1 This is the 100th Vegas Fandom Weekly. That surprises me even more than it does you. I’ve never done 100 of any fanzine. Whim has often ruled my fanac and once I feel I’ve met the challenge of one project, I begin to divert energy to the next one. Almost before I notice, I’ve stopped one fanzine and started another. Yet here I am, ready to follow Brad Foster’s front-cover injunction to celebrate 100 issues. Actually, I might have been willing to make an optimistic prediction about continuing VFW into 2007 or even beyond, but I didn’t expect it to mutate from a two-to-four page local newszine into a full-fledged genzine with a huge worldwide readership. That weekly schedule — The zine’s slogan called it “sorta weekly” even when it came out weekly for well over a year — is just a memory, but the average issue is now 28 pages. Truthfully, it’s more like a powerful drug. Right now, I simply can’t imagine not producing more issues. I have ideas for other fanzines I’d like to try, but VFW shows no sign of loosening its grip on my fanpublishing. Frankly, I can’t even bring myself to change the zine’s name. I have this waking nightmare that world climate change will one day force me to move somewhere else and that I will leave Core Fandom for an obsession with metal detecting or something else of that ilk — but I’ll still be producing regular issues of something that isn’t “Vegas,” “Fandom” or “Weekly” under the same old logo. Eventually, I see myself clawing my way out of the grave to do “just one more issue” — and then doing it again a couple of weeks later. It’s not just the initials, either; I can’t bring myself to change the name to Vir- tual Fandom World. Some day, perhaps before it comes to posthumous publishing, I will, but until then, I’m stuck with it and you are stuck with me. Lackadaisical posturing aside, that makes me happy and I hope it makes you happy, too. Two things are responsible for VFW’s longevity: Electronic publishing and your support. I wouldn’t have had the energy to produce so much without the former nor the motivation to do so without the latter. Since I’ve talked about electronic publishing at such length, I’d rather use this space to thank Joyce, Bill Mills, James Taylor, Alan White, Linda Bushyager, Roxanne Gibbs and Teresa Cochran (the Vegrants VFW Support Group). I am sincerely grateful to those who helped with posting and distribution: Bill Burns (efanzines.com), plus Joyce, Bill Mills (LasVegrants.com) and Roxanne Gibbs (SNAFFU.org). And where’d VFW be without the regular contributors? So, bouquets of appreciation go to Shelby Vick, Dick Lupoff, the late rich brown, John DeChancie, Bill Mills, Bill Wright, John Purcell, Chris Garcia, Bruce Gillespie, Joyce, Greg Benford, Terry Kemp, Rob Hansen, Lloyd Penney, Kent Hastings — and all the fine folks who’ve appeared less frequently, such as Bill Kunkel, Peter Sullivan, Earl Kemp, David Bratman, Rich- ard Coad, Rob Jackson, Ted White, James Taylor, Linda Bushyager, Teresa Cochran and the late Bob Tucker. I owe a deep debt to the artists who embellish VFW’s page, including the late Bill Rotsler, Ross Chamber- lain, Alan White, Bill Kunkel, Steve Stiles, Brad Foster, Frank Wu, Taral Wayne, Bhob Stewart, Harry Bell, David Russell and ace photographers Bill Mills, Alan White, Linda Bushyager and David Gordon. And a special “thank you” also goes to the fabulous letter writers of “ChatBack,” led by Robert Lichtman and Lloyd Penney — and including too many to possibly list. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you all. — Arnie Vegas Fandom Weekly #100A, Volume 3 Number 12, Sept. 4, 2007, is written and produced by Arnie Katz (909 Eugene Cernan St., Las Vegas, NV 89145; Email: [email protected]; phone: 702-648-5677). VFW is free by request — and you may get it anyway. It can be downloaded at efanzines.com and LasVegrants.com. No harmful drugs were consumed during the production of this fanzine. Member: fwa Supporter: AFAL Corflu Silver in 2008! 