By David Speakman, N3F President

To understand what the N3F is, it’s probably easier if you start by ruling things out. First, let’s start with the name: N3F (or NFFF) stands for National Fantasy Fan Federation.

What N3F is Not:

The N3F is not “National” – whatever that means; we are not limited to the U.S. Almost from our inception, we have had an international membership. Currently the only “nation” we represent is that our members are part of the figurative nation of speculative fiction fandom.

The N3F is not focused only on Fantasy Fans; when we were founded in 1941, science fiction, fantasy, alternate history and supernatural horror were all lumped into an umbrella term called “fantasy.” Our members are fans of all forms of speculative fiction.

The N3F is not a Federation of clubs; we are one club. When we were first envisioned, the N3F was seen as a coordinating council of regional clubs. We don’t do that. We never did that.

What N3F is:

The N3F is a club that tries to coordinate activities among our members that are either impossible to do alone or are not as fun doing alone as they are with other fans. Some of these activities include participation in one of our fanzines, our round robin correspondence chains, our writers exchange, and our amateur press association. Additionally, we offer an outlet of expression for fans who are not willing to wait a year or several months until their next fan convention.

A Colorful History

About every generation or so the N3F morphs into a new kind of organization to fit what fans want at the time. In the past 70+ years – we have had a colorful past. But instead of shrinking away from our mistakes, we prefer to acknowledge them, learn from them, and move on better because of those lessons.

A Painful Birth (1940s and 1950s)

You want to join a group that was dreamed up by an 18-year-old boy and his 22-year-old pen pal? That’s what N3F is.

The seed for our club germinated in the autumn of 1940 when an 18-year-old named Damon Knight wrote a letter to Art Widner, the 22-year-old editor of Fanfare, a fanzine put out by the Stranger Club of Boston.

In their ensuing correspondence, they were dismayed by how the mainstream media covered fans and fandom. As Art Widner would explain, it was demeaning media mocking “these guys who read that crazy Buck Rogers stuff.”

The two decided there should be a national organization – a “serious” organization – “a real respectable organization that could deal with respectable people,” as Widner described it.

Damon Knight wrote an article entitled, “Unite or Fie!” that Widner published and endorsed. More than 60 people responded, expressing interest for such an organization. Widner brought in his friend, Louis Russell Chauvenet (inventor of the word, “fanzine”), who was 20 at the time, would eventually agree to be voted in as the club’s first president.

The idea was for the N3F to serve as a coordinating governing body for all of fandom with regional and local clubs forming a federation that existed under the main group. The N3F was to serve as the face of fandom – finding individuals who could speak to the general public without scaring them or being mocked by them. Additionally, the club wanted to levy “taxes” – in the form of dues – that it would use to coordinate with hotels and publishers to pool resources to get better rates for science fiction conventions and pulp magazine subscriptions.

From the get-go this group of young men tasted failure on this grand scheme. As anyone who has run a convention or a con track or moderated a panel discussion (or even witnessed any of these) herding SF fans makes herding cats look easy. Most of the original founding members left the organization – considering it a failure. Damon Knight once said he and Art Widner co-founded “the dumbest organization in all of fandom.”

The early N3F members did have some successes, though. They published a few N3F books and sponsored or co-sponsored fan conventions and con events or started fan traditions that are still in use … in updated forms … today.

After some bumpy times and political infighting the club fell into the hands of a few leaders who acted more like dictators rather than coordinators of activities, the type that turned off the kind of fans who wanted to have fun and promote the cause of science fiction – and make it better. By the 1950s, the N3F was awash in scandal and the membership rose up and drove out the leadership.

Members also started leaving as it became increasingly obvious that Damon Knight’s grand scheme to have a national and international governing council for fans and fan activity would never work. Membership fell to less than 50.

The Countercultural Revolution (1960s and 1970s)

Even though the politics and scandals of the 40s and 50s ended, N3F as an organization did not, despite calls from some to do just that. Instead, new leaders emerged who were focused on coordinating current fans and reaching out to new fans.

