Science fiction fandom
Science fiction fandom refers to the community of people actively interested in science fiction and in contact with one another based upon that interest. Fandom has a life of its own, but not much in the way of formal organization. Fandom is large enough that it may be viewed as forming a subculture.Science fiction fandom started through the letter column of Hugo Gernsback's magazines. Not only did fans (also called "faans") write comments about the stories — they sent their addresses, and Gernsback published them. Soon, fans were writing letters directly to each other, and meeting in person when they lived close together, or when one of them could manage a trip (travel was harder in the 1930s than it is today).
One of the things that science fiction fandom does is organize science fiction conventions. Some of the largest of these are the Worldcon and DragonCon. Worldcon has been the premier convention in fandom for over half a century; it is at this convention the Hugo Awards are bestowed.
Another major activity is writing for fanzines (see also science fiction fanzines). These amateur publications may or may not discuss science fiction, and are often traded rather than sold. In recent years, websites have largely supplanted printed fanzines as an outlet for expression in fandom, though many popular fanzines continue to be published.
Many professional science fiction authors started their interest in science fiction as fans.
Fandom is responsible for a number of innovations, notably filk.
Fandom includes sub-sets of fans that are principally interested in a single writer or genre: for example, one could talk of 'Star Trek fandom' as an entity. (So much so, that they are better known as "Trekkers" (or "Trekkies") by the rest of fandom).
Science fiction fandom often overlaps with other similar interests, such as fantasy, role playing games, comic books and the Society for Creative Anachronism.
Notable figures in the history of fandom include:
- Forrest J. Ackerman
- Robert Bloch
- Ray Bradbury
- Charles Burbee
- John W. Campbell
- Terry Carr
- Russ Chauvenet
- Claude Degler
- Harlan Ellison
- Hugo Gernsback
- Dave Kyle
- Francis T. Laney
- Sam Moskovitz
- Sam J. Lundvall
- Tom Reamy
- Bill Rotsler
- Art Saha
- Takumi Shibano
- Bob Shaw
- Bjo Trimble
- Bob Tucker
- Harry Warner Jr
- Walt Willis
- Donald A. Wollheim
- Ben Yalow
- Tom Ölander
See also:
- Fanboy
- First Fandom
- The Futurians
- Furry fandom
- International fandom
