ISFiC
ISFiC, Inc. (the rarely used expansion of the initialism is "Illinois Science Fiction in Chicago") was founded in 1973 as a coalition of various Chicago area science fiction clubs to sponsor Windycon and prepare Chicago fandom to run a Worldcon. Its governing body is a self-perpetuating board of nine directors, elected for staggered three-year terms.
For many years, it operated as a legal "social club," but is now a section 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization. In theory, members of Windycon become members of it, but it’s in no way a social group. Meetings of the ISFiC board are normally held at Windycon and Capricon.
In addition to being the parent organization for an annual convention, it was intended to serve as a clearing house for fan activities in Illinois, which never happened. The founders included Larry Propp, Mark Aronson and Lynne Aronson, Ann Cass, Jon Stopa and Joni Stopa and Mike Resnick and Carol Resnick.
Each summer, ISFiC holds a small picnic, named Picnicon.
ISFIC was the sponsoring body for three Worldcons: Chicon IV, Chicon V, and Chicon 6.
In conjunction with Windycon, ISFiC sponsors an annual writing contest for new authors. The first winner of the ISFiC Writers Contest was Richard Chwedyk in 1986. Chwedyk would go on the win the Nebula Award.
ISFiC Press[edit]
The small press publishing arm of ISFiC. It often produced books by the Author GoH at Windycon.
Although the press officially released its first book, Robert J. Sawyer's Relativity, on November 12, 2004, the people responsible for the press issued a filk CD two years earlier in 2002, entitled "A Walk on the Windy Side." That CD is considered to be the press's first project. "A Walk on the Windy Side" includes songs by Charles de Lint and Juanita Coulson as well as readings by Frederik Pohl and Kristine Smith.
In addition to stories and essays by Sawyer, Relativity includes an introduction by Mike Resnick, an afterword by Valerie Broege and a cover by Jael. Relativity won the Aurora Award for best English Work (Other) for 2004.
ISFiC Press released its first two novels, Every Inch a King, by Harry Turtledove with a cover by Bob Eggleton and The Cunning Blood, by Jeff Duntemann with a cover by Todd Cameron Hamilton on November 11, 2005.
In 2006, ISFiC Press published its first non-fiction book, Worldcon GoH Speeches, edited by Mike Resnick and Joe Siclari, which was nominated for a Hugo Award for Best Related Book. In November of that year, they published Outbound, a collection of short stories by Jack McDevitt.
From its founding until the end of 2012, the publisher of ISFiC Press was Steven H Silver and the business manager was Bill Roper. After 2012, Roper took over as publisher.
| Year | Occasion | Author | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | WindyCon XXIX | A Walk on the Windy Side | CD Release, unofficial ISFiC Press project | |
| 2004 | WindyCon 31 | Robert J. Sawyer | Relativity | Aurora Award winner |
| 2005 | WindyCon 32 | Harry Turtledove | Every Inch a King | Novel |
| 2005 | Jeff Duntemann | The Cunning Blood | Novel | |
| 2006 | L A Con 4 | Mike Resnick & Joe Siclari, eds. | Worldcon GoH Speeches | Hugo Award nominee |
| 2006 | WindyCon 33 | Jack McDevitt | Outbound | |
| 2007 | WindyCon 34 | Tanya Huff | Finding Magic | |
| 2008 | WindyCon 35 | Eric Flint & Mike Resnick, eds. | When Diplomacy Fails | Anthology |
| 2009 | WindyCon 36 | James Blaylock | The Shadow on the Doorstep | |
| 2010 | WindyCon 37 | Steven Barnes | Assassin and Other Stories | |
| 2011 | Windycon 38 | Catherine Asaro | Aurora in Four Voices | |
| 2012 | Chicon 7 | Mike Resnick | Win Some, Lose Some: The Complete Hugo Nominated Short Fiction of Mike Resnick | |
| 2012 | Windycon 39 | Seanan McGuire | Velveteen vs. The Junior Super Patriots | Velveteen, Volume 1 |
| 2013 | Seanan McGuire | Velveteen vs. The Multiverse | Velveteen, Volume 2 | |
| 2013 | Windycon 40 | Jim C. Hines | The Goblin Master's Grimoire | |
| 2014 | Windycon 41 | SF Squeecast | Harvest Season | Stories by Elizabeth Bear, Seanan McGuire, Catherynne Valente, and Michael Damian Thomas |
| 2015 | Windycon 42 | Maya Kaathryn Bohnhoff | Bimbo on the Cover | |
| 2016 | Seanan McGuire | Velveteen vs. The Seasons | Velveteen, Volume 3 |
| Club | 1973— |
| 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! |
