protag

When things have gotten as bad as they can get for the protags, with seemingly no way out, just as they are about to be overpowered by the superior horrific force, something enables them to triumph […]

2008, Robert Brewer, The Craft & Business Of Writing, page 116:

(informal, fiction, writing) Clipping of protagonist.


Ophiotaurus

Borrowed from Ancient Greek Ὀφιόταυρος (Ophiótauros, “cow-serpent”).

bor

(Greek mythology) A mythical creature, part bull and part serpent.


skazka

From Russian ска́зка (skázka, “fairy tale”).


repulsor

(science fiction) A device used to deflect or repel other objects, or for flight stability.


science-fictioner

(colloquial) science fiction movie or television program


ratfolk

Ratfolk are timid by nature and Singe was trying to make her own way outside her native society. Ratfolk males don't yell and threaten and promise massive bloodshed unless they intend to deliver. They don't banter.

2002, Glen Cook, Angry Lead Skies: A Garrett, P.I., Novel, Penguin, →ISBN:

If it's just the ratfolk looking for a bit of payback, there's no reason to think you and I are in any further danger.

2010, Ari Marmell, Agents of Artifice: A Planeswalker Novel, Wizards of the Coast, →ISBN:

Foreigners wouldn't know that some ratfolk can suck it down by the barrel. Once the kids were away, Singe began babbling about needing to get back to the house fast. We had a garderobe that a ratgirl could use.

2011, George R. R. Martin, Gardner Dozois, Down These Strange Streets, Penguin, →ISBN:

(fantasy) Intelligent anthropomorphic creatures akin to (or created from) rats.


Lake Wobegon

Coined by American radio personality Garrison Keillor in 1976, from lake + woebegone, but explained as derived from an Ojibwe word with the meaning "the place where we waited all day in the rain [for you].".

coin

I put Lake Wobegon (pop. 942) on the western shore of the lake, for the beautiful sunrises. I said it took its name from an Ojibway word that means “the place where we waited all day for you in the rain,” and its slogan was “Sumus quod sumus” (We are who we are), […]

2001 August 26, Garrison Keillor, “In Search of Lake Wobegon”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

(US) A fictional place in the radio show A Prairie Home Companion, “where all the women are strong, all the men are good looking, and all the children are above average”. Serves as a proxy for the American small town, particularly the American small town of the Upper Midwest.


New Weird

From new + weird (fiction), attributed to M. John Harrison (2002).

Coordinate term: slipstream

The most detailed response to Harrison's set of questions came from Stephanie Swainston, an author who has described New Weird fiction as exercises in world building characterised by a heterogeneity of sources, genres and details.

2016, Ken Gelder, editor, New Directions in Popular Fiction, Springer, →ISBN, page 184:

A literary genre that began in the 1990s, influenced by horror and speculative fiction, but often crossing genre boundaries.


medkit

(usually science fiction, video games) A small bag or case containing medical supplies


datapad

She produced a small datapad, tapped out a rapid sequence on the keys, and shoved it in front of Ma'adrys. “Does it look like this?”
Ma'adrys drew back from the datapad until Geordi leaned over her shoulder to whisper a few words of reassurance

(science fiction) A small handheld device used to gather, send, or process data.


dwimmercraft

From Middle English dwimmer-craft, dwemercraft, from Old English dweomorcræft (“magical arts, sorcery”), equivalent to dwimmer + -craft.

inh

He had walked the wilds of Imokoi before, he had pierced rakshas illusions, seenthrough the mist of demonic dwimmer-craft centuries ago.

The soldiers peered into the deep dark shaft In which lay the monk with tonsorshorn / A victim of the sorcerous lady's dwimmer craft / […]

(fantasy) The art of illusion; the art of magic; sorcery; magic.


wizard rock

At this point, he swears, he had never heard of Harry and the Potters or any wizard rock.

2008, Melissa Anelli, Harry, A History, Pocket Books, →ISBN, page 128:

In 2002, the first wizard rock band, Harry and the Potters, formed.

2008, Susan Gunelius, Harry Potter: The Story of a Global Business Phenomenon, Palgrave Macmillan, →ISBN, page 122:

An example of this can been seen in the ways the HPA members present participated in wizard rock performances that were broadcasted through the video feed.

2014, Jennifer Terrell, “The Harry Potter Alliance: Sociotechnical Contexts of Digitally Mediated Activism”, in Martha McCaughey, editor, Cyberactivism on the Participatory Web, Routledge, →ISBN, page 49:

A genre of music produced by fans of the Harry Potter series, characterized by costumed performances and humorous lyrics about characters, settings, and plot elements from the series.


wrock

There are, at present, dozens of these “wizard rock” or “wrock” bands, some of which tour nationally and internationally performing at small clubs, libraries and Harry Potter conferences and other special events.

2007, Racheline Maltese, The Book of Harry Potter Trifles, Trivias & Particularities, Volume 1, Sterling & Ross Publishers, →ISBN, page 175:

Not all wrock is punk wrock. There's plenty of stylistic diversity in the scene, which ranges from the electric girl pop of the Parselmouths to the darkly gleaming hip-hop of Swish and Flick.

2009 July 20, Lev Grossman, “The Boy Who Rocked”, in Time:

The phenomenon of wrock (wizard rock) within Harry Potter fandom has not yet produced mainstream crossovers.

2011, Aaron Schwabach, Fan Fiction and Copyright: Outsider Works and Intellectual Property Protection, Ashgate, →ISBN, page 78:

(fandom slang) A genre of music produced by fans of the Harry Potter series, characterized by costumed performances and humorous lyrics about characters, settings, and plot elements from the series.


Scaper

Meanwhile, Scapers (as Farscape fans call themselves) have quickly become a huge presence on the Internet, […]

2002, Paul Simpson, David Hughes, Farscape: The Illustrated Companion, Tor, published 2002, →ISBN:

The Internet lit up with Scapers looking for a way to keep Farscape going.

2008, Frank Garcia, Mark Phillips, Science Fiction Television Series, 1990-2004: Histories, Casts and Credits for 58 Shows, McFarland & Company, published 2008, →ISBN, page 102:

Attending the 2012 Dragon*Con in Atlanta, Georgia, I waited in line for around three hours in order to attend a panel featuring three of the Farscape actors. The room was filled to capacity with Scapers who cheered loudly when the actors appeared.

2013, Jessie Carty, "Joining the Conversation: Ben Browder Writes John Crichton", in The Worlds of Farscape: Essays on the Groundbreaking Television Series (eds. Sherry Ginn, Donald E. Palumbo, & C. W. Sullivan III), McFarland & Company (2013), page 100

(fandom slang) A fan of the American science-fiction television series Farscape.


Warsie

Actually I'd like to pit some Warsies against some Trekkies in an MTV (claymation) Death Match.

1999 May 17, Kevin Pacheco Cheney, “I DOUBT THIS MOVIE IS GOING TO LIVE UP TO ALL ITS HYPE”, in The Spokesman-Review:

Pompous sentimental muck well worthy of George Lucas himself. For Warsies only.

2003, Frank Plowright, The Slings & Arrows Comic Guide, Slings & Arrows, →ISBN, page 125:

But, only if those movies are “Lord of the Rings”, “Star Wars” (Ep. 3 - 6 only, mind you - the first three are a bad dream for most Warsies, after all), […]

2012, Joseph Santiago, Lina Clark, Life by Association: Getting Furry, →ISBN, page 165:

(fandom slang) A fan of the Star Wars films and/or media franchise.


Trock

Blend of Time Lord + rock, after the pattern of wrock.

Allegra is more of an indie upstart, "though (she's) one of the people who always comes up when you talk about Trock," says Perry Michael Simon, who edits "The Nerdist," comedian Chris Hardwick's popular, geek-centric website.

2011 December 14, Christopher Borrelli, “Allegra Rosenberg is all plugged in, ready to Trock”, in Chicago Tribune:

One of the more interesting activities is the writing of “Trock,” or Timelord rock, a genre of music well known among the show's fans that celebrates the show and its characters.

2012 December 26, Veronica Austin, “New club celebrates science fiction”, in The Issaquah Press, page B6:

The originators of the Trock phenomenon, Chameleon Circuit's ode to the TARDIS is a delightfully retro-eighties-sounding jaunt, Gary Numan with an even more one-track mind than the original.

2013, Dave Thompson, Doctor Who FAQ: All That's Left to Know About the Most Famous Time Lord in the Universe, Applause Theatre and Cinema Bokos, →ISBN:

(fandom slang) A genre of music produced by fans of the British science-fiction television series Doctor Who, characterized by lyrics about its characters, settings, and plot elements.


Potterphile

Advance orders for the newest installment, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, which won't be in U.S. stores until September, have reached 920,000, though impatient Potterphiles are ordering it from Britain via Amazon.com.

1999 August 8, “Children's Books: Just Wild About Harry Potter”, in Businessweek:

In the interest of full disclosure, let it be said: This reviewer is not a Potterphile, has never cracked a Potter book or darkened the door of a theater playing one of the Potter movies.

2004 June 4, Ann Hornaday, “Harry-Raising Adventure”, in The Washington Post:

As every Potterphile knows, there comes a time in Book Seven when Harry has to choose between two courses of action in his quest to deal with the evil Lord Voldemort.

2011 October 6, Eric Nelson, “What Harry Potter taught me about evil”, in The Christian Science Monitor:

One who loves the Harry Potter series of books and films.


Ringnut

From ring + nut, by analogy with wingnut.

