Chapter Five - publications and legendry [working title]
Fanzines, fan publications, and fannish pastimes
Richard Lynch
P.O. Box 3120
Gaithersburg, MD 20885 USA
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
PRELIMINARY OUTLINE FOR A PROPOSED FAN HISTORY BOOK OF THE 1960s
Comments on this outline-in-progress are requested!!!
(last modified on September 14, 2002)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
((note: this first text section here can be considered a kind of prologue to
the chapter))
In the June 1926 issue of AMAZING STORIES, its editor, Hugo Gernsback, noted
that there were many science fiction enthusiasts who were buying the magazine
but who probably had never met many (if any at all) other fans. The reason
was obvious: the overall number of fans of the genre was only a few score, and
since letters printed in AMAZING's "Discussions" section did not include
addresses of the correspondents, it was unlikely for fans to happen across any
other fans they didn't already know. In one stroke, Gernsback changed all
that; starting in that issue he published names and addresses in full for all
letters he included in the magazine. Almost immediately, fans started writing
letters to other fans, not just to the magazine. Correspondence networks
began between fans. It was the birth of modern day science fiction fandom.
It was inevitable that fans themselves would strive to emulate Gernsback and
other magazine publishers by editing and publishing their own publications.
What's surprising is that it took nearly four years before the first of them
appeared. The first science fiction fan magazine may have been THE COMET,
which appeared in May 1930. It was the official publication of the Science
Correspondence Club, a proto-fan organization located in New York City.
Members of that club included such notables as Ray Palmer, P. Schuyler Miller,
and Aubrey McDermott. THE COMET (which was retitled as COSMOLOGY with its
second issue), and the Science Correspondence Club itself, for that matter,
was not really aimed at the advancement of science fiction, though; instead,
the club was devoted to "the furtherance of science and its dissemination
among the laymen of the world" which was mirrored in COSMOLOGY by publication
of such articles as "Chemistry and Atomic Theory" and "What Can Be Observed in
a Small Telescope." It had been Gernsback's belief that his young readers
should be nurtured into becoming scientists, and that science fiction was just
one means of accomplishing that. Given that, it's not really surprising that
the first fan magazine had a strong science emphasis.
COSMOLOGY eventually did publish material related to science fiction and even
some science fiction stories before it ceased publication in 1933. But by
then, the first true science fiction fan magazines had started to appear.
Possibly the first of these, in January 1932, was THE TIME TRAVELLER, the
publication of the Scienceers club of New York City, which included as its
members Julius Unger, Allen Glasser, Mort Weisinger, and Julius Schwartz. What
made THE TIME TRAVELLER a 'true' fan magazine was its emphasis of things of
interest to readers of science fiction, rather than the encouragement of young
scientists. It featured biographical material about science fiction authors,
news, bibliographical listings, and fiction. THE TIME TRAVELLER also encouraged
its readers to write letters of comment, and many of them did. Two of the most
notable earned first became known in fandom from the letters section of THE
TIME TRAVELLER; they were Forrest J Ackerman and Bob Tucker.
By the end of the 1930s, fan magazines had mostly replaced personal
correspondence as a way of communicating between fans. The example of THE
TIME TRAVELLER was widely emulated, in that fan magazines became almost
exclusively about science fiction. There were some, such as James Taurasi's
FANTASY NEWS, that served as a frequent (often weekly) source of news of fan
activities, and others, such as Sam Moskowitz's NEW FANDOM that contained
articles and other material of a more general interest. In general, fan
magazines of the 1930s could be called enthusiastic, or unpolished, or
informative. But they couldn't be called 'fanzines' because the term
hadn't yet been invented. In October 1940, a fan from Charlottesville,
Virginia named Louis Russell Chauvenet suggested that term as an
alternative to 'fanmag', which had begun to come into common usage and
'fanag', which was threatening to do the same. Other fans, most notably Harry
Warner, Jr., soon championed the new word, and it quickly became not just the
preferred term for amateur science fiction fan publications, it became the
*only* term.
In the decades since the first fanzines appeared, hundreds of thousands, if
not millions, have been published -- nobody knows exactly how many. The last
attempt at a comprehensive checklist of science fiction fan publications was
done between December 1952 and November 1959 by two Washington, D.C. fans,
Bill Evans and Bob Pavlat, which built on an earlier checklist compiled in
the 1940s by another fan, R.D. Swisher. The lack of knowledge about the
expanse of fan publications didn't stop people from collecting them, however.
Almost as soon as they started appearing, fan magazines became collectable
items. At some of the earliest science fiction conventions, fan publishers
were encouraged to produce special editions of their journals; the success
of these early conventions was due in part to the presence of fans who just
couldn't stand the thought of having a dozen or more new fan magazines
missing from their collections.
By the 1950s, a few mega-collections of fanzines had emerged. One was in the
hands of Sam Moskowitz, who used his well-organized collection for historical
research; one product of this research was his book about fandom of the 1930s,
THE IMMORTAL STORM, of which more will be said later. Other massive
collections belonged to Harry Warner, Jr. and Forry Ackerman. In the United
Kingdom, Vincent Clarke, and Walt Willis were prominent both as letter-writers
and fanzine publishers; as a result they amassed huge numbers of fan
publications. But at the beginning of the 1960s, the seeds were sown for
perhaps the largest fanzine collection of them all when members of Los Angeles
fandom created what became known as The Institute for Specialized Literature,
which came into existence in May 1962. The purpose of the organization was
for collection and preservation of science fiction fan publications, and it
got off to a good start by assimilating the fanzine collections of Ron Ellik
and Ed Cox. Bruce Pelz became 'curator' of the collection, but after a promising
start, it turned out there really wasn't all that much to do and fans started to
lose interest. Pelz remained committed, however, and continued to add to the
collection, which eventually took over several rooms of his house plus a storage
shed in his back yard.
[info on Institute from BPelz, mostly from 7Apr97 email]
There were many notable fanzines that were published in the 1960s. (continue with
outline)
Notable fanzines of the 1960s
(NOTE: SOME OF THESE MAY WIND UP IN REGIONAL FANDOMS CHAPTERS)
* YANDRO (ed. Robert and Juanita Coulson)
* MIRAGE
- edited by Jack Chalker
- featured fantasy-oriented material: everything from stories to
bibloigraphical information
- started (when?)
- went into hibernation in early 1963, when contributions dried up
* SPECULATION
- edited by Peter Weston
> entered fandom in 1963 as member of Birmingham Science Fiction Group
> later in 1963, decided to publish fanzine, after seeing examples by Norm
Metcalf and Jon White
-- Metcalf published a sercon fanzine, so his fanzine was very sercon
> apart from publishing, also reviewed fanzines in VECTOR
-- column titled "Behind the Scenes"
>> ran for 16 months, 5 installments, starting in 1966
-- chose pseudonym derived from names of Scot fans Don Malcolm and
Edward Macklin: "Malcolm Edwards"
>> fan with actual name of Malcolm Edwards appeared several years
later and was surprised by number of fans who said they were happy
to finally meet him
--- both later became worldcon chairmen
- began as ZENITH in October 1963
> featured short-lived fanzine review column by Walt Willis
-- "Fanorama" column continuation of a column willis did for a prozine
-- only four appearances in ZENITH
>> last appearance only discussed communications breakdown that was
enveloping British fandom at the time
- 10th issue, became ZENITH SPECULATION
- assumed final name in 14th issue, in October 1966
- was honored with multiple Hugo Award nominations during its existence
- lasted into the early 1970s, when Weston finally ran out of steam; the
last issue appeared in 1976
> it was actually dated 1973, but languished in Weston's attic until it
was eventually distributed with the 11th issue of (who's?) fanzine, MAYA
> in later years, Weston embarked on different fan endeavour --
manufacturing the metal rockets that were used in the Hugo Awards
* POINT OF VIEW
- edited by Charles Platt
- first issue in Nov. 1963
- declared itself "...an attempt to bring adult SF by amateurs to as wide an
audience as possible"
> featured amateur fiction and poetry, book reviews, lists of new books
- labelled as "New Wave" by Jim Linwood in fanzine review column in LES
SPINGE
- changed name to BEYOND with third issue (1964)
> 3rd zine with that title in British fandom, to that point
- later issues contrasted views of fandom between newcomers and established
fans
> 4th issue had "BSFA Survey", where Platt and readers listed gripes about
the fan club
-- new members expectations of BSFA were not delivered by the club
> 6th issue carried a piece by Archie Mercer explaining the point of view
of established fans and an opposing one by Beryl Henley with the
complaints of the newcomers
-- irony: Henley became Mrs. Mercer later in the decade
- lasted for eight issues. the last being in April 1965
* SKYRACK
- edited by Ron Bennett
> (bio of Ron Bennett goes here)
> his Skyrack Book Service begun to sell SF books (see below)
- title derived from the administrative district of Skyrack in the U.K.,
just south of Harrogate where Bennett lived
> THE SKYRACK NEWSLETTER, as it was at first called, seemed more science
fictional to Bennett than "The Harrogate Newsletter" would have
- first appeared in April 1959
> original purpose was to fill the gap left by the demise of the British
newszine CONTACT two years earlier
> also to balance Americentric slant of Carr & Ellik's FANAC
- was premiere British fandom newszine during the 1960s
> convention reports
> fan club news
> covered TAFF news extensively, including voting results
-- also reported on the special Parker and Willis funds, and their
subsequent trips
> first fanzine to report British bid for 1965 worldcon
- featured annual fan preference polls
> winners announced in 1960 (issue #16, first annish) for 1959 were ATom
for Best Fanartist, John Berry for Best Fanwriter, and APHORRETA for
Best Fanzine
> other poll winners in subsequent years included Ella Parker (for her
fanzine ORION), Walt Willis, Ethel Lindsay, HYPHEN
> won its own fan poll for Best Fanzine in 1963 and 1964
- at about the middle of 1965, publication went from monthly to bimonthly
> The cause wasn't so much burnout as much as erosion of available spare
time; Bennett later recalled that "I was struggling with a new mortgage,
a new son, teaching evening classes, taking a crack at pro-writing and
attempting to run a mail-order second hand book and magazine business,
all in addition, of course, to teaching at a local primary school where
out-of-school hours were devoted to coaching a successful schoolboy
soccer team." [taken from MIMOSA 22]
- Bennett eventually suspended publication near end of 1960s
> only one issue had appeared in 1967
> last issue of decade was May 1968, subsequent to Bennett's relocation to
Singapore in Sept. 1967
> there was one more issue after that, in July 1971 to cover the deaths of
John W. Campbell, Jr. and August Derleth
* AMRA
- edited by George Scithers
> (brief bio of George here)
- according to Scithers, "AMRA is about various heroic heroes, mostly of
swordplay-&-sorcery stories set in fantasy worlds"
> subjects and characters of interest included Robert E. Howard's Conan,
Leiber's Fafhrd & the Grey Mouser, Pratt and de Camp's Harold Shea,
Moorcock's Elric, and Burrough's John Carter
> name of fanzine derived from the character Conan the Cimmarian, who
called himself by that name while he was a pirate
- Scithers started the fanzine (when?)
