Fan Terminology
As I get ready to, later this year, possibly Attend what will be the first Convention that I would have been to in Thirteen Years by that stage, as well as potentially help my Sister prepare for what I can only presume would be *her* first ever Science Fiction Convention, I am reminded of *my* first ever Convention -- Galactic Tours Convention -- in March 1986, and exactly how much of a 'Newbie' I was to everything at the time
I was of course given a bit of 'Help' here and there from the Members of the Club that I was in at the time -- AUSTREK -- some Positive, as well as some Negative I daresay as well
But yes, I was young (being only 19), and Naive, and, with the exception of a couple of AUSTREK Meetings, I was Totally New to The World of Science Fiction Fandom
I most likely tried to cover myself as best as I could at the time, but yes, I daresay everyone at that Convention was probably thinking one of two things....
"Ah....Fresh Blood!! Let's have some Fun!!"
Or
"Oh, a Newbie....I remember being like that once"
To that end, and so that my Sister doesn't feel too much of a 'Stranger' to this World of Science Fiction Fandom, during my next Time Off (due in a couple of weeks), I will be taking some Time to Format the Pages from these two Sites into WORD and give her a Printed and Bound Copy of the result, so that she at least has a Useful Guide should she choose to Utilise it
These are the two Sites in question:
http://efanzines.com/NeofansGuide1/index.htm
http://www.greatwesternmedicineshow.com/neofans/index2.htm
While I grant you that the Information in these two Sites may well be somewhat Obsolete....in some areas anyway, it will still prove to be a Useful Reference that I wish I had myself at the time, and as such, will be keeping such a Copy myself as well :-)
Don't get me wrong here....
My Sister is no Stranger to Science Fiction, as it was she and my Uncle that got me started in the first place :-)
Main Difference between my Sister and myself in that regard, is that she is more of a Literary Fan, while I am more of a Media Fan
I am reminded there of the time, at an ENTERPRISE Meeting, that I was asked to Define the Fan Types to someone who was new to the Club
My Answer was:
"There are Three Basic Types....
There's the Literary Fan, those that prefer to Read it, there's the Media Fan, those that prefer to Watch it, and there's the Techno Fan, those that prefer to Build it"
Okay, so I may well have been 'Stretching' things when I put Techno Fan in a Category of its own, rather than a 'Sub-Category' of the other two, but I don't really think I went too far on that one
Afterall, we already have specific Literary Cons (otherwise known as National Conventions -- or 'Nat-Cons'), Media Cons, and Costume Cons (although granted, we haven't had a Costume Con here in Australia for some time now)....can it really be too long before we just have 'Techno Cons', where people just show off their Skills in the form of the 'Accessories' etc. that they can make, as well as the Costumes that they might use them with?
For my part, I would like to have that kind of Convention out here....to see, for example, various examples of, say, the M41-A Pulse Rifle, or Proton Pack, or TERMINATOR Battle Rifle, or even 'Vera', or a Jaffa Staff Weapon....or even a Full Scale CYBERDYNE SYSTEMS MODEL 101 T-800 ENDO-SKELETON
The Potential there is undoubtly endless, considering all the examples we've seen in Movies and Television over the past....50 years :-D
I was of course given a bit of 'Help' here and there from the Members of the Club that I was in at the time -- AUSTREK -- some Positive, as well as some Negative I daresay as well
But yes, I was young (being only 19), and Naive, and, with the exception of a couple of AUSTREK Meetings, I was Totally New to The World of Science Fiction Fandom
I most likely tried to cover myself as best as I could at the time, but yes, I daresay everyone at that Convention was probably thinking one of two things....
"Ah....Fresh Blood!! Let's have some Fun!!"
Or
"Oh, a Newbie....I remember being like that once"
To that end, and so that my Sister doesn't feel too much of a 'Stranger' to this World of Science Fiction Fandom, during my next Time Off (due in a couple of weeks), I will be taking some Time to Format the Pages from these two Sites into WORD and give her a Printed and Bound Copy of the result, so that she at least has a Useful Guide should she choose to Utilise it
These are the two Sites in question:
http://efanzines.com/NeofansGuide1/index.htm
http://www.greatwesternmedicineshow.com/neofans/index2.htm
While I grant you that the Information in these two Sites may well be somewhat Obsolete....in some areas anyway, it will still prove to be a Useful Reference that I wish I had myself at the time, and as such, will be keeping such a Copy myself as well :-)
Don't get me wrong here....
My Sister is no Stranger to Science Fiction, as it was she and my Uncle that got me started in the first place :-)
Main Difference between my Sister and myself in that regard, is that she is more of a Literary Fan, while I am more of a Media Fan
I am reminded there of the time, at an ENTERPRISE Meeting, that I was asked to Define the Fan Types to someone who was new to the Club
My Answer was:
"There are Three Basic Types....
There's the Literary Fan, those that prefer to Read it, there's the Media Fan, those that prefer to Watch it, and there's the Techno Fan, those that prefer to Build it"
Okay, so I may well have been 'Stretching' things when I put Techno Fan in a Category of its own, rather than a 'Sub-Category' of the other two, but I don't really think I went too far on that one
Afterall, we already have specific Literary Cons (otherwise known as National Conventions -- or 'Nat-Cons'), Media Cons, and Costume Cons (although granted, we haven't had a Costume Con here in Australia for some time now)....can it really be too long before we just have 'Techno Cons', where people just show off their Skills in the form of the 'Accessories' etc. that they can make, as well as the Costumes that they might use them with?
For my part, I would like to have that kind of Convention out here....to see, for example, various examples of, say, the M41-A Pulse Rifle, or Proton Pack, or TERMINATOR Battle Rifle, or even 'Vera', or a Jaffa Staff Weapon....or even a Full Scale CYBERDYNE SYSTEMS MODEL 101 T-800 ENDO-SKELETON
The Potential there is undoubtly endless, considering all the examples we've seen in Movies and Television over the past....50 years :-D