It was during this time that the club launched Tightbeam – a letterzine. In the pre-Internet age, unless you published your own fanzine, the only way to reach out to other fans was through written letters either directly or to fanzines. Tightbeam was a zine devoted almost exclusively to letters and correspondence and it was the only reliable national zine that would publish *everything* a writer wrote – unedited – for all to see.

This hit a nerve in the counterculture generation of the 1960s and 70s. Membership swelled and new committees formed and the club’s focus changed to that of being an introduction – a Welcommittee for young and new fans into the culture of fandom.

Other activities started at this time were a writer’s exchange, writing contests, round robins, and support for new writers.

But the scandals of the 1940s and 1950s were not forgotten among the Big Name Fans, and N3F was not trusted beyond a limited role of being an introduction to fandom for newbies.

Not helping N3F’s case among some of the more elitist fans was the club’s embrace of TV and film SF. Many of the same people who pooh-poohed N3F also looked down on science fiction films and TV fandom – thinking that those fans were exploited by studios, whereas publishers would actually listed to input from serious and constructive (sercon) fan criticism. Among them, N3F’s embrace of pop culture fandom further drove a wedge between the organization and Big Name Fandom.

During this time, the N3F would still sponsor con suites at WorldCon and created fandbooks – guides geared to new fans to introduce them to SF fandom

Although N3F’s moves did not impress many in capital-f Fandom, its membership grew during this time from less than 50 paid members to a membership roster of more than 300.

The Computer Revolution (1980s and 1990s)

The height of N3F membership numbers happened in the mid-1980s when more than 400 members paid annual dues to the organization. It developed its own self-contained ecosystem almost completely separate from mainstream SF fandom.

Although N3F members would attend cons, the organization with such a huge membership on the verge of being unwieldy started focusing inward rather than on outreach that marked one of its primary reasons for being in 60s and 70s.

The advent of computer word processing and desktop publishing made production of our newsletters less time consuming and cheaper than ever. That means they got BIG – some issues had more than 100 pages.

By the 1990s, N3F was chugging along strong on its own, an island separated from fandom in general except that its Tightbeam was the only real national outlet of note to allow communication from average fans with a large chunk of fandom on a national or international basis.

Then, a computer inter-network that had only been used by defense contractors and research universities opened up to the public. With the advent of hypertext markup language, that network became what we now call the Internet and World Wide Web (www.).

As if overnight – one of N3F’s primary strengths vanished. With email, email groups, Internet chat rooms, and easily updated home pages that would later become “blogs,” waiting 2 months for N3F’s next Tightbeam became quaint … and increasingly unneeded as more people opted for instant e-communication rather than snail mail.

As more and more casual members started moving to the Internet and away from mailed letters of comment, N3F faced a new crisis and membership again started to dwindle.

The Internet Age – Where N3F stands today (2000s and 2010s)

Like all fannish organizations in general, the N3F struggled in the 2000s to find a place in the new millennium where internet groups largely usurped the role fan clubs traditionally held in the hearts and minds of fans.

After a rocky start where N3F started a retooling process, we found a solid footing in our traditional strength: coordinating fans to enable people to do things together that are impossible – or not as fun – to do alone.

Over the decades (we will celebrate our 75th Anniversary in 2016) we’ve honed a few skills and strengthened a few strengths. Whether it’s providing a creative outlet for fan artists or writers in one of our fanzines, or coaching writers and would-be fanzine publishers or providing an outlet through our round robins for measured, thoughtful conversation among fans that is impossible on internet forums, we do that. And we do it well.

And … you are welcome to join us. ✵

 

“It is a proud and lonely thing to be a fan.”

Rick Sneary, Former N3F President

The active readership/viewership of science fiction that communicates with each other on a regular basis through fanzines, conventions, clubs, etc. is what is known today as science fiction (SF) fandom. Two other genres, fantasy (F) and horror (H), are related in most people’s minds to SF fandom; the three often are referred to as a single genre, in both mainstream and fannish literature, as SF/F/H or SFFH. In most academic classifications, SF is seen as a sub-genre of fantasy literature or speculative fiction. Whatever its ultimate place in literary nomenclature, however, science fiction is the first sub-category of fiction to have a fandom created for it, meaning a body of enthusiastic fans who supported and helped shape it.

