FAN FICTION

from Fancyclopedia 2

(1) Sometimes meaning by fans in the manner of pros; that is, ordinary fantasy published in a fanzine. Properly, it means

(2) fiction by fans about fans (or sometimes about pros) having no necessary connection with stfantasy. "Convention reports are a nice example of this", Bob Pavlat points out. It may refer to real fans by name: "Redd Boggs silped his Nuclear Fizz in the Insurgent manner..." or it may be about types, especially Joe Fann. The background may be either fantastic, as "Joe Fann into Space", or mundane, as in "Murder at the ChiCon" (tho this would be fantasy under Speer's scheme, since it describes events we know didn't happen on our time line). Fictitious elements may be interspersed in accounts of fan activities, which may make them more interesting but is hell on truthseekers like your Thoukydides. A few special categories have been distinguished from time to time, like Ted Tubb's "Trufan fiction" (fiction about fans in fandom), and Larry Stark's Serconfanfiction for serious, and more or less mundane, fiction featuring fans.