En variant av nedanstående rapport fick bild och puff på omslaget till Computer Sweden i höstas. Ett intressant föredrag, vilket jag hoppas framgår.
Le Guin är en av sf-världens främsta författare. Men min anmälan av boken om hennes skrivarstuga är egentligen alldeles för kort.
Givet att man kan få ihop tillräckligt många
intresserade och lösa diverse praktiska problem, skulle det vara intressant
att försöka arangera någon form av skrivarstuga även
i Sverige. Man bör samlas någonstans där det inte finns
så mycket annat som stör (Booth Lodge låg ute på
australiska landsbygden) och man bör ha någon reltivt erfaren
författare som kursledare. Idag skriver de flesta på datorer,
så man måste få ihop ett tillräckligt antal burkar
(om folk inte kan ta med sig) och en laserskrivare med gott om kolpulver.
Man bör också ha deltagare som är
dedicerade uppgiften, som har en viss utvecklingpotential (det kan man
avgöra genom att anta deltagare på insända provmanus) och
som är villiga att jobba hårt och bara tänka på skrivande
under några dagar. Kanske kan det göras i samarbete med något
studieförbund?
Till sist bara en liten dikt ur den just recenserade
samlingen, som jag tycker är smått genial i sina formuleringar
och i det sätt på vilken den formulerar en sf-författares
tankevärld:
Pegasus
(Kathryn Buckley & Rob Gerrand)
Being an explication and exegisis of the brain-patters
of the science-fiction author.
Illusion and fission
and far-reaching vision
converging and merging
in perfect precision.
Mystical twists
statistical lists
arranging ideas
of greeblies and seers
round atmospheres
clanging of gears
noses and ears
graft and corruption
dust of destruction
trees that are crumbling
crabs that are fumbling
roots ornamental
stones monumental
whirling and
swirling
giggling and
gurgling
planets emerging
timelines emerging
gadgets and robots
computers and new lots
of android and alien
who battle and fail in
their contest with man
growth ecologic
spacewarps spasmodic
dreams episodic
brains positronic
sorcerers demonic
chthonic
moronic
end-of-world plans
disaster pernicious
commanders suspicious
space-cubs naive
scientists didactic
maidens pneumatic
all fit quite pragmatic
you have to believe
It's coincidental
and quite accidental
ideas that we use
have a very short fuse
and serve to confuse
all those who refuse
to follow the same
unexpected and strange
mind-bending range
of thoughts that we do
The fans understand us
the world cannot stand us
no use reprimand us
you cannot demand us
to give in
and live in
a sieve in
which ideas like treacle
would dribble and trickle
and trickle
no more
No mor-
tal should chor-
tle at all our contor-
ting of por-
tals of time
and dispor-
tings sublime
If you are content
with the world just a tent
we'll invent an event
we'll rent you a rent
in the fabric of time
and the life you have spent
which will make you relent
AND
THEN
YOU'LL
BE
MINE!!!
---97-09-12---
Allt material om kreativa processer läser jag med stort intresse. Nedanstående hör till den kategorin.
Den associativa, lyriska berättelsen - innebär en blockering av åskådarens förmåga att konstruera tid och rum med stabila normer, eller att identifiera sig med en protagonist med klart uttalat mål.
Den kanoniska berättelsen - drar med åskådaren i ett aktivt spel med känsloidentifikation med den målorienterade protagonisten. Tiden är linjär och rummet relaterat till upplevd verklighet.
Obsessiva berättelser - förhindrar gradvis identifikation.Åskådaren blir processorienterad. Tidsbegreppen kompliceras, som i thrillers där detektiven tappar tråden och styrs ofrivilligt. Skeenden blockeras av bristande konsekvens mellan medel och mål.
Melodramen - uppvisar en passiv protagonist, kontrollerad av t ex övermänskliga krafter, sociala konventioner eller historiskt ofrånkomliga faktoer. Åskådarens emotioner ger i ofrivilliga känslor upphov till ofrivilliga reaktioner (som tårar eller känsla av melankoli).
Skräckfiktionen - identifierar åskådaren med en passiv protagonist hotad av mordiska krafter. Bristen på offensiv förmåga skapar rädsla. Åskådaren blir handfallen, oförmögen till aktivitet och kan drabbas av ofrivilliga reaktioner som rysningar eller skakningar.
Den schizoida berättelsen - undandrar identifikationsmöjligheter. Åskådaren registrerar passivt händelserna utan känslor.
Den komiska berättelsen - är kausalt motiverad, men avvisar känsloidentifikation med protagonisten. Det komiska är förenklat och leder till ofrivilliga reaktioner som skratt. Det råder inkonkruens mellan verklig och stipulerd värld genom t ex överdrifter.
