Alabama Fandom

Tuscaloosa Fandom

Toni Weisskopf

Well, there was a fandom in Tuscaloosa, and may be again for all I know. Back in the early '80s there was a fairly peripatetic group called SAM: The Tuscaloosa Science Fiction and Fantasy Club. Active members included Jerry McNight, Debbie Burden, Ward Smith, John Hedstrom, Chanda Fehler, Richard Powell, and Sandra Paris. Other names I see mentioned in their rather amusing clubzine include Mike & Nelda Kennedy, Sue Thorn, and Alan Clark. They produced a mimeo'd (ah, trufans!) newsletter called Asi Achih ("and so it went" in a language found only in Jack Vance's work) and at least 4 issues of a genzine titled The Illustrated Fan. They visited the Birmingham folks, attended conventions, went to movies, ate pizza, and I have no idea what happened to the club after 1981. Probably what usually befalls clubs in college towns: everybody graduated and dispersed. In 1994 I ran into Thom Brannon who had organized some sort of gaming convention down there and wanted to do more, but after joining the SFPA waitlist he wasn't heard from since. Asi achih.

 

Special thanks go to Samuel A. Smith, who digitized the SFC Handbook 2nd edition and gave gracious permission to use his existing work in the preparation of the 3rd edition. The main text of this page came from Sam's hard work.--MLR

 

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