> (reasons for wanting to do heroic fantasy fanzine?)
- fanzine ran for (how many?) issues, until (when?)
> was lithographed instead of mimeographed (all issues? or just the later
ones?)
- contents were varied, and always interesting
> usually a mixture of articles, essays, satire, poetry, book reviews, and
letters, with very excellent artwork
-- featured much artwork by such renowned artists as Roy Krenkel, Gray
Morrow, and Jim Cawthorn
> one of the best issues was the November 1963; contents included a sonnet
by L. Sprague de Camp about Conan, an article on broadswords by Lawrence
Kafka, and the extraordinary "Six Scenes in Search of an Illustration",
where six professional and amateur authors (de Camp, Eney, Leiber,
Katherine MacLean, Moorcock, and John Pocsik) wrote story vignettes
around a centerpiece foldout illustration by Krenkel
> occasionally, there was heroic fiction; the March 1965 issue featured a
14 page story, complete with illustrations by Ray Garcia-Capella
-- (Scithers's ideas on publishing fiction)
> other issues featured such things as reprints of correspondence between
Robert E. Howard and August Derlith or Clark Ashton Smith; book reviews
by Harry Harrison, Robert Coulson, Sprague de Camp, and Fritz Leiber;
articles on everything from medieval weaponry and combat to building
science fictional worlds by such notables as de Camp, Poul Anderson,
Frank Herbert, Jerry Pournelle, and Leigh Brackett; poetry by Roger
Zelazny and Lin Carter
> major contributor was de Camp, who contributed everything from an
appreciation of his collaborator, the late Fletcher Pratt to book
reviews
- Scithers maintained publication, even though he was stationed in Germany
for the military during the mid 1960s
> (quote here, maybe, on keeping fanzine alive)
- AMRA won Hugo Award in 1968
> (reviewers quote from somewhere)
* AXE
- edited by Larry & Noreen Shaw
> (brief bios go here)
- published monthly, starting in April 1961
> was announced as a bi-weekly booster for the Tenth Anniversary Willis Fund
- started out as a newszine, but changed over (in 1963) to a general interest
fanzine
- Hugo nominee in 1962
- suffered some interruptions in schedule, due to moves
- died in August 1963, the victim of a number of moves by the Shaws
> their move back to New York from the midwest was its death knell
* FANAC
- edited in first part of 1960s by Terry Carr and Ron Ellik, who were both
residing in Berkeley, California at the time
> was started in 1958 as a weekly publication
> first issue of 1960 was no. 50
- a biweekly newszine, usually 4 pages
> 53rd issue, in February 1960, was an exception -- this second
anniversary issue, dubbed FANNISH II, was over 40 pages, including a
30-page section summarizing the 1959 Fanac Poll and a two-page index to
FANAC's first two years
-- cover of the issue was a photo of a local fan, Trina Castillo,
dressed in only a propeller beanie and a copy of FANCYCLOPEDIA II
> also had other features besides news, most notably Walt Willis's semi-
regular column "P*L*I*N*T*H", about happenings in Irish Fandom
- won a Hugo award at the 1959 Worldcon
- September 1960 saw the first changes in the zine, when Ron Ellik quit as
co-editor after issue no. 65
> Ellik moved back to Los Angeles, and was replaced as FANAC co-editor by
Miriam Carr
> about then the frequency of publication became biweekly
- by early 1961, the Carrs evidently decided they were tired of doing a
frequent newszine as well, and it looked for a while like the zine might
be dead after issue no. 71 (don't have issue no. 72 -- when was that and
who edited it?)
- after a short hiatus, Walter Breen, who had arrived in the area from New
York City, revived it, but it was never really the same after that
> almost immediately, Breen started to split his time between New York and
California, with the effect of lengthening the gap of time between each
succeeding issue
-- where Ellik and Carr almost religiously stuck to first a weekly, then
a biweekly schedule, by issue #77, a month had passed since the
preceding issue, and with issue #78 there had been an even larger gap
of time, over two months
-- during this period, there were a couple insurgent
* STARSPINKLE
- Ron Ellik's "biweekly news and chitter-chatter fanzine"
> the title is actually a nonsensical word made up by Ellik to prove that
a catchy title was not necessary for a fanzine to become a so-called
Focal Point Fanzine like FANAC had been in the late 1950s
-- and STARSPINKLE actually was that kind of fanzine, a frequent,
concise, and yet reasonably comprehensive newszine that fans eagerly
awaited its appearance in their mailboxes
> issues were published by Bruce Pelz, who later became unofficial co-
editor
-- Don Fitch also helped produce some of the early issues
- first issue appeared in December 1962
> "STARSPINKLE is not a cautious fanzine and if somebody wants to accuse
me of imitating FANAC I'm not leaving any cautious-type loopholes in my
editorial policy so I can wriggle out of it; I'm spending the energy on
laughter. This is a zippity-pow newszine I think you want to read."
- normally a two-page, one-sheet fanzine
> each issue was series of short news stories about fans and fandom
> did two special one-page issues from the 1963 Westercon
-- became one of the first instances of a convention daily newszine
> did two special one-page "Harlan Ellison Issues" late in its run, in
1964, that promoted two Ellison-scripted episodes of THE OUTER LIMITS
- was nominated for a Hugo Award in 1964, but didn't win
- lasted for fifty issues, the last being early November 1964
> end caused by Ellik moving from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C. area
* RATATOSK
- edited by Bruce Pelz
> Pelz originally from New Jersey, and became active in fandom in the late
1950s while at college in Florida
-- had discovered fandom via Bob Bloch's "Fandora's Box" fanzine review
column in IMAGINATIVE TALES
-- had gotten involved in fandom through a University of Florida cave
exploration group, the Florida Speleological Society
>> in 1957, members of the organization discovered a mutual interest
in science fiction, which led to formation of a science fiction
fan club there, SCIFI
-- in 1959, Pelz had graduated from college, and attended his first
Worldcon, the Detention
>> there he met many of the movers and shakers of LASFS, who had come
to Detention in the Bjo-organized caravan
--- Bruce had previously learned of LASFS from their fanzine
SHAGGY, and had previously `met' some L.A. fans by mail
>> when caravan returned to Los Angeles after the convention, Pelz
joined it, eventually moving to Los Angeles
--- at the Detention, according to Ted Johnstone, "Pelz looked
over the L.A. crew, and decided they were his people."
