Canadian Fandom

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Canadian Fandom is a Science Fiction fanzine by Joseph 'Beak' Taylorand later Ed McKeon, Gerald Steard and Bill Grant.

Canadian Fandom was published by Taylor in the 1940's in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was one of the earliest SF fanzines published in Canada. It was originally called Eightball, but its name was changed by the editor after the fourth issue.

A typical issue of Canadian Fandom included fiction, poetry, collector's ads, and serious articles on Science Fiction. Nils Helmer Frome, editor of the the earliest known SF fanzine in Canada, Supramundane Stories, was a contributor to Canadian Fandom, as was Leslie Croutch, editor of Light, another SF fanzine that began publishing in the 1940's. Other contributors at this time included Fred Hunter, Jr, editor of Censored, and Moe Diner of the Montreal Science Fiction Association.

Taylor also sponsored fandom meetings in Toronto, which Croutch also attended. In the late 1940's, these fans became organized into a committee to help prepare for the first Canadian Worldcon, a conference of Science Fiction fans hosted by a different city each year. This group called themselves "The Derelicts", and included Taylor, Ed McKeown, John Millard, Bill Grant, and Jack Doherty and Don Hutchinson, editors of Macabre. After Worldcon, Taylor handed over editorship of Canadian Fandom to fellow committee member Ed McKeown in 1949.

McKeown published two more issues of the fanzine before handing over editorship to a new member of The Derelicts, Gerald Steward. Steward brought with him to the zine friends P. Howard Lyons and Ken Hall, as well as Boyd Raeburn and Ron Kidder. They were known for their liking of Beat poetry, jazz, leather jackets and fast cars, aside from all being fanzine editors, writers and artists. Shortly after Stward began editing Canadian Fandom, P. Howard Lyons bgan his zine Ibid, Raeburn began A Bas, and Steward was also publishing Gasp.

In the mid 1950s Steward passed the zine onto Bill Grant. The last issue was published in 1957, with the 15th annual of Canadian Fandom.

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