanzine GRAUSTARK, Enery was referred to as a warmongering CIA double agent (exact quote would be helpful here) [source: DEney 3Jul96 email] --- but in a case of "life imitating art", Eney was once approached by the super-secret U.S. National Security Agency, but "when they found out that I published fanzines, they backed off. They must have thought that showed I was too social and communicative." [same source] >> stationed in Saigon, in Kien Phong province, and in Can Tho (in the Mekong River delta) -- was in Vietnam from 1966 until early 1970s >> in mid 1966, was nearly hit by machine gun fire when South Vietnam sentries were shooting wildly at a suspected Viet Cong terrorist --- "I haven't ducked for cover so fast in years!" -- continued to be an active fan publisher while stationed overseas >> while in Vietnam, published a fanzine CURSE YOU, RED BARON!, a letter substitute which was about Vietnam as he saw and experienced it >> he managed to keep his membership in The Cult apa (though it was downgraded from the active roster), and managed to publish f/rs for The Cult from Vietnam >> he managed to visit other places in Southeast Asia besides Vietnam; during in the 1960s, he published the first ever fanzines mailed from Hong Kong, Macau, and Bangkok >> in the 1980s, on other assignments for AID, went on to publish the first fanzines from Tanzania, Kenya, Djibouti, and Addis Ababa - fans who left U.S. to avoid the draft or because of U.S. involvement in the war > Bill Gibson -- was originally from southern U.S., was an early member of SFPA -- moved to Canada in 1968 >> was rejected by draft board (?) -- went on to become renowned SF author > Floyd Henderson > John Clute -- a Canadian who was living in U.S. in non-resident alien status -- left U.S. in 1963, not specifically to avoid Vietnam >> eventually moved to the U.K. in 1969 > Dan Curran arrested for draft evasion in late 1963, unrelated to war > Andy Main -- tried to register as Conscientious Objector, but was turned down -- moved to Canada in 1967 after being classified as 1-A -- had been classified as 4-F previously - the war actually brought science fiction and fantasy to the attention of the local populace, after an American special services officer translated Tolkien's LORD OF THE RINGS into Vietnamese > even the South Vietnamese military became enamored of the series; General Loc's Second Corps began using the lidless eye of Sauron as its battle emblem * Counterculture and Fandom - the so-called 'Free Love Era' > as the 1960s progressed, the conservatism of the 1950s faded away; by the late 1960s, a sense of liberation had gripped much of the younger people in the U.S.; some of the visible manifestations of this included 'flower children', referral to that time as the Age of Aquarius, and the ubiquitous anti-war slogan, "Make Love, Not War" -- fandom was not excluded from this influence, especially the latter, and sexual liaisons between fans became an open secret, or not even a secret at all > by the mid 1960s, a west coast fan named Kevin Langdon decided to map some of the liaisons he knew about between fans in the San Francisco Bay area -- Langdon was characterized by Don Fitch as "a very young, *very* brilliant, generally-pleasant but somewhat more socially inept than most Bay Area fan" >> heretofore, his main fannish accomplishment had been a fanzine, QUANTIFIER, that he had published a few years earlier but which had not brought him any degree of renown -- however his 'Langdon Chart' soon caught the attention of fans in the area: it was a graphical and somewhat convoluted depiction of which Bay Area fans (and some non-local fans as well) had had sex with which other fans >> nobody seemed upset by the Chart; in fact, it became the source of entertainment, as some fans maintained they had been short-changed in their number of Chart connections > the idea caught on in fandom, and soon other areas had their own charts -- Bruce Pelz created one for Los Angeles fandom, but mapped only the interactions that had been mentioned in public by both participants -- somewhat later, there was a perhaps apocryphal rumor of such a chart that had been planned for Minneapolis fandom, but the idea had to be abandoned because it proved impossible to find sheets of paper larger than 6 feet by 6 feet so that names of all the people involved could be printed large enough to be legible -- looking back at those days, Catherine Yronwode remembered the idea for a proposed party involving Berkeley fandom that would have been built around a sexual connection theme: "The idea was to start with one person, who would then send out party invitations to each person with whom he or she had had