> Pelz proved to be a fan of multi-interests
-- active in LASFS
>> after three unsuccessful attempts at elected LASFS positions, held
office as LASFS Director and Treasurer during the 1960s
--- held office of Treasurer during the period at end of 1960s
when LASFS clubhouse fund had grown large enough to acquire
their first clubhouse
-- helped Bjo with her Project Art Show in the early 1960s
>> although he had nothing to do with starting it, he provided at-con
assistance at the 1960 Pittcon, the 1961 Seacon, and the 1963
Discon
>> administered the Show at the 1964 Pacificon II, when Bjo couldn't
attend because of pregnancy
-- convention running
>> at end of decade, became active in worldcon bid that would
eventually result in his co-chairmanship of the 1972 Worldcon
>> was also co-chair of the 1969 Westercon
-- was in many apas during the 1960s: SAPS, N'APA, The Cult, OMPA, and
FAPA
>> became official editor of SAPS, N'APA, and FAPA during the 1960s
--- was simultaneously OE of SAPS and FAPA for several years
-- fanzine publishing and collecting
>> began acquired a large number of fanzines (The Fanzine Foundation)
from Alan Lewis in 1965, the basis of what was to become the
world's largest collection of fanzines in the 1970s, 1980s, and
1990s
--- purchased the collection in installment payments, which were
completed in time for the collection to be acquired after the
1966 Worldcon
--- more than one ton of fanzines in acquisition, including
partial or complete collections of past and current fans Alan
Lewis, Howard DeVore, Phyllis Economou, Larry Shaw, Martin
Alger, and R. D. Swisher
- fanzine was begun in November 1964
> biweekly publication
> Bruce said that the zine's name was taken from the name of the squirrel
from Norse mythology that ran up and down Yggdrasil, the Tree of Life,
carrying rumors from the eagle at the top and the dragon at the bottom,
and passing them on to other various creatures that resided on the tree
-- the zine superseded STARSPINKLE, which had been edited by Ron Ellik,
who had the fan nickname of "The Squirrel"
-- Bruce thought RATATOSK was therefore an appropriate name, in several
ways
- billed as a "news and gossip-mongering zine"
> was very fannish in its presentations of news
-- boosted fan funds and worldcons
> in some ways, follow-on to the recently deceased STARSPINKLE
-- always a single-sheet (2-sided) fanzine
-- kept same subscription rate (3 issues for a quarter)
-- copied the general format
- compact format still permitted bits of fan art
> artists represented included ATom, Rotsler, Jim Cawthorne, Eddie Jones,
Roy Krenkel, and Bruce's then-wife Dian Pelz
-- Dian's humorous illos often related to one of the news stories in
the issue
- ended publication after issue no. 47, in May 1967
> near end of 1966 started appearing less regularly
> no issue published between early November 1966 and mid January 1967
(issues 41 and 42)
> no issue published between late January and mid April 1967
> when Ratatosk 47 appeared in late May, no indication this would be the
last issue, but it was
> much later, Bruce said, "When I faltered for the second time, it died."
-- Bruce published a fanzine compilation of all the issues in 1992
* FOCAL POINT
- (details needed)
* RALLY!
- Southern fandom newszine
- edited initially by Lon Atkins and Al Andrews
- begun in April 1966
- lasted until the late 1970s
> while under different editorship, folded soon after being embroiled in a
controversy centering around Harlan Ellison
* DEGLER!
- New York weekly newszine edited by Andy Porter
- changed title to S.F. WEEKLY
- published between 1966 and 1968
> last issue appeared April 1968, just a few weeks before LOCUS debuted
* LOCUS
- founded by Charlie Brown, Dave Vanderwerf, and Ed Meskys
> (mini bio of Charlie Brown here)
-- was active Lunarian
- according to an announcement that appeared in INSTANT MESSAGE, LOCUS was
sarted "in dissatisfaction with SF WEEKLY"
- first two issues were "trial issues", which were used to try out different
types of reproduction, and to line up news sources
- first issue, designated "Trial Issue Number One", was printed by mimeo in
living room of NESFAn Anthony Lewis
> it was two pages and featured a news item about the 1968 Lunacon and an
obituary for the recently deceased Anthony Boucher
> not dated, but was published (when?)
- published 46 issues by the end of 1969, including the two trial issues
> came out mostly biweekly
> page counts pregressively increased; after the first few months, it was
typically about a 4-8 page fanzine
> first columnist was Anthony Lewis, who in the (which?) issue started a
semi-regular feature on books
-- he followed that up with a column reviewing current sf magazines
-- soon afterwards, a more fannish column by Bob Tucker called "The Time
Machine" started to appear
- although the fanzine started out as a tri-editorship, it was Charlie Brown
who quickly became the dominant force
> by issue no. 9, Vanderwerf had dropped out, and Meskys had gotten too
involved with a Tolkien Conference he was organizing at Belknap College
in New Hampshire to continue
> editorial void was filled by Charlie's wife Marsha
- LOCUS went on to win many Hugo Awards for Charlie Brown, first in Fanzine
category, then in a new Semi-Prozine category that was created in the
1980s
* THE RIVERSIDE QUARTERLY
- a mostly sercon fanzine published by Leland Sapiro
- its origins were actually from INSIDE, a Hugo Award-winning fanzine of the
previous decade
> INSIDE had been published by Ron Smith, who later moved to Australia
> by mid 1950s, INSIDE had merged with another fanzine, SCIENCE FICTION
ADVERTISER (which had been previously titled FANTASY ADVERTISER), a fanzine
that had been aimed mostly at collectors
-- Smith took over SFA's subscriptions which greatly expanded the fanzine's
readership [source: Newsome 27Dec96 email]
> by late 1950s, publication had become very irregular, and Smith was ready
to move on
> reins were turned over to a neofan Jon White, who published two issues in
the early 1960s using a stockpile of material that Smith had left him
-- Sapiro was an aquaintance of White, and was brought in as a partner
-- Sapiro was extremely helpful in getting those issues published, both
both in providing material and covering some of the printing costs
- in summer of 1964, White was attending college in California, so he turned
the fanzine entirely over to Sapiro
> Sapiro preferred a new name of RIVERSIDE QUARTERLY, and that summer's
issue was titled, transitionally, INSIDE/RIVERSIDE QUARTERLY
[source: JWhite 9May2000 email]
> new title came from Riverside Drive in New York, the location of a famous
fan abode in the 1950s, and where White had lived [source: TWhite 7Jun98
email]
> first issue of RQ came out in 1964, and the numbering was restarted at
V1N1
- RQ continued publication, at times sporadically, into the 1990s under Sapiro
before it eventually became extinct
* EGOBOO (ed. John D. Berry)
* HABAKKUK (ed. Bill Donaho)
- mostly a discussionzine with lots of letters
* QUIP
* BANE
* BEABOHEMA
- (need details)
- ended publication in 1970
* LIGHTHOUSE (ed. Terry Carr)
- (need much info)
- perhaps the best single issues of any fanzine produced in the 1960s were of
this fanzine (need details)
* ENCLAVE (ed. Joe Pilati)
- Pilati went on to become journalist and author in Boston area
* VOID
- (much info needed, look in on-hand sources)
- was begun in the 1950s, and the first 18 issues were published in that decade
- Jim and Greg Benford published the earliest issues, up through #13, when Jim
dropped out [source: TWhite 16Dec00 email]
> from #14 on (starting in 1959) there was a seemingly constantly-changing
series of fans to share co-editing duties, though the actual publishing chores
were taken on by Ted White [source: TWhite 7Feb99 email]
> Ted White joined as co-editor with issue 14 in 1958 [source: TWhite 16Dec00
email]
> by 1961 Greg had left and Terry Carr had joined
-- in doing so, Carr merged his own fanzine INNUENDO with VOID
- some of the best issues were in 1960-62
> there was an issue, dubbed the 'WAWISH' that was devoted to Walt Willis
-- launched the 10th Anniversary Willis Fund that resulted in Walt and Madeleine
Willis coming to America, 10 years after Walt's first trip, for the 1962
Worldcon
> several other issues had multi-page covers, drawn by Bhob Stewart
> the fifth anniversary issue, dubbed the 'VANNISH', was so large, it had to be
mailed out in three installments [source: TWhite 16Dec00 email]
- the end came rather suddenly, however
> issue #28 was published in early 1962, and then...nothing for five years
> White, who had been publishing the fanzine from his 'Towner Hall' apartment and
mimeo shop in Manhattan, moved to Brooklyn, and became involved in other fan
activities [source: TWhite 16Dec00 email]
- last issue, #29, was published by Ted White after about a 5-year hiatus
[source: TWhite 7Jun98 email]
- White later said he had wanted to publish a final 30th issue as a hardcover book,
with both Benford and Carr as co-editors with him, but could never talk Carr into
it [source: TWhite 16Dec00 email]
Apas of the 1960s
* Amateur press associations, or apas, are closed groups of fan editors. Each
member in the apa sends a specified number of copies of his or her fanzine
to the apa's Official Editor (or OE); the OE collates all the contributions
into bundles containing one of each contribution received, and then re-mails
a bundle to each member
- each apa has its own dues and required activity schedule, in order for
members to keep their spot on the membersip roster
- usually, only a limited number of membership spots are available
> the most popular apas have waiting lists, for the occasion when someone
on the membership roster resigned, or was thrown out for not making the
activity requirement
- to keep interest up, many of the apas stage a yearly popularity contest,
called an 'egoboo poll', which is usually broken down into several
categories such as 'Best Publication', 'Best Humorist', and 'Best Artwork'
> another way that members interests were maintained was to follow all the
feuds between members that invariably happened
- the concept of the amateur press association actually pre-dates science
fiction fandom by many decades
> the first of them, the National Amateur Press Association (NAPA) was
founded in 1876
> even back then feuding between was a popular apa feature [source: Lichtman
20Mar99 email]
- at the beginning of the 1960s, there were six apas in existence in science
fiction fandom, but the growth in fandom throughout the 1960s would change
that
* FAPA (Fantasy Amateur Press Association)
- fandom's first apa, started in late 1930s by (who?)
