Futura

The first known Swedish sf club was created by author Sture Lönnerstrand, Stockholm, and librarian Roland Adlerberth, Gothenburg, after a meeting at a summer resort in August, 1950. Initially the club consisted only of its two founders, and its activities only of their frequent correspondence, but gradually new members were added as Lönnerstrand met others interested in sf, and Futura became the dominant Stockholm club during the 1950s. The third member was Sigvard Östlund, a senior civil servant who already had numerous contacts with fans in Great Britain and the US; the fourth member was a tram driver, Algot Eriksson. Next came air force lieutenant Björn Nyberg; later during the first three years followed artist Thorvald Sundbaum, poet Per Lindström, traveling salesman Leif Helgesson. When the first specialised Swedish sf magazine, Häpna!, was launched in March, 1954, the publishers half a year earlier had met with Sture Lönnerstrand in Stockholm and via him recruited several of the Futura members to their editorial group: Adlerberth became the magazine's book reviewer; Lönnerstrand suggested the magazine's name ("Häpna!" literally means "Be Astounded!") and was, as was Björn Nyberg, listed in the editorial staff; Sigvard Östlund initially contributed news of fandom.

After this, Futura grew quickly. The club fanzine, Futura, was launched in 1954 and saw six issues before folding in 1957. In that year, the club had around 60 members in Stockholm, and since late 1954 held regular meetings, usually every third week. In August, 1957, Futura arranged the second Swedish sf convention in Stockholm, with around 70 attendees. But many of the newer club members were critical of its perennial chairman Lönnerstrand, who insisted on a serious, prepared meeting format where only literary discussions were permitted, and when he went abroad in December, an extra general meeting was called, the club was officially disbanded and its members transferred to the "Stockholm local club" of the newly formed SF Union Scandinavia. Lönnerstrand came back to find himself stripped of his chairmanship and his club no longer officially existing.

According to Lönnerstrand, Futura nevertheless went on in secret, now with only a handful of loyal members who continued meeting and corresponding. In 1972 an attempt to restart Futura was made in Stockholm, meetings were held and were attended not least by several of the club's 1950s members who had otherwise not been active after the original Futura's demise, and the club fanzine was restarted and saw three issues 1972-1973, now edited by Bo Eriksson. But activities lapsed; in 1980, a second attempt to restart the club was made, but this time no fanzine was published and few meetings were held, though for some time it actually ran a local radio station, Radio Futura, in Stockholm. Since around 1983, however, Futura must reasonably be considered definitely and finally extinct.