Den metafiktionella berättelsen - är skapar självmedvetenhet och ger upphov till associativa processer hos åskådaren genom distansiering. Åskådaren måste ha flera olika meningsstrukturer i åtanke samtidigt vilket komplicerar perceptionen.
Gå gärna till SvD 11/7 (eller till själva
boken, om ni har möjlighet). Personligen tycker jag att det
är ganska självklart att det sätt på vilken en berättelse
fungerar relaterar till hur människan fungerar, dvs ytterst till hur
våra hjärnorn är uppbyggda.
Det tydligaste exemplet på detta är
när vi läser en bok som vi tycker har otillfredställande
eller dålig handling. Vi har förväntningar om t ex kausalitet
och de krafter som kan driva en människa. Om de förväntningarna
inte uppfylls blir vi förvirrade. Å andra sidan får förväntningarna
inte uppfylls så mycket att allt blir förutsägbart. Då
tycker vi bara att boken är tråkig.
Tricket är att balansera mellan det väntade
och det oväntade. Att ha för mycket av endera är inte bra.
---97-07-13---
Nedanstående skrevs på engelska därför att a) ingen svensk blaska lär vara intresserad av ämnet, och b) jag var ed på men amerikansk lista om sf-historik som jag tänkte använda för att få kommentarer och rättelser. (Tyvärr gick den listan in i limbo så eventuella rättelser m m återstår.) Jag har här strukit ett appendix om källor, bl a Harry Warner jr:s All Our Yesterdays, S T Joshis HP Lovecraft: A Life och L Sprague De Camps Lovecraft: A Biography - tack Johan och Vincent för utdrag! (Andra källor, för framtida forskning vore Truman J Spencers The History of Amateur Journalism, Ney York: The Fossils, 1957, och Cyclopedia of the Literature of Amateur Journalism, 1891, samt Benjamin Franklin Memorial Librarys, i Philadelphia, "Fossil Library of Amateur Journalism".)
Schools, Pros and Dimes
Warner writes that it "is unreasonable to assume
that there were not occasional carbon-copied or hectographed publications
from science fiction fans before the appearance of the first fanzines that
are known to us." One source for such activity should be schools and universities
(Warner refers to eg an article on space opera in the 1878 British publication
The University Magazine). Early authors of fantastic literature interested
in publishing would certainly also contribute. Warner refers to several
publications by Lewis Carroll from 1843 (when he was thirteen) and on.
In 1848 Carroll even did six issues of a publication called The Comet /see
Ray Palmer!/, followed with two issues of The Rosebud, at least six issues
of The Star...and many more. One Howard Scott did The Rambler in the 1870,
"with much stress on speculative science" (Warner). The group around Scott
had ayjay APAs named WAPA and JEAJA and organized their own ayjay conventions.
Even Jules Verne is said to have belonged to "a
club of science writers" (Warner) around 1851, and HG Wells published an
amateur magazine, Science Schools Journal, around the age of 21 which also
contained early sf stories from the pen of Wells ("The Chronic Argonauts",
later re-written as The Time Machine). He also published a "handwritten
newspaper" (Warner), The Up Park Alarmist, before this.
Warner says that fans of 19th century, early 19th
century dime novels "were reprinting older ones and were publishing fanzines",
eg one Frank Fries who beginning in 1928 (and until at least 1935) made
82 isues of a small fanzine reprinting dime stories and supplemented them
with articles, letters etc. Another dime novel fanzine was Ralph P Smith's
Happy Hours Magazine fron the 1920's. One Walter A Coslet collected some
400 dime novel fanzines. One George Sahr published a Frank Reade Weekly
Magazine and there was a Dime Novel Club, around the 1920's and 30's.
Ayjay APAs
The first mundane APA was National Amateur Press
Association founded in 1870-71 (de Camp) or 1876 (ST Joshi, in HP LOVECRAFT:
A LIFE). Joshi explains that "amateur journalism as an institution began
around 1866, with a short-lived society formed by the publisher Charles
Scribner and others around 1869. This society collapsed in 1874, but in
1876 the National Amateur Press Association (NAPA) definitely took form;
it continues to exist today". De Camp indicates that the first, collapsed
club was also called NAPA. Joshi notes that "There still exists an alumni
association of amateur journalists, The Fossils, who continue to issue
a paper, The Fossil, on an iregular basis." (I don't know if The Fossils
and NAPA is the same thing.) The period 1885-95 has been called "the Halcyon
Years" in ayjay.
The other main mundane APA was the United Amateur
Press Association (UAPA), founded in 1895 apparently after a split in NAPA
(says Joshi), by William H Greenfield (14 at the time!) and others. De
Camp is of another opinion: "In the 1890's, writers of letters to readers'
columns in boys' magazines formed the United Amateur Press Association.
