The Immortal Storm

Isaac Asimov joined the Futurians in 1938. But the first fanclub had started in 1935...and the history of first fandom from 1935 to 1938 is told in Sam Moskowitz's book The Immortal Storm.

Isaac Asimov writes about his joining the Futurians in his autobiography, In Memory Yet Green.

For nine years I had been reading science fiction...I knew there were other readers, because I read their letters in the magazines, but I knew no other readers personally.

What I did not know was that here and there, groups of science-fiction readers were forming clubs of one sort or another snd even publishing little periodically (usually on primitive mimeograph devices) called "fan magazines" or "fanzines" for short. ...

Then, on August 2, 1938, I received a postcard from Jack Rubinson, who had been at Boys High with me and who had been in my graduating class. He too was a science-fiction reader. He had read my letter in Astounding, and he wanted to begin a correspondence.

I was willing, and on September 6, 1938, he sent me a large envelope containing the first fanzines I ever saw. My judgement, according to my diary, was that they were "fairly interesting."

...

On September 12 came the next step. I received a card from Rubinson telling me of the club he belonged to - the Greater New York Science Fiction Club, which met periodically in Queens.

...

I got my invitation to attend a meeting. The invitation arrived on September 15, 1938, but in between something had happened at that club that I knew nothing of. Let me explain.

[We'll continue this on Sept 27, 2010 - it'll introduce William Sykora, Sam Moskowitz, et al.]

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