Critical Mass, July 28th: a chat with Rob Hansen via Zoom

Please join us at 6:30pm Wednesday for a chat with Rob Hansen, who describes himself as “an old time fan since the mid 1970s whose main output these days is almost all related to British fan history”.

Rob Hansen wrote a history of British fans THEN: SF fandom in the UK, 1930-1980. Currently available as an updated version from Ansible Editions.

In 2019, he co-edited a compilation of fan writings with Vince Clarke: THEN Again: A UK Fanhistory Reader 1930-1979.

Available from the TAFF Ebooks site for a donation, this companion to Rob Hansen’s monumental THEN brings together the writings of many players on the stage of British and Irish fandom from 1930 to the end of 1979, telling in their own words the stories of SF groups – including the BSFA – fanzines, famous fannish addresses, bizarre fan activities and much more.

Rob’s latest ebook, FAAN FICTION (1930-2020), is also available at the TAFF ebook site.

In this combined critique and anthology, Rob Hansen discusses the phenomenon of fan fiction (in the fannish fanzine sense) with a particular focus on the UK. His commentary is interspersed with many examples from such diverse fan writers as John Berry, C.S. Youd (John Christopher), Leroy Kettle, David Langford, Mark Plummer, Bob Shaw, Ian Sorensen, James White, Walt Willis – and Rob Hansen himself, including previously unpublished work. There are several surprises.