sercon n.
a sercon fan; a sercon item, sercon activities
Fancyclopedia
SF Fandom
-
1958
sercon…Originally the business or serious sessions at conventions. Now also applied to a fan who plays a ‘skeleton at the feast’ role. One who discusses the sordid details of some fan activity instead of following the trufan motto: Let’s pretend they aren’t there and maybe they'll go away.
Ghu’s Lexicon 13 -
1966
page image
Lin Carter
bibliography
Let’s suppose your fan activities are confined to writing scholarly treatises on the Sources Used by H.P. Lovecraft in creating his Cthulhu Mythos…or dull articles on fannish history…. In this case, you may very well be dismissed as an eggheady old Sercon.
Handy Phrase-Book in Fannish in Worlds of If Oct. 66/2 -
1974 Fanzines in Focus in Science Fiction Monthly Nov. 12
page image
Zenith was what is known as a ‘sercon’—a serious and constructive publication about sf.
-
1991
Larry Niven
Michael F. Flynn
Jerry Pournelle
bibliography
Chuck laughed. ‘Sercon,’ he explained. ‘Serious and constructive activities.’
Fallen Angels 92 -
2007
page image
Tom Shippey
The sercons always seemed to have their eye on approval from some non-fan body, but I can’t think who that would be. The Arts Council? Were they worried about ‘reputability’, whatever that may be?
Letter in Prolapse (#6) Apr. 33
Research requirements
antedating 1958
Earliest cite
Ghu's Lexicon
Research History
Fred Galvin submitted a 1966 cite from Lin Carter's "Handy Phrase-Book in Fannish".
Last modified 2020-12-24 02:19:07
In the compilation of some
entries, HDSF has drawn extensively on corresponding entries
in OED.