27. Sit next to a ringnut and ask "so what's the deal with the ring?" every time it comes on the screen

2003 December 22, toto, “Fun for non-Tolkien fans (was Re: DON'T PUT SPOILERS IN SUBJECT LINES)”, in misc.kids (Usenet):

And to borrow a LotR reference for a moment -- and forgive me, 'cause I'm just a casual fan of the LotR movies, not a Ringnut -- Emily is Bilbo to Lorelai's Frodo and Rory's Sam.

2004 March 18, Rob Jensen, “Re: Yesterday episode”, in alt.tv.gilmore-girls (Usenet):

And I'm sure I'll get plenty of hate mail for single-handedly declaring all Ringnuts and Jackson fanboys are losers when I'm the guy spending time writing a review to post on the Internet, but hey, I never said I wasn't a hypocrite.

2006 August 26, webmaster@themovieaddict.com, “Retrospective: Dead Alive (1992)”, in rec.arts.movies.reviews (Usenet):

(slang, humorous or derogatory) A fan of the novel The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien and/or the film trilogy based on it.


manthing

“I left you for dead on that hillside and those puny little manthings would never help one of our kind.”

2005, Ed Greenwood, James M. Ward, Jeff Grubb, We Three Dragons: A Trio of Dragon Tales for the Holiday Season:

The manthings had invaded their home, killing many and forcing them to flee.

2009, Clint Romag, Fury of the Sasquatch:


broodling

(science fiction) a member of a brood in science fiction


Tolkiendil

From Tolkien and dil (“lover”), a word in Tolkien's constructed language of Quenya, notably used in the name of the character Eärendil.

Here's a competition for all German-speaking Tolkiendili who agree with me that this is a flaw of the translation (given that the English scans and rhymes perfectly): Come up with a better translation of the second stanza. (Or the whole poem, if you feel like it.)

1994 October 25, Ivan A Derzhanski, “A competition (Re: Don't need poem ...)”, in rec.arts.books.tolkien (Usenet):

The whole Balrog wings and Wheel of fire discussions are really about reading things literally or not. Those who think the ring is speaking and that Balrogs have wings take the literal word as gospel. They are the Fundamentalist Tolkiendili so to speak.

1999 August 30, Gordon Nash, “Literalists VS Nonliteralists”, in rec.arts.books.tolkien (Usenet):

Role Paying^([sic]) is something, a book like LOTR is something else. Tolkien never wrote a GAME, he wrote a book(s). These are two different worlds. So, beware of the MERP if you are a real Tolkiendil.

2002 August 4, discouraged. [username], “Re: MERP & Tolkien”, in alt.fan.tolkien (Usenet):

constructed language
constructed language

(fandom slang) A fan of the works of J. R. R. Tolkien, especially one interested in his constructed languages.


OBHWF

Initialism of One Big Happy Weasley Family, since the ship results in two of the main characters in the series, Harry Potter and Hermione Granger, ending up with two of the seven Weasley children.

Sadly for you & other OBHWF fans, Ginny is now over Harry, and is on her second boyfriend, while Luna Lovegood has the hots for Ron.

2003 June 30, Tennant Stuart, “Re: A couple of questions about book 5.”, in alt.fan.harry-potter (Usenet):

Because JKR ships OBHWF that's why. The way Hermione has been written shows us she's much more and^([sic]) equal and compatible with Harry though.

2005 July 24, Egla Bob, “Re: What Does Hermione See in Ron?”, in alt.fan.harry-potter (Usenet):

Those of us who didn't want OBHWF felt that Rowling was making a mistake, not that she was being misleading.

2008 September 9, Louis Epstein, “Re: Cho Chang not Ginny”, in alt.fan.harry-potter (Usenet):

(fandom slang) The double ship of Hermione Granger/Ron Weasley and Harry Potter/Ginny Weasley from the Harry Potter series.


Twilighter

If you look at the town, and around the ever-increasing number of tourists who have come to take pictures with anything that says “Forks,” you will find signs heralding businesses' support of the Twilight books—irresistible to the voracious Twilighter (as Meyer's fans call themselves).

2010, Tracey Baptise, Stephenie Meyer, Chelsea House, →ISBN, page 47:

A prequel on Carlisle would answer all of these questions and give Twilighters a better understanding of the leader of the Cullen family.

2010, Michelle Pan, Bella Should Have Dumped Edward: Controversial Views & Debates on the Twilight Series, Ulysses Press, →ISBN, page 83:

For one “Twilighter” in particular, the friendships she formed formed helped her through a particularly rough patch, when her husband's kidney failed and he was in need of a transplant.

2014, Michelle Groover, “Twilight and Twitter: An Ethnographic Study”, in Claudia Bucciferro, editor, The Twilight Saga: Exploring the Global Phenomenon, Scarecrow Press, →ISBN, pages 85–86:

(fandom slang) A fan of Stephenie Meyer's Twilight book series or the related films.


Twimom

For "Twilight" fans, the Runaways' iconic power may be difficult to grasp. (And for many of those girls' Twimoms, it may be difficult to remember.)

2010 April 9, Ann Hornaday, “Kristen Stewart has style and substance in hard-rocking 'The Runaways'”, in The Washington Post:

The next six hours consisted of 40-something-year-old TwiMoms who couldn't wait to get a glance of Carlisle, rude people trying to cut in line, and an insane lady bringing her fussy baby who wouldn't stop crying.

2012, Julith Perry, "'Breaking Dawn' renews series", The Mentor (Manhattan High School, Manhattan, Kansas), Volume 100, Issue 11, 27 November 2012, page 6

Even though we're writing legal teens doing legal things, we did get our fair share of shit for being “TwiMoms” writing “TwiPorn.”

2013, Anne Jamison, Fic: Why Fanfiction Is Taking Over the World, BenBella Books, published 2013, →ISBN:

(fandom slang) A mother who likes Stephenie Meyer's Twilight book series or the associated films.


fanpire

The self-proclaimed fanpires gawked, squealed and begged for autographs and photos with the stars.

2008 November 18, Derrik J. Lang, “Fans flock to 'Twilight' premiere in Los Angeles”, in USA Today:

Have you devoured the "Twilight" books? Are you obsessed with Edward? Can you recite the entire "Twilight" movie? Do you have Bella on the brain? Then you just might be a "Twilight" fanpire.

2009 July 16, “An event to sink your teeth into”, in The Charleston Gazette:

That their emotional relationship is foregrounded over sex may also explain why the mothers of Meyer's “fanpires” are great enthusiasts of the books, too.

2012, Victoria Nelson, Gothicka: Vampire Heroes, Human Gods, and the New Supernatural, Harvard University Press, published 2012, →ISBN, page 136:

(fandom slang) A fan of Stephanie Meyer's Twilight book series or the associated films.


Twifan

Naff ending and slow pacing notwithstanding, you can't really call this swoonfest a terrible movie (unless you want to be tweeted to death by Twifans).

2010 April 8, “To tide over the Twi-hards”, in Daily News, South Africa:

There are even goodies, too, for Twifans whose love of cooking is just as strong as their love for vampires and werewolves.

2010, Amanda McGuire Rzicznek, "'Twilight' cookbook adds spice", The BG News (Bowling Green State University), Volume 104, Issue 159, 7 July 2010, page 8

As any Twifan could tell you, long before Snowqueens Icedragon changed some names in her popular fic “Master of the Universe” and published it as Fifty Shades of Grey by E. L. James, the wank surrounding her, her attitudes, and her relationship to the fandom had already reached epic proportions.


childhood friend

en-noun

childhood friend (plural childhood friends)


Goldilocks

Apparently from goldilocks, equivalent to goldy + locks (“tuft of hair, curl”).

Tennis players are the Goldilocks characters of sports.
The balls are too big, or too small. The courts are too fast, or too slow. It’s too cold, or too hot, or too sticky, or too sunny.

2022 September 6, Matthew Futterman, “The Great U.S. Open Ball Debate of 2022”, in The New York Times:

The protagonist of a traditional fairy tale. She is a golden-haired young girl who inquisitively enters the house of three bears and tries their three bowls of porridge, three chairs, and three beds, in each case finding only one that suits her.


Poké-

Pertaining to Pokémon or the Pokémon media franchise.


demihuman

No wonder Columbus was dubious. Though perfectly charming, in a Droopy-esque way. it would take a lot of imagination (or desperation) to convert this into a demihuman sex siren.

1986, BBC Wildlife, volumes 4-5, page 393:

Halflings look upon other demihuman and humanoid races as stock for the stew pot.

1991, Roger E. Moore, Dragon Magazine, TSR, →ISBN:

In the AD&D game, humans are more motivated by ambition and the desire for power than the demihuman races are. Thus, humans advance further and more quickly. Demihumans can attain significant levels in certain classes, but they do not ...

1995, David Zeb Cook, Jean Rabe, Warren Spector, Steven E. Schend, Dungeon master guide for the AD&D game, TSR:

In one version we learn that the people who built Nan Madol settled at the site because they were "constantly afraid of the people of the center of Pohnpei," both the various demihuman, cannibalistic creatures and "real people" who resided ...

1995, Isla: A Journal of Micronesian Studies:

... fact from the moment he first lays eyes on the demihuman M'ling, before he has any notion of Moreau or his surgical feats. "I had never beheld such a repulsive and extraordinary face before, and yet — if the contradiction is credible — I ...

2002, Gary Westfahl, George Edgar Slusser, No Cure for the Future: Disease and Medicine in Science Fiction and Fantasy, →ISBN:

We can watch this happen, on page and screen, in werewolves. We can safely say that the werewolf is a widespread figure, not exclusive to European mythology. But it is also not a generic manifestation of the global demihuman.

2009, S. K. Robisch, Wolves and the Wolf Myth in American Literature, University of Nevada Press, →ISBN, page 207:

features of a thousand faces upon that awful head: human faces, demihuman, reptilian, serpentine, batrachian, vulpine. […]and many others for which I have no ready descriptive terms.

