Beyond Fandom:
Fans, Culture & Politics in the 20th Century
Rob Hansen

ISBN 978-1-916508-16-3 (trade paperback)
ISBN 978-1-916508-15-6 (ebook)

Ansible Editions, December 2023

Cover photo: UK fan Norman Shorrock with a BBC camera at the 1957 London Worldcon. Photographer: Peter West.

The trade paperback Beyond Fandom was published in December 2023, shortly after the November ebook. 9" x 6" with glossy cover; 155 pages; over 73,000 words. All proceeds from book sales go to the TransAtlantic Fan Fund.

Beyond Fandom was the winner in the Best Special Publication category of the Fanzine Activity Achievement (FAAn) Awards presented in 2024.

Stirred to action by a particularly stupid and dismissive media generalization about science fiction fans, Rob Hansen has prepared this collection of brief biographies and essays that tell – both in his words and in their own – the stories of fans who have made some impact on the mundane world. Not so much traditional SF-inspired careers in writing, editing, publishing or Big Science, as the less predictable options indicated in the contents list below:

Foreword
1. The Anti-Fascist
2. The Pacifists
3. The Warriors
4. The Lesbian Pioneer
5. The Voice of America
6. The Futurists
7. The Painters
8. The Record Company
9. The Folkzines
10. The Aldermaston Marcher
11. The Political Prisoner
12. The Beat Generation
13. The Film Critic
14. The Film Director Swami
15. The King of Greenwich Village
16. The Friend the Beatles Wrote For
17. The Nazi Occupation Movie
18. The Playwright
19. The Kings of Pornography
20. The CIA Pilot
21. The Counterculture
22. The Musicians
23. The Music Mogul
24. The Punk Promoter
25. The Senior Civil Servants
26. The Anti-Nuclear Activists
27. The Government Minister
28. The Trans Icon
29. The Political Scientist
30. The Pope’s Astronomer
31. The Professor of Law
Afterword
Appendix: As Others See Us