Fans are slans

December 8, 2006 8:22 PM

"Claude Degler attended the Chicon in 1940, and at Denver in 1941 delivered a speech purporting to have been written by Martians." So begins the Fancyclopedia I entry on Degler's Cosmic Circle. Claude Degler believed that science fiction fans were destined to evolve into a new species superior to homo sapiens, "cosmen." In 2001 (the year) David B. Williams went in search of Degler, who had disappeard from fandom in 1951. Teresa Nielsen Hayden wrote in 1986 a story/essay about the inner Degler called Hell, 12 Feet. He was as infamous as fans got, though some remember him sort of fondly. Degler crops up regularly in the "All Our Yesterdays" columns written by fandom historian, Harry Warner Jr. The ones with most information are the columns H.C. Koenig. Claude Degler, O Pioneers and The Cosmic Circle. Here's a Degler quote from the last link: We have created a fannationalism, a United World Fandom. Someday soon we will have our own apartment building, then our own land, our own city of Cosmen, schools, teachers, radio programme — later; our own laws, country perhaps! Our children shall inherit not only this earth — but this universe! Today we carry 22 states, tomorrow, nine planets!
posted by Kattullus (3 comments total)

Good golly, wow. I'm going to have to spend a while on this one. Thanks.
posted by Divine_Wino at 10:21 PM on December 8, 2006

I just did spend a while on this-- something on the order of a good hour and a half reading through the links (and various tangents). Fascinating and something not really known by me previously. Thank you for a well constructed and very interesting post.
posted by jokeefe at 11:20 PM on December 8, 2006

I'm glad people liked it. I almost didn't post it because I thought this might even be too obscure for MetaFilter :)

I'm fascinated by these little nooks and crannies of history which one suspects were written by Borges or Ballard.
posted by Kattullus at 9:38 AM on December 9, 2006 [2 favorites]