2009, Brian Stableford, The Return of the Djinn and Other Black Melodramas, Wildside Press LLC, →ISBN, page 89:

Demihumans, like . . . yourself . . . the vampires . . . orcs, dwarves, trolls, demons, pixies, all of them have a stake in the fate of humanity . . .”

2010, Marc Mattaliano, The Demihuman Archives, Xlibris Corporation, →ISBN, page 120:

(fantasy, mythology) A member of a human-like race; in fantasy, sometimes distinguished from the more bestial humanoid races.


earthlore

He even wondered what would happen to him when the sages of Tsath considered him drained dry of fresh facts; and in self-defence began to be more gradual in his talks on earth-lore, conveying whenever he could the impression of vast knowledge held in reserve.

1933, H.P. Lovecraft, The Horror in the Museum:

Luca pulled thoughtfully at his lower lip. “You shouldn't have been able to hide from us before. We're aware of the whole world.” “My people still have the earthlore your kind — both of you — have forgotten.

Here Rhion read and studied through the rainy days of the marshlands winter and sometimes throughout the night: herb-lore and earth-lore and the deep magics of the moon and tides; the legends of the old realm of Sligo, going back two thousand years; […]

2011, Barbara Hambly, The Rainbow Abyss:

I will say that my comrade, the Doctor, did much to make it so, with his gentle fun, and his wide knowledge of earth-lore.

2013, Herman Melville, Joseph Conrad, R. M. Ballantyne, Stories of the Sea: 25 Classic Nautical Adventure Tales!:

(often fantasy) Knowledge, teaching, study, or science of the earth.


Mayhem Parva

Coined by Colin Watson with reference to the works of Agatha Christie. Compare place names such as Glen Parva, Ashby Parva, etc.

The archetypical sleepy English village that is the setting for many works of detective fiction.


graser

Acronym of Gamma Ray Amplification by the Stimulated Emission of Radiation.

acronym

The Russians are working on the graser. One B. V. Chirkov has published a theoretical study in the Soviet Journal of Experimental and Theoretical Physics. He thinks a very pure crystal, "pumped" with a powerful source of radiation (such a "hard" X rays), much as a ruby crystal is pumped with high-intensity light in one form of laser, could be stimulated to emit coherent gamma rays—pulses of high-energy radiation perfectly in step.

1964 February, Wallace Cloud, “Science newsfront”, in Popular Science Monthly, volume 184, number 2, →ISSN, page 29:

Not lasers. Grasers. Gamma Ray Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation.

1974 October, Harlan Ellison, “Adrift Just Off the Islets of Langerhans: Latitude 38° 54' N, Longitude 77° 00' 13" W”, in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, volume 47, number 4, page 59:

electromagnetic radiation
electromagnetic radiation

(physics, science fiction) A device for the coherent amplification or generation of electromagnetic radiation in the gamma ray wavelength by the use of excitation energy in resonant atomic or molecular systems.


quaffle

A ball used in the sports of Quidditch and Muggle Quidditch.


soulbond

6 fans (11%) did not like to specify a genre but offered an alternative view of “common tropes” in fan fiction, such as: “The tropier, the better! Werewolves or A/B/O or soulbonds or time travel or coffeeshop AUs. […]

2014, Lucie Cupalová, "Slash Factor: Characteristics and Varieties of Slash Fan Fiction", thesis submitted to Charles University, page 59

This is amplified by the common use in a/b/o of the soulmate and soulbond tropes, where two characters are written as destined for each other on a biological level, resulting in near-irresistible mutual attraction and a special connection.

2017, Marianne Gunderson, "What is an omega? Rewriting sex and gender in omegaverse fanfiction", thesis submitted to the University of Oslo, page 97

And that's not even getting into some of slash's more science-fictional tropes: soulbonds and telepathy, interspecies relationships; male pregnancy.

2018, Francesca Coppa, “Slash/Drag: Appropriation and Visibility in the Age of Hamilton”, in Paul Booth, editor, A Companion to Media Fandom and Fan Studies, page 191:

(fandom slang) A deep, lasting emotional or spiritual connection between two characters, typically of a psychic or magical nature.


mediafan

Your post is looking suspiciously like one of those litfan vs mediafan debates that are so incredibly stupid and pathetic and do nothing more than irritate people.

1998 June 9, Grant Watson, “Re: Godzilla - What a Turkey”, in aus.sf (Usenet), message-ID <357d206b.15155455@news.iinet.net.au>:

And I do know the difference between actors and the characters they play, unlike the usual mediafan stereotype (see GALAXY QUEST among many others).

2000 August 24, Matt G. Leger, “Re: TV science fiction [was Re: Beware of Slanted Fedora Cons!]”, in rec.arts.sf.fandom (Usenet), message-ID <B5CA7EDE.A18D%mattleger@SPAMSUX.earthlink.net>:

I've never been starstruck by some of the actors I've met over the years, unlike so many local mediafen who fawn and grovel.

2006 April 5, Lloyd Penney, “ChatBack”, in Vegas Fandom Weekly, volume 2, number 17 (whole number #71), page 20:

Point is we weren't a pack of "mediafen barbarians", we were real, live, young litfans (and hardly any of us read any fantasy, were SF fans); but we were from the burbs and we were unfannish.

2014 January, Neil Williams, “Letters of Comment”, in Space Cadet, volume 12, number 1 (whole number #25), page 7:

(fandom slang, sometimes derogatory) A science fiction fan primarily interested in film and/or television.


South Park Republican

en-noun

South Park Republican (plural South Park Republicans)

Coined by commentator Andrew Sullivan in 2001.

(US politics, colloquial) A member of a generation of young people holding center-right political beliefs more or less aligned with those portrayed in the American animated television program South Park.


Eofandom

Coined by Jack Speer. Perhaps related to eolithic.

Eofandom, from about 1930 to 1933, existed before fandom became an entity; generally comprised of folk with no sense of group existence whose interests were in collecting stf and scientificomics, and who eagerly hunted down any items with any sort of stfnal significance. Such fanzines as Science Fiction Digest and The Comet were the mags of the day. Primitive trilobites crawled about on the ocean floor. Letter-writing was a major activity, and stfnists depended on hcs of the past as much as, or more than, prozines for sustenance.

1959, Richard "Dick" Harris Eney, Fancyclopedia II, Numerical Fandoms:

The Grennells were making their first visit to the home of the Scion of Eofandom in ten years, having last visited here in 1955 while the house was being built.

1966 November, Bob Tucker, “How I Plotted To Get DAG Flang”, in Science-Fiction Five-Yearly, number 4, page 10:

A Fan History Lounge would be a great way to educate modern-day fans about Eofandom, fanac during World War II, and so on.

2009 November, John Purcell, “From the Hinterlands”, in Askance, volume 3, number 5 (whole number #17), page 21:

(dated, fandom slang) The earliest period of science fiction fandom (1930–1933).


Micawber

A name likely coined by Charles Dickens, evidently reminiscent of common Irish, Scots, and Scottish Gaelic surnames starting with Mc-, Mac-, both from Old Irish macc (“son, child”) (see more there). For the second particle, compare names like Aubrey; similar surnames like M(a)cAubrey are attested around Dickens' time and thus Micawber may represent a dialectal variation.

As it is I see Destitution and Despair ahead of me, and have begun an epitaph in the Micawber style for my future grave in the precincts of my native County's jail.

1862, Algernon Charles Swinburne, The Yale Edition of the Swinburne Letters, 1854-1869, Volume 1, Yale, published 1959, page 65:

... a state of feeling which I may perhaps best describe as the Micawber condition. If only gold would turn up! Gold might turn up any day! But as gold did not turn up, — then would not Providence be so good as to allow something else to turn up!

1873, Anthony Trollope, chapter XVI, in Australia and New Zealand, volume 2, B. Tauchnitz:

Micawbers far from home, they waited for something to turn up.

1887, William Tufts Brigham, chapter II, in Guatemala: the Land of the Quetzal: A Sketch, Scribner, page 30:

Austria was the Micawber of Europe. After all something might turn up.

1901, Walter Sichel, chapter X, in Bolingbroke and His Times, volume 1, London: Nisbet, page 419:

We are constantly being assured, not by one Mr. Micawber, but by three or four Mr. Micawbers, that something is on the point of "turning up." Yet nothing ever does turn up.

1928 August, Herman Klein, “The Operatic Situation”, in Gramophone:

His reason was no longer concern that the news might destroy her accord with what she was concentrating on, since that was no longer valid now, if it had ever been, and it was no longer the possibility that he might find something else before she would need to know, for that was not valid either now, since he had tried that and failed, nor was it the Micawber-like faith of the inert in tomorrow; it was partly perhaps the knowledge that late enough would be soon enough, but mostly (he did not try to fool himself) it was a profound faith in her.

1939, William Faulkner, The Wild Palms [If I Forget Thee, Jerusalem], Random House:

Only a year ago it would have needed a "super-Micawber" to be optimistic that the railways would once again pay their way. But it was no longer a pipe dream that B.R. could make a profit, the way to do it was now clear.

1962 December, “Dr. Beeching previews the plan for British Railways”, in Modern Railways, page 376:

The Micawber rules of debt as ruin oppressed ministers as much as individuals.

2011, Edward Pearce, The Great Man: Sir Robert Walpole: Scoundrel, Genius and Britain's First Prime Minister, Random House:

A person who is poor but eternally optimistic, believing that "something will turn up", like the fictional character Wilkins Micawber in the 1850 Charles Dickens novel David Copperfield.


marsling

From Mars + -ling, modelled after earthling.

