FUTURIANS

   A New York sf group active 1938-45, notable for radical politics and the conviction that sf fans should be forward-looking and constructive; the name came from J. Michael Rosenblum's UK fanzine, The FUTURIAN . Though deeply involved in FANZINE publishing and internal fan politics, The Futurians also brought together many young fans who hoped to become sfwriters. Members included Isaac ASIMOV, James BLISH, C.M. KORNBLUTH, David KYLE, Robert A.W. LOWNDES, Frederik POHL - who describes this period inThe Way the Future Was: A Memoir (1978) - Richard WILSON and Donald A. WOLLHEIM; also associated with the group were Hannes BOK, Damon KNIGHT - who in The Futurians (1977) published an informal history of the group - Judith MERRIL and Larry T. SHAW.

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   THE FUTURIANS

   The Futurians sounds like a group of aliens who were transmitted through Time. But, in fact, they were teenagers who shared a house in 1939 and who also shared a love of science fiction. Their ranks eventually included Isaac Asimov, Frederik Pohl, Damon Knight, and James Blish.The SecretService raided their Brooklyn home one night after neighbors, suspicious of their mimeograph machines and strange visitors, reported them as counterfeitors. What they found were law-abiding, if slightly obsessed, SF fans.