It was not hatched as a rival to the NAPA, because the founders did not
know about the other organization."Despite its name United APA would itself
go through several splits until it died in the 1920's and 1930's. "UAPA
was split into two factions in 1900 and, after these had been reunited,
into three in 1905", De Camp writes. "Both associations went through storms,
with accusations of election fraud and of illegal official actions. Officials
were ousted; members were expelled; associations fissioned like amebae."
The 1912 UAPA split was of importance. The winner
in the election for President, Harry Shepherd, expelled the runner-up,
Helene E Hoffman "on the grounds of insurrection". But she announced herself
the legal president and set up her own rival organization which took the
name UAPA, while those around Shepherd used the name UAPA of America. These
two organizations would never reunite.
UAPA was Lovecraft's mother organization, but
when he joined in April 1914 (his first prose contribution as member being
the essay "A Task for Amateur Journalists, New Member, July 1914) he had
already ayjay experience from his own hektographed (in 25 copies) The Rhode
Island Journal of Astronomy (1906-1909?) and The Scientific Gazette (1902-1905?).
The later was weekly, produced by pencil and carbon paper and devoted to
chemistry.
He came in contact with UAPA because the Official
Editor Edward F Daas had seen letters from him in The Argosy pulp magazine.
He visited Lovecraft on his way to a meeting of the New York Blue Pencil
Club and persuaded him to join; from Edward H Cole (who later married Helene
Hoffman) Lovecraft received a bundle of amateur magazines. Warner says
that Lovecraft in 1908 had a story, "The Alchemist" published in the United
Amateur, "a weird tale he later disowned", but he did not join until 1914.
Lovecraft would serve in several UAPA positions,
including president (1917); he became vice-president already a year after
entering (1915, serving one year). He was official editor for four of the
five years 1920-24, and served in the board of criticism (first term 1916-17).
He wrote a recruiting pamphlet for UAPA and was in 1916 appointed chairman
of the Year Book Committee, intended to do e g a biographical directory
of United Members, but the yearbook never appeared; a 1917 United Amateur
announcement says a revised yearbook was ready as 63 closely typed manuscript
pages but it seems it never appeared due to lack of funds. (The "other"
UAPA, of America, did indeed do a yearbook, in 1914.)
There were plenty of feuding in these APAs. The
organizations themselves had different philosophies. NAPA stood for "the
boy publishing ideals" and had a younger membership. NAPA was for "youthful
printers to practice the art of typography" (Joshi). UAPA aimed for higher
literary quality, a goal that Lovecraft also pursued with great energy.
UAPA had older members. Members were cathegorized as "a" (under 16), "b"
(16-21) and "c" (over 21); c-members were in significant majority. The
name "the Fossils" was obviously a nickname of advocates of the boy publishing
ideals. Lovecraft notes in a 1920 ayjay essay, "Looking Backward", how
those Fossils on the 1915 NAPA convention tried to kick everyone over the
age of 20 out of amateurdom. In this essay Lovecraft divides the ayjaians
into three types: "The literati, the plodders abd the politicians". The
organizations had official organs, The National Amateur and The United
Amateur, publishing official reviews of the member publications. Lovecraft
would often be very harsh in his judgements. The battle of quality would
sometimes lead to feuding and splits.
NAPA had 223 members in 1917 and UAPA had 247
members in 1918, but many ayjaians would be members of both organizations,
including Lovecraft (from 1917, though he didn't show too much activity
in NAPA until the death of UAPA - with exception for being NAPA President
for a short period!).
Noteworthy is the fact that a number of those
active in at least UAPA were women. Joshi mentions something like ten female
names, some very active and serving in all organizational positions, including
President. Helene E Hoffman was for instance leading lady and original
president of UAPA after the UAPA/UAPA of America split. There was even
a short lived United Women's Press Club of Massachusetts in 1919, with
one Virginia Jackson as official editor (and Lovecraft serving in the editorial
board of the OO).
There was also at least one mundane APA in Britain.
"In 1918, Lovecraft was told of a revival in British amateur press activity,"
De Camp writes. "Through a British amateur named McKeag he joined the British
Amateur Press Club. By 1921 he had organized an Anglo-American round-robin
correspondence club among amateur journalists, called the Transatlantic
Circulator." (More on round-robins later.) Warner writes that British ayjay
organizations arrived in the 1890's.
Distribution and printing
My soruces seldom explicitly mention printing
methods used, but when they do it is printing presses. (I only find a couple
of mentions of mimeogaph usage.) Some members owned printing presses and
would offer to print magazines for other members for low prices, sometimes
only to cover paper and ink. Lovecraft used the services of friends who
owned printing presses.