And that the first communication and transaction between earthlings and marslings — or venusites or mercurians — would be a lumber deal.

1953, Crow's Forest Products Digest - Volume 31

An inhabitant or being from Mars; a Martian.


podfic

podfic (countable and uncountable, plural podfics)

While smaller percentages (5 to 25 percent) participate in creating or listening to podfic (audio recordings of fan fiction), filk (fan music), or fan mixes (music playlists tailored to a source or fan work), […]

2013, Robin Brenner, "Teen Literature and Fan Culture", Young Adult Library Services, Volume 11, Number 4, Summer 2013, page 35

[…] they may role-play; they may craft collaborative narratives via blogs or microblogging sites such as Twitter, perhaps writing from the point of view of a character; they may record their stories as podfic; […]

2014, Karen Hellekson, “Fan fiction”, in Marie-Laure Ryan, Lori Emerson, Benjamin J. Robertson, editors, The Johns Hopkins Guide to Digital Media, The Johns Hopkins University Press, →ISBN, page 188:

In her oral history, jinjurly (2012), who founded and maintains the Audiofic Archive, the largest online archive of podfic, describes podfic as the physicalization of fan fiction, which she acknowledges some fans find distasteful and off-putting.

2016, Abigail De Kosnik, Rogue Archives: Digital Cultural Memory and Media Fandom, page 265:

(uncountable, fandom slang) Fan fiction read aloud and made into audio files available for streaming or download.


zombocalypse

The makers of "Zombieland" disagree though, and their film is an excellent argument that even the zombocalypse can be funny.

2009, Nate Knife, "'Zombieland' awakens laughter", Clarion (University of Denver), Volume 116, Issue 19, 6 October 2009, page 12

"Dawn of the Dead," the second and arguably best in Romero's canon, depicts survivors that try to wait out the zombocalypse in a monument to consumerism.

2009, Mike Riechers, "Dawn of the Dead", in "Frightful, funny films for Halloween", The Daily Cardinal (University of Wisconsin-Madison), 30 October 2009 - 1 November 2009, page 6

So we all expect that post zombocalypse earth will see us ditch our smartphones, […]

September 2014, Terrence Jarrad, “Hotware”, in PC PowerPlay, number 231, page 78:

(slang, horror) The breakdown of society as a result of a zombie outbreak.


fanficcer

Shh! Quiet now, or you'll attract evil fanficcers who fancy they can wring a good psychodrama out of this. You don't want to attract evil fanficcers, do you?

2000 December 24, Namek-Lady Cegi, “Re: Is Piccolo His Own Uncle/Father?”, in alt.fan.dragonball (Usenet), message-ID <92545t$107$1@nnrp1.deja.com>:

LOL! Gotta admire you for sticking by your man, Eve. And look at the bright side of things: Every fandom has a canon whore, the one that fanficcers write into every compromising kama sutra sexual position paired with absolutely /everybody/ all the way down to the scum of the galaxy. And in the Stargate uni, the canon whore isn't Jack; it's Daniel.

2004 August 26, Pitcher Catcher, “Re: Jack is the one (Was: Daniel and Dunlap's disease....)”, in alt.tv.stargate-sg1 (Usenet), message-ID <KWnXc.13445$sf3.8890@newssvr22.news.prodigy.com>:

Many fanficcers were career professionals — lawyers, professors, scientists and teachers. Most of the ficcers participating in the study noted at the beginning of this chapter 'shipped at least one 'special' relationship, which they referred to as their OTP (One True Pairing). Still others challenged themselves to write stories without 'ships, and to write stories about many different 'ships.

2013, Mary Kirby-Diaz, “Ficcers and 'Shippers: A Love Story”, in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Intellect Books, →ISBN, page 41:


moeblob

What really bugs me is that they changed Yotsuba's speech pattern. I don't want my favorite manga character to sound like a moeblob.

2009 September 14, José Manuel García-Patos, “Re: Yotsuba”, in rec.arts.anime.misc (Usenet):

I think it should have been qualified as "people who like K-on _because it has schoolgirls_". I liked K-on for the funny and slice-of-life parts. It was no Azumanga Daioh, but it had moeblobs AND writing.

2010 January 16, Megane, “Re: 2ch and the 2 types of otaku”, in rec.arts.anime.misc (Usenet):

A young girl is growing up in the town of Muhlenberg, somewhere in Germany (looks like it is based on Rothenburg from the end titles), but she is growing up without her parents. Her father never really gets a mention but it seems that her mother, a talented pianist, was killed a few years before the opening of this story and, as a result, Saga is now living with her grandmother. She is, however, NOT a moeblob.

2010 March 27, Chika, “Review - A Little Snow Fairy Sugar”, in rec.arts.anime.misc (Usenet):

(Japanese fiction, fandom slang) A moe character with a generic design and no defining personality traits.


Duneverse

I got the impression it was more how the major powers in the Duneverse exerted power than a power source in itself (hence why Mohiam didn't mention it in her little talk).

2003 January 25, Michael Bruner, “Re: CHOAM”, in alt.fan.dune (Usenet):

And all the Fans of Dune (the Novel) I know in real life have always agreed with me that the mini-series was much better than the movie in portaying^([sic]) the Duneverse.

2003 November 12, Thirsty Viking [username], “Re: Dune Slave -- Life of the Party -- Spoilers”, in alt.tv.angel (Usenet):

Given that all other current-day religions have turned into something unrecognizable in the Duneverse, it does seem a bit odd to have a "Rabbi" running around. But I haven't read the later Frank Herbert books, so it's possible he explained it there.

2006 April 22, Andrew Wheeler, “Re: Hunters of Dune - everybody is back from the dead, links to Earth?”, in rec.arts.sf.written (Usenet):

(fandom slang) The fictional universe which serves as the setting for the Dune novels.


brohoof

From bro + hoof, by analogy with brofist.

R.S. wears the gear to signal that he’s into ponies, he says. When he’s on campus, he’ll meet other fans and maybe even receive “a random brohoof on the street,” he says. (A brohoof is like a fist bump. A fist bump is like . . . oh, forget it.)

2012 April 6, Melody Wilson, “D.C. ‘bronies’ feel the love and friendship of ‘My Little Pony’”, in The Washington Post:

While other people look on with confused and strange looks, bronies are free to talk about a great show and brohoof all day long (A brohoof is a fist pump between bronies and/or pegasistahs).

2012, David C. Benson, "It's Okay to be a Brony", The Clock (Plymouth State University), Volume 57, Issue 20, Volume 57, 27 April 2012, page 11

My Little Pony is redefining manhood and that deserves a brohoof.

2014 March 19, Hugh Johnson, “Of bronies and men: Rethinking manliness”, in The Denver Post:

(My Little Pony fandom slang) A fist bump shared between fellow bronies to represent pony hooves.


vidtape

1989, Ron Goulart (ghostwriting as William Shatner), TekWar
She was standing in the center of their living room, wearing the same pale green fakesilk dress she'd had on in the vidtape. She looked fine now, though, not weary or ill.


Uriah Heep

A fictional character, Uriah Heep, in the 1850 Charles Dickens novel David Copperfield, noted for his cloying humility, obsequiousness, and insincerity, the stereotypical yes man.


Inspector Knacker

Inspector Knacker (plural Inspector Knackers)

Coined by Private Eye as "Knacker of the Yard", a pun on knacker's yard and the practice of referring to Scotland Yard as the Yard.

You won't be smiling when Inspector Knacker pays you a visit.

However, just before he is discharged, the French ring up Inspector Knacker and say, "Look, I'm sorry we haven't made it in time, but we absolutely promise you that we will get it to you in another 48 hours, so please arrest this man again, as soon as he is discharged".

2003 June 18, Lord Goodhart, “Official Report of the Grand Committee on the Extradition Bill”, in parliamentary debates (House of Lords), column 349:

Reid wants to be top of the cops, issuing orders to Inspector Knackers and James Bonds with criminals and terrorists in his sights.

2007 January 24, the Editor, “Secretary for Public Safety”, in The Mirror:

Please note: Inspector Knacker has been known to query applications by phone in the early hours NZ time, so forewarn your family, friends and flatmates that you are not the subject of an Interpol inquiry.

2008, Georgina Pallfey, Working and Living in New Zealand, page 129:

But, on this occasion, caution wisely stayed his hand and he confined himself to poisoning the Birdas coffee only, reasoning that wiping out an entire Conservative Party Association branch, while desirable from the point of view of most decent folk, might, unfortunately, have the countervailing disadvantage of attracting the attention of Inspector Knacker.

(UK, countable or uncountable) A generic police officer, or the police in general.


wolfwoman

A female werewolf or female lycanthrope.


ghostling

“That's why I brought you here,” whispered the ghostling next to me. We floated over to a corner. “She ain't leaving her body,” he said.

2008, Linda Alice Dewey, The Ghost Who Would Not Die:

Blink stood next to Knot. The ghostling's lavender eyes widened as his hand gripped Knot's arm.

A small, young, diminutive, or inferior ghost.


robot revolution

robot revolution (plural robot revolutions)

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(science fiction) A violent uprising by sapient robots, aimed at overthrowing human government.


Ded Moroz

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Borrowed from Russian Дед Моро́з (Ded Moróz, “Old Man Frost”).

bor

A fictional man in Slavic culture who delivers presents to children on New Year's Eve.


Thronie

From throne + -ie, referencing the television series Game of Thrones.

It takes a special breed of fan to get up early for a 12-hour Game of Thrones marathon, but it takes a true "Thronie" to do it the morning after a midnight screening of The Hunger Games.

