The Minnesota Science Fiction Society – “Minn-stf” for short (it was originally the Minnesota Scientifiction Society) – came into being on November 25, 1966 at the Minnesota Techolog office at the University of Minnesota. The Floundering Fathers were Ken Fletcher, Nate Bucklin, Frank Stodolka (who was elected first president), Jim Young, and Fred Haskell (who claimed he was actually out getting a sandwich at the time).
Known as Crazy Minneapolis Fandom through the 70s and into the 80s, the club met every other week for decades and it now meets twice a month in members' homes. The club sponsors the annual Minicon on Easter weekend. Minn-stf's spirit was perhaps best described by Patrick Nielsen Hayden, who observed, "There are three fannish centers in the country – Boston, Los Angeles and Minneapolis. Boston is Law, Los Angeles is Chaos and Minneapolis is Faerie.”
Minn-StF (historically sometimes pronounced "Minn-stef", but now almost always "Minn-stiff") is dedicated to furthering the appreciation of science fiction and fantasy literature. Minn-StF's "meetings" are actually parties. The traditional start time for a Minn-StF meeting is 2pm, but most people don't show up 'til 4pm or so unless the "meeting" is a picnic or pool party.
Einblatt! is the clubzine which is mainly a calendar of events. Rune is the very sporadic club fanzine. (The most recent issue, Rune 88, was published in March 2002.)
In addition to Minicon (a regional), Minn-stF also runs a Fall relaxacon (currently named Conjecture, but the name changes frequently), and Minneapolis in '73, a Worldcon bid.
Minn-StF is officially agnostic when it comes to spelling, hyphenating, capitalizing the club's nickname. Minn-StF, MNstf, Minn-stf, and other variations are all acceptable. The "StF" came from "scientifiction."
Contributor (first 2 paragraphs): Dr. Gafia
