E - The letter which occurs most often in English, but for no good reason, since it's so often silent or obscure. As an initial it's relatively infrequent; the E space on the S-F Check-List was blank until Dick Wilson intentionally launched a fanzine beginning with E, Escape.
Ecco - Nickname for E C Connor.
editor - The jerk who founds a fanzine names it, decides what kind of material it shall carry, selects and puts together material for an issue, and/or publishes it; and his successors. There be also positions called art editor, assistant editor, contributing editor, etc, which may mean much assistance in the dirty work or none at all.
Much blood has been shed over the question whether an editor should be allowed to make any changes in the mss of his writers before publishing them. Many competent writers resent it as unnecessary interference in their communication with the reader-fans, and it is defended as taking the place of drafting and re-writing that the authors ought to do and don't.
editorial stuff - We distinguish this from articles in a fanzine that happen to be written by the editor. Editorials, content page, mastheads, expiration notices, forecasts for the next issue, pleas for material, ads, fillers, interlineations, and bracketed comments in letter and other departments, are usually tho not always by the editor.
Efjay - Nickname for Forrest J Ackerman.
Ego - A nickname for Arthur C Clarke. It has been depicted as a separate being, like an astral projection, who embodies Clarke's dizzier characteristics in extreme form.
Ego-Coop - The publishing house name used by Dockweiler and Pohl in 1937. There is some evidence that George R Hahn, he of the dummies, was associated with them (Dockweiler and Pohl, je veut dire) in this establishment.
egoism - A noticeable characteristic of the typical fan is the high esteem he has for himself. No true fan but will freely admit that he's a genius. There is some foundation for this estimate of fan intelligence, but in youths aged around twenty, it frequently takes a Byronic turn. J Chapman Miske is the classic example of an egoist.
Elarcy - (Ackerman) - Nickname for LRC Louis Russel Chauvenet, to which he has an aversion.
elections - Other than in local fan organizations , elections are held by mail. Ballots are ordinarily anonymous, so sent only to qualified voters. A ballot counter to whom to send the marked ballot is usually named thereon. Candidates are grouped by office, under each office in the order in which they filed their candidacies, with space left in each case for writing in anyone else's name whom the voter may wish to vote for. Amendments are usually included on the annual officers' ballot; special elections or votes don't get a very heavy turn out. Parties are sometimes formed in an effort to gain election by trading support but fans are pretty independent in voting for the person they want.
emblems - Many fan organizations have adopted emblems. The earliest one, for stf in general, was Gernsback's "Scientifiction" coat-of-arms, arrived at after a prize contest. By permission, the ISA modified and used this. According to McPhail, however, the only generally accepted symbol for science-fiction is the rocket; the SFL button is Paul's drawing of the Geryon from The Shot into Infinity. The emblem of the FAPA is typical in that it symbolizes s-f rather than fandom or fanzines. Emblems may be reproduced on mastheads, letterheads, and similar places, and a few have been made into flags or lapel buttons. The editors of Nova (II) offered to work up coats of arms for local groups, at a price, guaranteed heraldically correct. Heraldry, we mite say, should not be undertaken by the uneducated; if you aren't thoroly versed in it, stay away from the shield shape for your emblem. A few publishing houses have had emblems; that shown for Cosmic also served for Taurasi publications, United, and Taurasi-Thompson Publication.
Empress of FooFoo - An auto owned by Louis Kuslan, CSFF, during his college years.
Empress Publications - Publishing house of Dick Wilson and Wally Marconette, fl 1939.
Ephless El - Elmer Perdue, so-called from the missingness of an F key from the tripewriter he had at the time he entered fandom.
epic - To be called an epic a composition should fulfill all but one or two of the following conditions: It is in verse; is narrative; employs a formal style; idealizes characters and actions; concerns events of great importance, involving great conflict or strife; relates the adventures of a slitely supernatural hero, who embodies the highest ideal of a people. The great natural epics known to the English reader are the Iliad, the Odyssey, and the Beowulf. Others include the Cid of Spain, the Niebelungenlied of Germany, the French Song of Roland, the Vulsunga saga etc. Literary epics (those with a single, known author) include the Aeneid, the Faerie Queen, Paradise Lost, and the Columbiad, perhaps Hiawatha, and the Idylls of the King. There are also mock epics, such as The Rape of the Lock, M'Fingal, The Hasty Pudding, &c. EESmith's colossal stories are often called "epics", with dubious authority.
Erdstelulov - Penname of the J in writing about Esperanto. It is psuedo-piglatin for Verde ?????, meaning Green Star Guy, a green star being the Esperanto emblem.
Jack Erman - Another penname of Forrest J Ackerman's.
eroticism - Writing or drawing which emphasizes sexuality. Futurians, Moonrakers, and other have at time published works which would probably be barred from the mail if they were inspected, but often in these productions they are laughing at sex at the same time that they exploit it for literary, artistic, or humorous purposes. The defense offered by Lowndes is that it is necessary for them to stress such subjects to offset the goody-goody element so strong in fandom. The excuse for the Vomaidens is similar.
escapism - The seeking of satisfaction in literature or other fields unrelated to the great pressing problems of the day. It has frequently been said that fantasy is escape literature; Wollheim has remarked that the peculiar advantage in escapism that it has over other literature is that the reader need not imagine himself as someone other than he is, having greater powers, but only as being himself in the future world, where more power is available to everyone. While the Michelists did not necessarily condemn escapism as a measure of relief, they demanded that fans turn about and take an interest and a part in sociological problems also. In Rothman's ironically titled "Science Fiction Is Escape Literature", he points out how many s-f stories have dealt with sociological problems, and provided new angles for thinking about them.
