The Fanscient
A fanzine edited by Donald B. Day of Portland, OR, The Fanscient had 14 issues between 1947 and 1951. It originated as the clubzine of the Portland Science-Fantasy Society with Day as editor, and then he took it over after Portland won the 1950 Worldcon.
Day wrote:
In preparation for the Con, the PSFS at a special meeting took stock, and decided on a number of changes in the organization which were incorporated in a new constitution. Among other things, it was decided that a more typical "club magazine" was wanted. It was considered unwise to try to maintain two publications and there were objections to radically changing The FANSCIENT's editorial policies, so when I offered to take The FANSCIENT over personally, it was quickly agreed upon. Actually, the change will affect The FANSCIENT very little as I have been editing it from the beginning as well as doing most of the work. The things you've liked will be continued and further improvements will be made as rapidly as possible.
The fanzine was of very high quality, both in production values and its writing: Harry Warner, Jr.., regarded it (along with Fantasy Commentator and Fantasy Advertiser), as among the best of its era. (It was satirized in 1949–50 as Fan-Scent.)
Each issue of the fanzine featured a particular author and included bibliographies. The first two issues were done mimeo and the rest by letter press. Interestingly, it sold as many as 250 copies of each issue and paid its way -- the fanzine died not due to cost, but because Day took up square dancing!
In 2001, The Fanscient was nominated for the 1951 Best Fanzine Retro Hugo. A detailed review by Jon D. Swartz of the Spring, 1949 issue (Volume 3, Number 1/Whole Number 7) was published in Scientifiction: The First Fandom Report for Fall, 2002.
See also: Fan-Scent.
| Issue | Date | Pages | Author | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | September 1947 | 24 | A. E. van Vogt | |
| 2 | Winter 1948 | 24 | ||
| 3 | Spring 1948 | 32 | E. E. Smith | |
| 4 | Summer 1948 | 32 | Jack Williamson | |
| 5 | Fall 1949 | 32 | David H. Keller | |
| 6 | Winter 1949 | 32 | Ray Bradbury | |
| 7 | Spring 1949 | 32 | Murray Leinster | |
| 8 | Summer 1949 | 32 | Robert Bloch | |
| 9 | Fall 1949 | 64 | Robert A. Heinlein | |
| 10 | Winter 1950 | 32 | George O. Smith | |
| 11 | Spring 1950 | 32 | Theodore Sturgeon | |
| 12 | Summer 1950 | 32 | Anthony Boucher | |
| 13-14 | Spring 1951 | 64 | L. Sprague de Camp | Final issue |
Fanscient online at fanac.org
| Publication | 1947—1951 |
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