Date: Wed, 20 Mar 2002 19:49:15 -0500
From: Elspeth Kovar <ekovar at radix.net>
To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at keithlynch.net>
Subject: [WSFA] Re: Talking SF, oh my;  was:  time travel
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at keithlynch.net>

Michael Walsh wrote:

> Anyway, the Shaver Mystery didn't quite plunge all of fandom into war, but =
> it did cause a lot of mimeo ink to be used, see: http://www.sff.net/people/=
> diccon/SIERRA.HTM .


Which lead me to spending way too much time (and likely to spend more)
wandering through the Fancyclopedia.  I'd forgotten that the following
is there:

WASHINGTON DC  Several non-connected groups of stfnists have existed in
the US
               capital.  The Outsiders Club (formerly the Washington
Necronomicon) began as a Weird Tales club, apparently back when WT was
one of
the only proz; it included Seabury Quinn and other fans who were more
interested in weird than stf writing, and often revived old-time fantasy
films
to show at meetings.  Some issues of an OO, THE OUTSIDER, were
published, but
the group had no contact with fandom to speak of and its date of
dissolution
is uncertain.
         The Washington Worry-Warts (Rothman's name) were the stfans of
the
District of Columbia; they had no formal organization.  Chiefly they
were
Rothman, Speer and Perdue, joined at times by Lester del Rey, Slate, and
others, including (1942) a group of Angelenoes -- reversing the general
trend
to Shangri-LA of the war years.  The group broke up when its members
moved
elsewhere about the end of the war.
         The Washington Science-Fiction Association, formed in a coal
cellar in
1948, has persisted to the present day.  It's noted for its high
proportion of
actifans, beautiful wimmen, and two-fisted drinkers, including such folk
as
Bob Pavlat, Bill Evans, Chick Derry, Dick Eney, Nelson Griggs, Ted
White, John
Magnus, and various others at times.  WSFAns have played a prominent
part in
all four fan APAs, and contributed vast store of fanzines to the
contents of
various mailings.  Of late, such historically valuable projects as the
Pavlat-
Evans continuation of Swisher's checklist, some APA indexing-work, and
this
volume have been accomplished by WSFA members.