N3F Fanzines

The entries on the dropdown list are tables showing the known issues of each of our fanzines, their editor(s), and when available a link to a pdf of the issue. Over our near-century of existence, records have been lost, so we no longer have a complete set of all of our zines. The fanzines seen here include zines issued electronically, zines published by a series of editors, and zines recovered from a variety of sources, notably FANAC.org from Joe Siclari and Edie Stern.

The publications of the N3F have a rich history. Our main news zine The National Fantasy Fan (TNFF), originally called “Bonfire”, has been published almost non-stop since June 1941 … only taking a break during the height of World War II. Tightbeam (TB) (originally called “Hyperspace Tightbeam”) started in 1960. Other N3F zines include N’APA (our APA, founded 1959), Ionisphere (author and fan interviews), Mangaverse (anime, comics, manga), Eldritch Science (fiction), Origin (fannish history and research), Films Fantasic (films), and The N3F Review of Books Incorporating Prose Bono. Additionally, since the 1940s we’ve issued many special publications.

The N3F has one paper-mail zine, and nine electronic zines. 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, Mangaverse, The N3F FanActivity Gazette, and Films Fantastic.  We  occasionally publish books or shorter pamphlets (Fandbooks).

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 contributionc 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 treated motion pictures of long ago.  It is in a state of suspense since its most recent editor passed away.

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.

The FanActivity Gazette is the N3F news zine, news for and by fen.

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!