WASHINGTON DC

from Fancyclopedia 2

Several non-connected groups of stfnists have existed in the US capital. The Outsiders Club (formerly the Washington Necronomicon) began as a Weird Tales club, apparently back when WT was one of the only proz; it included Seabury Quinn and other fans who were more interested in weird than stf writing, and often revived old-time fantasy films to show at meetings. Some issues of an OO, THE OUTSIDER, were published, but the group had no contact with fandom to speak of and its date of dissolution is uncertain.

The Washington Worry-Warts (Rothman's name) were the stfans of the District of Columbia; they had no formal organization. Chiefly they were Rothman, Speer and Perdue, joined at times by Lester del Rey, Slate, and others, including (1942) a group of Angelenoes -- reversing the general trend to Shangri-LA of the war years. The group broke up when its members moved elsewhere about the end of the war.

The Washington Science-Fiction Association, formed in a coal cellar in 1948, has persisted to the present day. It's noted for its high proportion of actifans, beautiful wimmen, and two-fisted drinkers, including such folk as Bob Pavlat, Bill Evans, Chick Derry, Dick Eney, Nelson Griggs, Ted White, John Magnus, and various others at times. WSFAns have played a prominent part in all four fan APAs, and contributed vast store of fanzines to the contents of various mailings. Of late, such historically valuable projects as the Pavlat- Evans continuation of Swisher's checklist, some APA indexing-work, and this volume have been accomplished by WSFA members.