The mission of N3F is to help members enjoy and discuss science fiction and science fiction fandom in all media. The N3F welcomes the membership of fen of all nations, backgrounds, and political persuasions. We are here united in our love of science fiction and fantasy, broadly defined. Just as you take off your muddy shoes at the door when you come into the house, so also here you take off your real-world politics and leave them at the entrance, because we are not here to discuss real-world politics.
And check out our new electronic science fiction convention NefferCon at
https://mewe.com/group/60a9bfa0d982f519ecc95c14
The N3F is an old club, solidly embedded in Fandom’s history and present – and, from all appearances, its future as well. The N3F began in April 1941, when all types of imaginative literature – including science fiction – were called fantasy. We’re the oldest non-local science fiction and fantasy fan club still operating. In all the time since then, the N3F has undergone almost every combination of success and failure imaginable. Our membership has sometimes been in the hundreds, and sometimes under ten. It has produced some of Fandom’s most memorable fanzines and some of the worst crudzines. Since the beginning N3F members have included world-famous SF authors and fen (plural of fan) newly arrived to the hobby.
We have succeeded, and continue to succeed, because we are here to help you to participate in fandom. No matter your particular interests in SF fandom, if you are a dues-paying member we are here to support your work. Members are encouraged to seek out others sharing their interests, and to start or join a group on that interest. Thus, we have a Writer’s workshop, an Artist’s Bureau, the WelCommittee (we have the original one true WelCommittee; beware of imitations!), fanzines, a Games Bureau, and many more. Want to have someone critique your short story or novel? We can help you.
The N3F has one paper-mail magazine, and eight electronic magazines. The papermail magazine is the club newsletter, The National Fantasy Fan. The email-only zines are Tightbeam, Ionisphere, N’APA, Origin, The N3F Review of Books, Eldritch Science, Films Fantastic, and Mangaverse. We occasionally publish books or shorter pamphlets.
The National Fantasy Fan (TNFF) comes out monthly. It contains club business, information about club activities and areas of interest, free space for member ads, member art, poetry, letters of comment, member-written articles and reviews, and other fannish material. Members may choose to receive TNFF via e-mail as a PDF attachment or (at considerably greater expense) via papermail.
Tightbeam, Ionisphere, N’APA, Origin, The N3F Review of Books, Eldritch Science, and on occasion Films Fantastic and Mangaverse are published electronically. Tightbeam (named by former neffer Marion Zimmer Bradley) publishes art, long and short reviews of books and fanzines, and letters of comment. Publication is currently monthly. The last issue of 2020 was issue 315. If you have art, fiction, media reviews, essays, guides, thoughtful pieces of commentary, or other material of general interest, please send it as soon as possible to George Phillies, phillies@4liberty.net.
Ionisphere is the journal of the N3F Fan-Pro Coordinating Activity Bureau. It exists to promote a closer relationship between science fiction and fantasy fans and the writers and editors and artists who create this form of literature. Ionisphere also publishes long interviews with famous fans and writers. Publication is currently bimonthly. Send contributions to John Thiel, kinethiel@mymetronet.net.
N’APA is our amateur press association. N’APA, published bimonthly collates together the zines of its contributors and circulates the collated back to people who make at least occasional contributions. Founded in 1959, N’APA has now passed issue 300. Send contribution in the form of .doc pages to Jefferson Swycaffer, abontides@gmail.com.
Eldritch Science is our fiction, poetry, and art magazine. Eldritch Science publishes longer works of fiction (7500 words to complete novels), poems, and related artwork. Send contributions to Editor George Phillies, phillies@4liberty.net.
Mangaverse covers manga, anime, comic books, and aspects of Japanese culture. The new editor, Patrick Ijima-Washburn, welcomes contributions at patokon.com@gmail.com.
Films Fantastic (editor Eric Jamborsky, mrsolo1007@gmail.com) treats motion pictures of long ago.
The N3F Historical and Research Bureau (John Thiel, kinethiel@mymetronet.net) publishes articles on all aspects of fannish history.
The N3F Review of Books Incorporating Prose Bono seeks to publish a review of every published SF novel. There are clearly challenges here, but every month the N3F Pro, Book Review, and Writer’s Exchange Bureaus do publish reviews of nearly two dozen novels, plus multiple articles on writing, and interviews with authors.
Finally, we have less regular publications. Fandbooks (Fan-Handbooks) are collections of historical and other material.
A Sea of Stars Like Diamonds is our book-length collection of short stories. Published at the end of 2016, A Sea of Stars Like Diamonds is our 75th anniversary commemorative volume.
For the first 50 years of its existence, N3F was a paper-mail organization, but we now embrace the world of the Internet as well as keeping some our traditional activities going. We also offer online activities such as our Facebook, Mewe, and Discord groups N3F. Join us!