Fan Program and Fan Lounge

The Renovation Fan Program will celebrate fandom in all its forms and activities.

Science Fiction literature (initially in magazines) was from the start a catalyst for a huge variety of amateur activities, and there is a lengthy history going back to the 1930s to draw from. The Renovation fan program will be a mixture of talks, panels, activities, parlour games and discussions.

Fanzines will feature strongly and we have a number of ideas, from getting you to contribute to a fanzine, to helping you to produce a fanzine and looking at how best to tempt fan artists to create work for you. We will also look at the history and best publications from within the hobby as well as taking a look at new trends.

We also hope to bring unknown fanzines from around the world to the fore. Discussions about the Fan Hugos (Best Fan Writer, Best Fan Artist and Best Fanzine) and with fan guests will form part of our look at what is current and contemporary.

As well as the Hugos, we will take a look at other fan awards such as the Novas, the Faan Awards and the Rotslers. Then spreading our wings to take in more awards that recognise fans including the Ditmars, Sir Julius Vogel and the Prix Aurora Awards, and exploring a wide world of fannish activities we may not be familiar with.

There will be sessions on conrunning - not lectures on 'what you should do' but rather opportunities to beg, borrow and steal good ideas, workable and useable systems and budgets, and find real help to get your own convention running. We also want to look at other types of conventions and gatherings, comparing and contrasting them, and considering what people around the country and the world are looking for from their fandom.

Workshops and fun activities will be central throughout the program. We will give you the opportunity to take part and learn something; be a little 'Sercon' (serious and constructive); take a look at new areas of fandom; and meet up again with some fans who have moved out into the professional community.

Connectivity between fan groups has never been easier, but we want to ask whether we are embracing them or creating more ghettos and pigeon holes. We want to look at the disparate ways in which fans come together to connect to science fiction - including those which we may not have traditionally considered part of 'fandom' as we know it.

Alongside these discussion, there will be fun activities, opportunities to make new friends, crazy games and just pure entertainment, from organised program participants and also from all of YOU.

We welcome any ideas or suggestions, so do get in touch at program@renovationsf.org or fill in the program suggestion form

Fanzines, an Introduction

Fanzines - amateur magazines produced by and for fans - have been a central element of fandom from 1930 onwards (the term fanzine itself dates back to 1940).

If you've never encountered this unique part of the science fiction field, we highly recommend eFanzines.com, an online resource archiving thousands of fanzines from hundreds of writers. And to get you started, we have provided links below to five of the most successful fanzines currently being published - all honored as 2010 Hugo nominees. (The sixth nominee, Banana Wings, is not available online). These range from traditional fannish entertainment to more serious work reporting news from across the field - and StarShipSofa, the first Podcast to be nominated for a Hugo. And as an additional bonus, we've provided a link to The Enchanted Duplicator, one of the most famous pieces of fan writing in history; a fantasy of a young man's journey through fandom.

Argentus	Challenger	Drink Tank
File 770	StarShipSofa	The Enchanted Duplicator