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The Baltimore Science Fiction Society (BSFS) is a literary organization focusing on science fiction, fantasy and related genres. A 501c3 literary society based in Baltimore, Maryland, the BSFS sponsors Balticon, the Maryland Regional Science Fiction Convention.
BSFS is an active organization which hosts many free, public events at its headquarters in the Highlandtown section of Baltimore City. Located at 3310 East Baltimore Street, it holds a business meeting on the second Saturday of each month at 7 PM that covers planning for Balticon and general BSFS organizational issues. It also hosts an anime, manga, and gaming social event on the third Saturday of the month from 2 – 6 PM. BSFS also hosts a Speculative Fiction Critique Circle for science fiction, fantasy, horror, etc. writers to receive feedback on their work: that Circle meets on the 2nd and 4th Thursday of every month, from 6:30 PM – 8:30 PM. There is also a Book Discussion Circle that meets on the 4th Saturday of every month, from 6:30 to 8 PM, to discuss and analyze an assigned book; then there is a General Social Meeting which follows right after that. And on the 2nd and 4th Sundays of each month, the Games Club of Maryland hosts a gaming day called Alphabet Soup at BSFS headquarters from 12 –6PM. [1] [2] Authors such as Catherine Asaro, Philippa Ballantine, Charles Shields, T.J. Perkins, and others have spoken there in recent years. [3] It maintains a large free lending library, cooperates with other science fiction organizations, runs www.bsfs.org which is a detailed website with extensive resources, and conducts other public outreach events promoting literacy. BSFS is an open, equal organization which welcomes every gender, sex, religion, and creed.
BSFS sponsors a young writers contest for Maryland students named "The Jack L. Chalker Young Writers Contest." BSFS conducts the annual Bobby Gear Memorial Charity Auction to fund the BSFS Books for Kids program which gives free reading books to students in cooperation with a Maryland school/schools.
The BSFS has presented the Compton Crook Award each Balticon SM (since 1983) for "... the best first novel in the genre published during the previous year ...". The list of eligible books is published in the monthly newsletter so all club members will have a chance to read and vote. The winning author is invited to Balticon SM (BSFS pays transportation and lodging) and presented with the cash award. Compton Crook, who used the nom de plume Stephen Tall, died in 1981. He was a long time Baltimore resident, a Towson University professor, and, of course, a science fiction author.
The Baltimore Science Fiction Society was first formed on January 5, 1963, on the back seat of a Trailways bus, by people returning from a meeting of the Washington Science Fiction Association (WSFA). Early founding members including a preponderance of influential writers, including noted fantasist Jack Chalker and Robert Howard scholar Mark Owings, attracting luminaries Roger Zelazny (who at the time was still working for nearby Social Security Administration), Joe and Jack Haldeman, and many others. There was a close alliance with neighboring WSFS, with strong cross-pollination, aiding the growth of both organizations, assisted by Jerry Jacks, Gay Haldeman, and Stephen Patt. It went into suspension as an organization after an election of officers which proved disastrous on October 12, 1968, on a (non-functioning) streetcar. Its only production of consequence was starting Balticon SM (1966) and it has in common with the present group only the name, spirit, Balticon, and continuity of the same three founding members.
There was no formal BSFS during the intervening years, but several fans managed to keep the Balticon SM tradition alive by holding Balticons SM number 3 through 8.
The present Baltimore Science Fiction Society was restarted in 1974 when it was incorporated in the State of Maryland. It applied for and was granted IRS tax exempt status.
BSFS is the third Science Fiction society in the country to own their own meeting place. LASFS (Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society) and NESFA (New England Science Fiction Association) are the other two. The former theater at 3310 East Baltimore Street, in the Highlandtown section of Baltimore, is being slowly renovated as time and money allow. On December 15, 2004, after a long fight by BSFS the Maryland Court of Appeals ruled favorably on the tax exemption status of the BSFS building, [4] reversing a ruling by the Maryland State Department of Assessment and Taxation. The decision forced the state to revise the Maryland property tax code for literary organizations and other non-profit organizations that serve an educational purpose.
Along with the plethora of regular events it hosts, BSFS also maintains a popular SF resources website with something for everyone who likes science fiction in any of its cultural art forms.
Jack Laurence Chalker was an American science fiction author. Chalker was also a Baltimore City Schools history teacher in Maryland for 12 years, retiring during 1978 to write full-time. He also was a member of the Washington Science Fiction Association and was involved in the founding of the Baltimore Science Fiction Society.
