Minn-StF
The Minnesota Science Fiction Society – Minn-stf or MnStf for short (it was originally the Minnesota Scientifiction Society) – came formally into being on November 25, 1966 at the Minnesota Techolog office at the University of Minnesota (or, possibly, at Frank Stodolka's parent's house -- sources differ on the location, but not the date.) (See Minneapolis for some pre-Minn-StF organizational details.)
The Floundering Fathers were Ken Fletcher, Nate Bucklin, Frank Stodolka (who was elected first president), Jim Young, and Fred Haskell (who later claimed he was actually out getting a sandwich at the time).
When MnStf outgrew the Technolog offices, it met at Golub's Bookstore and then at the Pillsbury-Waite Cultural Center, but eventually found its permanent home at members' houses. Other early members included Linda Lounsbury, Floyd Henderson, Richard Tatge, and Al Kuhfeld.
Known as Crazy Minneapolis Fandom through the 70s and into the 80s, the club met every other week for decades and it now meets twice a month in members' homes. The club sponsors the annual Minicon on Easter weekend. Minn-stf's spirit was perhaps best described by Patrick Nielsen Hayden, who observed, "There are three fannish centers in the country – Boston, Los Angeles and Minneapolis. Boston is Law, Los Angeles is Chaos and Minneapolis is Faerie."
Minn-StF (historically sometimes pronounced "Minn-stef", but now almost always "Minn-stiff") is dedicated to furthering the appreciation of science fiction and fantasy literature. Minn-StF's "meetings" are actually parties. The traditional start time for a Minn-StF meeting is 2pm, but most people don't show up 'til 4pm or so unless the "meeting" is a picnic or pool party.
Einblatt! is the clubzine which is mainly a calendar of events. Rune is the very sporadic club fanzine. (There was a ten year gap between Rune 86, published in March 2002, and Rune 87, dated October 2012.) Minn-Stf also publishes a fiction fanzine named Tales of the Unanticipated.
In addition to Minicon (a regional), Minn-StF usually runs a fallcon, a relaxacon which is currently named METHOD Con, (but the name changes frequently), the Minneapolis in '73, a not-a-hoax bid Worldcon bid, and the Minneapolis in 2073 Worldcon bid.
Minn-StF is officially agnostic when it comes to spelling, hyphenating, capitalizing the club's nickname. Minn-StF, MNstf, Minn-stf, and other variations are all acceptable. The "StF" came from "scientifiction."
| Club | Website | 1966— |
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