New York's Unaffiliated Science Fiction Society

Last modified Monday, July 6, 1998 12:36 AM

1. What is NYUSFS?
2. When does NYUSFS meet?
3. Where does NYUSFS meet?
4. Does NYUSFS have anything to do with New York University?
5. What is APA-NYU?
6. Does NYUSFS have an Internet chat channel?
7. Where's APA-NYU being collated this month?

What is NYUSFS?

NYUSFS, also known as the New York [insert your own word that starts with "U" here] Science Fiction Society, also known (rarely) as The Solarians, is a group of no fixed abode often found hanging out in Greenwich Village.

NYUSFS should not be confused with the NYU Science Fiction Club, an easy mistake to make since we share their meeting space in bad weather.

When does NYUSFS meet?

Thursdays, starting at 5 PM, with two exceptions:

• Collation: The first Thursday of each month is when NYUSFS meets to collate APA-NYU, the NYUSFS apazine. Collation takes place at the house of some member of NYUSFS, varying from month to month, and often starts a bit later than 5 to accomodate people's working hours.
• Ferry Meeting: A Thursday in the vicinity of American Independence Day (July 4th) will be the occasion of the annual Ferry Meeting, when NYUSFS members meet at the Manhattan terminal of the Staten Island Ferry to take the first ferry leaving after 6 PM. The 1998 Ferry Meeting took place on July 2nd.

  If the Ferry Meeting falls on the first Thursday of the month (as it often does), collation is moved to the weekend, generally Sunday. See the collation page for details.

Where does NYUSFS meet?

When the weather's nice, in Washington Square Park, behind the statue of Garibaldi east of the central fountain, near the benches.

When the weather's not so nice, things get complicated.

Does NYUSFS have anything to do with New York University?

Long, long ago, before the Earth's molten crust had cooled, NYUSFS was an official NYU student club. It eventually got kicked out for not having any actual current NYU students as members. This is why the "U" in NYUSFS is consider to have a variable value.

What is APA-NYU?

APA-NYU (aka APA-NU, Emotional American) is the official apazine (or amateur press association fanzine) of NYUSFS. Each month, each contributor to APA-NYU makes 50 copies of his or her contribution and either brings them to collation personally or arranges them to be delivered to the OSAAC (Official Self-Appointed Agent and Collator, currently Marc Glasser) ahead of time.

A significant portion of an APA contribution generally consists of "mailing comments," replies to or comments upon material written by other contributors in earlier issues. APAs can be thought of as an ancestor of the modern Usenet newsgroup. In fact, the word "flamewar" comes from the apazine community and predates the Internet.

Does NYUSFS have an Internet chat channel?

Why, yes, as a matter of fact it does. Sign on to #nyusfs on DAL-net at any time (one server is hebron.in.us.dal.net, but there are plenty of others). Several NYUSFen have been making a habit of visiting on Tuesday evenings starting around 8 PM EST.