An example of a printing cost can be calculated
from an issue of Lovecraft's journal The Conservative. The October 1916
issue is said to have costed 30 dollars for 12 pages in 210 copies. Around
this time a pulp magazine would cost ca. 25 cents compared with maybe 4-5
dollars for a magazine today. This indicates that 1916 dollar was worth
16-20 times less, and printing The Conservative would today have costed
480-600 dollars. It wasn't extremely cheap, but not extremely expensive.
It is possible that Lovecraft got a really favourable price, since he was
an ayjay BNF.The Conservative was by the way published with 13 issues,
4-28 pages long, from 1915 to 1923. Lovecraft also wrote in (and some years
also edited) the United Amateur and contributed to publications from other
members. Between 1915 and 1925 De Camp notes that over 100 pieces by him
appeared in the amateur magazines. His own magazine, The Conservative (Lovecraft
was himself quite conservative in political issues), contained poems, short
stories and polemic articles, the latter often critizising the quality
of other ayjay publications or commenting upon matters in the latest internal
feuds.
A very important difference between sf APAs and
early ayjay APAs is that the latter did not have mailings with all the
contributions of the members. The APA was a contact point. The OO reviewed
the member publications and discussed ayjay. The APA distributed lists
of addresses to members, and the editors mailed their magazines themselves.
It seems they weren't obliged to send a publication to all members, because
some publications didn't reach everyone. When the Fantasy Amateur Press
Association was founded in 1937 (by Don Wollheim and other Futurians) its
principle of group mailings was a very significant step. Postage is a heavy
burden on your economy and preparing seperate mailings a heavy burden on
your time.
"It was not required of amateur journalists of
Lovecraft's days", Joshi notes, "that they produce their own journals.
Indeed, no more than a fraction of the members were editors of their own
papers, and some of these papers were extremely iregular."
In the mundane APAs it was very common to contribute
to publications of other members. The APAs would also have manuscript bureaus
for materials from members, from which publishers could order material.
There were "two 'Manuscript Bureaux', one for the eastern part of the country,
one for the western part", Joshi writes regarding UAPA.
Cons and splits
The APAs would also have a convention each year,
NAPA in early July, UAPA in late July. The conventions elected the officers,
and as far as I know there were no system for postal voting. To influence
the organization you had to afford going to the convention, most of them
held in the East. Not many cities are mentioned in my material, apart from
the UAPA-cons 1920 and 1921, both in Boston, a NAPA-con 1920 in Cleveland,
and the UAPA-con 1917 in Chicago. Lovecraft went to very few of the cons,
but had friends who did. Ironically the only two APA-cons he visited, in
1921 and 1930, weren't those of UAPA, but the NAPA-cons. Since many of
his friends were active on both organizations, he could meet his UAPA-friends
on the NAPA-con. He even held a speech on the 1921 NAPA banquet. (Warner
calls this "The Baltimore Conference of Amateur Jounalists. Joshi places
it in Boston, which I think is correct.)
Much of the administrative work was managed through
correspondence, but Lovecraft would often travel to meet his ayjay friends,
as long as it could be made as a one-day trip. In 1919 he for instance
visited Charles W "Tryout" Smith in Massachusetts, and "Lovecraft found
himself captivated by this old man (he was sixty-nine) with a young boy's
heart", Joshi writes. "His Tryout was one of the most pathecically misprinted
journals in the hisory of amateur journalism, but emerged almost like clockwork
month after month for thirty-four years (300 issues were produced from
1914 to 1948)." Warner says "Tryout" Smith did 369 zines from 1872 to 1943,
when he was 91 years old.
These events took place on hotels, typically for
three days during a weekend. They'd have a business meeting, a formal dinner
with speeches and - I presume - otherwise discussions and lectures on amateur
publishing.
The organizations had lots of officers. UAPA had
President, First and Second Vice-President, Treasurer, Official Editor,
three members of the Board of Directors. Officers like Historian, Laureate
Recorder - UAPA had their own awards in different cathegories - were appointed
by the president, as well as the officers of the Departments of Public
(dito Private) Criticism, the Supervisor of Amendments, the Official Publisher
and the Secretary.
Lovecraft particulary enjoyed beeing in the Department
of Public Criticism, since it was a good platform for his crusade to increase
the quality of publications. Obviously, there were crudzines already in
those days, and the editors of those were scorned upon as "tyros" or "bunglers".The
conventions were also often often the focus of internal feuding. The UAPA/UAPA
of America split has been mentioned; while the former died around 1926,
the latter lasted until 1939. Lovecraft would refer to the other UAPA as
the "pseudo-United", which indicates a strong rivality.
Joshi's book is full of details about the internal
feuds, for those interested, but let's look at the events leading to the
death of UAPA. On the UAPA con in July 1922, Lovecrafts "literati" side
which had dominated for about five years, lost and new officers were elected
under one Howard R Conover as president. Lovecraft himself lost the position
as Official Editor (29 votes to 44). The policies of the Lovecraft
side were controversial. There is "also evidence that Lovecraft himself,
if not his collegues, was beginning to conduct himself in a sort of fascistic
way. Perhaps irritated at the slowness of the progress in literary development
on the part of most members, he increasingly called for improvements by
main force", Joshi writes.