2012, Graham Templeton, "This throne's for you", Metro (Vancouver), 23 March 2012 - 25 March 2012, page 4

Back then, hard-core Thronies were probably still playing “The Rains of Castamere” on their lutes, […]

2014 June 16, Melissa Maerz, “'Game of Thrones' review: All men truly must die”, in Entertainment Weekly:

A diehard Thronie, as fans of the television fantasy series sometimes call themselves, the student from the Indian city of Chennai chides her fellow fans to gather for a group photo with the intertwining, enclosing trees of the Dark Hedges, the location for a brief but memorable scene from the series, as background.

2014 July 4, Vincent Boland, “‘Game of Thrones’ brings fantastical footfall to Northern Ireland”, in Financial Times:

(fandom slang) A fan of the American fantasy drama television series Game of Thrones. or the novel series A Song of Ice and Fire it is based on.


Black Peter

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The companion of Saint Nicholas in Dutch folklore, depicted as a blackamoor.


dandere

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Borrowed from Japanese ダンデレ (dandere), a portmanteau of 黙り (danmari, “keeping completely silent”), emphatic noun form of verb 黙る (damaru, “to be silent”), and デレデレ (dere-dere, “in a lovey-dovey, infatuated, or lovestruck manner”, adverb).

A tsundere-type character will engender a hostile on the outside but sweet on the inside reaction towards the player, while a dandere will show little to know emotion except for subtle displays of affection.

2017, Luca Paolo Bruno, "Grand Narratives Blossom still: Character database and political narratives in the Muv Luv franchise", thesis submitted to Ca' Foscari University of Venice, page 13

The kuudere and dandere characters have more reserved personalities, hence those qualities are also reflected in their designs.

2019, Samneang Peo, "Visual Development Of A Visual Novel: Visual Storytelling in an Interactive Game", thesis submitted to South-Eastern Finland University of Applied Sciences, page 12

Then there is Yuri, the blue oni to Natsuki’s red oni, who is shy, cute, and literary but hides a maddening love for the player; she is the archetypical dandere character thought to emerge from the blue-haired Rei Ayanami of the anime Neon Genesis Evangelion […]

2022 March, Christopher B. Patterson, “Making Queer Asiatic Worlds: Performance and Racial Interaction in North American Visual Novels”, in American Literature, volume 94, number 1:

(chiefly Japanese fiction) A character archetype who stays silent, not expressing their feelings.


robocop

From robo- + cop, after the film RoboCop (1987).

1990, Library and Information Technology Association (U.S.). National Conference, Michael Gorman, Convergence: Proceedings of the Second National Conference...
As the World Wars were succeeded by the Korean War, which melded into the Vietnam War, science fiction pictured numerous dystopias controlled by means of ever-watchful computer and robocops.

Opposite of natural monsters there are technological monsters such as terminators, cyborgs, and robocops—all of which undermine dichotomies between the artificial and the organic, the prosthetic and the natural.

2010, Tyson E. Lewis, Richard Kahn, Education Out of Bounds, page 1:

(science fiction) A cyborg police officer.


dragonlord

"One whom the dragons will speak with," he said, "that is a dragonlord, or at least that is the center of the matter. It's not a trick of mastering the dragons, as most people think. Dragons have no masters. The question is always the same, with a dragon: will he talk to you or will he eat you? If you can count upon his doing the former, and not doing the latter, why then you're a dragonlord."

1970, Ursula K. Le Guin, The Tombs of Atuan:

(fantasy) One who has power over dragons.


scientific romance

en-noun

scientific romance (countable and uncountable, plural scientific romances)

Among the younger men who were winning fame—with the surge and thunder that heralded the youth of the nineties—was Rudyard Kipling; the seething brain of H. G. Wells was boiling over into scientific romance; and old romance was brought to life by the charm of Anthony Hope.

1921, Stephen McKenna, chapter II, in While I Remember:

(dated) Science fiction, especially its early form in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.


scientifictionist

I correspond with a great number of scientifictionists, and I know they have remarked to me a number of times that AMAZING STORIES ran letters of theirs nine or ten months after they had been submitted.

1933 April, Forrest J Ackerman, Amazing Stories, volume 8, number 1, page 88:

Professional editors like Palmer call all people who buy their magazines pretty regularly, fans; and indeed the term is so used by the scientifictionists who merely write letters to the editor and collect pro mags, but the fen of fandom have a more restricted meaning in mind.

1944, John Bristol Speer, Fancyclopedia, Fan:

This is failure and the machine is worthless, except for "psychic research". Why, I can't see! So our hero smashes it and goes off to marry the faithful young woman. Make up your mind whether it is supposed to be a tragedy, but to a scientifictionist it definitely is.

1945 December, Michael Rosenblum, “What They Are About”, in Chanticleer, number 3, page 23:

By inviting authors to write a story around a perfectly meaningless piece of imagery by artist Paul, he discovered several useful contributors, not least among them the lady scientifictionist who, we are somewhat shocked to find, is now a grandmother.

1947 August-September, Thomas Sheridan, “The Feminine Touch”, in Fantasy Review, volume 1, number 4, page 15:

(dated, fandom slang) A fan or creator of science fiction; one involved in some aspect of science fiction.


Superwholock

Blend of Supernatural (U.S. TV series) + Doctor Who + Sherlock (TV series).

blend

This show is one of my favorites, so much so that even I am a part of the Superwholock fandom.

2013, Nicholas Howe, "TV with Nic: BBC's Sherlock", The SCC Challenge (Southeast Community College), Volume 28, Number 3, 14 February 2013, page 6

The nascent fandom of SuperWhoLock (a fandom of Supernatural, Doctor Who, and the BBC’s Sherlock) exemplifies this playfulness: fans mix and match texts to create unique fan texts outside what canon offers.

2013 April 29, Paul Booth, “Reifying the Fan: Inspector Spacetime as Fan Practice”, in Popular Communication: The International Journal of Media and Culture, volume 11, number 2, page 151:

Gif fics are not proprietary to the SuperWhoLock fandom.

2013, Nistasha Perez, "Gif Fics and the Rebloggable Canon of SuperWhoLock", in Fan Phenomenon: Doctor Who (ed. Paul Booth), Intellect Books (2013), published 15 August 2013, page 152

(fandom slang) An amalgamate fandom of the television series Supernatural, Doctor Who, and Sherlock, often characterized by crossover fanworks with characters and plot elements from all three.


Britpick

en-verb

Britpick (third-person singular simple present Britpicks, present participle Britpicking, simple past and past participle Britpicked)

Britpicks (present singular third-person)
Britpicking (participle present)
Britpicked (participle past)
Britpicked (past)

(transitive, fandom slang) To review (a work of fiction intended to depict Britain or Britons) to ensure conformity to British English and accurate portrayal of British characters, settings, and culture.


casefic

...what should I read? Looking for casefics mostly, as viscerally horrifying as possible?

1999 July 13, A. K. Finch, “If I wanted to have trouble sleeping...”, in alt.tv.x-files.creative (Usenet):

There are excellent Sherlock fics that focus on mysteries—Verity Burns' “The Green Mile” is among the best known and most successful case fics, incorporating as it does a compelling plot and extensive deduction scenes while also exploring the relationship between Sherlock and John.

2013, Anne Jamison, Fic: Why Fanfiction Is Taking Over the World, BenBella Books, unnumbered page:

The story is also a ‘casefic’, i.e. a story which revolves around the investigation of a crime: someone have been poisoning and killing alphas, and the resolution to the investigation turns out to have potentially groundbreaking consequences for Sherlock’s future, as well as for omegas in general.

2017, Marianne Gunderson, "What is an omega? Rewriting sex and gender in omegaverse fanfiction", thesis submitted to the University of Oslo, page 23

(fandom slang) A fanfic, typically based on a mystery or procedural franchise, which focuses on the solving of a case.


underhalls

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A/N

(fandom slang) author's note; a note appended to a work of fan fiction by its author, typically containing acknowledgments, background information, or content warnings.


Mondler

Although we had yet another Chandler & Monica story, it nicely explored the hurdles faced by the couple, rather than being a Mondler story where Chandler's personality changes to match Monica's.

2000 November 24, Tennant Stuart, “Friends S6-21 - will Rachel be Chandler's mother?”, in uk.media.tv.friends (Usenet):

I'll grant you the "Mondler" stuff since their marriage has been mostly a disappointment, but the closet storyline shows promise in reversing the trend.

2002 February 20, Mibbitmaker [username], “Re: Happy Birthday Jennifer Aniston”, in alt.tv.snl (Usenet):

As far as teases go, the Go On creator was coy about what sort of shenanigans Perry and Cox will get into in a few weeks time, but for the loyal "Mondler" fans out there, there could be a major romantic moment.

2013 March 12, Philiana Ng, “'Go On' Creator Reveals Secrets Behind the 'Friends' Reunion Episode”, in The Hollywood Reporter:

(fandom slang) The romantic pairing of Monica Geller and Chandler Bing from the American sitcom Friends.


Janto

At end of the 3 min 50 sec clip, as his rage cools, Hitler says: "Maybe if Jack and Ianto have lots of man-on-man action next season I might still watch it… at least I’ll have my 'Janto' fix."

2008 May 23, Matthew Moore, “Torchwood attacked by Hitler in YouTube spoof”, in The Telegraph:

‘Janto’ fans will be delighted to finally see them on a date, complete with hand-holding and one good kiss.

2009 March, Naomi Westerman, book review, Whotopia, number 16, page 42:

Whether these stories revisit Janto or provide Jack with other (sexual) adventures, sexuality will remain a key element in the further development of (at least British-based) Captain Jack.

2010, Lynnette Porter, Tarnished Heroes, Charming Villains and Modern Monsters: Science Fiction in Shades of Gray on 21st Century, McFarland, →ISBN, page 70:

(fandom slang) The romantic pairing of the characters Jack Harkness and Ianto Jones from the television series Torchwood.


