Second Fandom

Like First Fandom, Second Fandom refers to an era, a group of people and a club.

For the era, see Numerical Fandoms.

From Fancyclopedia 1, ca. 1944

(Speer) - October 1937 to October 1938, when the Quadrumvirate resigned. Out of the Third Convention came Michelism, and political discussions were most notable in this period, but many other things not directly related to fantasy were also booted about. Fan feuds reached the proportion of fan wars, mainly between the Wollheimist faction and their enemies, climaxing in May-June 1938 with the Newark Convention and the FAPA campaign. Douglas Webster uses the term to name his own type of British fans, including Youd, Burke, and others, who are interested in many other things, such as good literature, swearing, copulation, atheism, and phonetics, more than in science fiction. They came into dominance about 1939 in partial reaction to the sociological emphasis of the original British fans.

The club was a more casual counterpart to the First Fandom club, perennially administered by Roger Sims, who recounted in a highly embroidered version of the story in Mimosa 6 (April 1989):

Best I start with Dapper Dave Kyle, the darling of the airwaves and the Air Corps. He wanted to make sure that there would be an organization patterned after the great First Fandom to carry on the traditions that started in the dark ages of fandom. He enlisted the aid of some unsuspecting fans at SunCon, and here we are, carrying on just like the old days. But as you might imagine, we aren't long for the fray ourselves, and are about to give the steering wheel to the latest group. The question is, which group? What at one time constituted Third, Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Fandoms have now dried up and blown away like the ghosts of the writers that gave them breath. For as history tells us, they really only existed in the small minds of Jack Speer and Bob Silverberg, who in fannish days wrote long-winded articles of their greatness. However, Seventh Fandom was more to the point, what with its great ghod Ellison. But as we all know, Ellison changed his religion and disappeared into the great mundane world. So, what we are left with is 117th Fandom, which as memory serves me was organized by the 135 direct descendants of George ("Don't Ask Me How Many Times I've Been Married") Young.

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Fanhistory

1937—1938

This is a fanhistory page. Please add more detail.

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Club

1977—

This is a club page. Please extend it by adding information about when and where the club met, when and by whom it was founded, how long it was active, notable accomplishments, well-known members, clubzines, any conventions it ran, external links to the club's website, other club pages, etc. When there's a floreat (Fl.), this indicates the time or times for which we have found evidence that the club existed. This is probably not going to represent the club's full lifetime, so please update it if you can!