Esperanto - An artificial language invented for international auxiliary use. The roots for its words come from European language, the root being chosen in each case which occurs in the greatest number of languages; most of them are therefore Latin or Germanic. The spelling is nearly phonetic, and the grammar highly simplified; in addition, there are a number of prefixes and suffixes to extend the vocabulary. Esperi means to hope, espere means hopefully, espero means a hope, and esperanto means one who is hoping; Esperanto was the pename used by the originator. Invented late in the 19th Century, the language became the leading contender for general recognition as an auxiliary language, is taught in many schools, and has thousand of advocates scattered over the world, among whom are Ackerman and Morojo, who have made some converts among fans.
Espie - (Speer) - Pet name which Speer tried to hang on either Escape or Spaceways; they wouldn't have it.
Etaoin Shrdlu Press - A small printing press owned by Michel-Wollheim. The combination of letters is from a row of keys on the standard linotype keyboard, and has been used in other connections. Widner once conducted an investigation of how different fen pronounced it.
e.t.'s - (deCamp) - Extra-terrestrials; natives of other worlds. Any resemblance to d.t.'s is probably not wholly coincidental.
excerpting - Taking the pages containing a particular story out of a magazine (either all-fantasy, or an adventure mag like Argosy which prints an occasional fantasy), and binding them separately. Few fen can be so barbarous as to tear up all-fantasy magazines in this way unless they have an extra copy to go into regular file complete. Famous serials or series may be specially bound together, a professional bookbinder sometimes being employed.
exchanges - Publishers of subscription fanzines ordinarily announce that they are willing to trade on an even basis (all my issues for all your issues) with other regularly-appearing fanzines. And many will send such monthly or bimonthly issue faithfully, when the other editor only turns out one or two little ratty issues a year. Complications occur when one fan publishes more than one good-sized periodical, or when more than one fan share equally in the work of putting out a fazine and each wants a copy of exchanged pubs for his collection. The solution to much of the exchange problem is the FAPA.
Exclusion Act - Fearing conflict such as marred the Newark Convention, the Triumvirs discussed the question of admitting the Futurians in planning the World Convention. No decision was arrived at, however; Moskowitz was less unfavorably inclined toward the Futurians than Sykora and Taurasi. The nite before the Convention, Pohl and others mimeographed a number of Michelistic sheets and pamflets to distribute at the WSFC as they had at the Newark gathering. Next morning, as the Conventioneers began arriving, among them were Wollheim, Lowndes, Kornbluth, and Gillespie. As they started into the hall upstairs, Taurasi stopped them and said they couldn't go in. It appears that some pushing and shoving was done about this time, but no blood drawn. Sam Moskowitz came out of the hall and they talked and argued for about fifteen minutes. Moskowitz told Wollheim they would admit them if the Futurians would promise not to "do anything to harm the progress of the Convention". Wollheim refused, but in another passage of the conversation, said they could be ejected if they didn't behave. Moskowitz sent for the superintendent of the building, but couldn't get in touch with him. Finally he said he'd go find Sykora and consult with him. On the way down, he found the pamflets, apparently hidden behind a radiator, having been left there by Pohl and Michel who arrived later than the other four. So far your Herodotos has tried to reconstruct the happenings. In the end, those six were refused admittance. Police had been called, but were not put into service by the Triumvirs.
Unknown to the excluded six, Kyle had anonymously printed a yellow pamflet warning against an expected effort by the Triumvirate to use the Convention to resurrect the ISA or put across something else thru their parliamentary control. As it turned out, these suspicions were unfounded, for there was no fan discussion period, and no motions were recognized. Many attendees, including Morojo of LA, Hart of Texas, and Mrs Swisher of Massachusetts, urged the convention committee to admit the six Futurians. Other members of the FSNY, including Kyle, Wilson, Rubinson, and leslie perri, were not barred. In the afternoon, Kyle gained the floor on a pretext and held it to make a motion that the excluded fans be admitted. Sykora, chairman, talked awhile and changed the subject.
Because of its dramatic quality, as well as the issues involved, the X Act came more and more to dominate talk about the Convention as time passed. The Triumvirs attempted to do as they had done in rising to power, ignored the existence of fan feuds; finally, at the Philcon in the fall, Moskowitz published an article giving their side of the matter, which had theretofore been unrepresented and uninquired about. He further charged that the Futurians' refusal to make the promise asked, showed that they wanted to be excluded, in order to better their strategic position in the fan war, if they weren't to be able to upset the Convention plans. Resentment over the thing decreased somewhat, but fandom has never forgiven it.
expiration notices - With their aversion to the shoddy realities of the capitalistic framework, fans set up a defense mechanism by making their gimmes humorous, as "your subscription has done the well-known thing". In the Fantasy Magazine days, a printed notice of expiration with an order blank at the bottom was common. Nell introduced an enclosure gratulating the reader on his subscription's having expired, what time Wilson didn't so inform correspondents in personal letters. Fantasy-News gave the number of issues yet to run, "(0)" if expired, in parentheses after the address on the envelope. Others took to the use of a rubber stamp, on either the wrapper or the magazine itself; and some used a colored pencil check-mark. The main controlling factor is that the notice must be given only to those to whom it applies, yet postoffice rules about third class matter must not be violated. Some geniuses discovered a away to mimeograph "expired" only on certain copies. Finally came Tucker with a sticker saying "Your Subscription has Expired -- Now we don't want to get crass about this!"
extrapolation - The writer doesn't find this in his Winston dictionary, but it's a frequent word among scientifictionists. It means to take known data or principles and speculate beyond them, but always keeping the imagination consonant with the knowledge that one started from; this of course is just what is done in science-fiction.
Data entry by Judy Bemis