Date: 28 Feb 1997 21:00:37 -0500



In  Rebecca Ore 
 wrote:

: As Gary Farber said, Sharyn thought readers were a different category
: than fan.  As far as her saying it, we both said it, in the same car, 
: with FOSFAX on the floor with footprints on it.  I now see that fans who
: read are great, fans who become writers and editors are only okay.  Fans
: who run conventions I'm invited to are okay, too.  I don't know what the
: purpose of fans that don't read is, frankly. 

I'm not sure we're on the same page here.  Few fans don't read; most sf
readers are not active in sf fandom.  I'm distinguishing here between
readers who are enthusiasts of sf -- the broadest possible definition of
"fan" -- and the more commonly used definition of "fan" within sf fandom: 
someone who actively participates in the culture and community of science
fiction fandom as it has developed since its origins in the lettercolum of
AMAZING in 1926 through fanzines, conventions, sf clubs, publications,
certain books, and so on.  

SF fandom has a huge body of history and "culture" after seventy years, if
a somewhat obscure and esoteric body, and it's entirely clear from BIMBOS
that Sharyn McCrumb knew diddly about it when she wrote that book: it's
not something one can pick up from some casual con attendence.

I'm not clear what distinction you are making between those who are "okay"
and those who are "great."  
-- 
--     Gary Farber                         gfarber@panix.com
Copyright     1997                         Brooklyn, NY, USA

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