I remember being heavily fined - or rather, my father was - because I kept a library book by H.G.Wells out too long when I was very very young, but I didn't come across yer actual sf until I reached the hoary old age of 14 and found my first magazine.

You see, in those days comics were supplements in American papers which drifted over long after they were published. And of course 'science fiction' as such was virtually unknown - if you wanted to describe it, it was 'Wellsian scientific romance' or, worse, 'in the tradition of Jules Verne.' Can you imagine asking for that category of book across the counter of W.H.Smith? In Croydon ??

But the pulp magazines - AMAZING STORIES etc. - filled a need, and in the back of them were printed (in miniscule type) letters from readers. Thus fandom grew, as readers got into touch, mostly by mail. By 1939 I was in contact with fandom and their fanzines. I was still hellishly introverted tho', as most fans are even now, and when the War came and I started to work 12 hour shifts at Vickers in Crayford I more or less gafiated (I 'Got Away From It All' - a useful acronym - 'It' being fandom.)

The War lasted for me from 1939 to 1947, when I came out of the RAF. I still remembered - I still had - those 1939 fanzines, and when I accidentally ran across a group of fans I found that the old introversion had been knocked on the head by the War and increasing age, and I started to attend a weekly meeting held at the White Horse in Fetter Lane off Fleet Street. (Arthur C.Clarke's TALES FROM THE WHITE HART is a sort of tribute to the pub.)

Those were heady days, as everyone in British sf was there: Arthur C.Clarke, working on his BA, John 'Wyndham', before the Triffids were even a seed, Ted Tubb, Ken Bulmer etc etc. I got a job in the Fantasy Book Centre, then Britain's only bookshop specialising in sf & fantasy and as it was in London shared a flat there with Ken .... it became a sort of fan centre, and during its brief life was known world-wide - to fandom.

Captain Ken Slater, a fan who happened to be a regular soldier (bit of a contradiction in terms there, but that's Life) mooted the idea of a Society; for some reason I volunteered to be the editor of the official organ, SCIENCE FANTASY NEWS. Messily duplicated, it kept fans in touch and gave news of clubs and meetings, books and magazines. And as I was now categorised as a fan who 'Did Things' ie. I was Active, I was heavily involved in Conventions, etc., had Bob Shaw staying in Welling for 6 weeks while he looked for a job, etc. (And, incidentally, later knew Mike Moorcock when he was a pudgy ex-schoolboy, an author-image which has stuck in my mind ever since.)

In the mid-'50s Ken and I started OMPA, the Off Trail Magazine Publisher's Assoc.; we started with the initials because we liked the sound and worked backwards. OMPA was an APA (amateur publisher's association) - members submitted their own magazines to the Official Editor, who distributed one copy of each to each member, once a quarter. It was based on an American idea, and it worked well for some years - some of the early 'mailings' averaged 350 to 400 pages - and it lasted until the mid-'70s.

But I was long gone by that time. A marriage (to another active fan) didn't work out; I gafiated in 1960, and went back to the mundane world for 20 years. But in 1981 a Maidstone fan, Terry Hill, wrote from the blue, seeking memories of the White Horse days for a project by Mike Ashley (his ILLUSTRATED BOOK OF SCIENCE FICTION LISTS is highly recommended). The project didn't materialise, but Terry got me back into fandom. I even started fanzine publishing again with a little thing called NOT SCIENCE FANTASY NEWS, whilst Terry started MICROWAVE - both now folded, alas.

But fandom has grown larger than we ever imagined back in the fifties, and although I help to publish PULP (my 'turn' comes around once every 6 months) I find that a lot of fandom is, as the man said about the Great War, a 'big blooming, buzzing confusion' - over here a Convention practically every month, in the US several every weekend, several APAs, etc. But of course what you youngsters haven't got is those letter columns in those old magazines, where fans could get in touch. Thus I heartily commend Jonathan's and Tony's initiative in starting the Phoenix meetings; how else can you meet kindred spirits? (Can I have my afternoon nap now?) - AVC

- PHOENICIANS #6 (Jan '89, ed. Tony Chester for the Phoenix Group)

A free downloadable ebook containing most of the articles Vince wrote for fanzines over the years can be downloaded here.