Ottawa Science Fiction Society

Ottawa Science Fiction Society

Coordinates: 45°22′05″N 75°41′20″W / 45.368°N 75.689°W / 45.368; -75.689

The Ottawa Science Fiction Society, Inc., or OSFS (pron:"Oss-Fuss") is a membership fan club in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It is the oldest continuously operating science fiction club in Ontario.

Contents

Current activities

Regular monthly meetings are held on the last Sunday of the month, from September to June with the exception of the December Holiday Party and the Summer Picnic. Except for the annual Summer Picnic, there is no regular meeting during the months of July and August, though some specialized social events are occasionally organized.

It maintains a web site on the National Capital Freenet and publishes (at irregular intervals) an amateur magazine called The Ottawa Science Fiction Statement.[1]

History

OSFS was founded in 1977 by Marc "StarWolf" Gerin-LaJoie who was President for the first two years.[2] Initial membership was around 150, and remained around a hundred for most of the first decade and a half of its existence.

In addition to holding monthly meetings, OSFS has done many notable things over the years.

Past notable activities

Stardock[3] - Edited by Charles R. Saunders[4] it was an science fiction fanzine that published fiction & articles by OSFS members, as well as local writers and artists. Some notable contributors besides Saunders were Galad Elflandsson, John Bell and Charles de Lint all of whom went on to be professionally published writers.[5]

Maplecon - Ottawa's first fully fledged Science Fiction Convention, it was held at the Skyline Hotel just blocks from Ottawa's Parliament Hill in October 1978. Started by StarWolf to give 'direction' to OSFS. It was co-chaired by Jocelyn "Bink" Tait and her husband (now deceased), Frank. In its second year, it merged with an event run by the local comics club, called the International Comic Collectors Club (aka I.C. Cubed), and comics joined the mix. This led to a rapid expansion of the convention. Maplecon grew to a membership of around a thousand attendees, with many notable guests from both Science Fiction and Comics. This rapid growth caused concern about liability, and the "Committee for Change" was formed by a group of concerned members. Its aim was to convince OSFS to spawn off Maplecon as a separate organization so that if Maplecon failed catastrophically, it would not also sink OSFS. This also freed Maplecon from OSFS's control, which had a mixed outcome. An overseer corporation was formed called Ottawa Fandom Inc (aka OFI), and ownership of Maplecon was sold to OFI for one dollar. Eventually, without oversight by OSFS, the Comics aspect overwhelmed the SF&F written word aspect, and that spawned conventions to meet the wants and needs of the literary fans. First was Pinekone[6] and later, CAN-CON. Another ramification of Maplecon's rapid growth was that it moved to Carleton University.[7] Although this dramatically lowered the cost of the accommodations, it also dramatically lowered the quality of the accommodations. This became a frequent complaint, and is one of the reasons cited as why Maplecon lost attendance. The last Maplecon was number 13, held in 1992.

References

  1. ^ Dube, Francine (Jan 10, 1994). "Got something to say? Input it, Mac it and zap! you're a zine publisher". Waterloo Record. ProQuest. http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/thestar/access/496812751.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Jan+10,+1994&author=Francine+Dube,+SouthamStar+Network&pub=Waterloo+Region+Record&desc=Got+something+to+say%3F+Input+it,+Mac+it+and+zap!+you're+a+zine+publisher&pqatl=google. Retrieved 20 February 2011. 
  2. ^ "Canadian Fan Encyclopedia at efanzines.com". An Incompleat Guide To Twentieth Century Canadian Science Fiction Fandom by Richard Graeme Cameron. http://efanzines.com/CanFan/CanFan-O.pdf. Retrieved 2011-02-20. 
  3. ^ "Citation of OSFS's relation to Stardock and Charles R. Saunders". Gateways to Forever: The Story of the Science-Fiction Magazines, 1970-1980 by Mike Ashley. http://books.google.ca/books?id=2qkmF8HvP_gC&lpg=PA251&ots=1RBr5XkfrX&dq=Stardock%20Saunders%20-os%2F2%20-stardock.com%20-software%20-windows%20-wincustomize%20-desktop%20-&pg=PA251#v=onepage&q=Stardock%20Saunders%20-os/2%20-stardock.com%20-software%20-windows%20-wincustomize%20-desktop%20-&f=false. Retrieved 2011-02-22. 
  4. ^ "IMARO: The Naama War by Charles Saunders". Article from Black Gate Magazine. http://www.blackgate.com/2009/12/30/imaro-the-naama-war-by-charles-saunders/. Retrieved 2011-02-22. 
  5. ^ "Notation by Grant Duff, writing as Ann Elid". Fan History of Canada by Garth Spencer. http://fancac.org/Fan_Histories/Canada/Canada-70s.html. Retrieved 2011-02-20. 
  6. ^ "OTTAWA'S SECOND CANVENTION". OTTAWA'S SECOND CANVENTION by Garth Spencer. http://fanac.org/Conventions/Running/pinekone.html. Retrieved 2011-02-20. 
  7. ^ "Carleton Hosts Annual Science Fiction Convention". Ottawa's The Citizen newspaper covers Maplecon's move to Carleton U. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=2fAyAAAAIBAJ&sjid=SO8FAAAAIBAJ&dq=ottawa%20science%20fiction%20society&pg=2451%2C1660972. Retrieved 2011-02-21. 

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