TWT

Short for "time? what time?". Probably modelled on earlier PWP.

(fandom slang) A piece of fan fiction not set in any particular time period.


Dragonballer

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Hello, Dragonballers,
This issue of JUMP has a pretty good picture of Goku on cover, with Goku in profile in gold. Here goes the summary : […]

1993 April 18, e77-cg, “Dragonball Z Summary (comic)”, in rec.arts.anime (Usenet):

The Moonies and the Dragonballers aren't minorities; they're as large or larger than any other group of animeniacs you're going to find.

1995 December 12, Sea Wasp [username], “Re: Too Many SM/DB posts! ARRGGHH!!!”, in rec.arts.anime (Usenet):

Expect to see Trekkies, Whovians and Potterheads co-mingling with Cumberbitches, Batmaniacs and Dragonballers.

2014, Lily Lieberman, "Techies and Trekkies Unite at Geek's Night Out", College Times, Volume 13, Issue 12, 13 February 2014 - 26 February 2014, page 19

(fandom slang) A fan of the manga and anime franchise Dragon Ball.


Digifan

This would be a very good thing for Digifans as Bandai Entertainment is generally considered one of the best anime producers out there.

2002 February 13, Matt Williamz, “Re: [OT] What's this about Digimon?”, in alt.fan.power-rangers (Usenet):

A big part of why most Digifans sicken me. They happily bitch about things "the dub ruined," without actually taking the time to do any of the research themselves.

2002 March 4, Eri-Bear [username], “Re: Regarding : (Spoilers) 3/2 Saturday Morning”, in alt.fan.power-rangers (Usenet):

Well, as has been repeated several times before, welcome, welcome, fellow Digifan.

2002 September 2, JMShearer, “Re: New here...”, in alt.fan.digimon (Usenet):

(fandom slang) A fan of the Japanese media franchise Digimon, particularly the anime series.


Gundamaniac

If Bandai does a decent animation of Gaia Gear or another Gundam sidestory, we definitely want you here. We Gundamaniacs can sometimes use all the help we can get. ^_^

1994 September 27, Keith Rhee, “Re: [MECHA!] Probe is Leaving for now.”, in rec.arts.anime (Usenet):

Some friends watched V Gundam. I didn't. Not enough of a Gundamaniac, me. 8b

1997 October 8, Donny Chan, “Re: The Merits of Gundam W”, in rec.arts.anime.misc (Usenet):

This isn't going to be an "americanized" Gundam, is it? The Gundamaniacs are going to go into full revolt if that happens.

1999 January 11, Kyle T. Pope, “Re: Anime deserves Hollywood remake”, in rec.arts.anime.misc (Usenet):

(fandom slang) A fan of the Japanese media franchise Gundam.


painstick

(science fiction) A weapon consisting of a baton capable of delivering a jolt of pain on contact with the body.


ironwoman

An extremely tough and strong female athlete.


Pokémania

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Teachers, who had vivid memories of the temporary insanity of POGS a few years earlier, said they'd never seen a craze to rival Pokémania.

2001, Kathleen McDonnell, Honey, We Lost the Kids: Re-thinking Childhood in the Multimedia Age, Second Story Press, →ISBN, page 97:

It is one that reflects what I found to be the general attitude of American adults regarding the Pokémania that captivated U.S. youth for at least two years: that, though a popular fad of immense proportions, Pokémon (and through it Japan) influenced American youth in terms of their goals, actions, or attitudes in a way that was judged to be relatively benign.

2008, Anne Allison, “The Attractions of the J-Wave for American Youth”, in Yasushi Watanabe, David L. McConnell, editors, Soft Power Superpowers: Cultural and National Assets of Japan and the United States, M. E. Sharpe, →ISBN, page 105:

Launched on the wave of Pokémania was Viz's four-part manga The Electric Tale of Pikachu.

2009, Jason S. Yadao, The Rough Guide to Manga, Rough Guides, →ISBN, page 48:

(informal) Passion for the Pokémon media franchise.


Dracula sneeze

From a likening of the positioning of the arm during such a sneeze to stereotypical depictions of the fictional vampire Dracula holding one side of his cape over his face, specifically from Bela Lugosi in Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948) and Tom Mason (double for Lugosi) in Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959).

Wang also encouraged the use of the "Dracula sneeze," or sneezing into the crease of your elbow as you bring your arm to your face.

2009 September 9, Patrick Cowles, “H1N1 plagues campuses”, in The Daily Titan, volume 85, number 4, California State University, Fullerton, page 3:

Regarding prevention, the school has begun encouraging sick community members to use the “Dracula sneeze,” sneezing into their elbows to avoid getting germs on their hands and then onto doorknobs and plumbing fixtures.

2009, Jeremy B. Merrill & Russell M. Page, "Swine Flu Hogs Campus Spotlight", The Claremont Port Side (Claremont Colleges), Volume 7, Issue 1, October 2009, page 7

Use a closed fist or assume the Dracula sneeze pose to temper germ transmission.

2011, Phineas Mollod, Jason Tesauro, The Modern Gentleman, 2nd Edition: A Guide to Essential Manners, Savvy, and Vice, Ten Speed Press, →ISBN, page 177:

(informal) The act of sneezing into the crook of one's elbow so as to help prevent the spread of germs.

Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein
Bela Lugosi
Dracula
Plan 9 from Outer Space
Tom Mason (actor, born 1920)


scientificomic

Eofandom, from about 1930 to 1933, existed before fandom became an entity; generally comprised of folk with no sense of group existence whose interests were in collecting stf and scientificomics, and who eagerly hunted down any items with any sort of stfnal significance.

1959, Richard "Dick" Harris Eney, Fancyclopedia II, Numerical Fandoms:

(dated, fandom slang) A comic book in the genre of science fiction.


Batcape

From bat + cape, by analogy with Batman.

He had four months to make a special-effects extravaganza that had to make every want to wear a Batcape next Halloween.

1996, Nancy Griffin, Kim Masters, Hit & Run, page 168:

Tears streaming down the boy's face, though he was still hanging on, blanket flapping out like a Batcape.

2008, James Jauncey, The Witness, page 42:

Jamie was sitting in Daisy's cot next to her, wearing his new Batman outfit, back to front, attempting to tie his Batcape around his protesting baby sister.

2014, Maeve Haran, The Time of their Lives:

A cape, particularly one that resembles the long, black one worn by Batman.


little folk

(folklore, fantasy) Small magical humanoid creatures, such as elves, leprechauns, and fairies.


Batnipples

The Batnipples are gone, but they should not be forgotten.

2012 August 5, Mason Krollig, “The Nipples that Batman Deserves, But Not the Ones He Needs Right Now”, in UniLife Magazine, number 20, University of South Australia, page 23:

As long as you don't get the George Clooney suit with the batnipples, you're golden.

2012 October 25, Tristan Cooper, “Cape down, sass up”, in Vanguard, volume 67, number 17, Portland State University, page 7:

Will the earth-inheriting geeks be assuaged that this super-suit is free of the Batnipples that helped make a mockery of George Clooney’s suit (“putting the ‘mocker’ in ‘Joel Schumacher’ since the mid-’90s”), which seemed to signal brightly, like some areola Borealis, that those Bat-films were troubled from the get-go, if not the get-up?

2014 May 13, Michael Cavna, “Ben Affleck’s Batman suit? Channing Tatum’s Gambit role? Welcome to the new (screen) world order…”, in The Washington Post:

(fandom slang) The molded nipples on the rubber suits worn by the characters Batman and Robin in the films Batman Forever and Batman & Robin.


Batverse

In this hard-boiled version of the Batverse, the characters were gritty, tough and more realistic.

2011, Tyler Brown, "'Batman: Noel' a dark tale, reversion of old classic", Kansas State Collegian (Kansas State University), Volume 117, Number 64, 18 November 2011, page 5

So overall in my mind at least this is a great film, the best of the trilogy by far, and even though they say it is the end of this perticular storyline arc, I hope it isn't the end of Christopher Nolan's Batverse, as I would be one very sad person…

2012, Tim Knight, "The Dark Knight Rises", Amaze, 3 August 2012, Edition 5, page 117 (approx.)

It's a ballsy move to reject fan-favourite and mainstream recognisable elements of the Batverse such as Robin and The Joker, but fingers crossed Beware the Batman will finally return Bruce Wayne's animated shenanigans to the heights of the early 1990s.

2013 April, “A Midsummer's Dark Knight”, in Cult TV Times, number 00, page 3:

(fandom slang) The fictional universe which serves as the setting for the Batman comics, films, and television series.


blastor

Well it was for me that, in obedience to Hul Jok's imperative command, I was holding my Blastor pointing ahead of me; for as I blundered full upon the monstrosity it upheaved its ugly bulk—how I do not know, for I saw no legs nor did it have wings—to one edge and would have flopped down upon me, but instinctively I slid forward the catch on the tiny Blastor, and the foul thing vanished—save for a few fragments of its edges—smitten into nothingness by the vibration hurled forth from that powerful little disintegrator.

1925 April, Nictzin Dyalhis, “When the Green Star Waned”, in Weird Tales, volume 5, number 4, page 6:

(science fiction) Alternative form of blaster (“hand weapon”)


Krampus

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A beast in the folklore of Alpine countries, said to punish misbehaving children during the Christmas season.


mountain man

In the frost-stunted birch forests on the Siberian border, sturdy, windburned mountain men trap beaver and pan for gold.

1963, Loren Fessler, The Editors of LIFE, “An Immense and Crowded Land”, in China (LIFE World Library), New York: Time Incorporated, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 10, column 1:

(Canada, US, historical) A male trapper and explorer who lives in the wilderness.


nani

Nani the fuck?


smallfolk

(fantasy, mythology) Small humanoid creatures, such as gnomes and halflings.