In 1923 the friends of Lovecraft were better prepared
and almost all of them got voted back into office, under the president
Sonia H Greene. The Secretary-Treasurer, however, one Alma B Sanger, must
have been with the nemies because she "withheld funds and failed to answer
letters, so that no United Amateur could be printed until May 1924." Sonia
H Greene distributed a mimeographed flyer to all members in the fall of
1923, "To the Members of the United", urging everyone to become active,
renew memberships etc. In his May 1924 United Amateur editorial Lovecraft
realized the seriousness of the situation: "The situation teaches its own
lesson, and we are not yet far enough out of the woods to indulge in leisurly
exultation. The future is in our own hands, and the downfall of the anti-literati
will avail us nothing unless we are ready to rebuild on the ruins of the
edifice they demolished in 1922."
But UAPA was beyond salvaging. No convention was
held in 1924 (it seems the officers were reelected by mail) and the "literati"
only managed one more United Amateur, in July 1924, totally dominated by
the Lovecraft circle. After one or two more issues of the OO, UAPA died
sometime in 1926. (Lovecraft and Sonia H Green eventually married in 1924,
but divorced in 1929.)
Lovecraft moved his activities to NAPA. He had
earlier in fact been "interim President" of NAPA 1922-23, but apart from
this not really active. "Lovecraft caused an ayjay sensation", Warner says
though, "/he/ managed to calm down its squabbles during his year in office."
He didn't release as much energy into later NAPA-activities
as earlier in UAPA, but he did serve in the NAPA Bureau
of Critics 1931-35, as Executive Judge 1935-36 and contributed to NAPA
publications. (One reason for Lovecraft becoming less active is that he
was becoming more of a Dirty Old Pro, getting stories published in the
pulps, from ca. 1922 and on. He also wrote an astronomy column for a Rhode
Island newspaper, where he for instance attacked astrology.)
But NAPA had its problems too. In the mid 30's
"The only viable amateur organisation, the NAPA, was reaching levels of
spite and vindictiveness rarely seen even in the teens" (Joshi). The controversies
were centered around one Hyman Bradofsky, publisher of Californian, who
was "accused of being high-handed in various procedural matters relating
to the NAPA constitution, and he himself apparently responded to criticism
in a somewhat testy manner."
The Lovecraft Circle
The people around Lovecraft, often called the
Lovecraft Circle, deserves some comments. Already around 1917 lovecraftians
such as W Paul Cook, Edward H Cole, Samuel Loveman, Arthur Goodenough,
Clark Asthon Smith and Frank Belknap Long were members of UAPA. "There
is nothing to disqualify these people from the title of fans", Warner writes.
"They corresponded, wrote amateur fiction, articles, poetry, visited one
another, feuded, etter-hacked, collected...they published amateur magazines
that frequently features weird and fantasy fiction and articles about its
authors."
The Lovecraft circle even had their own minicon
in 1920, "a primitive sort of noncon for those who couldn't make it to
the 1920 National Amateur Press Association convention held in Cleveland".
A typical activity among Lovecraft and his friends
was the round-robin letter chain. The perhaps first of them was The Kleicomolo,
1916-18, named after the names of the four members. A similar round-robin
chain, The Transatlantic Circulator, went back and forth across the Atlantic
around 1921.
Some of the lovecraftians would after his death
help collecting and publishing his stories and writing, earning
him a fame much bigger than when he lived. Lovecraft would
often send copies of his stories to his correspondents to receive comments.
Lovecraft was a massive letter writer. The lovecraftian
R H Barlow has estimated that he wrote 100 000 letters (up to 60 pages
long!) "Lovecraft normally kept fifty to one hundred correspondences in
motion at all times", Warner writes. "One individual recived a letter a
week from Lovecraft for twelve years."
Lovecraft did have many contacts with sf fans.
He actually planned a fanzine for general sf fandom, together with Duane
Rimel, in the last years of his life (never published due to lack of printing).
He even wrote a faan fiction, an anonymously mailed piece called "The Battle
That Ended the Century", were well-known fans appeared under disguised
names.
Later members of his circle included Donald Wollheim,
Robert Bloch and of course August Derleth. Wollheim were perhaps in the
fringes of the circle, but Lovecrafts interests in ayjay may have influenced
him to start FAPA. Lovecraft died the year FAPA was founded; if he had
lived it's not impossible that he would have become a member. One HC Koenig
was a lovecraftian who published the fanzine The Reader and Collector for
FAPA; it was unique in the way that Koenig simply gave his manuscripts
to his secretary and let her do the practical publishing work!
