National Association for Science Fiction

The National Association for Science Fiction (NASF), New Zealand's first national science fiction club, was formed in 1976 by Wellington resident Frank Macskasy. The club expanded over several years and by the early 1980s had branches in Wellington, Auckland, Christchurch and Dunedin, and was for nearly 15 years New Zealand's only nationwide science fiction fan organisation.

Members in Auckland, Wellington and Dunedin were involved in running national conventions, although none were officially run by NASF, and in many of the fanzines that sprouted up in the late '70s and early '80s, as well as amateur press association Aotearapa. NASF was also a motivating force behind the inauguration of a New Zealand Science Fiction fan awards in the late 1980s (these later reappeared as the Sir Julius Vogel Awards), and was also the umbrella organisation responsible for the appointing of host sites for national conventions.

At its height in the mid-1980s, NASF had a membership of about 150 and a bimonthly club magazine called Warp. By the mid-1990s, the Auckland and Christchurch branches had folded, although there were still club members in those areas. The Dunedin branch and the Wellington branch continued until the late 1990s.

Debate continues on why NASF died, as well as whether it was officially wound up, but it was largely inactive by the mid 1990s and went into indefinite recess in late 1997. The rise of science fiction as a popular genre in the cinema and television, coupled with easier accessibility to science fiction books, magazines, movie and television series on video and later DVD likely contributed to NASF's demise. Considerable infighting within the Wellington and Christchurch branches may also have contributed, along with an unwieldy National Committee. The Phoenix Science Fiction Society was founded in Wellington specifically as an alternative to what was seen as a moribund branch of NASF, draining many active fans away from NASF. Other factors included the growth of the internet, which made an organised club less relevant. In contrast to when Macskasy formed NASF in 1976, by the late 1990s, New Zealanders could soak themselves in science fiction without any need to meet other people with the same interest.

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