In the beginning of SF fandom in the United States, in the late 1920s and early 1930s, fans tried to keep in touch with each other via the letter columns of the professional SF magazines. This process began with the appearance of readers’ letters in the “Discussions” column of Amazing Stories in the 1920s, although some fantasy/horror fans had met and kept in touch with each other somewhat earlier via letters to Weird Tales. In these letter columns readers commented upon and compared their favorite, and not-so-favorite, stories and authors. One of the questions frequently asked was “Who really wrote that story?” SF writers, especially in the Golden Age of the genre, often wrote under pseudonyms (see SF/Fantasy Author Pseudonyms). This type of communication via letters to prozines continues in various forms to this day. Such correspondence in turn led to the formation of local clubs, the publication of amateur magazines and newsletters (fanzines), and the organization of conventions. Some of these early clubs were sponsored by professional SF magazines (prozines). Out of these clubs came new genre writers, illustrators, editors, agents, and even publishers.

One of the first clubs to be organized was in Oakland, California in 1927, only one year after the appearance of the first all-SF pulp magazine, Amazing Stories, published/edited by Hugo Gernsback. Within three years clubs had been organized in Chicago, Boston, Georgia, and New York. All of these clubs published fanzines. The first fanzine, Comet (later Cosmology), was dated May 1930 and published by the Science Correspondence Club of Chicago. It was edited by Raymond A. Palmer, who later gained fame as a prozine editor. The early clubs were interested in science, and their fanzines reflected this interest. Later clubs were more interested in science fiction per se, and their fanzines emphasized science fiction authors and the magazines in which their stories appeared instead of scientific topics.

In 1941 Damon Knight suggested that it was time for a national organization of SF and fantasy fans: “I sincerely believe that a successful national fantasy association is possible, that it could offer a needed service to every fan, and that it could be established today.” Knight was a young but respected writer at the time and later became even better known as a critic, editor, and teacher of SF/fantasy. Fans responded to his suggestion, and The National Fantasy Fan Federation (NFFF or N3F) was the result.

The Culture of Fandom

SF fandom has created its own history and culture, with famous events, conventions, awards, press associations/alliances, language, feuds, hoaxes, and activities such as collecting, writing, and publishing.

Numbered Fandoms

Early fan historian John (Jack) Speer began the numbering of the time segments of fandom beginning in 1930. Others added to his work, and today these various time periods are generally thought of as follows: First Fandom (1930-1936), Second Fandom (1937-1938), Third Fandom (1940-1944), Fourth Fandom (1945-1947), Fifth Fandom (1947-1949), and Sixth Fandom (1950-1953). In 1953 a group of young fans said Sixth Fandom was dead, and proclaimed they were the new, magnificent Seventh. Others quickly labeled their period The Phony Seventh. Since then no one has proposed a continuation of this numbering system, although the period before 1930 often is referred to as Eofandom.

Conventions (Cons)

The first science fiction convention was held in 1937 in Philadelphia. By the next year groups of New York fans were competing to hold the first world convention, and on July 2, 1939 more than 200 fans gathered in Manhattan, under the leadership of Sam Moskowitz, who would later publish one of the early fan histories, The Immortal Storm. Fans came from all over, one contingent from California that included Forrest J Ackerman and Ray Bradbury.

A world convention (Worldcon) would be held annually from 1939, with the exception of four years (1942-1945) during World War II. Worldcons were held in the United States until 1957 when the convention was held in London. Since that time Worldcons have been held in other foreign countries, including Germany, Canada, and Australia. Foreign locations now are considered traditional, although most Worldcons are held in the United States. Attendance at Woldcons has steadily climbed from only a few hundred attendees, and now each routinely has thousands of people in attendance.