The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, doing business as Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association, commonly known as SFWA is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization of professional science fiction and fantasy writers. While SFWA is based in the United States, its membership is open to writers worldwide. The organization was founded in 1965 by Damon Knight under the name Science Fiction Writers of America. The president of SFWA as of July 1, 2021 is Jeffe Kennedy.
Roger Joseph Zelazny was an American poet and writer of fantasy and science fiction short stories and novels, best known for The Chronicles of Amber. He won the Nebula Award three times and the Hugo Award six times, including two Hugos for novels: the serialized novel ...And Call Me Conrad (1965), subsequently published under the title This Immortal (1966) and then the novel Lord of Light (1967).
Joe William Haldeman is an American science fiction author.
Stephen Tall was the most common pseudonym of American science fiction writer Compton Newby Crook.
The Compton Crook Award is presented by the Baltimore Science Fiction Society (BSFS) to the year's best English language debut novel in the science fiction, fantasy, or horror genres, as voted by its members. BSFS confers the award at their annual science fiction convention, Balticon, held in Baltimore on Memorial Day weekend. The award, also known as the Compton Crook/Stephen Tall Award, has been presented since 1983. Compton Crook, who wrote under the name of Stephen Tall, was a long-time Baltimore resident, Towson University professor, and science fiction author who died in 1981.
The New England Science Fiction Association, or NESFA, is a science fiction club centered in the New England area. It was founded in 1967, "by fans who wanted to do things in addition to socializing". NESFA is currently registered as a non-profit literary organization under IRS section 501(c)(3).
Balticon is the Maryland Regional science fiction convention, sponsored by the Baltimore Science Fiction Society (BSFS). It has been held annually since 1966. The name "Balticon" is trademarked by BSFS.
The Miscast Barbarian: a Biography of Robert E. Howard is a biography by science-fiction writer L. Sprague de Camp, first published in hardcover and trade paperback in 1975 by Gerry de la Ree.
Disclave was a science fiction convention run by the Washington Science Fiction Association (WSFA) in or near Washington, D.C., in the spring of nearly every year from 1950 through 1997. By many counts, it was the third-oldest science fiction convention.
Syne Mitchell is an American novelist in the science fiction genre. She has a bachelor's degree in business administration and master's degree in physics. She lives in Seattle, Washington and is married to author Eric S. Nylund. Her first science fiction novel was Murphy’s Gambit which won the Compton Crook Award in 2001. Followed by science fiction novels Technogenesis in 2001, The Changeling Plague in 2003, End in Fire in 2005 and the first installment of the Deathless series, called The Last Mortal Man in 2006.
The 56th World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon), also known as BucConeer, was held on 5–9 August 1998 at the Baltimore Convention Center, the Baltimore Marriott Inner Harbor, the Holiday Inn Inner Harbor, the Omni Inner Harbor Baltimore, and the Baltimore Hilton and Towers in Baltimore, Maryland, United States.
Con-Version was an annual science fiction and fantasy convention held in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Since its beginning in 1984, the convention hosted many authors such as Robert J. Sawyer, Larry Niven, and J. Michael Straczynski; it also hosted the judging for the Robyn Herrington Memorial Short Story Competition. Appearances had also been made by Jeremy Bulloch and Dirk Benedict.
Lost Worlds is a collection of fantasy, horror and science fiction short stories by the American writer Clark Ashton Smith. It was published in 1944 and was the author's second book published by Arkham House. 2,043 copies were printed.
Adam Niswander was an American short story writer and novelist. He was a president of the Central Arizona Speculative Fiction Society and a member of the Horror Writers Association and the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. His first novel, The Charm, which is the first book of his Shaman Cycle was published by Integra Press in 1993. He died on August 12, 2012.
Shasta Publishers was a science fiction and fantasy small press specialty publishing house founded in 1947 by Erle Melvin Korshak, T. E. Dikty, and Mark Reinsberg, who were all science fiction fans from the Chicago area. The name of the press was suggested by Reinsberg in remembrance of a summer job that he and Korshak had held at Mount Shasta.
Galad Elflandsson is a Canadian fantasy writer.
Mark L. Van Name is an American science fiction writer and technology consultant. As of 2009, Van Name lives in North Carolina.
Michael Jarrett Walsh owns and operates Old Earth Books, a small press science fiction publisher. He primarily publishes re-prints, though occasionally he issues original books from established authors. His first publication was a short story collection Rude Astronauts, by Allen Steele, published in 1993. He is active in science fiction fandom.
BSFS may refer to: