Paint Research Station Science Fiction Library
The Paint Research Station Science Fiction Library (PRSSFL) was a UK fan group based in Teddington in south-west London. It was founded by E. Frank Parker in 1940 and was renamed the Cosmos Club in 1943.
Its genesis came when Parker created the PRSSFL as a magazine chain. Many of the staff at the Station served in the National Fire Service and he thought this would keep them 'from thinking too much about beer during the long and often dull duty-hours[1]'. The group published a newsletter, Memo Sheet and the carbonzine, The Beyond.
Wider fandom was unaware of the group until Parker wrote about them for Futurian War Digest #23 in October 1942 at which point they had sixteen members. In March 1943, and as reported in Futurian War Digest #27, they:
decided to break off association with the Research Station in which the group first grew up and to throw membership open to all fans in the district who care to join.
The new group was called the Cosmos Club (CSC). They continued to publish The Beyond and Memo Sheet, the latter for one more issue before renaming it Cosmic Cuts.
Members[edit]
Other members of the CSC were likely also members of the PRSSFL, especially those who contributed to The Beyond before the CSC came into being. These include Michael Lord, D. E. Melrose, Jean Murrey and Arthur J. Ridgway. Joan Aiken also contributed to The Beyond from the first issue although it's unclear whether she was a member of the PRSSFL as she was also the sister of one of its leading lights, John Aiken.
| Club | 1940—1943 |
| 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! |
- ↑ Quote taken from John Aiken's account of the club in the The Whitcon Booklet, 1948.
