Date: Fri, 01 Apr 2005 08:58:52 -0500
From: "Michael Walsh" <MJW at press.jhu.edu>
To: <WSFAlist at WSFA.org>
Subject: [WSFA] Conversation, was Re: Old Schoolkids/future fans [was: Old School]
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at WSFA.org>

> dalek_cag at yahoo.com 4/1/2005 12:17:08 AM >>>
>I think it is less that younger people are reading
>less SF/fantasy  but that they may not see the need to
>attend  literary cons.  Thanks to the internet, I can
>"meet" and discuss books and tv shows with people all
>over the world without leaving my apartment.  I can
>even "meet" authors that was if they have blogs,
>livejournals or participate on yahoogroups or the
>equivalent.

I think you almost got it.

Fandom is a conversation.

The conversation started when Hugo Gernsback published letters in
Amazing that included the letter writers address.

"... stf fans started seeking each other out almost as soon as their
full addresses were printed with their letters in the lettercolumn of
the first all-stf magazine, Gernsback's Amazing Stories (1926). This may
have helped to "boost circulation" but primarily it was done because
Gernsback wanted to give the young readers a sense of participation as
well as involvement in the magazine."
<http://trufen.net/article.pl?sid=05/01/03/0915255&mode>

Folks started writing to one another.  Then fanzines, then gatherings
(gasp *clubs*), then fans traveling to another city to meet...

I would suggest that for those who would want to know more about where
we came from that these booksare well worth either ordering or tracking
down:

All Our Yesterdays by Harry Warner, Jr.
<http://www.nesfa.org/press/Books/Warner-1.html>
" classic history of SF fandom up to 1950"

A Wealth of Fable by Harry Warner, Jr.
<http://www.nesfa.org/press/Books/Warner-2.htm>
"In this, his second volume, he chronicled the 1950s"

The Futurians by Damon Knight (OP)
The Way the Future Was by Fred Pohl (OP)
Check www.abebooks.com for copies.

None are truly definitive, auhors having their own blindnesses; but all
are worth tracking down.

So... a question might be: How do we get new people involved in the
conversation?  For those who want to catch up, to understand our history
thereare the above books, there are also great online resources.  It
ain't hard.

mjw