- began the new decade in good fashion with a mailing totalling almost 600
pages
> the FAPA egoboo poll in that distribution showed that the preceding year
was an all-star one for Harry Warner, Jr., as he was the winner in the
categories of Best Publication, Best Article Writer, and Best Mailing
Comments, and was the overall poll winner
- during the 1960s, FAPA acquired a huge waitlist of fans who wanted to join
> at one point, the number of waitlisters climbed to over 100, equivalent
to several years waiting to get in for people near the bottom of the
list
-- young fans were urged to join the waitlist as soon as possible, so
that by the time they became interested in the apa, a membership slot
would come open
> to help relieve the waitlist pressure, movements arose from time to time
to raise the FAPA copy count from 65 to 100, but this was resisted by
many members who didn't want to or couldn't afford to print and mail
more copies of their fanzine to the OE
-- one such movement, in the late 1960s, almost succeeded but Jack
Speer, who was (what position?) then, found a technicality that
prevented the matter from coming to a vote
-- FAPA OEs found that a different way of controlling the waitlist was
more effective: pruning the deadwood
>> a nominal annual waitlist fee of 25 cents was imposed, and people
who didn't pay were dropped
>> another tactic was to require a postcard be sent to the OE at
regular intervals to affirm the waitlister's continuing interest
in FAPA
--
- in 1964, apa got ensnared in the fracas surrounding Walter Breen, and
14 members exercised their right to blackball his membership application
> however, the blackball was subsequently overturned by a special vote of
the membership
> this incident led to a demonstration by Rich Brown and some other
members on the dire possibilities the blackball could wreak
-- at Brown's urging, he and 13 other members exercised their right to
blackball the *entire* FAPA waiting list, many of whom had been
waiting for years
>> this inadvertantly benefited Mike McInerney, who joined the
waitlist when he found out that there wasn't one any more
--- the result was that Brown, who was sharing an apartment with
McInerney, became accused of ulterior motives
-- after waitlisters complained loudly, FAPA secretary treasurer, Bob
Pavlat, found a loophole that reinstated the list, but the
demonstration was not wasted on the membership: the blackball
provision was modified soon afterward to make it much more difficult
to use
- in mid 1960s, much cross-over material from The Cult started to appear
> led to proposed FAPA constitution amendment by Rick Sneary to prohibit
any past or present member of The Cult from being a member of FAPA
-- Sneary surprised that amendment was taken seriously, but did not
withdraw it
-- amendment ultimately defeated by substantial amount
* SAPS (Spectator Amateur Press Society)
- formed in the late 1940s by (who?)
- in 1960, started the new decade out with a bang with a 817 page 50th
mailing, the largest apa mailing ever at that time
> 32 of the 33 members had contributions in the mailing, also a record
-- it would have been 33 out of 33, but Ray Schaeffer, who lived in
Hawaii, had his contribution arrive at the home of OE (who?) just
hours after the bundles had been mailed out
-- mailing featured some very good fanzines, including a 60-page issue
of Art Rapp's SPACEWARP, a 46-page OUTSIDERS by Wrai Ballard, and
the return to fan publishing by Richard Bergeron with a 21-page
WARHOON
- in 1963, OE Bruce Pelz took care of treasury surplus in a unique way: each
member received, as part of the mailing one of a serially-numbered set of
U.S. dollar bills
* SFPA (Southern Fandom Press Alliance)
- founded in 1961, from combined efforts of Lloyd D. Broyles, Bill Plott,
Dick Ambrose, and Al Andrews
> Bill Plott (a.k.a. Billyjoeplottfromopelikaalabama) was teenager known
as "The Traveling Fan"; visited other fans all throughout the southland
-- during his travels, came up with idea for apa that would help to
unify fans in the region
-- visited Al Andrews and Dick Ambrose, in Alabama, to discuss the idea
>> Southern Fandom Group (which had been modeled after NFFF) was
still in existence at that time was envisioned to support an apa
the same way that NFFF was supporting its apa, N'APA
> Al Andrews
-- was enthused by Plott's idea for new apa
-- second issue of Broyles's THE SOUTHERN FAN contained announcement
that Andrews had been named chairman of committee designed to
establish a Southern Fandom Press Association
> However, neither Plott nor Andrews could take plans to fruition
-- Plott was more concerned with getting through high school
-- Andrews often confined to wheelchair; disability prevented him from
assuming OEship
- first OE of SFPA was Bob Jennings from Nashville, Tennessee
> was persuaded by Andrews to take on the job
- first distribution was September 1961
> had 76 pages
> founding members included Plott, Andrews, Jennings, Ambrose, and Dave
Hulan
> had special "damnyankee" rule (actually originally suggested by non-
southerner Bob Lichtman) that only 25% of roster could be non-
southerners
- pagecounts in later distributions in 1960s reached as high as 400 pages
- notable fans within and outside southern U.S. joined SFPA during 1960s
> included Rick Norwood, Dave Locke, Larry Montgomery, Bill Gibson, L.D.
Broyles, Lynn Hickman, Joe Staton, Arnie Katz, Dian Pelz, Lon Atkins, Ed
Cox, Jerry Page, Lee Jacobs, Charles Wells, Hank Reinhardt, Bruce Pelz,
Fred Lerner, Ned Brooks, Rich Mann, and Andy Porter
> in 1966, Dave Hulan published a map showing SFPA members residing in
such un-south places as New York, Ohio, California, and North Dakota
- the year 1963 was pivotal for the new apa
> Dave Hulan, who became OE in 1962, wrote SFPA by-laws into a much more
efficient, comprehensible constitution
-- established an "egoboo poll" which boosted popularity of the apa,
gave it much-needed visibility outside the south, and provided an
energy source for members to sustain their activity in the apa
>> winner of each year's egoboo poll was designated as the "President
of SFPA" for the next year, but winner could not be current OE
--- first egoboo poll, in 1963, saw only five people vote
>>> OE Dave Hulan won the inaugural poll, so second-place
finisher Al Andrews was named President of SFPA
--- subsequent Presidents during the 1960s were Lon Atkins,
(others?)
> first OE Bob Jennings resigned from the apa during 1963
-- previous year had unwisely published in his SFPAzine a libelous
article, "A Trip to Hell", written by a non-member, D. Bruce Berry
>> Berry, who lived in Chicago area, alleged that a well-known
Chicago fan, Earl Kemp, had robbed him on the streets of Chicago
on Labor Day night in 1958
--- based his accusation on what at best can be described as
flimsy evidence: the assailant was masked, and Berry thought
he recognized the man as Kemp
--- allegations did not take into account that Kemp had actually
been in South Gate, California, at the Worldcon at that time
>> additionally, Berry accused Kemp of railroading him into an insane
asylum for three weeks
--- luckily, most people were able to recognize Berry's delusions
for what they were; Kemp found it necessary to take Berry to
court to secure relief from Berry's libelous barrage [source:
Kemp 26Mar01 email]
--- Jennings, as publisher of the article, came under sharp
criticism
-- Jennings resignation was greeted with relief from Hulan, who believed
believed that SFPA was in too fragile health at the time to survive
troubles that might have resulted if Jennings had stayed on
- 1965 also a rocky year for the apa
> New York fan Arnie Katz had joined the apa in 1964
-- his fanzine "Nemesis" was appropriate title, as he let fly with
barrage of insults against a perceived smugness by the apa and its
membership
-- of course, southern fans in apa replied in kind, and resulting
tenseness didn't dissipate for many months
> 1965 OE election made Katz episode seem minor by comparison
-- at the time, SFPA OE was 17-year old Tennessee fan Joe Staton, who
later went on to a successful career as an artist
>> Staton was not successful as OE, however
--- not well equipped to reproduce fanzines or the SFPA official
organ ("The Southerner")
--- no other SFPAns lived close enough to help out
--- had trouble getting Post Office to agree to book rate for SFPA
mailings
>> by mailing 16, in June 1965, Staton relinquished OEship to Dave
Hulan, who had already announced he was candidate in the upcoming
OE election
-- OE election was between Hulan and Larry Montgomery
>> Montgomery voiced loud objections to Hulan assuming OE from Staton
on emergency basis
--- claimed it gave unfair advantage to Hulan in the upcoming
election
--- by then, Hulan had moved to California; Montgomery claimed
Hulan was no longer a southerner, therefore ineligible to
become OE
>> membership did not agree; Hulan elected overwhelmingly
--- was the one-sidedness of the results that prevented
polarization and possible dissolution of the apa
--- end result of fracas also served to put to rest the perceived
parochial nature of the apa that Katz had railed against
>>> SFPA retained "yankee quota" but opened itself more to
outsiders
>>> the very next OE, Lon Atkins, also moved to California,
but was re-elected to another term
>>> rules eventually changed to cover members moving away from
the south: "once a Southerner, always a Southerner"
- by end of decade of the 1960s, a third crisis had descended: disinterest
> mailing 33, in August 1969, had only 46 pages from the 11 members on the
roster
-- an influx of St. Louis fans had occurred during the prior year, and
all of them had departed as the upcoming St. Louis worldcon neared
-- four of the remaining members talked about resigning if the next
mailing didn't show marked improvement
>> OE Lon Atkins even considered folding the apa
-- however, crisis seemed to inspire remaining members
>> November 1969 mailing was back up to almost 200 pages, including
brief return to activity by Al Andrews
>> apa steadily gained in interest as time went on, culminating in an
astonishing 100th mailing in 1980 that totalled over 1400 pages
* OMPA (Off-Trails Magasine Publishers Association)
- Britain's first apa; started in June 1954 by Ken Bulmer and Vincent Clarke
> title chosen, in part, because acronym sounded like the echo of a
trombone
-- Clarke thought this title would "disperse any stuffiness about the
introduction of an association with a real constitution into the
happily anarchic fandom of the time"
> structure was modeled mostly after FAPA
- 1950s events of note
> apa gained notice in North America during Ken and Pam Bulmer's TAFF
visit there in 1955, which resulted in many U.S. fans joining the group
> new apa almost immediately added to fannish legendry, when Mercer's Day
came into being in 1957
-- then-OE Archie Mercer had scheduled a vote on a batch of pending
amendments to the OMPA constitution on April 31
-- OMPA President Walt Willis, checked the OMPA constitution, and found
that he was empowered to do whatever was required to deal with
emergencies: "not just OMPA emergencies -- *all* emergencies." So,
he issued an order: "I have noticed in past years there have been a
lot of trouble in various parts of the world on the first of May, on
account of labor parades and Communist demonstrations. So this year,
I rule that there shall be no first of May. Instead, the day
following the 30th April shall be known as the 31st April and shall
be succeeded without interruption by the 2nd May. Instead of May
Day, the new Date shall be known as Mercer's Day, in honor of our
infallible association editor who has so intelligently anticipated my
wishes."
