Pittsburgh, PA

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Revision as of 15:54, 10 December 2022 by LaurieMann (talk | contribs) (Added a note on Central Catholic Science Fiction Society.)
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Pittsburgh, PA has been home to at least four "generations" of SF fan clubs, two "generations" of SF conventions and one Worldcon - Pittcon. In addition, it had an active comics fandom, had an early independent media convention, hosted three Nebula Award Weekends and many Anthrocons.

In 1942, Len Moffatt founded the Western Pennsylvania Science Fictioneers, but it collapsed by 1943.

At some point in the 1950s, an informal social club PSFA (Pittsburgh S-F Association) was formed. Members of the club met for dinner and sometimes went to Worldcon. The 1960 Worldcon emerged from this group. The club collapsed by the mid-1960s but some members continued going to Worldcon after that.

In 1967, Linda Bushyager (then Linda Eyster), Ginjer Buchanan, Suzanne Tompkins and Genie DiModica founded WPSFA and started a convention, PghLANGE which ran from 1969-1979. The club folded by 1980.

In 1977, Jim Mann was a science teacher at Central Catholic High School in Pittsburgh who started a science fiction club - Central Catholic Science Fiction Society. It lasted until 1979 when Jim left Central Catholic. Several members, including Jim Mann, Kevin Riley and John Schmidt, went on to be active in PARSEC.

In the mid-1990s, Ann Cecil, Barbara Carlson and Kevin Riley founded PARSEC, and the club and its convention, Confluence, continue to be active. PARSEC has a publishing arm, PARSEC Ink.


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