An apa started in the mid-1950s by Peter Vorzimer, so-called because it has 13 publishing Members. It also has an “active” waiting list of five members and an “inactive” waiting list of an indeterminate number. The Cult is a “rotational” apa –- the publishing members publish the OO, subtitled and subnumbered The Fantasy Rotator, one at a time in rotation, on a schedule of one issue every three weeks (so the individual publishing member only had to publish one FR every 39 weeks). They were sent out first-class to the members and active Waiting Listers (or WLers for short)–and as many or as few of the inactive WLers as the individual editor wished. The more-frequent-than-monthly schedule was considered high-speed fanac in the days before the internet and the local weekly apas. Members and active WLers were obliged to respond to at least every other issue. In the 1960s, the invective and venom flowed with such intensity that it would make a full-scale internet flame war look like a weenie roast, and for that reason the members began, not entirely tongue in cheek but self-deprecatingly calling themselves the Nasty Bastards of Fandom.
Contributors: Dr. Gafia
| from Fancyclopedia 2 ca. 1959 |
| Sort of a combination APA and chainletter, founded by Peter Vorzimer in late 1955. Thirteen members take part through publication of the official organ, The Fantasy Rotator, by each member in succession… frequency of publication, every three weeks, making 39 weeks for a "cycle" at the end of which a new Official Arbiter is elected. Copies go to all members and the top five ("active") waitinglisters; all must comment on at least every other FR to the following editor; failure means expulsion. Failure to publish in turn or at least give notice of delay (which cannot exceed 3 weeks) also means expulsion. The active waiting list serves either to prepare the prospective member for the Cult before he gets in or weed out deadwood before it gets tangled in the machinery. Early Cultists were strictly 7th Fandom types, handpicked by Vorzimer, and Little Peter's poorly written constitution combined with their inexperience to produce many official snarls and wrangles. Over 30 Amendments had to be passed; the last one turned out to have the effect of making amendments null and void (this turned out to be a misinterpretation), and the Cultists threw the whole thing out in disgust. Charles Wells wrote up a revised constitution that was accepted and worked for several years with few amendments (e. g. one setting up an Official Arbiter, anarchy having proved impractical) tho in early 1959 another Constitutional hassle began. The average Fantasy Rotator runs from 8 to 70 pages, averaging 20-30; it features members' letters plus, on occasion, editorials, features, and material of all kinds, mostly by Cult members. Each is given an individual title (tho some members repeat their own earlier titles) to which "Fantasy Rotator __" is a subtitle. A respectable amount of quality material has seen print first in the Cult, later appearing in fanzines of larger circulation. |
