The Miskatonic University SF Fan Major Course Offerings

Miskatonic University is proud to offer a BS in Science Fiction Fandom with a complete curriculum for the aspiring SF fan.


Orientation: Fandom Is A Way Of Life; conventions, fanzines, clubs, APA’s, feuds, the internet, fanspeak. Introductory value analysis avoidance.

Disorientation: Fandom Is A Just A Goddamn Hobby; Gafia, FAPA, and feuds. Advanced value analysis avoidance. Preq: Orientation.


Fan Economics I: Economics of conventions and fanzine publishing. How to find cheap repro supplies.

Fan Economics II: How to do your FANAC on company time without getting fired. Filching office supplies. Preq: Fan Economics I.

Fan Economics III: How to survive while being unemployed as a result of being fired for doing FANAC on the job. Preq: Fan Economics II.

Fan Economics IV: How to fail in a small, fan oriented business. Book publishing; book dealing. Preq: Fan Economics III.


Fanzine Publishing I: How to publish a small, sloppy personalzine. Elementary indifference to repro values. Use of hekto and ditto. Care and feeding of purple glotches.

Fanzine Publishing II: How to publish a snappy little genzine. Cadging material. Elementary layout. How to suck up to pros. Mimeo vs offset. Preq: Fanzine Publishing I or permission of instructor.

Fanzine Publishing III: How to publish a Hugo-class zine. Cadging material. Timing issues to the Hugo Ballot. Pretentious layout. Advanced controversey. Preq: Fanzine Publishing II, Fan Economics III, and permission of instructor.

Fanzine Publishing IV: How to publish a small, sloppy personalzine. Advanced indifference to repro values. How to ignore purple glotches. Preq: Fanzine Publishing III, Disorientation.


Collecting I: How to start a collection. American magazines. English language magazines. Foreign language magazines. Books. Obscure periodicals. Rare old fantasies.

Collecting II: Purchasing a ver large decrepit old building to house your collection in and, incidentally, you. Preq: Collecting I.


APA Writing I: Getting involved with an APA. Mailing comments. The Erma Bombeck school of writing. Free form diaries.

APA Writing II: Getting hooked on APA’s. How to join other APA’s. How to contribute to twenty APA’s concurrently. High speed babbling in print. Getting on the FAPA wait list.

APA Writing III: How to start an APA. Problems of being a collator. Collation procedures. How to get contributors. How to get rid of contributors. Secret APA’s, feud APA’s, and APA:NESFA.

APA Writing IV: How to kick the APA habit. Binding your APA’s. Retiring into FAPA.


Usenet I: Acquiring a student computer account. Learning to use the news software. Discovering the rec.arts.sf heirarchy. Elementary flaming.

Usenet II: Living with carpal tunnel syndrome. Establishing a net persona. Advanced flaming. Blowing off classes and/or work to read and post news. Preq: Usenet I.

Usenet III: Employment opportunities having flunked out/been fired for spending all of your time reading and posting news. Preq: Usenet II.


Fan Writing I: Elementary fanspeak, vocabulary and structure. How to write reviews without really thinking. Con reports. (NOTE: Fan Writing I may only be substituted for Remedial English I by fan majors.)

Fan Writing II: Writing pretentious amateur fiction. Writing pretentious critical essays. Faanish humor.

Fan Writing III: Interesting Hugo award fan writing. Elementary and advanced controversy. Becoming a columnist in a semi-prozine.

Fan Writing IV: The libel laws of the United States and Canada. Landmark lawsuits in fandom.


Modern Fan History: What happened last week. Who is bidding for what. Current ancient and venerable traditions.

Ancient Fan History I: The thirties and forties. Bob Tucker.

Ancient Fan History II: The fifties and sixties. Bob Tucker.

Ancient Fan History III: The seventies and eighties. Bob Tucker.


World Con Bidding I: How to raise money. How to waste money. How to give bidding parties for people who won’t vote. How to alienate your ardent supporters.

World Con Bidding II: Buying the worldcon. Preq: World Con Bidding I and desperation.


Con Chairing I: Running a six day worldcon with 10,000 attendees, a $1,000,000 budget, hand-tooled, leather bound program books, multi-track programming, and re-enactment of King Kong with the original cast.

Con Chairing II: Running a medium size semi-informal regional convention. Preq: Con Chairing I.

Con Chairing III: Running a small unprogrammed relaxacon. Preq: Con Chairing II.

Con Chairing IV: Running a Star-Trek convention. Preq: Greed and a lack of ethics. Not open to those who have taken Con Chairing I, II, or III.


Fan ROTC: Conventional warfare. Why not to pull out your laser gun when the SWAT team is raiding the Con hotel. Weapons policies at conventions. Preq: Attendance at any Noreascon or LACon.


Science Fiction: Read and discuss Science Fiction. Elective, no credit.


This page was last updated August 3, 1996