> for an exquisite demonstration of 'fiawol', the 1959 wedding day
OMPAzine of New Zealand fans Toni Vondrushka and Lynette Burfield-Mills
would be hard to top
-- Vondrushka stopped typing on page 4, just as the ceremony was about
to get started, then came back to complete the stencil afterwards
- at start of 1960s, the still-new apa appeared active and happy, but it
would not remain that way for much longer
- page count was over 1500 for 1959, 57 members
> stayed more or less at those levels until 1966
-- including one 403 page mailing in June of 1962
-- U.K. membership had been steadily declining, U.S. increasing over
the years
-- in 1966, only 734 pages
>> June 1966 mailing was the last one for more than a year
- in 1966, the Great OMPA Blitzkrieg dumps Brian Jordon as Association
Editor due to missed mailings
> Archie Mercer takes over
- in Sept. 1967, German fan Heinrich Arenz became AE
> put out only one mailing (the 50th), in March 1968
> fanzines subsequently sent to him never reappear
- Beryl Mercer assumes AE-ship in December 1968
> publishes 52nd mailing
> 51st mailing remains a "ghost" mailing
- Daphne Buckmaster's fanzine, ESPRIT, became a good general interest
fanzine
> five post-OMPA issues, the last appeared in 1961
> page count grew to 50 pages, by 3rd issue
> correspondents from North America and Britain
- [[ NOTE: This summary is pathetic. I need someone to do a time-consuming
review of OMPA in the 1960s, and write summaries of each distribution.
It's the only way to gain a better idea of some of the things that
happened in the apa. ]]
* The Cult
- begun in 1954 by Peter Vorzimer as a rotating editorship apa, unlike the
other sf apas that were in existence at the time which had an elected
official editor who served for a full year
> The Cult was set up with 13 membership slots, with mailing deadlines
every three weeks
-- the mailings were called Fantasy Rotators, or 'FRs'
>> each of the 13 members published a FR in The Cult's 39-week
publication cycle
>> each member, plus the top five waitlisters had activity
requirements, in the form of letters or postcards to the current
FR's publisher; these were assembled into the FR and copies were
sent out to the members and waitlisters
-- however, members could also publish a 'Fractional Rotator' or f/r
whenever he or she wanted, which counted toward activity
>> these were mini-fanzines, usually in the form of a letter, which
members sent out to other members and waitlisters
-- The Cult was also fandon's first exclusionary apa, as it was open
only to people living in North America
>> the short 3-week interval between FRs made it impossible to accept
European or Australian fans, due to international mail lags
- the presiding officer of the apa was known as the 'Official Arbiter', or
'OA', who was elected (or re-elected) each 39-week cycle
> George Heap, who was OA near the end of the decade, summarized the role
of the OA as follows: "It is his job to bring order out of the confusion
(or vice versa, it would seem in some cases). His chief function is to
rule on the legality of various types of Cultac, and has the power to
ignore all species of Cultish Sin."
> some of the OAs during the 1960s besides Heap were Dick Eney, Ted Johnstone,
George Scithers, and Scotty Tapscott
- Bruce Pelz (when?) hung the title on the apa as 'The Nastiest Bastards in
Fandom'
> it was not meant as an insult, as The Cult seemed to delight in being
nasty to each other, as well as anyone else who dropped in
> when Alma Hill referred to The Cult as "a small uninformed group", it
was politely pointed out that Cult members were, at that time, in charge
of the three large U.S. apas, FAPA, SAPS, and N'APA
-- it was then somewhat less politely suggested that it might be Hill
who was the one uninformed
> in spite of the "Nastiest Bastards" tag, there were not many all-out
feuds to report on; what nastiness there was instead got to be almost a
game
-- as Bruce Pelz later remembered, "In general, everyone picked on
everyone else, and a slip-up would be bound to get one castigated in
various textual and artistic ways"
> there were even some members who weren't nasty at all
-- Fred Patten was accused (by who?) of having obviously forged his
Nasty Bastard Credentials when he had joined
- there was real trouble for The Cult in 1966, when a Hoax roster appeared
that nearly resulted in a fission into two Cults
> real Cult was as nasty as ever, under OAship of Scotty Tapscott
> but Cult-II was getting ready to form under self-appointed OAship of Jim
Sanders, but it fell apart before it even got started
- The Cult spawned several in-group references that became known to outside
fandom
> one was 'Cultoons', usually done by Jack Harness
-- these were somewhat irreverent cartoons that appeared in many of the
mailings [source: Scithers 13Nov98 email]
> 'The Bucket'
-- term for The Cult came into being, after Bill Sarrill resigned from
the apa after its 76th mailing, declaring that it "was going to Hell
in a bucket."
-- George Scithers later commented that "It's never gotten there, but not
for want of trying."
> finally, there was the 'ARBM Boys', which came into being after someone
decided that The Cult needed a theme song
-- the song chosen was a parody called "Arson, Rape, and Bloody Murder"
set to the tune of the "Battle Hymn of the Republic", which seemed
just right for The Cult
-- Harness, Ted Johnstone, and Pelz adopted noms de Cult from the title,
with Harness becoming 'Arson', Johnstone 'Rape', and Pelz 'Bloody
Murder' (why?)
>> according to Pelz, "Actually, Ted was bragging in selecting his,
Jack then took over the more cerebral of the remaining two, and I
took what was left over and made the b/e/s/t/ worst of it. None
of us had very accurate credentials."
-- Thereafter, Cultoons showed up with characters identified as 'A',
'R', and 'BM', and readers knew who was being depicted
- The Cult was the first example of a rotating editorship apa, and remained
the only example for the first 10 years of its existence, until the
founding of TAPS
* Terran Amateur Press Society (TAPS)
- founded in December 1964 by Arnie Katz
- operated similar to The Cult
> monthly letterzine published that was similar to The Cult's Fantasy
Rotators
- other prominent members in the 1960s included Len Bailes, (others?)