Henry Kuttner also knew Lovecraft and is said
to have met his wife C L Moore through him, when she was one of Lovecraft's
correspondents. Unfortunately, Lovecraft died much too early, in 1937 of
cancer.
What is a "fanzine"?
In my opinion a "fanzine" is a publication meeting
all three of these requirements:
1) A fanzine is published under small or virtually
non-existent economical circumstances. Some may evolve into better business
- but this is how the idea of fanzines at least began.
2) Fanzine publishers does not try to imitate professional
magazines. They have developed their own style, in writing, layout, contents
etc.
3) The fanzine world depends on an interactive
culture between publishers and readers, with correspondence, jargong, interest
in historical aspects and traditions, etc.
(I'm not entering "A fanzine deals with sf or sf
fandom" as a reqirement, because a) in later years it doesn't - not even
sf fanzines do, sometimes! - and b) I'm after requirements that catch the
spirit of fanzine publishing.)
I'm not sure that early ayjay meet all these requirements.
I see problems with 1) and 2). Many ayjaians must have had both money and
time over, indicating at least modest wealth. Even a semi-professional
printing press must have been expensive, and mailing your journals to over
200 APA members yourself must have been expensive. And it seems that some
sort of professional magazine quality often was the goal.Though Lovecraft
did help to found a Providence Amateur Press Club near his home, in 1914,
"amongst some working-class people in the 'North End' of Providence who
were attending night classes at a local high school", this club seems to
have lasted for a rather short time. (In 1917 the Official Editor John
T Dunn went to jail, refusing to register for the draft, and that was probably
the end of PAPC.)
This discussion is of importance to establish
when the "fanzine movement" started. "Isolated islands" of early ayjay
of course gets problem with requirement 3).Doing fanzines not related to
sf (but to comics, music, etc) have today become very popular. In my opinion
this entire "fanzine movement" has its roots in the first sf fanzine in
1930. The movement migrated to comics fans in the 1950's and from there
to other fields.
Early ayjay and mundane APAs worked in the same
spirit as early fanzine editors, but with more money and other ambitions.
The most notable difference is that the sf fanzines generally worked on
a much lower level of resources and a much higher level of social interaction.
The sf fanzines introduced the mimeographs and hektographs to a high degree
(though some early fanzines were printed they soon disappeared).
The first fannish APA, the Fantasy Amateur Press
Association founded 1937, also introduced the important invention of group
mailings. For many people, the essence of an APA is to get mailings with
publications from all members, and in THIS sense FAPA was first.
---97-11-19---
En intern, humoristisk novell inspirerad av sf-kongressen Wasacon, Stockholm, juni 1997. "Los" är en förkortning för Lars-Olov Strandberg, en känd sf-profil. Andra namn, repliker och händelser är inspirerade av men skildrar inte alls verkligheten. Mycket kan bara förstås av dem som varit med. (Wasacon var f ö mycket städad. De livligaste händelserna är uttagna på min poetiska licens!)
Välkommen till Wasacon
(träd in på egen risk)
Lokalen var full av finniga fyrtioåringar.
Science fiction-fans är den enda kända mänskliga livsform
som behåller sina ungdomsfinnar högt upp i åldrarna.
- Hej Carolina, vill du ha litet jordnötter,
frågade Lars-Olov. SFSF:s ordförande påminde sig om den
senaste jordnötsorgien, och hennes kropp ryckte till av en ofrivillig
rysning.
- Nej tack, svarade Carolina matt. Jag sparar
mig till kongressmiddagen.
(- Vi är ledsna för att vi är litet
försenade, hördes det från köket. Men vi är klara
vilken dag som helst.)
Genom lokalen rusade en långhårig
jeansperson.
- Science Fiction Journalen, ropade han, här
var det SFJ! Alldeles färskt och den här gången har jag
ansträngt mig för att få en större stil. Hela sju
punkter!
- Mellan läsandet av SFJ och mikroskopstudier
av strukturen hos stencilpapper ser jag en slags parallell, sade Kjell.
- Bar! Var? skrek en annan långhåring.
- Nej, jag är fullt påklädd, sade
Nanna.
Det artade sig till en alldeles normal kongress.
Snart skulle paneldiskussionen "Vart är fandom på väg?"
starta. Mannen från Los räknade med att extrahera många
strategiska hemligheter från den. Det var information som var ytterst
vital för hans uppdragsgivare, om den planerade invasionen av planeten
jorden skulle lyckas.
Han tog fram kameran och lekte tankspritt med
bländaren.
- ...och därför anser jag att fanzines absolut
måste tryckas på rosa papper, sade en paneldeltagare. Men eftersom
alla rosa papper på marknaden idag har fel nyans går det inte
längre att utge fanzines. Därför är det också
kris i fandom.
