Fanac

(Did you mean some other fanac?)

Fanac was a news-and-chatterzine published in Berkeley by Terry Carr and Ron Ellik, begun in 1958, in the midst of (true?) Seventh Fandom. Its activity promoted the 1958 Worldcon (SoLaCon), and gave wide circulation to the series of pro and fan deaths in 1958, on which it helped to bestow the title of The Year of the Jackpot (in reference to the Robert A. Heinlein story of that title).

It started as a weekly, but moved to biweekly, with issues typically being four pages. (The February 1960 issue was an exception. It was a second anniversary issue, titled Fannish II and ran over 40 pages, including a 30-page section summarizing the 1959 Fanac Poll and an index to Fanac's first two years. The cover of this issue was a photo of a local fan, Trina Castillo, dressed in only a propeller beanie and a copy of Fancyclopedia II.) Hobgoblin was a fanzine-review supplement to it.

Besides news, it had features such as Walt Willis's column “P*L*I*N*T*H,” about happenings in Irish Fandom and a best-of-the-year poll called the Fan Commendments. Some of the early issues were paired with issues of Dave Rike's RUR. It won the 1959 Best Fanzine Hugo.

In September 1960, Ron Ellik quit as co-editor and was replaced by Miriam Carr. In 1961, the Carrs let it lapse into hiatus, and it was revived by Walter Breen, but he was unable to keep to the schedule or maintain the quality (the typography and printing both suffered markedly).

Awards and Honors

• 1959 — 1959 Best Fanzine Hugo.

From Fancyclopedia 2, ca. 1959

From Fanac Oh, and also we note here Fanac: a news-and-chatter 'zine published by Terry Carr and Ron Ellik, begun 1958. It was part of the trend mentioned in the second sentence under "Seventh Fandom", and, indeed, a noble example of it. But due to its activity the news of the series of deaths in fandom in 1958 got that wide circulation and general impact that gave the Year of the Jackpot its name.

Issue	Date	Pages	Notes
1	February 24, 1958	4
2	March 4, 1958	2
3	March 10, 1958	4
4	March 17, 1958	4
5	March 24, 1958	4
6	March 31, 1958	4
7	April 8, 1958	6
8	April 14, 1958	4
9	April 22, 1958	4
10	April 29, 1958	6
11	May 5, 1958	4
12	May 12, 1958	6
13	May 19, 1958	4
14	May 26, 1958	6
15	June 2, 1958	6
16	June 9, 1958	6
17	June 17, 1958	6
18	June 23, 1958	6
19	July 4, 1958	4
20	July 12, 1958	4
21	July 26, 1958	4
22	August 1, 1958	4
23	August 1958	4
24	September 8, 1958	4
25	September 26, 1958	4
26	October 3, 1958	6
27	October 18, 1958	8
28	October 28, 1958	4
29	November 16, 1958	10
30	December 5, 1958	8
31	December 18, 1958	6
32	January 18, 1959	4
33	February 14, 1959	6
34	February 24, 1959	30	The Fannish; Includes the results of the Fanac Poll
35	March 18, 1959	4
36	April 4, 1959	4
37	April 21, 1959	6
38	May 5, 1959	4 1/4
39	May 22, 1959	4
40	June 9, 1959	6
41	July 22, 1959	6
42	August 18, 1959	6
43	September 30, 1959	6
44	October 14, 1959	4
45	October 28, 1959	4
46	November 11, 1959	4
47	November 26, 1959	4
48	December 9, 1959	4
49	December 29, 1959	4
50	January 7, 1960	4
51	January 15, 1960	4	rider: Hobgoblin #4
52	February 17, 1960	4
53	February 24, 1960	46	Fannish #2: Includes index and Fanac Poll results, infamous Trina Castillo cover
54	March 22, 1960	4	Issue is dittoed (in 3 colors!)
55	March 29, 1960	2	ditto
55	April 1, 1960	4	April 1 issue
56	April 19, 1960	4	rider: An Egoboo a Day from All Over 1
57	May 1, 1960	4
58	May 16, 1960	4	Miriam Carr added as circulation manager
59	May 27, 1960	4	rider: Hobgoblin #6
60	June 8, 1960	4
61	June 1960	6
62	July 16, 1960	4
63	August 22, 1960	4
64	September 4, 1960	2
65	September 30, 1960	8	Final issue edited by Ron Ellik
66	November 14, 1960	6	Editors are now Terry & Miriam Carr
67	November 30, 1960	4
68	December 19, 1960	4
69	December 31', 1960	4	Includes 1960 Fanac Poll ballot
70	January 15, 1961	6
71	January 28, 1961	6	Final issue edited by Terry & Miriam Carr
72	April 18, 1961	12	Now edited by Walter Breen
73	May 6, 1961	6
74	May 23, 1961	8
75	June 14, 1961	14
76	June 30, 1961	6	Published from NYC
77	July 30, 1961	12	Published from NYC
78	September 9, 1961	8	rider: Admirable Crycon
79	October 6, 1961	16
80	October 24, 1961	8
81	November 16, 1961	6
82	November 28, 1961	10	rider: An Egoboo a Day from All Over #2
83	January 1962	8
84	January 25, 1962	10
85	February 7, 1962	14
86	Spring 1962	8	rider: An Egoboo a Day from All Over #3; Published from NYC
87	July 1962	6
88	September 10, 1962	8
89	November 20, 1962	6
90			Not published -- this whole number was skipped
91	January 1963	6
92	February 1963	4
93	April 1962	6
94	October 1963	4	Aka The Insurgent Issue
95	Autumn 1963	6
96	November 1963	18
97	November 30, 1963
98
99
100	February 1964	1
Fannish III	April 1964	28	Mostly stenciled in 1961 by Terry Carr and published in 1964 by Bruce Pelz

Hoax issues by the editors

Carr and Ellik, the editors of the real Fanac, also did three hoax issues:

Issue	Date	Pages	Notes
55	April 1960	4	A fake April Fools issue, possibly by Les Gerber and Andrew Reiss
103	1982	2
XX	April 1962	2	Done at the 1962 Eastercon and attached to Skyrack #42

Hoax issues by others

Ted White and Calvin Demmon published two hoax issues of Fanac, which were called the "Insurgent Edition."

Issue	Date	Pages	Notes
94	October 1963	4	It was a rider to Minac
96	November 1963	2	It was bound with Ego 5, 6 & 7 and with Minac 9 & 10

FANAC online at fanac.org.

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Publication

1958—1964

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