Authentic Science Fiction Monthly No. 50 — page 119: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

AUTHENTIC SCIENCE FICTION other but there was no diffi- culty in finding each other— there was a certain air... Then occurred the most inter- esting session he had eyer had, or had since. They actually talked S.F., he, Taffy, Eric, Frank. Time went too quickly. It was decided that they must meet again and give the same opportunity to other S.F. enthusiasts. The N.S.F.C. began to take shape. A room was hired at the Waterloo Hotel, meetings to be held fortnightly on the Sunday evening. A policy formed—to introduce newcomers to this form of imaginative fiction; to welcome those already acquainted with S.F.; to popu- larise S.F. wherever possible. Everyone was welcomed. Propaganda went out, fan- zines—what few there were then—referred to the for- mation of an S.F. Club in Manchester, until eventually they were referred to as the “mushroom” by Walt Willis. (The N.S.F.C. was also a topic in Projectiles in Authentic 118 Nos. 7 and 12—Ed.) An- nouncements appeared in evening papers; members be- gan to trickle in, until, within the first month, we had a round figure of twelve, in- cluding one female, Frances Evans. A name was given to- the Club—it became the Nor’-west Science-Fantasy Club. It was great fun in those days. The day the Club was visited by a reporter was one of tremendous excite- ment; he gave it quite a write- up, too. Discussions were many and varied, from the unknown to space flight, from rocket ships to rocket projectiles, from gunpowder to atomics. Mem- bers were joining from many parts of Lancashire and Cheshire. One Norman 'Weedall came from as far as Liverpool; there was no Liver- pool S.F. Association then. Discussions became fast and furious, visits were arranged to various places of interest. The N.S.F.C. began to in- crease. The number of mem- bers present at each meeting comicloooks.comn