2 The History Channel recently ran a documentary, the first episode of a new season of Lost Worlds, about the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Fandom doesn’t really have a comparable group of physical con- structions, but the hobby has certainly had its share of landmark events that are indelibly written in the pages of fanhistory. Besides, only one of the seven Wonders actually exists today and there’s little solid evidence that the Hanging Gardens of Babylon existed at any time. At least we’re pretty sure of most of Fandom’s landmark events. So with apologies to the chroniclers of the Alexandra Lighthouse and the Temple of Artemis, I thought I’d look at some of Fandom’s most significant events. A little self-limitation is good for the fanzine, like pushing back from the dinner table is good for the waistline. I’m exempting certain types of occur- rences from consideration. Some of them would swamp the list, others would duplicate the discussion of great fans and great fanzines and still others are more important on a personal level than to Core Fan- dom as a whole, like the first time you got laid at a con. Somewhat arbitrarily, I’ll disallow the death of any fans for this compendium. Otherwise, they’d dominate the list. In the same way, I’m omitting “When [insert BNF name here] first discovered Fan- dom” (or first read science fiction or something of that sort). Again, that could fill out this article – and duplicate the “All-Time Greatest Fans” list, too. I’m also going to depart from my previous prac- tice and put things in more-or-less chronological or- der. That’ll make it even easier for you to spot events you think should be included. Forry Ackerman writes to Jack Darrow. Although Fandom-like entities, such as the Lovecraft Circle, trace to earlier dates, this was the single act that launched our Fandom. It is interesting to ponder what would’ve happened if prozines didn’t print the addresses of contributors to their letter columns back then – or if Darrow had been as bad a correspondent as some of us (including me). Ray Palmer edits the first fanzine . The Cosmos Science Fiction Society produced an official club fan- zine, Cosmology. It wasn’t much like today’s fanzines, being very serious and scientific, but it led to the print and electronic fanzines that have contributed so much to the hobby in the ensuing (nearly) eight decades. Wonder Stories sponsors the Science Fiction League . There were clubs before the SFL and after its de- mise, too, but none rivaled the impact of this prozine-sponsored group that brought hundreds of fans into con- tact with Fandom Leeds fans put on a gathering . There are fans, both in the US and the UK, who will argue interminably about whether this or the somewhat more formal and larger Newark convention was the first SF convention, but both are milestones. Continued on next page 3 US fans meet for their first convention. Some folks from Philadelphia and another group from New York got together to hear some speakers and talk to each other shortly after the Leeds event. Whether this was the first con is not as significant as the fact that the people who attended described it as a convention and made plans to hold more of them. The Great Staple War plunges All Fandom into… laughter. The mock battle between supporters and opponents of the use of metallic fasteners in sci- ence fiction magazines introduced fannishness. Bob Tucker and Jack Speer showed marvelous inventive- ness in fighting this sham struggle. Jack Speer invents “John Bristol.” Fans were pleased when a major new participant, John A Bristol, began writing and publishing. And then, a little later, they were startled and impressed when Bristol turned out to be a hoax perpetrated by John Bristol Speer. Don Wolheim founds FAPA. In the wake of the collapse of the letter press fanzine field, Don Wolheim adapted the rules of the National Amateur Press Asso- ciation to fannish purposes, threw in some excellent new wrinkles to birth Fandom’s first amateur press association. Worth a mention is the invention of the Mailing Comment by Dan McPhail and Jack Speer. The first World Science Fiction Convention held. The New York World’s Fair of 1939 had every- one Thinking Big. A faction called New Fandom, led Forrest J Ackerman was one of the notable fans who traveled by Sam Moskowitz, Will Sykora and Jimmy Taurasi across country to attend the first worldcon in New York. organized and ran what proved to be the first World Science Fiction Convention. Another major event, GhuGhu is revealed. Very few fans professed a closely related to this one, was the Exclusion Act, in strong interest in religion until GhuGhu was revealed which Taurasi and Sykora prevented Don Wolheim to Fandom just before World War II. This led to the and his friends from entering the con. The decision by introduction of a rival ghod, FooFoo, and eventually, to other fans to hold a Rump Banquet the next day for the the maze of deities and demi-ghods that populates fan- outcasts showed Fandom’s ability to stand up for em- nish myth. A decade or so later, Lee Hoffman refined battled fellow fans.