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NESFA

Founded in 1967, we are one of the oldest science fiction clubs in New England. Our largest activities are Boskone, our annual convention, and NESFA Press.

NESFA Press

Living in the Future

Living in the Future
by Robert Silverberg

A Lit Fuse

A Lit Fuse
by Nat Segaloff

Believing

Believing
by Zenna Henderson

Barrayar

Barrayar
by Lois McMaster Bujold

Making Conversation

Making Conversation
by Teresa Nielsen Hayden

Call Me Joe

Call Me Joe
by Poul Anderson

Upcoming Events

09/30
Saturday
Open library hours. • 1:00pm to 8:00pm
At the clubhouse.
10/01
Sunday
Game Day. • 12:00 Noon to 10:00pm
Join us for Board, Card, & Role Playing Games at the NESFA Clubhouse! Bring your own games or play from our collection. We will happily teach games! Proof of COVID vaccination is required. RSVP is requested: gaming-coordinator@nesfa.org (Note: Mask required.) At the clubhouse.
10/01
Sunday
Hugo ballot deadline. • 6:00am The Hugo ballot must be received by:

Sunday, 1 October 2023, at 5:59am EDT (Saturday, 30 September 2023, at 11:59pm Hawaiian Standard Time (UTC-10))

10/01
Sunday
Community Day at Tufts. • 11:00am to 2:00pm
On the Academic Quad (labeled as "The Green" in Google maps) of the Medford/Somerville campus. NESFA will have table at this event.
10/04
Wednesday
Open library/club hours. • 1:00pm to whenever
Open library hours 1pm to 8pm. Open club hours 6pm to 9pm or later. At the clubhouse.
10/06
Friday
NESFA Reading Group. • 7:00pm to 9:30pm
Book: The Employees by Olga Ravn

This meeting may be held online or may be a hybrid, if we head back to the Clubhouse.

10/07
Saturday
Dr. Who meet up & social. • 6:00pm to 10:00
We're checking vaccination status, and the event is indoors (masking optional). If you would like to volunteer for this event, then please let Michael Rasnick know at: gaming-coordinator@nesfa.org At the clubhouse.
10/07
Saturday
Open library hours. • 1:00pm to 8:00pm
At the clubhouse.
10/08
Sunday
Boskone and NESFA Business Meetings. • 12:00 Noon to whenever
The Boskone meeting will start at Noon. The NESFA business meeting will follow, no earlier than 2PM.

These meetings will be held online or possibly hybrid, if we return to the clubhouse.

10/11
Wednesday
Open library/club hours. • 1:00pm to whenever
Open library hours 1pm to 8pm. Open club hours 6pm to 9pm or later. At the clubhouse.
10/14
Saturday
Open library hours. • 1:00pm to 8:00pm
At the clubhouse.
10/15
Sunday
Game Day. • 12:00 Noon to 10:00pm
Join us for Board, Card, & Role Playing Games at the NESFA Clubhouse! Bring your own games or play from our collection. We will happily teach games! Proof of COVID vaccination is required. RSVP is requested: gaming-coordinator@nesfa.org (Note: Masks optional.) At the clubhouse.

Latest News

Tony & Suford Lewis to be fan GoHs at the 2024 NASFiC
Tony & Suford Lewis to be fan GoHs at the 2024 NASFiC

NESFA luminaries Tony Lewis and Suford Lewis have been appointed the Fan Guests of Honor for the 2024 NASFiC to be held in Buffalo, NY on 18-21 July, 2024. https://buffalonasfic2024.org/

Public Transportation
Public Transportation

Now that the weekend closures of the Medford Branch of the MBTA Green Line have ended for a while, it is worth mentioning that the NESFA Clubhouse is accessible by Green Line as well as by various bus routes.

GREEN LINE INFORMATION

The NESFA clubhouse is about 1/4 mile from the Magoun Square station on the MBTA Green Line. When exiting the station, turn left and walk north on Lowell St toward Medford St. The back door of the clubhouse is accessed via the driveway at 359 Lowell St which is on the opposite side of the street from the MBTA station. You may wish to walk around to the front of the building especially in cold weather as that driveway can get icy.

BUS INFORMATION

The NESFA clubhouse is served by MBTA bus routes 80, 89, and 101 which pass through or near Magoun Square (the intersection of Medford Street & Broadway)—just over a block from the clubhouse.

Dr. Who Days
Dr. Who Days

Besides Game and Video Days, NESFA has started having Dr. Who meetups at our Clubhouse. Calling all Whovians, join us for our social & viewings of Dr. Who! We’re accessible by MBTA E Green Line Extension at Maguon Station & Buses #’s: 80, 89, and 101. The next one is on Saturday July 15th at 8 PM. See www.nesfa.org/events or Meetup for more info and future dates.

NESFA Reading Group – September Book Discussion – Remnant Population by Elizabeth Moon
NESFA Reading Group – September Book Discussion – Remnant Population by Elizabeth Moon

The next NESFA Reading Group discussion will meet via Zoom on Friday, September 8th at 7pm to discuss Remnant Population by Elizabeth Moon

2023–2024 Short Story Contest
2023–2024 Short Story Contest

The NESFA Science Fiction & Fantasy Short Story Contest for 2023-2024 is now open. The contest will be open until September 30, 2023. The winners will be announced at Boskone 61, February 9–11, 2024, at the Boston Westin Seaport District hotel, with some portion of it broadcast virtually. Past winners are posted here.