Awards/Fan Funds

Contests and prizes were part of the early pulp publications, and fans started to present awards in 1941 at the 3rd Worldcon, held in Denver. The first International Fantasy Awards were given from 1951 until they were discontinued in 1957. The Science Fiction Achievement Awards, known as Hugos (after publisher/editor Hugo Gernsback) were first awarded in 1953 at the 11th Worldcon in Philadelphia, and are still given today in a variety of categories. Other awards are given in connection with the Worldcons, including the John W. Campbell Award, the Gandalf Award, and several First Fandom awards. Other American SF awards, currently being presented annually at other meetings, include the Nebulas (Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America), the Philip K. Dick Award, and the Theodore Sturgeon Award. N3F also gives awards, including the Kaymar and the Franson, both named for former members of the club.

A fan fund is a sort of fellowship that helps fans attend distant conventions: The most famous is the Trans-Atlantic Fan Fund (TAFF), which began in 1952, with the first “official” trip in 1954. TAFF is a fund that helps fans in North America attend European cons, and European fans attend North American cons. Another major fan fund is DUFF (Down Under Fan Fund), established in 1972, which helps fans travel across the Pacific Ocean, either to or from Australia. Fans may be American, Australian, or from New Zealand.

APA’s

Another important development in fandom was the creation of the Amateur Press Associations or Alliances (APAs). The Fantasy Amateur Press Association (FAPA) was organized in 1937, and others soon followed. Today many exist, each organized around a special interest of the members (films, comics, pulps, etc.). N3F has its own APA, the N’APA (Neffer Amateur Press Alliance).

Fan Language

Like most sub-cultures, SF fandom developed its own special language as fans communicated with each other. Many glossaries of fannish terms exist in print and online wirh several examples of this language.

Feuds/Hoaxes

Feuds and hoaxes have existed since the beginnings of fandom, according to the SF historians who have written on these subjects. The feuds began as different individuals tried to take control of organized fandom, and ranged from the serious to the silly, depending upon the personalities of the individuals involved. Hoaxes usually were of a humorous nature, mostly involving imaginary persons, magazines, books, cons, etc., but some were more serious and were concerned with the supposed deaths of fans. Major feuds no longer exist as such, and even hoaxes are seldom perpetuated on the unsuspecting newcomer (neofan) – perhaps attesting to the fact that more mature fans dominate the field today.

Collecting/Writing/Publishing/Scholarship

Fans have contributed to the development of SF in several different ways. Many early fans were collectors, and over the years their collections contributed directly to the founding of several specialty publishers and the writing of important reference works. Many SF/fantasy books were published by these fan publishers, and this fan publishing led to commercial publishing by large book publishers such as Doubleday. At least one major publishing house, DAW, was founded by a former fan (and N3F member) Donald A. Wollheim. Fan activity also contributed significantly to scholarship, with the publications of many reference works, beginning with Everett F. Bleiler’s The Checklist of Fantastic Literature in 1948. Today there are academic journals devoted to the genre, and courses on science fiction are offered in colleges and universities.

Conclusions

Fandom today is extremely diverse, although joining clubs, reading/collecting SF/fantasy books and magazines, publishing fanzines, and attending conventions still are the main activities of fans. Club activities often involve most, if not all, of the activities that fans have enjoyed since the beginnings of fandom: collecting, writing, composing/performing fan music, doing artwork, participating in APAs, playing computer games, sponsoring and attending cons (and participating in filksinging and masquerades at these cons), discussing authors and artists and their work, and criticizing genre movies/TV programs/magazines/books, etc. The world of SF fandom has shaped, and continues to shape, the literature it studies.

Early on there were few women in fandom, mostly the sisters, girlfriends, and/or wives of male fans. It was a newsworthy event when it was discovered that an assumed male fan was instead a female. Many more women entered fandom in the 1970s and 1980s, however, and now play prominent roles in all aspects of fandom. Today science fiction fandom is bigger and better than ever before. Those readers who want a more detailed history of this remarkable phenomenon are directed to the books listed in the following bibliography. ✵

Selected Bibliography

—Gunn, James (ed.). The New Encyclopedia of Science Fiction. New York: Viking, 1988.

