"slang" and "informal" as dict labels

[Mark A Mandel]

On Mon, 17 Feb 2003, James A. Landau wrote:

#"Science fiction fandom" refers to the in-group of readers of magazine and
#book science fiction who gather together at "cons" (conventions) and write
#fanzines for each other.  This is probably a patronizing definition, but I
#supply it to emphasize that classical "fandom" consists of fans of written
#SF.

I would say that it is patronizing only insofar as the scare quotes are,
but it is quite incomplete. There are media fen (strong plural of "fan",
alongside "fans"), gaming fen (including roleplaying, tabletop with and
without miniatures, live action roleplaying [LARPing]...), anime and
manga fen, and so on. One can and does speak meaningfully of media
fandom, etc. Different organizations and cons define their
constituencies differently. To name three major New England cons:
 - Arisia maintains a "big tent" philosophy and welcomes all of the
above. Its Masquerade (costuming competition and presentation) is a
major event among costumers in the region and part of their national
organization / ratings system at the top level. It has a strong filk
tradition as well, where filk is most simply defined as the music of
fandom, including all of the above themes. (Well, I don't know any
costuming filk.) I was head or assistant head of filking at Arisia for a
number of years until I took a job out of town. If interested, see
http://world.std.com/~mam/filk.html for definitions and examples.
 - Boskone concentrates more on written sf but is by no means exclusive.
My son noted with approval this year's anime track and improved gaming
room there. It also has a strong filk track. This year's was this past
weekend.
 - Readercon, as its name implies, focuses tightly on the written word.

        [snip much good commentary]

#What about 2001 A Space Oddysey?  An underdeveloped story, with a
#preposterous ending.  Far outclassed by Star Wars, and except for Silent
#Running (which I once saw and claim had no plot) without influence on later
#movies.

(O<d>y<ss>ey; the floating-gemination imp strikes again.) IMHO the above
opinion is an inappropriate application of hard-sf standards to a story
built on concepts and imagination; but that discussion would lead us off
topic, and I mention it here only to register one point where I disagree
with Jim, alongside the many points where we agree...

#While still on my soapbox, I will point out that the current Lord of the
#Rings and Harry Potter series, while fantasy, are in the Star Wars
#tradition---the best of Hollywood used to tell a good story which was adapted
#to the screen WITH RESPECT rather than mercenary contempt.

... including this one.

        [...]

#PS to Mark Mandel---"speculative fiction" is an excellent umbrella term for
#combining SF (which theoretically consists of plausible extrapolations from
#the reader's world) and fantasy (which frankly creates a fictitious world,
#e.g. sorcery exists).  It is handy because most fans of written science
#fiction are also fans of fantasy and vice versa.  However historically "SF"
#is an abbreviation for "science fiction" and was in use before anyone coined
#"speculative fiction".

I agree with all three sentences. My daughter (as of the last time I
discussed it with her) disagrees with #2, or stance to that effect.

-- Mark A. Mandel