* APA-X
- first "secret" apa
- previous incarnation was CRAP (Carbon Reproduced Amateur Press), formed in
March 1958
> originally formed by Chattanooga, Tennessee fan Bill Meyers, after a
visit by Bruce Pelz who was in town for a caving convention
- CRAP originally a small-membership apa
> membership originally defined by number of legible copies that can be
obtained from multiple carbon copies of original as typed in typewriter
-- at first, apa was produced in editions of four copies
> initially, membership consisted only of Meyers, plus Al Andrews, Es
Adams, and Glen King
-- all but Andrews were teenagers, and they thought that the 'CRAP'
acronym was funny
> by the late 1960s, the apa had changed
-- gone were some of the original members such as Es Adams
-- gone was the carbon paper reproduction method; the membership had
decided that ditto and hektograph were published using 'carbons', and
carbon was the main ingredient in mimeo ink
> membership expanded to about 15 people, including the so-called
'omniapans': Bruce Pelz, Ted Johnstone, and Jack Harness
-- by the late 1950s, Pelz and Harness had succeeded in belonging to
every apa in science fiction fandom, and were dubbed 'omniapans'
> CRAP became rotational apa, based on model of The Cult
- some members (Andy Main and Bob Lichtman, among others) took aversion to
the presence of omniapans, who wanted to be in apa only for completeness,
rather than supposedly a genuine interest in the organization
> death of CRAP was engineered in August 1961 by Andy Main
-- by that time, CRAP had evolved and enlarged to the point where there
were 10 members, one associate member, and a waiting list
-- the last official publication of the apa was Andy Main's HAUFEN MIST
#4, which declared the apa dead
>> two versions of the fanzine were sent out; everyone but the
onmiapans received the more complete version, which announced the
creation of a successor apa, APA-X, and was an invitation to join
-- effect was that the omniapans were dropped: Harness, Pelz, Ted
Johnstone (who was in many, but not all, apas) and even Norm Metcalf,
who had never claimed (or tried) to be one
-- the remaining members formed APA-X
- some of best known members of the reformed apa were Ted White and Calvin
Demmon
- apa lasted until (when?)
* Carboniferous Amateur Press Alliance (CAPA)
- existed for a while at the start of the decade
- name derived from the fact that most fanzines were carbon reproduced,
though it's not known if the idea was copied from CRAP
- there were only five members; the Carboniferous was the fifth period in
the Paleozoic Era
> it could actually claimed that the apa members were from fandom's
Paleozoic Era -- for much of its existence, the five were anything but
neofans fans: Art Rapp, Roy Tackett, Len Moffatt, Rick Sneary, and Ed
Cox
- most interesting thing about the apa was the rules of membership
> there was no provision in the apa's by-laws for a wait list
> if a member dropped out, he had to recommend his own replacement
* Lilapa
- another secret apa, maybe best known, but certainly the longest lived
> its fame as a secret apa derived in part to the invitational nature of
its mailings, even though many in fandom knew of its existence
- formed about the end of 1964 by a group of fans brought together by the
Boondoggle (a.k.a. the Breen fracas) surrounding the 1964 Worldcon, more
on which will be mentioned later
> according to Tom Perry, "a number of us found we were corresponding
furiously about the Boondoggle and other matters, and passing each
other's letters around or quoting extensively from them, within a fairly
small circle."
> this became the de facto beginnings of the group
- name derived from members' habit of calling the group "our little apa",
which quickly became shortened to "lilapa"
> eventually, formality set in and the first letter became capitalized
- membership was limited to 15 slots, couples counting as one member
> original members included Norm Clarke and Gina Ellis, Terry and Carol
Carr, Elinor and F.M. Busby, Tom Perry, and Boyd Raeburn
> Dean Grennell joined shortly after the apa came into being; other
members during the 1960s included Robert Silverberg, Bill Rotsler, Bob
Shaw, Greg Benford, Dick and Pat Lupoff, and Bill Donaho
- prospective members had to be invited by majority of the apa's members
before they could join
> no blackball existed, unlike the situation in FAPA, but there was a
mechanism called "The Pout" which was a conditional veto
-- when a member invoked a Pout against a proposed new member, it was
the same as saying "if so-and-so becomes a member, I will drop out"
-- this became codified into the apa's rules, if someone was voted into
membership over a Pout, the member who Pouted was then required to
drop out
- there was only one officer: The Goat, which was a volunteered rather than
elected position
> was responsible for receiving the contributions, and mailing the apa
bundles to the members
- apa was successful enough that it enjoyed continued existence for decades
after its formation
* APA-45
- begun in mid 1964 by Pennsylvania fan Richie Benyo, who was first official
editor
> fafiated after one mailing due to college, new OE became Rich Mann
> Benyo later became editor of RUNNER'S WORLD magazine, and a well-
respected writer on running, health food, and auto racing [source:
SJohnson 26Nov99 email]
- significance of title: membership limited to fans born in 1945 or later
- appeared quarterly
- first mailing was 222 pages (13 members); second mailing was 187 pages
- activity requirements were at least 6 pages of original material in each
mailing, plus at least a 20 page genzine in every other mailing
> characterized by Bruce Pelz (who was not eligible for membership) as:
"It sounds like Burn-Outsville to me, but if they can keep it going it
will at least serve to channel the energy neos usually waste trying to
get into other APAs."
> activity requirements relaxed (when?)
- members included the Couches and Luttrells of St. Louis fandom; also Arnie
Katz, Richie Mann, Dave Hall; Nate Bucklin, Ken Fletcher, Fred Haskell and
Jim Young of Minneapolis fandom; Bob Vardeman, Don D'Ammassa; John Kusske
((which of these were members at the beginning? during the 1960s?))
> it also attracted Australian fans Bruce Gillspie and Leigh Edmonds to
membership; in 1968, Edmonds modeled the constitution for the first
Australian apa after that of APA-45 [source: ANZAPA web site]
- by the late 1960s, the apa was in good health; the 17th mailing (date?)
was up to 322 pages and included some impressive-sized fanzines: a 42-page
first issue of Leigh Edmonds' RATAPLAN, a 40-page HOOP from Jim Young, a
53-page CHEAP THRILLS from Fred Haskell, and a 68-page QUARK from Chris
and Lesleigh Couch
> there were 20 people on the membership list, and another nine on the
waiting list
- apa had the unusual claim to fame of having its own filk song, which was
set to the tune of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic"
* InterAPA
- founded by Kris Carey, who let idea flounder
> Dwain Kaiser took over and got out first mailing in 1965
- was intended to have international flavor, with members from different
countries
> at first, Carl Brandon, Jr. from Sweden was only non-U.S. member
- was scheduled for 3-times-a-year publication
- did not get off to auspicious start
> first mailing had 83 pages, mostly zines that had appeared previously
elsewhere
> only 4 people represented in first mailing, though 11 listed as members
- by 3rd mailing (in late 1965), seemed on solid ground
> a 196 page mailing, 21 members listed
- however, after that, started missing mailing deadlines
> by early 1967 was two or three mailings behind
* APA-F
- founded in mid 1964
- founded by Dave Van Arnam, Arnie Katz, and Mike McInerney
> they were members of the NYC Fanoclasts fan club
> each was doing a weekly single-sheet fanzine
> eventually the idea arose to collate these into a single unit, with the
contents page and cover produced there on the spot [source: TWhite
12Mar00 email]
- it was the first weekly apa
> contributors were mostly members of the Fanoclasts and another NYC fan
club, FISTFA [source: McInerney 13Mar00 email]
-- fairly early on, one of the mailings got sent out to LASFS and soon
after that, the apa gained members from Los Angeles fandom, who sent
material that was duplicated by Van Arnum for the apa mailings
> three people, Dick Lupoff, Andy Porter, and Dave Van Arnum, managed to
contribute a fanzine to every mailing of the apa
- deliberately ended after 69th mailing, on October 29, 1965, "so as to end
on a note of quality"
- it's founding led to inspiration for a second weekly apa, Los Angeles's
APA-L, which has remained alive and well for many decades
* APA-L
- Los Angeles area/LASFS weekly APA
> was collated at LASFS meetings
- founded on October 22, 1964
> Bruce Pelz came up with the idea for starting the apa, but Dian Pelz
took charge in making it happen [sources: TWhite 12Mar00 email; BPelz
9Oct00 email]
> she saw to it that a typewriter was brought to that night's LASFS meeting,
and Don Fitch brought a hektograph so that contributions, including the
contents page, could be produced on the spot
- was an instant success, though not, at first, a huge success
> first mailing had 12 contributors and 29 pages [source: BPelz 9Oct00 email]
> second mailing had 16 contributors, 32 pages plus, just for good measure,
inclusion of the USC student newspaper
- first anniversary mailing, in 1965, totalled 149 pages, largest mailing to
date
> large enough that two volumes were necessary
- compilation zines, THE BEST OF APA-L
> put together by Fred Patten
> first compilation published in 1965
-- compiled the first few months of the apa
> second compilation in 1966
- apa was discontinued for several months in 1968, but was successfully
revived
> continued successfully for decades afterward, reaching it's 1,000th
distribution in the mid 1980s
* Lou's Apa
- started in Minneapolis in 1968 by Louis Fallert
- with second distribution, name changed to Blue's Apa
> Fallert had renamed himself "Blue Petal" from a character in a Vaughn
Bode' cartoon
- apa lasted for 7 distributions, then folded
- its successor was Minneapa, one of the most active apas of the 1970s and
1980s
* ALA-APA
- founded in 1966
- for Alabama fans only
- apparently, not very many Alabama fans were interested
> folded in 1967, after only 4 mailings
> several members moved out of state; OE Larry Montgomery went into the
Air Force
* VALAPA
- a Los Angeles-based apa
> sponsored by the Valley Science Fiction Association fan club
> membership in the club was a requirement in order to join the apa
- begun (when?)
- official editor, in its short existance, was Dwain Kaiser
- (details?)
- members included Jim Young of Minneapolis
- lasted until (when?)