The 2023 Gaughan Award
The 2023 Gaughan Award

The recipient of the 2023 Gaughan Award is Martina Fačková.

The Gaughan Award honors the memory of Jack Gaughan, a long-time friend of fandom and one of the finest SF artists of the 20th century. Because Jack felt it was important to encourage and recognize new blood in the field, The New England Science Fiction Association, Inc., presents the Gaughan Award annually to an emerging artist (an artist who has become a professional within the past five years) chosen by a panel of judges.

The winner of the 2024 Gaughan Award will be announced in February during Boskone61, NESFA’s annual convention.

2020 Chesley Award Winners
2020 Chesley Award Winners

NESFA congratulates the winners of the 2020 Chesley Awards.

In particular, Eric Wilkerson (Boskone 57 Official Artist) won for Best Cover: Hardback BookTristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky by Kwame Mbalia (Rick Riordan Presents / October 2019) and John Picacio (Boskone 47 Official Artist) won for Best Interior IllustrationNinth House by Leigh Bardugo (Flatiron Books/Macmillan / September 2019).

New ebooks by Zenna Henderson
New ebooks by Zenna Henderson

Ingathering: The Complete People Stories of Zenna Henderson, one of our best-selling hardcover books is now available in ebook format. And we now have its eagerly awaited companion book Believing: The Other Stories of Zenna Henderson in both hardcover and ebook format.

Erin Underwood wins the 2020 DUFF
Erin Underwood wins the 2020 DUFF

The Down Under Fan Fund announced that Erin Underwood has won the Down Under Fan Fund race and will become the new North American Administrator to the fund. She won an outright majority on the first ballot.

A quote from the news release: With CoNZealand being a virtual Worldcon this year and Covid-19, Erin will not be traveling to New Zealand this year, but hopes to travel to Australasia in the DUFF tradition in 2021, health and world events permitting.

The NESFA Clubhouse & Library begins to reopen
The NESFA Clubhouse & Library begins to reopen

NESFA is pleased to announce our gradual reopening. Starting in June 2021, the NESFA Library reopened.  Club members are welcome once again to browse the collection and check out books, movies, and other circulating items. Game and Video days at the Clubhouse have resumed. For now, NESFA and Boskone Business Meetings will remain via Zoom. For more information, please see our calendar (on the lower right of this web page).

  • People who can be vaccinated must be vaccinated to use the clubhouse. People over the age of two are requested to wear masks while in the clubhouse as a courtesy to at-risk people. People are required to sign-in and sign-out using the register by the front door so we may track the use of the clubhouse.
  • Keyholders should send a message to nesfa-active before going to the clubhouse to warn more risk-averse people that others will be present and to make sure there are no more than 24 people in the clubhouse at any one time.
  • Keyholders may use the library at any time providing they don’t conflict with other clubhouse work activities. Non-keyholders may come in during open library hours. Open library hours will be posted to the NESFA calendar (at the lower right of this webpage). Up to 24 people at a time will be admitted to use the library depending on other work going on in the clubhouse, so you may wish to call ahead before arriving.
  • Game and Video days will be by RSVP only to the person running the event. As with the use of the Library, up to 24 people at a time will be allowed to attend Game and Video days, depending on other necessary work going on in the clubhouse.
  • If you have any questions, please call the clubhouse at 617-625-2311, leave a message if necessary, and someone will get back to you. Remember we are an all-volunteer organization and it may take several days for someone to get back to you.

The 2021 Skylark Award
The 2021 Skylark Award

The 2021 Skylark Award was given to Anthony R. Lewis, one of the founders of NESFA, an occasional SF writer, and both a Fan (yes, with a capital “F”) and promoter of Science Fiction for more than half a century.

The 2022 Skylark Award opened for Nominations after our Annual meeting in May, and they will close at 23:59 on Wednesday, October 20, 2021. The 2022 Skylark recipient will be announced at the Boskone 59 awards ceremony on Saturday, February 19, 2022.

Regular members may place nominations in the Skylark Award mail box in the clubhouse, or email them to skylark@nesfa.org. Learn more here about the E. E. Smith Memorial Award.

Welcome to the NESFA website!
Welcome to the NESFA website!
Our website is comprehensive, covering a wide variety of activities, information, and services that NESFA provides to the speculative community and to our members. If you are looking for information that you don’t see listed here, please contact us at info[at]nesfa.org. For questions or problems with the website, contact us at web[at]nesfa.org. You can also send news item suggestions to newsworthy[at]nesfa.org, and for events and activities to calendar[at]nesfa.org.
Hugo Awards
Hugo Awards

NESFA congratulates Lois McMaster Bujold for winning the 2017 Best Series Hugo for The Vorkosigan Saga. NESFA Press editions of her first seven books are available.

NESFA® Useful Links
NESFA® Useful Links

We’ve updated our links page with some of the latest convention and publisher information. Let us know if there are links you feel should be added.