—Moskowitz, Sam. The Immortal Storm. Atlanta, GA: ASFO Press, 1955.

—Speer, Jack. Up to Now. Brooklyn, NY: Arcturus Press, 1994.

—Sanders, Joe (ed.). Science Fiction Fandom. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1994.

—Warner, Harry. All Our Yesterdays. Chicago, IL: Advent, 1969.

—Warner, Harry. A Wealth of Fable. Van Nuys, CA: SCIFI Press, 1992.

NOTE: This brief historical account of SF fandom is based largely on the fan writings of Forrest J Ackerman, Don Franson, Sam Moskowitz, Rick Sneary, Jack Speer, Jon D. Swartz, Bob Tucker, Harry Warner r., and Donald A. Wollheim, all past or present members of N3F.

 

 

Revised by Ruth R. Davidson

Adapted from the original by Milton A. Rothman – written soon after WWII.

If you weren’t meant to be a Fan, you’ve thrown this handbook away by now. But, if you possess that particular, off-trail, interesting frame of mind that attracts you to the activities of Science Fiction and Fantasy Fans, then you’re not only with us, but possibly ahead of us to boot.

You’ve just been looking at a brief history of Fandom, seen the ups and downs of organization (and maybe the lack thereof in some cases). You’ve seen all the different activities, the fan publications, conventions, the great hodge-podge of lots of people doing lots of things for the sheer pleasure of doing them.

You’re probably wondering: What am I going to do in all this? With all these veteran and active Fans running the show, what do I have to do get some fun out of this? Where do I fit in?

In the first place, there are not many hobbies in which new enthusiasts can obtain recognition so quickly. One can name any number of Fans who, after only a few months of activity, have become known and liked all over the country, and maybe even in other countries!

Now you’re probably wondering: What does a person have to do in order to achieve this position?

We assume that you started somewhere. Maybe you read a prozines (slang for a professional magazine), saw the reader’s column where you heard of other Fans. Maybe you started corresponding with them and heard of the NFFF (or the NFFF heard of you), and you arrived at this point. Maybe you saw a flier or ad at a convention, maybe you have a friend or family member who’s a Fan and infected you with the it. Maybe you visited website, clicked a link and found us. There so many starting points these days, it’s amazing, but whatever the case, you’re here.

In olden days the exchange of letters between Science Fiction readers was the life of Fandom. There were only a few Fanzines then. Even now, personal correspondence between Fans is still basic, though now it’s must faster with email, and message boards. The essential part of being a Fan is to get to know other Fans. That is traditionally accomplished by correspondence. You join a message board, write a letter, send an email, and mention that you are an SF Fan and would like to become acquainted. He or she will always reply. That’s all there is.

So you get to know Fans through some form of correspondence. If you live near some Fans you inevitably meet them. Perhaps there’s a local club to join, or an online community. You hear about fanzines, you write for copies. You like them and subscribe to them. You start finding out all sorts of nifty going-ons with Fannish activities.

You discover the joys of collecting and of watching your collection of books, magazines, manga/comics and DVD’s/VHS’s grow. You haunt the second-hand book stores to fill in the gaps of your collection, and your letters are full of enthusiastic collector’s talk.

Suddenly you notice how the mail has been flowing through your door, and/or the influx of email in your inbox, from people all over and you realize how many new people you’ve met, and you say to yourself, “I’m in! I’m a Science Fiction Fan!”

Don’t kid yourself. You’ve just started. You’ve just done the easy part. Of course, you can stay where you are. Many Fans have gone no further than this stage of being an interested spectator. But the real dyed-in-the-wool Fans are never satisfied with just watching. They have to jump in the middle of things, and start something themselves.

So, if you have the demon inside you, it’s not long before you get an itching on the tips of your fingers, right where they hit the keyboard. You read so many fan magazines (fanzines) you can’t stand it any longer. The inevitable result – you start writing for them yourself.

And when you have reached that stage then you really are in! You have reached the ultimate goal of a hobby: creation and self expression.

