Articles

From Fancyclopedia 1, ca. 1944

The most plastic form of non-fiction writing. Some articles are so long as to be broken into serial parts for publication in fanzines, or fill an entire booklet; and paragraf-length fillers may be called articles. Subjects include: Science articles, news of the pros such as future line-ups and changes of ownership, interviews with pro figures, book movie stage and music reviews, collectors' dope, quizzes, humor and satire, biografies of pros and fans, news of fan activities and plans, accounts of fan gatherings and trips and visits, descriptions of one's possessions pertaining to fandom, whitherings, discussion and exhortation in fan feuds, autoanalyses, discussion of philosophical and sociological questions (particularly in view of concepts gained from science-fiction), reminiscences of Them Was The Days, opinions of the quality of present day fantasy, odd angles such as how many fans have the same first name, and miscellany ranging from hoaxes and grafanalyses to chess and women's hats. It was not always thus. As pointed out in our articles on the First Transition etc, the field of discussions has gradually broadened until now it takes in anything that the postal laws will allow and some things that they won't; this despite a temporary "back to fantasy!" movement in the Second Transition and a minor surge of the same sort toward the end of 1943.