Editing Science fiction fandom (section)

==Origins and history==
[[File:WSFS 001.jpg|thumb|Banquet at the [[14th World Science Fiction Convention]] in [[New York City]] in 1956]]
[[File:Audience waiting for the Hugo Award Ceremony at Worldcon 75 in Helsinki.jpg|thumb|Audience waiting for the [[Hugo Award]] ceremony at the [[75th World Science Fiction Convention]] in [[Helsinki]], [[Finland]] in 2017]]

Science fiction fandom started through the letter column of [[Hugo Gernsback]]'s fiction magazines. Not only did [[fan (aficionado)|fans]] 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. In New York City, [[David Lasser]], Gernsback's managing editor, nurtured the birth of a small local club called the Scienceers, which held its first meeting in a Harlem apartment on 11 December 1929. Almost all the members were adolescent boys.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Timebinders – History of the Scienceers, the First New York City Science Fiction Club, 1929 – by Allen Glasser|url=https://fanac.org/timebinders/scienceers.html|access-date=2022-12-29|website=fanac.org}}</ref> Around this time, a few other small local groups began to spring up in metropolitan areas around the United States, many of them connecting with fellow enthusiasts via the [[Science Correspondence Club]]. In May 1930 the first science-fiction fan magazine, ''[[The Comet (fanzine)|The Comet]]'', was produced by the Chicago branch of the Science Correspondence Club under the editorship of [[Raymond A. Palmer]] (later a noted, and notorious, sf magazine editor) and Walter Dennis.<ref name="moskowitz">{{cite conference | first = Sam | last = Moskowitz | author-link = Sam Moskowitz |author2=Joe Sanders | title = The Origins of Science Fiction Fandom: A Reconstruction | book-title = Science Fiction Fandom | pages = 17–36 | publisher = Greenwood Press | year = 1994 | location = Westport, CT }}</ref> In January 1932, the New York City circle, which by then included future [[comic-book]] editors [[Julius Schwartz]] and [[Mort Weisinger]], brought out the first issue of their own publication, ''[[The Time Traveller (fanzine)|The Time Traveller]]'', with [[Forrest J Ackerman]] of the embryonic Los Angeles group as a contributing editor.

In 1934, Gernsback established a correspondence club for fans called the [[Science Fiction League]], the first fannish organization. Local groups across the nation could join by filling out an application. A number of clubs came into being around this time. LASFS (the [[Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society]]) was founded at this time as a local branch of the SFL, while several competing local branches sprang up in New York City and immediately began feuding among themselves.

In 1935, PSFS (the [[Philadelphia Science Fiction Society]], 1935–present) was formed. The next year, half a dozen fans from NYC came to Philadelphia to meet with the PSFS members, as the first Philadelphia Science Fiction Conference, which some claim as the world's first [[science fiction convention]].

Soon after the fans started to communicate directly with each other came the creation of [[science fiction fanzine]]s. These amateur publications might or might not discuss science fiction and were generally traded rather than sold. They ranged from the utilitarian or inept to professional-quality printing and editing. In recent years, [[Usenet]] [[newsgroups]] such as [[rec.arts.sf.fandom]],<ref>{{cite web| url = https://groups.google.com/forum/m/#!search/rec.arts.sf.fandom| title = via Google Groups}}</ref> websites and [[blogs]] have somewhat supplanted printed fanzines as an outlet for expression in fandom, though many popular fanzines continue to be published. Science-fiction fans have been among the first users of computers, email, personal computers and the Internet.

Many professional [[science fiction authors]] started their interest in science fiction as fans, and some still publish their own fanzines or contribute to those published by others.

A widely regarded (though by no means error-free) history of fandom in the 1930s can be found in [[Sam Moskowitz]]'s ''The Immortal Storm: A History of Science Fiction Fandom'' (Hyperion Press, 1988, {{ISBN|0-88355-131-4}}; original edition The Atlanta Science Fiction Organization Press, Atlanta, Georgia 1954). Moskowitz was himself involved in some of the incidents chronicled and has his own point of view, which has often been criticized.