sex, asking them to invite all their liaison-partners and to pass the invitation along so that *they* would invite all of *their* liaison-partners, and so forth. In the end, we wanted to see if there would be enough people to fill the Greek Theater at U.C. Berkeley, the largest outdoor venue in the East Bay at the time. When someone got a new boyfriend or girlfriend, a typical joke would be to say, 'There's another seat in the Greek Theater!'" - besides sexual liberation, fans also became involved with other forms of perceived counter-culture such as Mysticism > the most prominent example of this was Andy Main, who was one of the founders of the Zen Center in the San Francisco Bay area - the 1960s was also the era when drug use became much more prevalent in fandom > (any usable quotes from 1960s fanzines?) > many fans became involved with experimenting with various drugs -- once, a few members of the New York City fan clubs FISTFA and the Fanoclasts attempted to get high by smoking catnip, with negative results -- after smoking marijuana for the first time, Rich Brown recalled that after walking into the New York subway, "I could have sworn that I heard the creaking waterpipes and machinery playing Bach." > out on the west coast, Ray Nelson made taped archives that documented drug use among fans in the San Francisco bay area during the 1960s, but the tapes were never transcribed > then, there was the unhappy episode involving Wayne Finch -- he was a member of St. Louis's Ozark SF Association in the late 1960s -- was a solid, respectable family man but in 1970s, started taking LSD >> went through personality changes and mental deterioration >> eventually committed suicide with a shotgun * Fans Involved in other 'Grey Areas' of society - On October 14, 1964, North Hollywood police raided the offices of London Press, which made its money by publishing "girlie" magazines > among those indicted in the aftermath were Sam Merwin, who edited STARTLING in the 1940s, and once-and-future fan Richard E. Geis - by the late 1960s, not only sex magazines, but also sex movies were readily available for almost anyone who was interested in them, and at least one fan was able to make a living in their production > in the late 1960s, Bill Rotsler became almost as well known in fandom for his occupation as a photographer of naked ladies as for his fanart > in 1969, Rotsler was employed by Greenleaf Classics, where he sought out writers who were willing to do 30,000 word first drafts of sex fiction that would create a storyline for a series of his photos that would also be included in the book > in a letter in LOCUS, he related that he wanted to include science fictional themes in future sex novels from the publisher, including "a time machine story and a spaceship adventure story that I hope can make a series." > (how long was he involved in this activity? why did he stop?) - for several years, Mike Resnick made his living as a writer of soft-core novels, which he authored under more than 100 different pseudonyms [source: MIMOSA 26 article] * Pop Music Revolution and Fandom - The Beatles > science fiction fans embraced the group, just like most other young people in the 1960s -- Los Angeles fan Owen Hannifen often dressed in a Sergeant Pepper uniform, after that Beatles album was released [ref: Bailes email 7Jul00] -- (a few other, brief, examples) > Liverpool fan Bill Harry meets John Lennon in 1958 -- Harry, from Liverpool, had come into fandom earlier in the 1950s >> he had edited the fanzine BIPED, and had done some fan art for other British fanzines -- a favorite hangout for Liverpool fandom, The Jacoranda, was also the site of some of the Beatles earliest gigs [source: Linwood 30Sep00 email] -- started published music fanzine MERSEY BEAT in 1961 >> Brian Epstein was an advertiser and record reviewer, connected up with The Beatles and eventually became their manager >> both John Lennon and Paul McCartney wrote for MERSEY BEAT >> in 1961, Beatles would sometimes show up to help Bill Harry with office work > Chris Priest had encounter with Beatles in 1962 -- happened while cruising streets of Liverpool with girl friend -- had gone to Liverpool to hear them play at a local night spot -- happened across the band while driving through town -- George Harrison kissed his girlfriend, shook his hand, and mocked the suit he was wearing > novelization to Beatles first film, A HARD DAY'S NIGHT, was written by pre-WWII fan John F. Burke - the science fiction world had encounters with other famous pop music groups besides the Beatles > in 1966, Harlan Ellison, who was on tour with The Rolling Stones ((reason? music writer, perhaps?)) had an unusual encounter