- Fel!, sade en annan paneldeltagare uppbragt.
Fanzines skall tryckas på gult papper. Allt annat är högeligen
puerilt!
- Blått papper! Blått papper!
Det utbröt plötsligt tumult i lokalen.
Lars-Olov stod i ett hörn och fångade händelserna i sin
obarmhärtiga kamera.
- Mina damer och herrar, skrek Carolina. Nu får
ni allt lugna er.
Ingen reagerade. Ingen ville tydligen kännas
vid beteckningarna "damer" respektive "herrar". Det här var ju fans!
- Öhlen är nästan slut! sade Nanna
som just rusat in. Det finns bara några få kvar. Först
till kvarn...
Bråket om rätt fanzinepappersfärg
upphörde genast och alla rusade till baren.
- Rådigt av dig Nanna, sade Carolina. Jag
fick inte bukt med dem.
Öhlen var i själva verket inte på
väg att ta slut, men det var det ingen som märkte. Fansen tog
gärna varje förevändning för att inmyndiga denna gyllene
dryck.
- W-would you conschider me drunk? undrade en
fan strax innan han trillade baklänges.
Nanna langade öhl så att kapsylerna
flög och sedan föll ned som ett lätt kapsylduggregn. Lars-Olov
tog ytterligare några bilder. Kanske vore det en bra idØ att
före en invasion förgifta jordiskt öhl, funderade han så
smått, innan han kom att tänka på Pripps Blå.
- På mitt föredrag, sade Göran,
hade jag tänkt berätta hur Jack Vance hjältar brukar präglas
av närmast extrem grymhet. Men så råkade jag se senaste
SFF-sändningen, så nu får jag göra om det.
- Äsch, sade Anders. Det var ingenting mot
femtiotalet, då jag var klubbmästare i Futura. Klubbens ordförande
höll på att nästan knivdräpas av en haschberusad marockan,
och det var nästan slutet för klubben. Förresten var inte
den där pangblondinen som jag var så intresserad av med längre
så...
- Det var ingenting, sade Göran, jämfört
med när jag höll på att mördas av hundratals galna
Star Trek-fans sedan jag stoppat Sveriges Television från att sända
Star Trek. De riktade sina phasers mot mig och...
- Vad hände?
- Inget. Phasers är ju bara plastbitar. Riktiga
strålpistoler finns ju inte. Trekkisarna blev väldigt
förvånade när jag inte upplöstes
i atomer.
- Star Trek är ju nästan lika bra som
Kapten Conan, sade Anders. Jag kände en blondin en gång som...
Mannen från Los tog några bilder av
de fjorton fansen som stod på den 1,5 kvm stora balkonen, fullt involverade
i ett högljutt samlag - f´låt: samtal skall det vara.
(Ber om ursäkt för den layouttekniska finten.)
- Nu är du ute och cyklar, sade Johan.
- Nej, jag är ute och åker rullskridskor,
sade Annika som var hedersgäst (hon hade nämligen fått
ut en bok, och befann sig därmed av skaran Smutsiga Gamla Proffs för
vilka framträdanden på coner blev en smärtsam plikt).
- Ni har väl läst min artikel i tidningen,
sade en fan som sysslade med att sälja returpapper som litteratur.
Den heter "Fanzines skall ta över världen, annars...!". Jag satte
ihop texten från urklippta bokstäver i tidningarna och skickade
in den som "Fanniska kommandot". Vete fan var tidningen fick mitt namn
ifrån.
- Nu är det dags för nästa programpunkt,
sade Janne som kom rusande (han hade just spräckt sin ekonomi på
auktionen, och köpt en unik novellsamling av Hugo Gernsback för
742 kr).
Mannen från Los drog sig mot programrummet.
Föredraget skulle heta "Analys av den deterministiska relativiteten
i dynamiskt komplexa system hos Arthur C Clarkes i dennes ungdomsår,
då han uppfann satelliter men önskade att han skulle ha uppfunnit
robotar istället - en kort akademisk genomgång med diagram,
formler och logisk härledning".
Föredraget blev en stor framgång. Redan
efter ett par minuter hade en ung företagsam neofan lyckats smyga
bakom den olycklige docenten och - till allmänt jubel - dra av honom
byxorna. Inom ytterligare några minuter var föredragshållaren
inlindad i stencilfärg. Små tussar av stencilpapper slängdes
på den svarta massan. Med byxorna kring fötterna och indränkt
i en svartvitt gegga leddes den oskyldiga docenten ut på gatan. Förvirrad
stapplade han iväg i den ljusa kvällningen med en skylt på
ryggen: "Tråkig serconit!"
- Det blir en smula svårt att övertala
honom att hålla föredrag igen, sade Carolina. Åtminstone
den närmaste tiden. Fans är alldeles för elaka.
