Word: fictional
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...attendees who were asked agreed, was a pretense for the discussions and parties that materialized in the hotel's rooms and corridors Friday afternoon, and only began to disperse as Sunday wore on. "Fandom attracts a type of person I feel comfortable with," said Leslie Turek '67. "Many science fiction fans are introverted people who can find a niche here and let themselves go," said Richard Gottlieb, a fan who has attended the last three "Boskones...
Ellen Franklin, an organizer of the convention, said that speakers, professional authors and special events lure people to science fiction conventions; later, they get hooked on more esoteric "fannish" activities, and become a part of the sub-culture. "Going to the world science fiction convention becomes their summer vacation," and fans maintain friendships from convention to convention, Franklin said...
...conversations at these parties wandered far from their starting points of science fiction, and late at night often ended up weighing the merits of different types of birth control, or considering the possibility of Maine seceding from the U.S. and forming an independent nation with Canada's maritime provinces. As the parties broke up, fans continued to wander up and down the corridors and sometimes formed "elevator parties," simply remaining in one elevator as it traveled, continuing to talk and drink...
...most singular activity was "filksinging," the science fiction fan's answer to oral literature. A filksong--the name's origin is unknown--is a series of humorous lyrics based on science fiction or fantasy themes, sung to familiar tunes in a disorganized but spirited way. As the night wears on, the singing often degenerates to more widely know, bawdy lyrics, such as "Barnacle Bill the Sailor." But the most creative songs, including "Smaug, the Magic Dragon," "Cthulhu's Days Are Here Again," "Our Space Opera Goes Rolling Along," and "Bouncing Potatoes," circulate in different versions from convention to convention...
These filksongs are a small part of the literature science fiction fans pour forth. Most of it is in the form of "fanzines"--magazines ranging from mimeographed newsletters to slick monthlies. The creative impulse even led a group of science fiction devotees from Rhode Island to produce a musical called "Rivets Redux," based on Gilbert and Sullivan tunes...