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| LASFS | |
|---|---|
| Name | LASFS |
| Founded | 1934 |
| Type | Fan club |
| Location | Los Angeles, California |
LASFS
The Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society is a longstanding fan organization founded in 1934 that fosters interest in speculative fiction, science fiction, and fantasy. It functions as a social club, meeting host, and publishing collective that has intersected with major figures and institutions in 20th- and 21st-century speculative culture. The society has influenced the development of fan activity, fanzines, conventions, and amateur press associations connected to prominent writers, editors, and artists.
The origins trace to early American fandom gatherings contemporaneous with the rise of pulp magazines such as Astounding Stories and Weird Tales, and the club developed alongside figures active in the World Science Fiction Convention movement. During the 1930s and 1940s LASFS held meetings in private homes and rented halls near Los Angeles and became intertwined with regional fan groups connected to editors at Gnome Press and writers associated with Amazing Stories. Postwar expansion paralleled the careers of members who worked in Hollywood studios, contributing to motion pictures and radio programs, and collaborating with professionals from Walt Disney and RKO Pictures. The club persisted through the New Wave era, participating in debates mirrored by participants in events like the Worldcon panels, and later engaged with computerized fan communication during the Internet age.
LASFS is governed by elected officers and committees modeled after longstanding fannish traditions that echo structures used by organizations such as the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America and the World Science Fiction Society. Membership includes professional authors, editors, artists, academics, and fans who have been active with related organizations like the Fan Writers of America and contributors to the Hugo Awards process. Meetings follow parliamentary procedures similar to those of civic clubs and mirror appointment practices found in associations like the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for committees overseeing programming and archives. Membership tiers have included long-term active members, juniors, and honorary members paralleling practices at institutions such as the Los Angeles County Museum of Art for lifetime recognition.
Regular weekly meetings host guest speakers, panels, and workshops featuring authors, editors, and media professionals comparable to programming at San Diego Comic-Con and Worldcon. LASFS organizes charity auctions, art shows, and reading groups similar in scope to events held by the Science Fiction Research Association and participates in regional conventions such as LosCon and Baycon. Special events have included presentation series with appearances by creators who worked on properties for Marvel Comics, DC Comics, and film franchises involving studios like Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros.. Members often collaborate on panels addressing writing craft, illustration techniques, and fandom history with institutions like the Huntington Library or university departments that study speculative fiction.
The society has produced a continuous output of newsletters, fanzines, and stapled club publications that resemble historic amateur publications from contributors to Galaxy Science Fiction and The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction. Its internal publications have showcased fiction, essays, criticism, and art by contributors whose work also appeared in venues associated with editors such as John W. Campbell and Robert Silverberg. The group's fanzines have been exchanged with amateur press associations like the Southern Fandom Press Alliance and have won recognition in fan polls similar to those awarding the Hugo Award for Best Fanzine. Archival material has been consulted by scholars publishing in journals like the Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts.
Over its history the society rented and owned meeting spaces across Los Angeles County, meeting in venues near neighborhoods associated with cultural centers such as Hollywood and Pasadena. The group maintained clubhouses that housed libraries, archives, and record collections analogous to holdings at the Science Fiction Museum and resource centers like the UCLA Library Special Collections. Property stewardship required interaction with municipal authorities and real estate practices familiar to users of facilities like the Los Angeles Public Library branches.
While LASFS itself is not a prize-granting body on the scale of the Hugo Award administrators, it has bestowed internal honors and lifetime achievement acknowledgments for service similar to the Forry Award in regional fandom. The society's members have received major industry awards including Nebula Awards, Hugo Awards, and career recognitions such as the World Fantasy Award, reflecting the club's role as an incubator for award-winning talent. LASFS has been cited in histories of fandom and media studies volumes alongside institutions like the Museum of Pop Culture.
Prominent individuals associated with the club have included professional writers, editors, and screenwriters whose careers intersect with organizations and works such as Ray Bradbury, Harlan Ellison, Robert Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, Stanley Kubrick, George Lucas, Philip K. Dick, Ursula K. Le Guin, Raymond Chandler, L. Ron Hubbard, Jack Kirby, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Samuel R. Delany, Roger Zelazny, Terry Carr, Frederik Pohl, Alfred Bester, E.E. “Doc” Smith, Poul Anderson, C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, Gardner Dozois, Connie Willis, Bruce Pelz, Forrest J Ackerman, Don Thompson, Milt Stevens, Bob Shaw, Tom Digby, Leslie Fish, Harry Warner Jr., Gerry de la Ree, Michael Moorcock, James Blish, Ed Emshwiller, Virgil Finlay, John Varley, Anne McCaffrey, Kate Wilhelm, John W. Campbell Jr., Hugh Hefner, Raymonde E..
Category:Science fiction fandom organizations