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Fanfare, v. 1, issue 4, October 1940

Page 13

FANFARE                                                       13
             UNITE OR FIE!
                    by 
              Damon Knight

   One of the queerest things about fandom which has to date come to my attention, during the year-and-two-months I have been a fan, is the fact that fandom as a whole, is not, and apparently has never been, organized for its own defense and welfare. It is obvious that a need for such an organization exists. Obvious, for one reason --- the number of sincere but half-cocked attempts which have been made from time to time at establishing one.
   Most of these attempts at national organization failed, I think, because they assumed, to start with, something that isn't so. They assumed that all fans, or at least a workable majority, would co-operate in a single program of concerted endeavor. It should be apparent by now that any fantasy fan organisation which takes sides on any important question, can never hope to be national in scope, because of the unfortunate fact that there are almost as many opinions on any given subject as there are fans. 
   But I sincerely believe that a successful national fantasy association is possible, that it could offer a needed service to every fan, and that it could be established today.
   The association I mean would be organized with one purpose only: to supply the fantasy fans of America (and elsewhere, if there should be any left) with those services, with which they cannot supply themselves singly or in local groups. Its general policy and its every act would be in the hands of its members as a whole, and not in those of its officers, nor of any other individual, or group of individuals. 
   Here are some of the services which it could perform. It could maintain a distributing agency for fanmag subscriptions: a centrally-located place, to which each member could send, all together, the money he would ordinarily spend for fan publications together with the list of publications desired. At regular intervals the agency would send the subscriber's accounts, and the accumulated money, by check or money order, to each of the magazines subscribed to; thus saving each member as much as 30¢ per fanmag dollar in postage, and encouraging the sale of all fan publications.
   In its official organ, the association could offer regular, careful, and unbiased reviews of all existing fanmags, could keep its members informed as to where back numbers and books might be bought most cheaply at all times, could offer prizes to the authors of fan articles voted best in a given period by these members, (apologies to Julius Unger) as well as supply the usual association news, announcements of news projects, results of polls, and so forth.
   For the benefit of new and almost-fans, it could publish, and periodically revise, a complete handbook of fandom, explaining all the mysteries which now plague them until they gradually worm the answers out of other fans piecemeal. I know.
   And it could act, when and if necessary, as the mouthpiece of fandom dealing with that vast body of aliens with which we are surrounded on all sides; the General Public. If that body continues to become increasingly aware of us, as it has done in recent months, fandom will

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FANFARE 13 UNITE OR FIE! by Damon Knight One of the queerest things about fandom which has to date come to my attention, during the year-and-two-months I have been a fan, is the fact that fandom as a whole, is not, and apparently has never been, organized for its own defense and welfare. It is obvious that a need for such an organization exists. Obvious, for one reason --- the number of sincere but half-cocked attempts which have been made from time to time at establishing one. Most of these attempts at national organization failed, I think, because they assumed, to start with, something that isn't so. They assumed that all fans, or at least a workable majority, would co-operate in a single program of concerted endeavor. It should be apparent by now that any fantasy fan organisation which takes sides on any important question, can never hope to be national in scope, because of the unfortunate fact that there are almost as many opinions on any given subject as there are fans. But I sincerely believe that a successful national fantasy association is possible, that it could offer a needed service to every fan, and that it could be established today. The association I mean would be organized with one purpose only: to supply the fantasy fans of America (and elsewhere, if there should be any left) with those services, with which they cannot supply themselves singly or in local groups. Its general policy and its every act would be in the hands of its members as a whole, and not in those of its officers, nor of any other individual, or group of individuals. Here are some of the services which it could perform. It could maintain a distributing agency for fanmag subscriptions: a centrally-located place, to which each member could send, all together, the money he would ordinarily spend for fan publications together with the list of publications desired. At regular intervals the agency would send the subscriber's accounts, and the accumulated money, by check or money order, to each of the magazines subscribed to; thus saving each member as much as 30¢ per fanmag dollar in postage, and encouraging the sale of all fan publications. In its official organ, the association could offer regular, careful, and unbiased reviews of all existing fanmags, could keep its members informed as to where back numbers and books might be bought most cheaply at all times, could offer prizes to the authors of fan articles voted best in a given period by these members, (apologies to Julius Unger) as well as supply the usual association news, announcements of news projects, results of polls, and so forth. For the benefit of new and almost-fans, it could publish, and periodically revise, a complete handbook of fandom, explaining all the mysteries which now plague them until they gradually worm the answers out of other fans piecemeal. I know. And it could act, when and if necessary, as the mouthpiece of fandom dealing with that vast body of aliens with which we are surrounded on all sides; the General Public. If that body continues to become increasingly aware of us, as it has done in recent months, fandom will