- Vi var snälla, sade någon. Han fick
massor med stencilfärg alldeles gratis! När han kommer hem kan
han publicera ett oneshot!
Lars-Olov plåtade och lade händelserna
på minnet. Denna försvarsmetod kunde bli besvärande för
de losianska elitsoldaterna när de anlände. Fanns det något
effektivt motmedel?
- Därför skall vi utge ett science fiction-magasin,
sade Mats. Det skall heta "Super Science Visions of Slannish Utopian Futures
with Lots of Rockets" och utges i 100 000 exemplar.
Publiken lyssnade högtidligt till denna programpunkt,
som kallades "Viktiga tillkännagivanden, med nya fantastiska projekt,
priser, adelstitlar och annat".
- Nästa utgivningsprojekt är Kjells
samlade dikter, sadeCarl-Mikael. Vi har redan de tre första CD-ROM-skivorna
under produktion. Med hjälp av avancerad komprimering räknar
vi med att få plats med allt på under tio skivor.
- Jaha, så var det dags för Alvarpriset.
Nominees are...
Ett antal personer presenterades kort, och Lars-Olov
tog detsamma på var och en.
- ...and the winner is...Tommy! Med 131251 röster
mot elva. Hela Linköpings befolkning har röstat på honom.
Tommy gick upp på podiet och tog emot priset,
som bestod av litet pengar, ett diplom, en gratis prenumeration på
Sekter i SF och fem bitar kola.
- Dags för SFF-priset. Vi tre här på
podiet har nu räknat de tre röster som kom in, och vinnare är...
Mannens från Los kamera gick varm. Någon
skrek: "Is till Lars-Olovs kamera! Den har gått varm!" "Jag är
klar med min drink!" svarade någon, och hällde de kvarblivna
isbitarna på kameran. "Men det där var väl ändå
onödigt!", svarade Lars-Olov irriterat.
Rickard gick omkring och delade ut sitt fanzine,
Minibaren (som inte handlade om B5 utan om vad man kan trösta sig
med på hotellet när roompartyt är över), medan andra
satt och läste Bosses fanzine, Old Man´s Fantasies.
Plötsligt föll någon ihop på
golvet i spasmer.
- Oj, har han fått epilepsi, utbrast
någon.
- Nej, han beställde en Screwdriver i baren,
och fick av misstag ett glas ren apelsinjuice. Sådant är farligt.
Det kan påverka blodhalten i alkoholomloppet.
Mannen från Los tog några bilder till.
("Ta inte mina bilder!" sade Lars. "Jag är
inte klar med dem.")
Sakta men säkert började kongressen
lida mot sitt slut. (Alla var slut men ingen led.) Programpunkten "Vad
är klockan?" avverkades på rekordtid (1:37:21.51). Videorummet
hade slut på Star Trek-filmer och hade i ren desperation börjat
visa den tyska 60-talsserien "Raumschiff Orin - Lebensraum im Universum".
Det var snart dags för den obligatoriska höjdpunkten
som alla coner har. Mannen från Los var i princip klar med sitt uppdrag
för denna gång. Han drog sig undan för att förbereda
subeteröverföringen av spionmaterialet. En av barens mer exotiska
drinkar dög utmärkt som snabbframkallningsvätska.
Han drog sig undan litet diskret. När han
framkallat bilderna placerade han dem i rätt ordning i subeteröverföringsapparaten.
På överföringsduken fanns 2,4 miljoner receptorer som läste
av bilden och översatte alla data till rätt kod. Via en IR-länk
gick all data vidare till sjävla subetertransmittern och vidare via
hyperrymden till planeten Los. I sitt senaste meddelande hade Los militärledning
förklarat att man var redo för invasionen. Om den nya spionrapporten
inte uppvisade alltför stora hinder skulle man invadera om några
dagar.
Mannen från Los var optimistisk. Det var
helt tydligt att invasionen skulle kunna bli framgångsrik. Stencilfärg
var nästan jordingarnas enda försvarsmedel - men lagren av denna
strategiska råvara var så gott som slut.
Lars-Olov gick ut i programrummet med subeteröverföringsutrustningen
under armen. En intet ont anande gopher hjälpte honom att spänna
upp duken, och gick sedan ut för att förkunna:
- Hallå! Diabildsvisning med Lars-Olov börjar
nu! Kom allihop!
Rummet fylldes snart. Lars-Olov satte på
subeteröverföraren. Den verkade fungera perfekt. Bara den nya
informationen kom över, skulle inget kunna hindra losianernas invasionsflotta.
- Jaha, nu var det dags att börja, sade mannen
från Los.
Den första bilden lyste upp på duken.
Överföringen hade börjat.
Snart kunde ingenting rädda jorden.
---97-06-16---