BFS/BFL

from Fancyclopedia 2

The British Fantasy Society and, later, - Library. The SFA, former head organization in Great Britain, suspended activities for the duration when World War II began, but there continued to be considerable activity in British fandom, and neofans entered who had never heard of the SFA. "When it seemed that the star of fantasy was on the wane, a champion arose in Mike Rosenblum of Leeds, who formed the British Fantasy Society" as the BFL's introductory leaflet violetly expressed it. The BFS established a library of books and proz, managed the circulation of chain letters in specialized fields, other chains for circulating prozines, and even cooperated in issuing some fanzines. By such means wartime, ah, difficulties to fanac were surmounted. The termination of hostilities found the actual work of the society being done by only four individuals, two of whom soon gafiated to leave Ron Holmes and Nigel Lindsay as the Last Fans in England. They wound the Society up -- or, more correctly, combined its library and chain letters into the British Fantasy Library, "perhaps the last struggling effort of organized Fantasy Activity in England; or the first brick of a new structure". Happily, it was the latter; Ken Slater began publishing Operation Fantast in September of 1947; the SFS was founded at the Whitcon in May 1948, and BFL became perceptibly moribund in July 1948, when Ron Holmes was forced into gafia by personal affairs. Another BFS was formed in October 1948 with four subdivisions (London, Northern, Midlands, Southern) and a plan for a regularly appearing OO, British Fantasy News. But this attempted revival came to nothing, the SFS and Operation Fantast having gotten into the field first.