It’s not easy. It’s not like a few decades ago. Most of the obvious topics for Fan writing have been rehashed time and again. Quality is expected to by high now. You have to sweat some. A person never did anything worthwhile without some sweat. So if you’re sweating a little, that’s a good sign.

So, you’ve hit the peak. You’ve found your place. The rest is icing on the cake. You continue to write. You acquire a style, a pen name by which you are known. You spread out your friendships. You join the NFFF. You get on a project. You become part of a committee. You run for office. There’s plenty of jobs to do, all of which are fun and worth the effort.

Then you become really ambitious. You put out your own Fanzine! These days it’s easy to do with the age of computers, copy machines, printers, and electronic files. Before you had to spend oodles on a hekto or mimeo or find someone who was willing to share theirs. Now it’s easy. If you don’t have your own computer you can use one at the library or an internet café. Copy centers are just around the corner. There are various editing programs out there, and all sorts of various ways and formats to put out a Fanzine.

Unless you have really big ideas, you’ll start out modestly, and perhaps confine your publication to an Amateur Press Association. (One being the N3F’s very own Neffer Amateur Press Association – N’APA.) That alone is completely soul-satisfying, and many of the best Fans go no further.

You discover conventions! Unlike the days of old, conventions are everywhere. You can almost always find one close enough to home to be able to go to one. There you meet authors and editors.

Sooner or later your itching fingers turn out a story which you think is too good for a Fanzine. You send it to a Prozine (another word for Promag) and it bounces so fast your head spins. Undaunted, you try again. A long time later you get an acceptance, and from then on nobody can live with you. You’ve crashed the Pros!

That seems like a lot for a person to do for a hobby. Towards the end the story becomes fantastic, even. Travelling hundreds of miles to a convention – having stories published – incredible!

But so many Fans have done all of those things!

You don’t have to go all the way. You can please your own pocketbook and timetable. If you’re continually broke, like we all are at some point in our lives, you can be plenty active using a friends computer or library. Now it’s easy to send in Letters of Comment (LoCs) with the age of computers and email. It negates the need for postage. You can also borrow a friend’s copier (many printers these days also act as copy machines). If you can save a few bucks here and there you can start thinking of going independent (having your own computer and printer).

If you’re such a quiet person that the thought of activity and notoriety makes you turn pale, then you can remain happily in the background, carrying on correspondence and sending letters/email to the Voice of the Imagination.

Each person fits his or her personality into Fandom according to his or her own style and soon becomes known by that personality; and having become known, he or she becomes welcome where ever there are Fans.

That’s really something you know. Just think about this: Wherever you might go in this country you will know people and will be known by them. That, in itself, is sufficient excuse for the existence of Fandom.

It is hardly necessary to speak of such benefits from Fan activity as acquiring the ability to write, the copious amount of education obtained from the continuous discussions, the freedom of mind resulting from association with other free minds. The chances are that you are already most of that – that you became a Fan because you had the writing urge, the free mind, the omnivorous interests.  Being a part of Fandom gives you a chance to exercise your abilities. It gives you a place where you can unleash that desire to create from your mind and to express yourself in writing and art.

May you relish in the joys of active Fandom. The world holds no higher pursuits! ✵

 

By Donald Franson

In the beginning, N3F did not have a letterzine. The fledgling club could hardly afford to publish one zine, let alone two; and letter, if any, appeared in Bonfire, or The National Fantasy Fan, its successor.

In 1949, Art Rapp, the editor of Spacewarp, a popular fanzine, decided to put out a letterzine for the N3F, calling it Postwarp. This was available on subscription, at 10 cents a copy (the usual price in those days) which paid for itself. It contained letters on all subjects, but mainly discussed the N3F, and not being official, could be free to criticize (as continues to this day, even when edited by the President). When Art left, others took up Postwarp, with varying success, continuing to 1960, when Alan J. Lewis (not to be confused with Albert J. Lewis) has problems and Postwarp did not appear regularly or on time.