* Technology Amateur Press Association (TAPA)
- a Boston-area apa, founded in 1966 by Mike Ward
- was an attempt to encourage fan activities in the normally sercon MIT
Science Fiction Society
- in the end, it was a failure, lasting only 10 mailings
> it did bring into active fandom a number of fans who later became
prominent, including Anthony Lewis, Susan Hereford, and Ed Meyer
* Gestalt Amateur Press Association
- (details needed -- why was it formed?)
- went into hiatus after 8th mailing (when?)
- revived in December 1968 by Al Snider
- went into permanent hiatus (when?)
* STOBCLER
- started in 1965 by Ed Cox and Dave Hulan
- fourth mailing (last?) appeared in December 1967
* IPSO (International Publishers Speculative Organisation)
- Britain's second apa, first mailing was April 1961
- founding members were George Locke and John Berry
> Locke remained with apa through all of its brief existence
> Berry dropped out after 4th mailing, the start of his gradual withdrawal
from fandom over the next few years
- by third mailing, 25 members, 17 of which were from U.S.A.
> consistent drop in numbers after that, which eventually spelled doom for
the apa
- theme mailings
> first mailing: "APAs"
> second mailing: "The Lunatic Fringes of SF, and Editorial Influences"
> third: "Time Travel"; fourth: "The Works of Robert A. Heinlein"
> fifth: "Sex and Science Fiction"; sixth: "Progress" (effect of rapid
technical advance on society)
- members at one time or another included Ethel Lindsay, Ella Parker, Bruce
Burn, Ted Forsyth from U.K.; Ron Ellik, Bill Donaho, Robert Lichtman,
Len Moffatt, Ed Meskys, Harry Warner Jr., Ted White, Gordon Eklund, Marion
Zimmer Bradley from U.S.
- the APA lasted 2 years; 6th mailing was officially the last
> deadline for 7th mailing, Nov. 1962, had seen only 3 contributions
> George Locke declared apa extinct due to lack of enthusiasm
-- Locke stated he would be glad to join a revival as a contributing
member, if someone else wanted to work on the skeleton... but no one
did
> a semi-official 7th mailing put out later by U.S. fan Fred Patten
-- included some leftover contributions and one or two others
* PADS
- not really an apa, though it resembled one
- PADS was short for "Printing and Distribution Service"
> meant for British fans who wanted to publish fanzines but did not have a
mimeo
> editors sent their material to a central mailer, who produced the fanzines
and bundled them into a mailing [source: TWhite 18May00 email]
> it helped fans with little money publish, but on the other hand, each PADS-
published fanzine tended to look pretty much alike in appearance
-- was criticized by the Ratfandom fans as being a means for production of
crudzines [source: Pickersgill 19May00 email]
-- there were a few genuinely good fanzines that resulted from PADS, such as
Mike Ashley's XERON; Ashley went on to become one of Britain's finest
fanwriters
- 10 mailings in all, 1964 to 1967
> became an "official BSFA service" in 1965, as part of its "Fanzine
Foundation" [source: Walker 27May00 email]
- much of the work in fanzine production was done by Beryl Mercer
- expired sometime in 1967 when the Foundation itself folded; the last Official
Editor was Charlie Winstone
* ANZAPA (Australia-New Zealand Amateur Press Association)
- founded in 1968 as 'APA-A' [source for this section: ANZAPA web site]
- founder and first Official Editor was Leigh Edmonds
> Edmonds had been a member of APA-45, but, as he later remembered, "Even
before I got my first APA-45 mailing, the idea of forming an Australian
apa had entered my mind."
> Edmonds decision to start the apa was triggered by another Australian fan,
Ron Clarke, who, in the first issue his fanzine, EOS, had proposed what
Edmonds saw as "something which looked like it could almost be an apa if
only you were to change a couple of things."
> so Edmonds drew up a constitution based on the APA-45 one, and became the
apa's first OE
- first distribution, in October 1968, was 54 pages, with a membership roster
of some of Australia's most active fans, including John Foyster, John Bangsund,
Ron Clarke, Peter Darling, Gary Mason, and Bruce Gillespie
> Foyster was skeptical of the apa's longevity, and wrote that "this little
organisation may not even get off the ground"; Ron Clarke agreed, adding
that "I think the hardest thing is not getting it started but in keeping
it going."
> Gary Mason was a bit more optimistic, and wrote that "Once the thing is
underway, once the ball is rolling, it tends to be self-perpetuating."
- the name 'APA-A' didn't last long; the second mailing included a
constitutional amendment ballot to change the name from APA-A to ANZAPA,
and the name was adopted as of the 3rd mailing in early 1969
> Mason had devoted 8-1/2 pages in his fanzine in the first ANZAPA mailing
to his ideas about fixing up the one-page ANZAPA constitution [source:
Foyster 21Nov00 email]
- it didn't take long for fans outside of Australia to join the apa
> however, it wasn't until 1974 that the apa actually had its first member
from New Zealand, and that was Mervyn Barrett, who was living in England
at the time
> the first U.K. member was Peter Roberts, as of mailing no. 4, in April
1969
> the first member from the United States was Redd Boggs, as of mailing
no. 6, in August 1969
> by 1972, there was a member from South Africa, and in 1975, one from
Canada
- in the end, it turned out that Mason's optimistic prediction was, in fact,
accurate; the apa has survived and thrived in the decades that followed
* Scandinavian Amateur Press Alliance (SAPA)
- Sweden's first apa
- founded in June 1964, sponsored by SF Union Scandinavia, which was at that
point mostly just Sture Sedolin and John-Henri Holmberg
> first OE was "Carl Brandon, Jr." (a.k.a. John-Henri Holmberg)
-- later, Leif Andersson assumed OEship after Holmberg resigned
> apa started out slowly; the first mailing a bit anemic, totalling only
26 pages
> however, second mailing over 80 pages, and the next couple of mailings
were also as large
- initially, consisted of 14 members from Scandinavia, plus an application
from Andy Main "who wrote a pleading letter in wonderfully bad Swedish"
according to Holmberg
- did not last very many mailings; by the end of the decade it was gone
> in retrospect, Holmberg thought the apa was a bad idea: "A fandom with
less than twenty active fan publishers needed an apa like it needed
another Claude Degler."
> it would be another decade before a large enough fan population existed
for another Swedish apa
* FAN (German-language apa)
- (details needed; some of contributors listed in LOCUS 15)
Other Publications
* Hoffman Electronics Corp.
- featured short-short sf stories as part of magazine advertisements
- received special Hugo award in 1962
* Hugo Gernsback's personal magazine, FORECASTS
- 32 pages, digest-sized
- published at end of each year
- contained his predictions for the coming year
- illustrated by Frank R. Paul, Finlay, and other noted artists
* WHO'S WHO IN SCIENCE FICTION FANDOM
- edited by Lloyd Douglas Broyles of Waco, Texas
- saw publication in 1962, for the year 1961
- was produced as a half-legal-size booklet, saddle stapled, printed by
offset
- contents based on questionnaires circulated through fandom in 1961
> was a gold mine of information about many fans active at that time
-- besides the essentials such as mailing address, also included the
fan's affiliation with specific fan organizations, fanzine titles
published, specific conventions attended, and even the years that the
fan began reading science fiction and entered fandom
-- it even went so far as to include some information that many fans
weren't exactly bursting with curiosity to know, such as the
recording speeds of any tape recorders the fan happened to own
> however, due to the questionnaire format for obtaining information, the
resulting publication was uneven, in terms of content
-- as an example, Sam Moskowitz, one of the most prominent fans, got
only a four-line entry in the booklet, while the otherwise obscure
fan Ron Haydock got an entry four times as long as that
-- entries were missing entirely for some other prominent fans,
including Bob Shaw, George Charters, Dave Rike, Boob Stewart, Elinor
Busby, and Vincent Clarke
-- Broyles was undoubtedly aware of these shortcomings; in his
introduction to the booklet, he wrote, "I can do better, and promise
next year to be more careful in my correlation of answers. This has
been a labor of love and comes to you hoping to find you still in
fandom forever."