Trek

Spock’s half-brother Cybok virtually brought Kirk and McCoy to their knees with a simple imposing of their own self-reflection. […] it gave the writers of Trek a generic bad guy that is best described as a eccentric-lunatic genius on a personal quest which consequently affects the universe on a catastrophic level.

1994 November 22, James A. Kimble, “Part V Revisited in Star Trek Generations”, in The Connector, volume XXII, number 11, Lowell, Mass.: University of Massachusetts Lowell, page 15, column 1:


Trek

en-adj

Trek (comparative more Trek, superlative most Trek)

more Trek (comparative)
most Trek (superlative)


Treknical

Treknical (comparative more Treknical, superlative most Treknical)

more Treknical (comparative)
most Treknical (superlative)

(derogatory) pertaining to treknobabble (the fake technical writing or speech featured in Star Trek).


Treknology

Blend of Trek (“Star Trek”) + technology.

blend

Over the years, the supporting information for all of this faux “Treknology” has become nearly as complex as you'd expect the real technology to be and has been refined to the finest of arts.

2012, William Shatner, I'm Working On That: A Trek From Science Fiction To Science Fact, unnumbered page:

The possibilities and challenges introduced by even our most basic versions of the holodeck and replicator may seem small in comparison to the most significant breakthrough of Treknology—the transporter.

2015, Douglas Brode, Shea T. Brode, The Star Trek Universe: Franchising the Final Frontier, page 38:

For design-oriented fans grappling with constant changes presented by the franchise's expansion and evolution, the details of visualized “Treknology” such as warp-nacelle configuration, transporter range, and the correct color of phaser beams are sites of intense negotiation over authenticity and allegiance.

2018, Bob Rehak, More Than Meets the Eye: Special Effects and the Fantastic Transmedia Franchise, page 54:

(fandom slang) The fictional science and technology featured in the Star Trek franchise.


Asgardian

(Norse mythology) an inhabitant of Asgard


Asgardian

en-adj

Asgardian (comparative more Asgardian, superlative most Asgardian)

more Asgardian (comparative)
most Asgardian (superlative)


wingfic

Section three, on forms and genres, might consider such fan genres as slash, het/ship, genfic, alternate universes and realities, mpreg, BDSM, kinkfic, elves, and wingfic.

2004 November, Science Fiction Studies, volume 31, number 3, page 499:

Also in 2001, the bizarre but popular subgenre of wingfic appeared within the NSYNC fandom—these stories, characterized by someone growing at least one wing, spread to other slash fandoms before dying away in 2003.

2012, Erin Webb, "Slash As Genre", thesis submitted to College of Arts and Science, American University, page 25

For example, it is hard to imagine how much narrower a genre could possibly become than “wingfic,” a story about a character sprouting wings.

2020, Anne H. Stevens, Molly C. O’Donnell, The Microgenre: A Quick Look at Small Culture, page 183:

(fandom slang) Fan fiction in which canonically wingless characters are given wings.


altfic

Another rumor I heard: Seven kisses Janeway, Janeway tells Seven it's inappropriate. Why? Cuz it's on the bridge? Seven's nekkid? Why would it be inappropriate? What a spate of altfic coming out of that....Interaction seems to be what's missing from a lot of the season lately, not just J/7.

2000 February 11, kaboom [username], “Re: [OT] Re: Sisters are doing it for themselves indeed! (SPOILERS for "Lyre, Lyre")”, in alt.tv.xena-subtext (Usenet):

One of my favorite Xena altfic bards in Katelin B., who's fine Xena/Gabrielle stories, ranging from short stories to longer novella-length works, can be found at [URL redacted]

2000 May 26, fluffsterbrian [username], “Re: Best fanfic”, in alt.tv.xena-subtext (Usenet):

Snarky, who gave in to hir lust for fanfic late last year (I resisted for so long because I knew it would take time away from reading the newsgroup devoted to my first love, Doctor Who (radw), which it has), starting small, with the alt.callahans epic tale of "Action, Adventure, Excitement!", before moving on to XWP altfic in March

2001 October 4, Demon Lord of Confusion Snarky [username], “Re: FIN II & VS7-1 (was: Lucy was asked]”, in alt.tv.xena-subtext (Usenet):

(fandom slang) Slash fiction that focuses on romantic and/or sexual relationships between female characters.


comfortfic

From comfort + fic, by analogy with comfort food.

I'm in need of some comfort fic - as opposed to comfort food - and this genre seems to fit the bill perfectly.

1999 October 25, Red Valerian [username], “What About A 'Sick Fic Archive'????”, in alt.tv.x-files.creative (Usenet):

Tucking up with a cuppa and some comfort fic…sounds wonderful to me.

1999 October 25, Wayward [username], “Re: What About A 'Sick Fic Archive'????”, in alt.tv.x-files.creative (Usenet):

Be warned, this is gonna be anything but pure comfortfic or mushfic. Or pure angstfic, for that matter.

2001 September 28, Charles Glasgow, “Re: FIC - Almost Paradise: 1/4 (W/X)”, in alt.tv.buffy-v-slayer.creative (Usenet):

(fandom slang) Fan fiction read in order to make oneself feel better when sad, ill, stressed, etc.


curtainfic

From curtain + fic, from the frequency of paired characters shopping for curtains together in such stories, or the idea that this scenario is an archetypical representation of domestic life.

Others, such as slash fanfic or curtainfic may serve as rehearsals of queer identity, might be coming-out processes within the safe haven of the fandom community, or might simply be responses to contemporary social and cultural issues that permeate teenagers’ area of interest.

2011, Codruta Alina Pohrib, “Teenagers' Identity at Play: Digital Fandom and Technoromanticism”, in Proceedings of the Digital Generation International Conference, Cluj, Romania, 16-18 September 2011, page 42:

Some subgenres are h/c (hurt/comfort stories), Mpreg (main character gets pregnant), deathfic (main character dies), curtainfic (characters do mundane tasks together, like buying curtains), […]

2013, Mark Duffet, Understanding Fandom: An Introduction to the Study of Media Fan Culture, Bloomsbury Academic, →ISBN, page 293:

Online writing has generated its own genres, from curtainfic to grave robbery.

2014, Angus Phillips, Turning the Page: The Evolution of the Book, Routledge, →ISBN, page 20:

(fandom slang) Fan fiction which focuses on mundane situations and everyday domestic life.


futurefic

It all inspired me to write this sort of mini futurefic, a look at what might happen when what we once knew is gone.

1998 July 23, Eyeglazer [username], “A Glimpse of the Future [futurefic]”, in alt.games.final-fantasy (Usenet):

A futurefic involving a grown William Mulder looking for his...parents...with John Doggett playing an adoptive "uncle"?

2001 July 1, Michael Aulfrey, “Argh! Which one to write?”, in alt.tv.x-files.creative (Usenet):

A futurefic following Mulder and Scully over twenty years as they deal with a personal tragedy and the aftermath it leaves.

2001 September 10, Lisamichelle, “NEW: Aftermath: EPILOGUE (1/3) NC-17”, in alt.tv.x-files.creative (Usenet):

(fandom slang) A fanfic set in the future relative to the time in which canonical events are set.


holidayfic

Thanks to dlynn, Paige Caldwell, and EPurSeMouve, without whose TERRIFIC holiday fics I never would have thought of this.

1999 December 9, Sabine, “NEW: The Spooky Action Christmas Special, H, 1/1”, in alt.tv.x-files.creative (Usenet):

Merry Christmas! I apologize for posting on such an occasion when this isn't even a holiday fic.

1999 December 25, Narida Law, “xfc: NEW: The Mind Of A Wolf by Narida Law (1/1)”, in alt.tv.x-files.creative (Usenet):

I also did a holidayfic for Skinner/Kim, called Christmas Traditions.

2002 January 12, K2inChgo [username], “Re: Skinner/ Kim fics ?”, in alt.tv.x-files.creative (Usenet):

(fandom slang) A fanfic focusing on the celebration of a holiday, particularly Christmas.


rapefic

en-noun

rapefic (countable and uncountable, plural rapefics)

Okay, maybe it's me, but I find *all* rapefic utterly repugnant.

1998 June 10, Daska K, “Re: Looking for a story I swore I read!!”, in alt.tv.x-files.creative (Usenet):

People want to do slash? Fine. They want to write rapefic? Fine. Everybody can post what they like.

2000 January 22, Alice in Wonderland [username], “Re: Scully Kink Series Presents: Please Pass the Fish - WARNING, Known Hate-Monger”, in alt.tv.x-files.creative (Usenet):

I inspired it? How? Because I write slash? I don't write slash like this. I don't write rapefic.

2004 March 3, Jane Davitt, “Re: Feeding The Fish (Some Jane Inspired Slash Fun) NC, femslash, F/D”, in alt.tv.buffy-v-slayer.creative (Usenet):

(uncountable, fandom slang) Such fan fiction collectively.


cancerfic

Read a no holds barred interview with author Leyla Harrison, in which she talks about rapefic, cancerfic, feedback, and her approach to writing fanfic.

1998 October 8, Nicola Simpson, “Working Stiffs: A Resource for XF Fanfic Writers”, in alt.tv.x-files.creative (Usenet):

Here is my cancerfic contribution.

1999 October 3, Stephie, “xfc: Xfcancerfic Runner-up: "Walls Have Ears"”, in alt.tv.x-files.creative (Usenet):

I do love writing Cancerfic because it allows me to write dark and angsty stories.

