Bay Area Science Fiction Association (BASFA) is a

science fiction fandom 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 (although ...

social club. The organization was founded after a committee meeting for the SiliCon

science fiction convention Science fiction conventions are gatherings of fans of the speculative fiction subgenre, science fiction. Historically, science fiction conventions had focused primarily on literature, but the purview of many extends to such other avenues of ex ...

in 1991 by several Bay Area convention organizers ( SMOFs) looking for a reason to meet other than at committee meetings. The club has met weekly since 1991, at various locations in the southern portion of the San Francisco Bay Area.

Organization

BASFA has an elected president, vice-president, treasurer, and secretary, who serve until a new election is called or until that official has missed thirteen consecutive meetings. Terms of service often last several years uninterrupted. The club's activities revolve mainly around social meetings held at a restaurant in the San Francisco Bay Area (Silicon Valley). Meetings themselves involve recreational parliamentary procedure, including official reports, announcements of upcoming events, reviews of books and movies of genre interest, and a meeting-ending "rumor of the week". These, along with the designation of the previous meeting's minutes, tend to be hotly contested battles involving members buying votes. The minutes of BASFA are published in the

online magazine An online magazine is a magazine published on the Internet, through bulletin board systems and other forms of public computer networks. One of the first magazines to convert from a print magazine format to an online only magazine was the comput ...

''Science Fiction/San Francisco''. BASFA contributes yearly lists of recommendations for the

Hugo Awards The Hugo Award is an annual literary award for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year, given at the World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon) and chosen by its members. The award is administered by t ...

and has hosted appearances by authors such as

Tad Williams Robert Paul "Tad" Williams (born March 13, 1957) is an American fantasy and science fiction writer. He is the author of the multivolume ''Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn'' series, ''Otherland'' series, '' Shadowmarch'' series, and ''The Bobby Dollar'' ...

. The association also regularly runs parties at local and international

s. BASFA has been listed in the ''Locus Magazine'' online portal since 2002. BASFA's main sources of income are auctions of donated material and taxation of puns. The club has a "Numismatic Responsibility Act" that taxes members for the making of

pun A pun, also known as a paronomasia in the context of linguistics, is a form of word play that exploits multiple meanings of a term, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect. These ambiguities can arise from t ...

s and for erratic marksmanship when paying said taxes.

Notable members

*Christopher Garcia, Hugo Award-winning

fanzine A fanzine (blend word, blend of ''fan (person), fan'' and ''magazine'' or ''zine'') is a non-professional and non-official publication produced by enthusiasts of a particular cultural phenomenon (such as a literary or musical genre) for the pleas ...

writer *

Cheryl Morgan Cheryl Morgan is a British science fiction critic and publisher. She has won Hugo Awards for her work on the fanzine ''Emerald City'' from 1995 to 2006, and as non-fiction editor of ''Clarkesworld'' magazine from 2009 to 2011. Morgan was the f ...

, Hugo Award-winning

writer *Spring Schoenhuth, Hugo Award-nominated artist * Kevin Standlee, SMOF and

writer *Maurine Starkey, Hugo Award-winning

artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating the work of art. The most common usage (in both everyday speech and academic discourse) refers to a practitioner in the visual arts o ...

* Frank Wu, Hugo Award-winning science fiction artist

Notes

External links

*{{Official website, http://www.basfa.org
BASFA LiveJournal community
where minutes of meetings are published Science fiction fandom Science fiction organizations 1991 establishments in California Culture of San Francisco Organizations established in 1991