> ironically, Broyles himself was in the midst of dropping out of fandom
by the time the second edition was being planned, and he never finished
it
- after Broyles abandoned the project, a subsequent edition never appeared,
even though there were rumors of it from time to time
* EXPLORERS OF THE INFINITE
- book by Sam Moskowitz
> historical volume of articles on the predecessors of modern SF
-- mostly reprints of articles previously published in prozines
- published in hardcover by World Publishing in 1963; paperback edition, by
Meridian Books, appeared in 1966
* Advent|Publishers
- in (what year?), seven Chicago-area fans formed a small press publishing
house that specialized in books about the science fiction field and fandom
> they were Sid Coleman, Ed Wood (the fan, not the movie director), Jon
Stopa, Alex Eisenstein, Bob Briney, George Price, and Earl Kemp
- Earl Kemp was perhaps the most prominent of the seven
> (mini bio of Kemp here)
> chairman of 1962 Worldcon
> fanzine Hugo Award in 1961 for one shot publication "Who Killed Science
Fiction", which appeared in the apa SAPS
-- eligibility rules for fanzine changed to prevent recurrence
- Two volumes of worldcon proceedings
> THE PROCEEDINGS: CHICON III
-- published in 1963
-- transcript of 1962 Worldcon
-- edited by Earl Kemp
> THE PROCEEDINGS: DISCON
-- published in 1965
-- transcript of 1963 Worldcon
-- edited by Dick Eney
> was going to be a book of proceeding of 1964 worldcon
-- plans got dropped because concom claimed it didn't have enough money
remaining after the convention to have tapes transcribed
- THE EIGHTH STAGE OF FANDOM
> Robert Bloch's book of fan-related essays
> first published in 1962
-- a small number of numbered and signed copies sold at the 1962
Worldcon
- ALL OUR YESTERDAYS
> published in 1969
> Harry Warner, Jr.'s first fan history book
-- covered the 1940s, mostly
-- Harry started the project in 1963, when he included 6 pages of
questions about various fandoms in the Feb. issue of his fanzine
HORIZONS
>> originally meant to cover period 1939-1959; broken up into 2
volumes
--- John Trimble campaigned for the book to be titled THE IMMORTAL
CALM, but he was overruled
--- 2nd half of his opus, A WEALTH OF FABLE, eventually published
as a three volume fanzine in the mid 1970s, and much later, as
a hardcover (by a different publisher), in 1992
- A REQUIEM FOR ASTOUNDING
> published in 1964
> Alva Rogers' history of ASTOUNDING SCIENCE FICTION, from its birth until
its metamorphosis into ANALOG in 1960
> Mike Resnick, in a review of the book, described it as "an
issue-by-issue study of the golden days of John Campbell's ASTOUNDING,
in which Rogers' less-than-scintillating prose is more than compensated
for by his boundless enthusiasm. He imparts that sense of almost
unbearable anticipation he -- and so many other fans -- felt while
waiting for each new issue, the agony of not knowing the end of a
Heinlein or van Vogt serial for weeks on end. It's a lovely,
nostalgic book, one that demonstrates exactly what fannish enthusiasm is
all about."
- IN SEARCH OF WONDER
> published in 1967 (which edition?)
> Damon Knight's book about science fiction as a form of literature
> (details? fan comments from the 1960s?)
- HEINLEIN IN DIMENSION
> Alexei Panshin's detailed dissection of the fiction of Robert A.
Heinlein
-- (mini bio of Alexei goes here)
-- in 1956, while in prep school in Massachusetts, he came across a
review of Damon Knight's IN SEARCH OF WONDER, which stimulated him
enough to go and buy the book
>> soon afterwards he was writing reviews of SF books for fanzines
> published in 1968
> Advent hyped the book as a "critical analysis of Heinlein's novels and
stories, his style and technique, his strengths and his weaknesses, and
his place in modern science fiction. It is a study in depth which is
neither adulatory nor carping."
> Heinlein hated it (quote available?)
-- Heinlein's animosity seemed to be directed against Panshin personally
as much as Panshin's book
>> earlier, Panshin had written an article for SHANGRI-L'AFFAIRES
that had triggered Heinlein's anger
--- it concerned sexuality in RAH's fiction, and concluded that
Heinlein avoided dealing with adult sexuality
--- Redd Boggs, who was editing SHANGRI-L'AFFAIRES at the time,
ran the article under the title "By His Jockstrap", mocking
Heinlein's famous story "By His Bootstraps"
--- ironically, much later, adult sexuality would in fact become a
prominent theme in the last few RAH novels
>> while researching the manuscript, Panshin had also gotten loan of
letters written by Heinlein to a recently deceased conservative
fan, Arthur George "Sarge" Smith, to whom RAH had dedicated his
novel STARSHIP TROOPERS
--- even though Panshin found nothing useful in the letters, when
Heinlein learned of this, he was enraged at what he took to be
an invasion of his privacy
-- according to one source, Heinlein threatened Advent with a lawsuit if
the book were published
>> this caused Advent to temporarily postpone publication
>> however, several chapters of the book were subsequently published
by Leland Sapiro in his fanzine RIVERSIDE QUARTERLY, and when no
lawsuit materialized, Advent went ahead with publication of the
entire manuscript
> a few years after the book had been published, Panshin encountered
Heinlein at a speaking and book signing event in New York City
-- Panshin was convinced that Heinlein had simply been misinformed about
the book's contents, which was not at all anti-Heinlein, and wanted
to make known that he was in fact a great admirer of RAH
-- however, when he approached Heinlein, in an attempt to bury the
hatchet between the two of them, he was frostily rebuffed
>> the exchanged was witnessed by three New York fans, Gary Farber,
Ben Yalow, and Moshe Feder
--- as Farber later remembered, "Panshin walked up and stuck out
his hand, beginning an apology to Heinlein. Heinlein wouldn't
let him complete his first sentence, interupting him with the
coldest `Good day, sir.' and refusing to take his hand.
Panshin tried several times, but just got his words
interrupted with `Good day sir.'. After several attempts, and
Heinlein's utter refusal to even listen to a single sentence
of apology, Alexei gave up." [email correspondence]
> (fan reactions to the book?)
> the last word in this matter belonged to Heinlein; in his novel THE
NUMBER OF THE BEAST, mention is made in the last chapter to an
"unforgiven critic", undoubtedly a reference to Alexei Panshin
* THE ATOM ANTHOLOGY
- early 1961, edited by Ella Parker
- 108 pages of ATom art, mimeographed
> Arthur Thomson hand-cut all the stencils
- won SKYRACK fan poll award as best British fanzine for 1961
* reprint of Evans-Pavlat FANZINE INDEX
- published by Harold Piser
- published in March of 1966
- 141 pages
> no corrections or additions from original version Pavlat published
between 1952 and 1959
- Piser's intent was to use this work as a preliminary step in publishing a
comprehensive bibliography of fanzines through the end of 1965
> it never happened, however, probably because it was no longer possible
to do such a publication
-- Peter Weston later remembered that Piser had "bombarded British
fandom of the time with earnest letters and forms he were supposed
to fill in, little realising that most of that generation (myself
included) knew next to nothing of fanzine history, even in our own
country" [source: Weston email 9/14/02]
* SCIENCE FICTION TITLE CHANGES
- an index of SF books that have been published under two or more titles
- done by Donald Franson in 1966
> printed by offset
Fiction involving fandom
* LESBO LODGE, a sex novel by "Harry Barstead", had Los Angeles area fans
thinly disguised as characters
- among recognizable fans were Bjo Trimble, Bill Rotsler, and Jerry Stier
- Jardine was a Los Angeles fan
- book based in part on two 1950s Halloween parties memorable in L.A. Fandom
* SEX BURNS LIKE FIRE, by fans Jim Harmon and Redd Boggs, was published under
Harmon's name only in 1964 by Nite Time Books
- another sex novel
- once again, featured thinly disguised fans: `Sheriff Joe Gibson', `Redd
Boggio', and a comic painting called `The Squirrel Cage' by "that famous
artist Bea Chou"
- this was an early example of a literary technique called `Tuckerizing'
> real fans written into fiction under their real names, or a close
approximation
* Bob Tucker
- announced at the 1965 Midwestcon he had written a novel about fandom and
fans, with the locale being a 4-day worldcon
> working title was "The Emperor of America"
- was rejected by Doubleday, however
- was subsequently rejected by Terry Carr at Ace Books
> a plot device in the book was a SF magazine that had a circulation of
over a million
> Carr's rejection letter stated that "it was impossible to conceive of
a SF magazine with a circulation of over one million"
-- took only a little over one decade to prove Carr wrong, when OMNI
magazine debuted in 1978
- manuscript remained unpublished for decades afterward
Fannish inventions, games, and legends
* SMOF (acronym for "Secret Master of Fandom")
- coined as a conversation term in 1963 possibly by Jack Chalker
- Tucker article in 1950s QUANDRY was basis
> may have derived from Gerald Kersh's early 1950s book THE SECRET MASTERS
- term was used in a skit at the 1963 Worldcon that featured Hal Clement
> a "SMOF Award" was presented to Ted Sturgeon (Forry Ackerman received
the award on behalf of the absent Sturgeon)
-- Sturgeon became "whether he likes it or not, an Honorary Member of
SMOF"
* "New Wave"
- first used in sf context in early 1964
- introduced by Jim Linwood in describing the first fanzines of Peter
Weston and Charles Platt
* some fans gained a measure of renown in the outside world from their
involvement in games and sports
- an example of this was Russ Chauvenet, who had been active in fandom since
the 1940s; he became chess champion of the state of Maryland in 1963 and
1968
- (any other examples?)
- unlike the 1950s, however, the 1960s did not produce many fan-invented
games
* one fan-invented game that saw some continued interest was Knurdling
- a hallway game invented by Manchester fandom in the mid 1960s
- object of game is to place an empty soda or beer can as far from your feet
as possible, without touching the floor with anything except your feet
- a somewhat physical exercise; being tall and having upper body strength
the keys to success
- game was played at British Eastercons in the 1960s, and at the 1965
Worldcon