New England Science Fiction Association

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The New England Science Fiction Association, or NESFA, is a science fiction club centered in the

501(c)(3)
.

The organization holds regular meetings (at their dedicated site, the NESFA Clubhouse) of and for members and other interested parties. A weekly meeting is held most Wednesday evenings, for socializing, projects, and miscellaneous business. Two weekend meetings are held every month: a Business Meeting (for administration), and the Other Meeting. The club also publishes a regular newsletter, Instant Message. There are two book groups that meet on a monthly basis, as well as a monthly Game Day, and a monthly Game Night. In addition, there is a monthly Media day. This involves showings of two episodes of an anime series, two TV series episodes and a movie choice. All are science fiction/fantasy related. There is currently a NESFA Short Story Contest, accepting submissions from amateur writers seeking to improve their science fiction/fantasy writing through constructive critical analysis from expert readers, editors, and professional writers.

Boskone

Boskone
StatusActive
GenreScience fiction
Location(s)Boston, Massachusetts
CountryUnited States
Inaugurated1941
Organized byNew England Science Fiction Association
Filing status
501(c)(3)
Websitehttp://www.nesfa.org/boskone-history/boskone-history.html

The club runs an annual

Lensman series by E. E. Smith, in which "Boskone" is a council of villains, and also a name for their civilization. The obvious name for a con in Boston would, of course, be "Boscon"; the similarity was noticed and embraced. Continuing the trend, when a new Boston-area convention was formed, the organizers of that event named it "Arisia
", the name of the civilization for which the protagonists work in the Lensman series.

Boskone I[3] was held in 1941 under the auspices of The Stranger Club, an earlier Boston-based SF club. Four more were held annually, ending with Boskone V in 1945. The current series of Boskones started in 1965 with Boskone 1[4] and continued without interruption to the present. Boskone 1, 2, and 4 were run by BosSFS, the now-defunct Boston Science Fiction Society. The then-newly formed NESFA took over with Boskone 5. The tradition of holding Boskone in February started in 1976.[5]

NESFA Press

NESFA has a small publishing arm, NESFA Press, which specializes in classic and neglected works of science fiction, as well as SF/fandom reference and historical material. Works published by NESFA press include:[1]

Awards

Skylark Award

The

"Doc" Smith
well loved by those who knew him.

Jack Gaughan Award

The Jack Gaughan Award is presented annually to an emerging artist chosen by a panel of judges (which have included Vincent Di Fate, Kelly Freas, Michael Whelan, David Cherry, Bob Eggleton, Tyler Jacobson, and Ron Walotsky).

MCFI

NESFA also hosts meetings of

legal entity
from NESFA, though there is a large overlap in membership.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ What is NESFA?
  2. ^ Boskone Home Page
  3. ^ Roman numeral I for one
  4. ^ Numbering for the new Boskone series was restarted at one, with some Roman numerals, some Arabic numerals, and some numbers spelled out. Beginning with Boskone 29, the numbering has been exclusively with Arabic numerals.
  5. ^ Boskone History

References

  1. ISBN 978-1-56308-548-2
    .

External links
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