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Welcome to the N.F.F.F!, October 1945
Page 4
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-4- THAT'S the way we keep the club running, and that's how you feel that you're doing something in the organization besides paying dues. Furthermore, when you eventually run for office (as every member is entitled to do) you will have this record of club activity to back up your platform. IF you find friends nearby who also like science fiction, you can form a local club with them. In the past there have been many such, some of which lasted longer than others. In 1934 I helped form the Philadelphia Science Fiction Society, which has had many ups and downs. At the present time almost all the members are in the Services except one, who keeps things going by publishing the PSFS News occasionally, containing letters from the members now scattered over the world. WHAT you usually do in a club like that is hold meetings, talk, publish a club magazine, and help out on the bigger, nation-wide projects such as the annual conventions. Incidentally, a local club is customarily the basis for holding the annual convention. That is, it does the job of finding a convention hall and making up all the physical arrangements. AT the present time, the Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society is the most active local organization, with a club room, much publishing equipment, a library, an extensive cross-index to science fiction, and the organization staging the 1946 science fiction convention. 7. EVENTUALLY you may feel the urge to put out your own fanzine. To do that you need hektographing, mimeographing or printing equipment, a bit of money, and a lot of ambition. A lot of fans publish, and many keep their magazines going for a long time. Years. At first we thought that the war would put an end to fan publishing activity, but the mags kept coming out. It will be simply impossible to keep up with them all when the fans come back from the wars. 8. WRITING professional fiction is the horrid end to which many fans have sunk. Included on the NFFF roster are nearly twenty fans who "have sold". Some few fans have even become editors of professional magazines, not only science fiction magazines but other types. It's pretty hard to make a living at it, so I won't go into this subject, but will simply leave it as a distant pinnacle of success at which you might aim if you feel so inclined. IN conclusion I want to repeat that it is not necessary to do all of these things to become a science fiction fan. You need do nothing more than read the magazines and write a few letters. Your success in fandom should be measurable by the number of friends you make. Your skill as a writer, the beauty of your fanmag, the size of your club, that's all gravy. FANDOM is known as a collection of individuals -- of characters. Each fan is known by the distinctive mark of his activities and his personality. If you keep on in fandom, you'll become known to the others in the way you carry on. You'll find what you like to do, and you won't worry about copying what anyone else does, and there won't be anyone telling you what to do. I hope you have a good time.
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-4- THAT'S the way we keep the club running, and that's how you feel that you're doing something in the organization besides paying dues. Furthermore, when you eventually run for office (as every member is entitled to do) you will have this record of club activity to back up your platform. IF you find friends nearby who also like science fiction, you can form a local club with them. In the past there have been many such, some of which lasted longer than others. In 1934 I helped form the Philadelphia Science Fiction Society, which has had many ups and downs. At the present time almost all the members are in the Services except one, who keeps things going by publishing the PSFS News occasionally, containing letters from the members now scattered over the world. WHAT you usually do in a club like that is hold meetings, talk, publish a club magazine, and help out on the bigger, nation-wide projects such as the annual conventions. Incidentally, a local club is customarily the basis for holding the annual convention. That is, it does the job of finding a convention hall and making up all the physical arrangements. AT the present time, the Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society is the most active local organization, with a club room, much publishing equipment, a library, an extensive cross-index to science fiction, and the organization staging the 1946 science fiction convention. 7. EVENTUALLY you may feel the urge to put out your own fanzine. To do that you need hektographing, mimeographing or printing equipment, a bit of money, and a lot of ambition. A lot of fans publish, and many keep their magazines going for a long time. Years. At first we thought that the war would put an end to fan publishing activity, but the mags kept coming out. It will be simply impossible to keep up with them all when the fans come back from the wars. 8. WRITING professional fiction is the horrid end to which many fans have sunk. Included on the NFFF roster are nearly twenty fans who "have sold". Some few fans have even become editors of professional magazines, not only science fiction magazines but other types. It's pretty hard to make a living at it, so I won't go into this subject, but will simply leave it as a distant pinnacle of success at which you might aim if you feel so inclined. IN conclusion I want to repeat that it is not necessary to do all of these things to become a science fiction fan. You need do nothing more than read the magazines and write a few letters. Your success in fandom should be measurable by the number of friends you make. Your skill as a writer, the beauty of your fanmag, the size of your club, that's all gravy. FANDOM is known as a collection of individuals -- of characters. Each fan is known by the distinctive mark of his activities and his personality. If you keep on in fandom, you'll become known to the others in the way you carry on. You'll find what you like to do, and you won't worry about copying what anyone else does, and there won't be anyone telling you what to do. I hope you have a good time.
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