Who are we?
The Minnesota Science Fiction Society, Inc.,
is a non-profit organization dedicated to
furthering the appreciation of science fiction
and fantasy literature. Minn-Stf was
founded in 1966 and we’ve been active in
the worldwide community of science fiction
fandom ever since.
Do you read science fiction and/or fantasy?
Would you like to find others who share
your interests? Then you should know
about the Minnesota Science Fiction
Society, Inc., also known as Minn-Stf
(under many different spellings).
Why Minn-Stf?
The short form of our name connects
Minnesota with the old word scientifiction,
which is what Hugo Gernsback originally
wanted to call science fiction. Fanspeak still
includes stfnal as an adjective meaning
science-fictional, and it hangs on in a few
other obscure places. There is officially no
preferred spelling of the short form of our
name. Minn-StF, MNSTF, Minn-Stf, MN-STF,
and probably several others are in use. Our
internet domain is mnstf.org.
Want to get involved?
Becoming part of Minn-Stf is easy: simply
come to a meeting and participate. Fans
have a wide variety of interests, so there’s
always a lot to talk about. The common
bond underlying it all is our love of science
fiction, fantasy, and fandom. If you share
that love, or want to find out more about
what this science fiction fandom thing is all
about, you’ll probably feel at home with the
Minnesota Science Fiction Society and at our
gatherings, events, and conventions.
Minn-Stf
P.O. Box 8297
Lake Street Station
Minneapolis, MN 55408
http://www.mnstf.org/
To contact Minicon, write:
Minicon
P.O. Box 8297
Lake Street Station
Minneapolis, MN 55408
http://www.mnstf.org/minicon/
Rune Press, Third Edition, First Printing, March 2008
The Minnesota
Science Fiction
Society, Inc.
Activities
Publications
Conventions
We usually meet on the first and third
Saturdays of each month. Meetings are
casual social gatherings (a.k.a. parties)
usually located at the home of a member of
the club. Each year we have a pool party
located in an area hotel. The traditional
start time for meetings is 2pm, though don’t
expect a big crowd if you show up “on time”
since these are parties, and people wander
in (and out) whenever they see fit. Most
meetings contain brief (five- or ten-minute)
business meetings early in the evening
which consist primarily of announcements of
upcoming events.
Einblatt! is a free monthly calendar of
fannish events that is mailed to members
who request it. It is also posted to
newsgroups (rec.arts.sf.fandom,
rec.arts.sf.announce, and mn.sf), the
Minn-stf website, and to the Einblatt! email
list. To receive Einblatt! via email sign up at
http://www.mnstf.org/einblatt/. You can
submit events for Einblatt! by email
(einblatt@mnstf.org).
Minn-Stf currently sponsors two local science
fiction conventions:
Some snacks and drinks are provided at
these gatherings; contributions of food and
drink are encouraged, but not required.
Expect interesting conversation, maybe
some games or music. If you’re at a party
around dinner time, you could start or join a
dinner expedition to an area restaurant (or
order food delivered to the party if you don’t
feel you’ve enough to nosh on and don't
want to leave). We also occasionally
sponsor or hold other parties or events, but
the two monthly parties and our conventions
are our primary social gatherings. Event
locations and details are listed in Einblatt!,
on the Minn-stf website, and in the Minn-Stf
Livejournal. Short notice gatherings (that
didn’t make it into Einblatt!) are posted to
the Events email list and sometimes to the
web site or LiveJournal.
Rune Press publishes books, chapbooks,
and fanzines. Publications include: I Want
to Be a Celtic Death Goddess When I Grow
Up: The Art of Sue Mason by Sue Mason, ed.
by Rachael Lininger; Northern Lights by
Robert J. Sawyer and Carolyn Clink; and
Crossroads: Songs by Steve Macdonald by
Steve Macdonald, ed. by Steve Macdonald,
Kerstin Dröge, and Alyse Middleton.
Rune is the official clubzine, published on a
very irregular schedule. The Rune staff may
be reached by email at rune@mnstf.org.
Minicon is a fan-run regional convention
that’s been around for more than forty
years. It’s held over Easter weekend and is
full of interesting fun. There’s lots of
programming about science fiction, fantasy,
and fandom. Minicon also features an art
show with the works of both amateur and
professional sf/fantasy artists, a huckster’s
room where books and other things of
interest to science fiction fans are sold, and
a consuite (convention hospitality suite) for
meeting and hanging out with other
members of the convention.
We also usually hold a low-key, laid-back
relaxacon sometime in the Fall that we refer
to as Fallcon though the actual name of the
convention may change from year to year.
Internet Mailing Lists
Minn-Stf conventions publish progress
reports, program books, and other special
publications, like Assault at the Dream Hotel
by Jim Young, ill. by Ken Fletcher.
The Minn-Stf events email list is an online
mailing list for announcements and
discussion about any events of interest to
Minn-Stf members. To join, send email to
events-subscribe@mnstf.org
To start receiving Minn-Stf mailings, change
the address at which you receive them, or
change which mailings you receive, please
send email to otml-request@mnstf.org or
send your request to the Minn-Stf P.O. box.
The Minn-Stf Natter email list is an online
mailing list for general discussion about
items of interest to Minn-Stf members. To
join the list, send email to
natter-subscribe@mnstf.org.
More information about these lists is
available on the Minn-Stf website.