The Science Fiction and Fantasy Association of New Zealand is a non-profit organisation founded in 2002 which aims to coordinate and facilitate science fiction and fantasy-related fan activities within New Zealand. Being an umbrella organisation rather than being affiliated to any club or clubs, it hopes to remain free of the factional problems which beset its predecessor, the National Association for Science Fiction.
The organisation runs the national science fiction awards (the Sir Julius Vogel Awards) in coordination with the organising committees of the annual national conventions. As national conventions in New Zealand are run on a year-by-year basis by different organising groups, SFFANZ provides continuity between these committees and is also able to provide legal and financial assistance that would be unavailable to a short-term committee organisation.
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Science fiction fandom or SF fandom is a community or fandom of people interested in science fiction in contact with one another based upon that interest. SF fandom has a life of its own, but not much in the way of formal organization.
Sir Julius Vogel was the eighth premier of New Zealand. His administration is best remembered for the issuing of bonds to fund railway construction and other public works. He was the first Jewish prime minister of New Zealand. Historian Warwick R. Armstrong assesses Vogel's strengths and weaknesses:
Vogel's politics were like his nature, imaginative – and occasionally brilliant – but reckless and speculative. He was an excellent policymaker but he needed a strong leader to restrain him....Yet Vogel had vision. He saw New Zealand as a potential 'Britain of the South Seas', strong both in agriculture and in industry, and inhabited by a large and flourishing population.
Margaret Mahy was a New Zealand author of children's and young adult books. Many of her story plots have strong supernatural elements but her writing concentrates on the themes of human relationships and growing up. She wrote more than 100 picture books, 40 novels and 20 collections of short stories. At her death she was one of thirty writers to win the biennial, international Hans Christian Andersen Medal for her "lasting contribution to children's literature".
The British Science Fiction Association Limited is an organisation founded in 1958 by a group of British academics, science fiction fans, authors, publishers and booksellers, in order to promote the writing, criticism, and study of science fiction in every form. The first President of the BSFA was Brian Aldiss. Pat Cadigan became president in August 2020, and Tade Thompson became the Vice President in June 2021.
The Sir Julius Vogel Awards are awarded each year at the New Zealand National Science Fiction Convention to recognise achievement in New Zealand science fiction, fantasy, horror, and science fiction fandom. They are commonly referred to as the Vogels.
The New Zealand National Science Fiction Convention is a volunteer-run science fiction convention that is scheduled annually, and usually takes place either at Easter or at Queen's Birthday weekend. It is usually abbreviated as NatCon.
VCON is a fan run fantasy, gaming, and science fiction convention held annually in the metro Vancouver area of British Columbia, Canada. It has been hosted by the West Coast Science Fiction Association (WCSFA) since 1993, and by the Western Canadian Science Fiction Convention Committee Association (WCSFCCA) before that.
Lucy Sussex is an author working in fantasy and science fiction, children's and teenage writing, non-fiction and true crime. She is also an editor, reviewer, academic and teacher, and currently resides in Melbourne, Australia.
Russell Kirkpatrick is a New Zealand novelist, geography lecturer, mapmaker and photographer. He has contributed to a number of notable atlases, and since 2004 has completed two fantasy trilogies. He is a three-time winner of the award for best novel at New Zealand's Sir Julius Vogel Awards. His books were first published in Australia and in the mid-2010s he moved to Canberra, where he now lectures at the University of Canberra.
Peter Friend is a New Zealand born science fiction writer who won the Sir Julius Vogel Award for fiction three times. His stories have been published in Asimov's Science Fiction, Aurealis, Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine and elsewhere.
The National Association for Science Fiction (NASF), New Zealand's first national science fiction club, was formed in 1976 by Wellington resident Frank Macskasy. The club expanded over several years and by the early 1980s had branches in Wellington, Auckland, Christchurch and Dunedin, and was for nearly 15 years New Zealand's only nationwide science fiction fan organisation.
Newtons Sleep is an original novel by Daniel O'Mahony set in the Faction Paradox universe.
Paul Haines was a New Zealand-born horror and speculative fiction writer. He lived in Melbourne with his wife and daughter.
Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine or ASIM is a fantasy and science fiction magazine published out of Canberra, ACT, Australia. The publishers of ASIM describe it as "Australia's Pulpiest SF Magazine". The magazine is currently edited by Andromeda Spaceways Publishing Incorporated and is published quarterly. Although originally sold only in Australia, subscriptions for ASIM are now available worldwide through Amazon.com and other online vendors.
Lyn McConchie is a New Zealand writer of speculative fiction, picture books for children, a nonfiction humour series, a number of standalone books and many short stories, articles, poems, opinion pieces, and reviews.
Philippa Ballantine, who also used the pen name Pip Ballantine, is a contemporary New Zealand author of speculative fiction and an avid podcaster. She now lives in Manassas, Virginia, with her husband and collaborator Tee Morris.
Dragon Moon Press is an American independent publishing company, specializing in science fiction, fantasy, dark fantasy and cross-genre novels. It was founded in 1993 by Gwen Gades, and released its first book in 1998.
Simon Petrie is a New Zealand-born speculative fiction writer now based in Canberra, Australia. He is predominantly recognised as a writer in the science fiction and fantasy genres. Petrie's stories have appeared in a number of Australian publications including Borderlands, Aurealis and Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine, in New Zealand publications such as Semaphore Magazine and several Random Static anthologies, and in magazines elsewhere in the English-speaking world such as Redstone Science Fiction, Murky Depths and Sybil's Garage. He is a former member of the Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine collective and has edited five issues of the magazine.
Helen Lowe is a New Zealand novelist. Her first novel, Thornspell, was published in 2008. She has since published the first two books in The Wall of Night quartet, The Heir of Night and The Gathering of the Lost. Lowe is a three-time winner of the Sir Julius Vogel Award, and won the David Gemmell Morningstar Award for Best Fantasy Newcomer in 2012.
Lee Murray is a New Zealand science fiction, fantasy, and horror writer and editor. She is a multiple winner of the Bram Stoker Award and a twelve-time winner of the Sir Julius Vogel Award. She is most noted for her Taine McKenna military thrillers, and supernatural crime-noir series The Path of Ra.