with two groupies in California that was later reported in TIME magazine: "Spotting a young groupie crawling along the ledge outside his second floor hotel room, he opened a sliding glass door to let her in, but she slipped, fell into the ocean, and had to be fished out by the Coast Guard. Ellison had barely recovered from that fright when another girl walked through his door and asked if he was a friend of the Stones. When he said yes, she stripped and flopped on his bed." - Woodstock concert in August 1969 at Bethel, New York -- some fans were among the 300,000 attendees > Tom Perry attended, though only for the first day -- had to walk out and hitchhike home, after becoming separated from the people he had came to the concert with > Dick and Pat Lupoff, who lived not far from concert site, did not attend, instead spending the weekend on fan-related activities -- after seeing reports from concert on all the mud and rain, they were happy with their decision - Greg Shaw > fanzine METANOIA > magazine: WHO PUT THE BOMP? > Bomp Records (?) - CRAWDADDY rock music magazine > started by U.S. fan Paul Williams; first issue was February 1966 > from time to time, had articles written by people with connection to science fiction fandom -- for example, in 1969, Dallas fan Howard Waldrop sold an article to the magazine on the possible influence on modern rock by Charles Ives -- other fans who appeared in the magazine's pages included Dick Lupoff, Bhob Stewart, Samuel Delany, David Hartwell, and Ted White [ref: partly from Linwood email of 3Apr00 and TWhite email of 20Jun02] > first issue was run off on mimeo by Ted White in the basement of his Brooklyn apartment [ref: TWhite email of 20Jun02] -- Ted White was not only one of the many fans in the 1960s who had an interest in jazz or rock music, he had also used his writing talent to take that interest one step farther, by becoming a contributing editor to METRONOME magazine in 1960, and after that magazine folded in 1962, a regular contributor to JAZZ magazine [ref: TWhite email of 20Jun02] -- White's expertise with the mimeo was well-known by the mid 1960s; earlier in the decade, his "office" (actually a mimeo shop) in Greenwich Village had become a tourist attraction >> was known in fandom as 'Towner Hall', named after Francis Towner Laney, a famous and controversial fan from the 1940s & 50s --- Mike McInerney remembered the place as "very cluttered with stencils, cans of mimeo ink, and twiltone paper everywhere. There were also several typewriters. The first time I visited, Ted was busy running off a play for some Broadway show to pay the rent, but he found time to give me a warm welcome and show me how to cut a good stencil." >> It became for a while, if not the center of the entire fannish universe, at least the center of fandom in New York. --- White remembered the place "as an ideal venue for putting out fanzines, as all too many fans discovered. Terry Carr wrote all his early stories for F&SF there, and indeed it was there that Avram Davidson walked in one day to announce to us all that he was F&SF's new editor. Terry sold him a story on the spot." [ref: TWhite email of 20Jun02] >> It proved to be a short-lived fannish nexus, however --- White recalled that "Towner Hall was a fun gathering place for much of NYC fandom but no one was helping out with the rent and too many of the hangers-on casually trashed the place with discarded food-wrappers and the like. I ended up closing shop after a one-year run. I just couldn't afford to go on subsidizing local fandom." [ref: TWhite email of 20Jun02] --- Peter Graham wrote that "Ted's basement office was in, if not the heart, then the liver of the Village. I remember that Terry Carr and I attracted a family group of tourists into the office and showed them around, and then guided them through the Village a bit. It was oh, so adventurous, but all very innocent, before the real `60s." [ref: Graham email] * other events in the 1960s that affected fandom - U.S. Post Office Department adopts zip codes in 1963 > led Ron Ellik to comment: "Zip code is here--the latest farce in postal operations. Mr. Day's men in blue want you to send me your five-digit zip code so your copies of STARSPINKLE can be lost more efficiently." > the Post Office activity that perhaps most affected fandom during the 1960s, however, was the raise in postal rates -- was (how much?) at start of decade; was (how much) at end of decade -- this upward trend was to continue into the 1970s and beyond >> this caused fanzine publishing to start to become expensive, perhaps a contributing factor for why fandom started its slow drift away from fanzine publishing as an activity most fans in the U.S. were involved with B) CHANGES IN FANDOM ITSELF * Fandom continues to evolve - exponential growth of fandom > fans in the 1930s, 1940s, and for much of the 1950s, for the most part, knew of almost everyone else who claimed to be a fan; this was no longer the case in the 1960s and later, caused by the ever increasing number of people who came into fandom > number of fan organizations and conventions also increase > Worldcon bidding wars escalate and become expensive - the changing face of fandom > many, many more female fans came into science fiction fandom in the 1960s -- possibly because of STAR TREK, but whatever the reason, gone were the days when a notable female fan like Bjo would be the center of everyone's attention wherever she went -- fandom was still almost exclusively caucasian, however; in North America, there were very few black or Asian fans >> the most notable black fans was Elliot Shorter from New York City --- (some info on Elliot here) >>> was elected TAFF delegate to Europe in 1970, and became an unofficial fan guest of honor at HeiCon --- Shorter was an imposing-looking person -- tall, muscular, and bearded --- you might think that would make him unmistakeable in any crowd, but Shorter had a unique identity crisis in his travels to out-of-town conventions -- he kept being mistaken by ex-pro football player Roosevelt Grier - different fandoms form, split off - relatively fewer fanzines, fanzine fandom no longer dominant - fan/sercon feuds > British fandom of mid 60s ("new wave") > (need some info, quotes, etc.) - fandom on the move > fans moving to California -- Larry and Noreen Shaw moved from New York City to the Los Angeles area in 1969, when Larry became editorial director of Parliament News Company >> they bequeathed their bedroom set (and a cat) to Ted and Robin White [ref: TWhite email of 20Jun02] > car caravans to worldcons -- this had actually originated in the late 1950s, when a caravan of fans to the 1958 Solacon started from New York, gathering additional carloads of fans along the way in Cleveland, Detroit, and Chicago -- in 1961, there was a similar caravan to that year's Seattle Worldcon; some of the travelers included Ted and Sylvia White, Walter Breen, Earl Kemp, Bill Mallardi, and Bob Pavlat [ref: TWhite email of 20Jun02] -- Los Angeles to Washington in 1963 for Discon, via Chicago >> included Ron Ellik and Calvin Demmon > Great Fanoclast Treks from NYC to Midwestcon & Westercon, 1965 and 1966 * Greater interaction between fans and pros - fans who appeared in prozine letter columns > (need info on this) - writers and editors in the 1960s who were formerly fans > Michael Moorcock -- (mini bio here) -- published and wrote for fanzines in early 1960s >> early sword and sorcery tales appeared in his own BURROUGHSANIA >> last fanzine, in 1962, was ERGO EGO, a collection of stories and poems rejected by various publishers -- became editor of NEW WORLDS magazine in 1964 when it changed publishers >> magazine became associated with "New Wave" movement in SF of the 1960s > Charles Platt -- last fanzine was in 1965 >> said he wanted to direct his future efforts into breaking into the professional market > Ted White -- an influential fan in the 1950s, in the New York City and Washington, D.C. fan communities >> one of things he can be credited for is his examples in fanzine production that raised it to almost an art form, in terms of effective use of illustrations, color mimeography, and ornate formatting usually found in slick newsstand magazines -- collaborated with Terry Carr (under "Norman Edwards" byline) on a novel titled INVASION FROM 2500 that appeared in 1964 -- solo novels from about that period included ANDROID AVENGER for Ace Books and PHOENIX PRIME for Lancer Books [ref: TWhite email of 20Jun02] -- sold a novel SIDESLIP (written in collaboration with Dave Van Arnam) to Pyramid in 1965 -- was an assistant editor for F&SF in 1963 -- became Managing Editor of AMAZING and FANTASTIC in the 1968 >> he immediately re-introduced a letters column and began running some fan features such as fanzine reviews -- all the while remained an active fan >> published fanzines (titles?) >> co-chaired a Worldcon in 1967 > Lee Hoffman -- was one of the best and most important fanzine editors of the early 1950s, while living in Savannah, Georgia >> her fanzine QUANDRY was a study of good writing, fannish behavior, and low-key humor --- featured column by Walt Willis -- since her initial fanac was exclusively by mail, few fans at first were aware she was actually a girl >> when Walt Willis found out, his first actions were to grab the telephone and call Bob Shaw: "Lee Hoffman is a *girl*!" >> Bob Tucker's reaction, when he met her at the 1951 NOLAcon was more understated, but still amazement: "I'll be *damned*!" -- after periods of inactivity, still active in fandom in early 1960s >> was an early winner of TAFF, in mid 1950s, but elected, for personal reasons, not to take a TAFF-funded trip >> attended conventions, including 1962 Chicon >> as 1960s wore on, she gradually drifted out of fandom, in favor of a career as a professional writer -- wrote some science fiction and fantasy >> THE CAVES OF KARST published by Ballantine in 1969 >> TELEPOWER published as part of a Belmont double in 1967 (other half was Harlan Ellison's DOOMSMAN) -- became better known as author of Western novels >> THE VALDEZ HORSES (published in 1967 by Doubleday) won the Spur Award for Best Western Novel for that year from Western Writers of America > Bob Tucker -- fan activity dated back to the 1930s >> most famous fanzine from the 1930s-1940s was LE ZOMBIE -- in 1940s and 1950s, fan activities made him legendary >> was a member of the 1940 Chicon committee >> (other stuff) -- by 1960s (characterize Tucker's fanac) >> (fan activities in 1960s here) >> most notable fan activity of the decade was publication of the 30th anniversary issue of LE ZOMBIE in 1969, its first appearance in a decade -- became a professional writer (when?) with (what title?) >> by the early 1960s, had 15 published novels to his credit >> during the 1960s, continued his writing career as well --- LAST STOP, a mystery, was published by Doubleday --- PROCESSION OF THE DAMNED, title taken from Charles Fort, also published by Doubleday > Joe Staton -- fan artist >> cartoons appeared in several fanzines during the 1960s >> was also a member of SFPA -- started working for Charlton Comics in mid-1960s -- also did cover for FANTASTIC magazine, illustrating a story by another fledgling fan-turned-pro, Rich Brown -- went on to a successful career as a comicbook artist - Clarion Writers Workshop > begun in 1968, it was the first of the science fiction writers conferences aimed at writers-to-be > founded by Robin Scott Wilson -- got the idea for it after attending the Milford writers conference, which was a workshop for writers who were already selling professionally >> to attend Milford, you had to be a published author, while Clarion was meant for people, many of them science fiction fans, who *wanted* to be writers -- first three Clarions were held in Clarion, Pennsylvania, where Wilson taught at the local college -- Wilson ended his involvement when he moved to Chicago in the summer of 1970, but some of those who had attended the first three Workshops thought it was too good an idea to end >> the very next year, Clarion-style workshops were begun in Seattle and New Orleans by previous Clarion attendees --- the Seattle one was begun by Vonda McIntyre, who later remembered that "Neither James Sallis nor I could bear the idea that the workshop would die. We both got Robin's blessing to start workshops. Jim's was at Tulane, and the one I helped run was at the University of Washington. I called the Seattle one 'Clarion West'; it seemed a good idea at the time." >> the Tulane workshop only lasted the one year, but counted among its attendees a future Hugo Award-winning author, George Alec Effinger >> the Seattle Clarion West lasted three years, before McIntyre suffered burnout from the dual pressures of trying to manage the conference while being a graduate student; it was resumed again by different organizers in the mid 1980s >> in 1972, another 'Clarion Writers Workshop' was begun in East Lansing, Michigan > Clarion was set up to be an intensive six-week program -- during the course of the conference, attendees would compose stories which would be critiqued by other attendees and the writers-in- residence -- each week, there was a different writer-in-residence -- the concept was a phenominal success: attendees had a subsequent high success rate for selling stories > Damon Knight and Kate Wilhelm instructed at every Clarion conference until the 1990s -- sometimes referred to as the "Godparents" of Clarion -- Damon also founder of Science Fiction Writers of America in 1965 >> history of SFWA outside the scope of this book, but Damon later was quoted as saying that he was responsible for founding two organizations, the NFFF and SFWA, and that both were mistakes - Besides Clarion, there were other writers conferences also sprung up about that time; it was an idea whose time had come > one of those happened in 1969, when Minneapolis-area fan Frank Stodolka organized a series of local writers workshops that brought out Cliff Simak and Gordy Dickson as mentors to the aspiring writers who attended