By now the zine was financed by the N3F, and the officers, understandably, wanted it to appear before they paid for it. Lewis, on the other hand, could not promise anything and claimed he needed the money in advance. This impasse went on for some time, and caused various new rules to be made, to no avail, so they decided to go around the delinquent editor by doing another letterzine, letting him delay Postwarp as long as he pleased. So, in a sense, Postwarp and Tightbeam (which was not quite the name of the new zine) were not related.

Walter Coslet volunteered to do the first issue, and named it Hyperspace Tightbeam. Another reliable, Art Hayes, did the next and Marion Zimmer Bradley (no less) edited the third issue, and promptly renamed it Tightbeam, a more sensible name which described the activity, that of serving as a medium for inter-member communication. So the first few editors rotated, setting a precedent, though sometimes it was more efficient to have a semi-permanent editor, who could control the contents of the issue to fit the pages allowed.

But, as you know, no job in N3F is permanently occupied, so we have alternated between long-time and one-issue editors. It always works out, somehow, and Tightbeam has gotten to its 200th issue without a break or great changes in content. With that number, I can’t even begin to summarize the editors we’ve had, you will have to wait for the complete checklist of N3F publications I will finish Real Soon Now. Suffice it to say that Tightbeam is always enjoyable, at least from my viewpoint, one whose favorite reading matters is letters, whether in fanzines or prozines.

Now we are about to lose our current editor, and a replacement must be found. (Note the neutrality of that word, “replacement.” A “pinch-hitter” is better, and a “substitute” not as good.) If you think you can do an issue or so, why not volunteer? Just think; you can have your own fanzine without paying for it! Where is there an opportunity like this? Doing a letterzine, with other material to stimulate the letters, can be easy or hard. And it can be fun!

 

The above history is a reprint from 1996. It was written by Donald Franson on June 24, 1996, for special anniversary Issue #200 of Tightbeam.

 

 

PASSED: July 10, 2012
Motion 2012-04: Speakman:; Amended: Row
The President shall not hold the office of Secretary or Treasurer, except on a temporary basis not to exceed 4 weeks – due to vacancy or emergency. If the president fails to appoint a replacement within three weeks of an office vacancy of either the Secretary or Treasurer, the Directorate shall move on its own to appoint a replacement for the vacant office.

YEA: Speakman, Row, Wilson, Harder
No Vote: Swartz
——————————————————————————————-
PASSED: September 25. 2012
Motion 2012-05: Speakman (Via suggestion by member, Ruth Davidson)

Amend Bylaws in the appropriate place(s) to include:
The following activities are reserved solely to paid members: holding elected office; holding the office of Secretary, Treasurer, Publisher or Official Editor; voting for elected office; receiving printed copies of club publications paid for by the treasury.
Members of the general public may fully participate in all N3F activities except for those reserved solely to paid members.
YEA: Speakman, Row, Wilson, Harder
No Vote: Swartz
——————————————————————————————-
PASSED: September 24. 2012
Motion 2012-06: Speakman
.PROPOSED CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT to bring constitution in line with current practice. Membership ratification vote: Sept. 2013.
Current Language
Article 1 – Membership:
3.     Joint memberships are available to two persons residing in the same household. A joint membership will include The National Fantasy Fan Federation(TNFF) and all rights such as voting and club activities. The dues shall be more than a single membership but less than a double, to be set by the Directorate.

Proposed Amendment: (Changes in bold italic)
Article 1 – Membership:
3.     Household memberships are available to persons residing in the same household but eligible to receive only one print copy of the Official Organ. A household membership will include membership in The National Fantasy Fan Federation (TNFF) and all rights such as voting and club activities for each paid member of the household included in the membership. The dues shall be one single membership at full price with each additional individual household membership dues added, as set in the Bylaws
YEA: Speakman, Swartz, Wilson, Harder
No Vote: Row, Harder
——————————————————————————————-
PASSED: September 24. 2012
Motion 2012-07: Speakman
Update Life Membership rules to allow the appointment of 5 memberships or 1 percent of the total membership of the N3F, whichever number is greater.
Grant Life Membership to Jack Robins.
YEA: Speakman, Row, Wilson, Harder, Swartz