2000 February 21, Eileen S. Whipple, “xfc: NEW: Blood and Thorns (1 of 1) - Eileen S. Whipple”, in alt.tv.x-files.creative (Usenet):

(fandom slang) Fan fiction centered around a character undergoing treatment for or dying from cancer.


angstfic

angstfic (countable and uncountable, plural angstfics)

We may flame each other out every couple of weeks, but woe to anyone who steals our angstfic and puts FRAN DRESCHER in the Scully role!

1999 February 6, Kipler, “Re: Unscrupulous Folks Afoot”, in alt.tv.x-files.creative (Usenet):

2001 September 28, Charles Glasgow, “Re: FIC - Almost Paradise: 1/4 (W/X)”, in alt.tv.buffy-v-slayer.creative (Usenet):

"Among slashfen, angstfic and H/C are valued, but Mary Sue avatars, ATG, and actorslash belong only in badfic. HP is Chan, and Yaoi can be ecchi."

2002 April 27, Kapitano [username], “Re: Research”, in uk.gay-lesbian-bi (Usenet):

(uncountable, fandom slang) Such fan fiction collectively


hatefic

Deslea, who has lots of characters she doesn't like, too, but she doesn't write hatefic about them, and if she did, she wouldn't post it to a general forum […]

2002 July 14, Deslea R. Judd, “Re: NEW: The Doggett and Reyes Death Story. (1/1).”, in alt.tv.x-files.creative (Usenet):

Dana, There's Pornographic fanfic for just about everything. Hell you've just made up pornographic hatefic for the PM of GB.

2003 October 28, John Freiler, “Re: Practical jokes”, in alt.fan.cecil-adams (Usenet):

<Chuckles darkly> Careful, now--I wasn't joking about the hatefic angle. After all, I did write one short 'fic for MadCit, oh, I think it was last year sometime, whose sole purpose was to torture Squall--and I don't hate him nearly as much as I hate, say, Selphie.

2003 November 8, E. Liddell, “Re: [OT]Where are the stats?”, in alt.fan.utena (Usenet):

(fandom slang) Fan fiction written to mock or otherwise express dislike of a character, author, television show, etc.


Alcubierre drive

Alcubierre drive (plural Alcubierre drives)

Named after theoretical physicist Miguel Alcubierre.

A hypothetical means of faster-than-light propulsion, based on the controlled contraction and expansion of surrounding space.


Clex

Thus Smallville fans use the Clex pairing in fanfiction to explore, therefore, not just what it means to become “queer” in the sense of lived sexual orientation, but also what it means to become a fan.

2005, Brigid Kelly, "The Transformative Power Of 'Hot Gay Sex': Queering Superman, Queering The Fan On The TelevisionWithoutPity 'Smallville' Boards", Spectator, Volume 25, Issue 1, Spring 2005, page 75

Considering how often Smallville has already diverged from Superman canon in the course of the past five seasons, including the transformation of Clark and Lex from instant enemies to friends, this line of reasoning points to an attitude of wanting to defend and reaffirm the validity of "Clex."

2008, Melanie E. S. Kohnen, “The Adventures of a Repressed Farm Boy and the Billionaire Who Loves Him: Queer Spectatorship in Smallville Fandom”, in Sharon Marie Ross, Louisa Ellen Stein, editors, Teen Television: Essays on Programming and Fandom, McFarland & Company, →ISBN, page 216:

The same thing occurred among Smallvilles shippers who were divided among supporting Clana (Clark/Lana), Clois (Clark/Lois), Chlark (Chloe/Clark), with some slash fans rooting for the same sex pairing Clex' (Clark/Lex).

2008, Jennifer Gillan, Television and New Media: Must-Click TV, Routledge, published 2011, →ISBN, page 46:

(fandom slang) The ship of characters Clark Kent and Lex Luthor from the television series Smallville.


Clana

The same thing occurred among Smallvilles shippers who were divided among supporting Clana' (Clark/Lana), Clois (Clark/Lois), Chlark (Chloe/Clark), with some slash fans rooting for the same sex pairing Clex (Clark/Lex).

For example it led to the incessant Clana in seasons 6 and 7 when it was long passed its expiry date.

2008 May 17, KalElFan [username], “Re: SV+ Smallville/"Sequels", The CW & WB”, in rec.arts.comics.dc.universe (Usenet):

Clana vids, for example, may pay homage to favorite moments in Clark and Lana's romantic relationship.

2011, Juli Stone Pitzer, “Vids, Vlogs, and Blogs: The Participatory Culture of Smallvilles Digital Fan”, in Lincoln Geraghty, editor, The Smallville Chronicles: Critical Essays on the Television Series, Scarecrow Press, →ISBN, page 123:

(fandom slang) The ship of characters Clark Kent and Lana Lang from the television series Smallville.


Chlark

So this development may move the relationships more to a Lexana vs. Chlark end of the season, not what the Clanites would want but consistent with what the series has apparently been setting up for more of.

2006 December 25, KalElFan [username], “Re: Call For Noms: The Worst of Smallville”, in rec.arts.tv (Usenet):

The same thing occurred among Smallvilles shippers who were divided among supporting Clana (Clark/Lana), Clois (Clark/Lois), Chlark' (Chloe/Clark), with some slash fans rooting for the same sex pairing Clex (Clark/Lex).

Although "Escape" tackles these kinds of issues more heavily than the typical Smallville episode and thus could have prompted a more spirited output, other episode sub-forums are also filled with Chlark and Clois fans discussing the validity of their favorite relationship.

2014, Cory Barker, “'Chlark' vs 'Clois': Shippers, Anti-Fans, and Anti-Fan Fans in Smallville”, in Cory Barker, Chris Ryan, Myc Wiatrowski, editors, Mapping Smallville: Critical Essays on the Series and Its Characters, McFarland & Company, →ISBN, page 182:

(fandom slang) The ship of characters Chloe Sullivan and Clark Kent from the television series Smallville.


Clois

The same thing occurred among Smallvilles shippers who were divided among supporting Clana (Clark/Lana), Clois' (Clark/Lois), Chlark (Chloe/Clark), with some slash fans rooting for the same sex pairing Clex (Clark/Lex).

I think even Clois fans would go along with that, since she dumped Clark.

2010 May 9, Christopher M., “Re: Smallville Season 10”, in rec.arts.tv (Usenet):

(fandom slang) The ship of characters Clark Kent and Lois Lane from the television series Smallville.


Lexana

I can only read Lexana fic if it's fucked up.

2002 October 24, Carolin, “Re: A few quick Nocturne thoughts (spoilers ahead)”, in alt.tv.smallville (Usenet):

Whereas on TWOP, the violation of community rules that declare Clark and Lex as the "one true pairing" leads to a rejection of Lexana, on LiveJournal, this transgression/queering/reworking/expansion of community standards is embraced with much delight.

2008, Melanie E. S. Kohnen, “The Adventures of a Repressed Farm Boy and the Billionaire Who Loves Him: Queer Spectatorship in Smallville Fandom”, in Sharon Marie Ross, Louisa Ellen Stein, editors, Teen Television: Essays on Programming and Fandom, McFarland & Company, →ISBN, page 219:

(fandom slang) The ship of characters Lex Luthor and Lana Lang from the television series Smallville.


Chlollie

I guess when you direct the episode, as Allison Mack did, you get to put yourself in the final scene: The heck with Clark and Lois — Chlollie was in full effect, as Oliver guided Chloe in shooting an arrow, his arms enfolding her.

2010 February 13, Ken Tucker, “'Smallville' goes supernatural: A recap and a suggestion”, in Entertainment Weekly:

Other than the extreme crappiness of 'Escape', Chloe's nude excursion into Clark's shower probably irritated just about everybody--Clois fans, Chlollie fans, people who just don't like Chloe, etc.

2010 June 7, Christopher M., “Re: Kryptonsite poll: Favorite season 10 director?”, in alt.tv.smallville (Usenet):

While the fans do love Chlollie, the question remains: Will their marriage survive the series finale of Smallville?

2011, Natalie Abrams, "Smallville: Will Oliver and Chloe's Marriage Last?", TV Guide, 28 April 2011 (archived on Usenet)

(fandom slang) The ship of characters Chloe Sullivan and Oliver "Ollie" Queen from the television series Smallville.


sillyfic

sillyfic (countable and uncountable, plural sillyfics)

TCP sillyfic, not to be taken seriously.

1999 February 9, Patrick Sahlstrom, “[TCP] Opposites Attract 1/1”, in alt.comics.fan-fiction (Usenet):

Warning: Sillyfic straight ahead! You have been warned.

2000 April 9, Christa Rose, “Fic: Master of the House”, in alt.tv.buffy-v-slayer.creative (Usenet):

WHERE DID THIS COME FROM? or The Ranma 1/2 script they threw in the bin...Beware, MAJOR sillyfic alert.

2001 February 28, Calum Wallace, “[Ranma][FanFic] The script they threw away...”, in rec.arts.anime.creative (Usenet):


netfic

One of the beauties of fanfic, especially netfic, is that the story can be just exactly as long as it needs to be.

1998 October 12, Joyce Harmon, “Re: Strange New Worlds II...?”, in alt.startrek.creative (Usenet):

I still prefer fanzines because they are printed and I'm a print junkie, but I don't buy as many as I used to buy in the past. One reason is that netfic is partially satisfying my fanfic addiction.

2000 November 5, Shomeret [username], “Re: Fan Fiction Readers (and Writers)”, in alt.tv.highlander (Usenet):

The stories were also interesting because the author is representative of the younger generation of netfic authors.

2003 June 16, Lady Cyrrh [username], “{ASSM} {REVIEW} The Annex Reviews, 6/15/03”, in alt.sex.stories.moderated (Usenet):

(fandom slang) Fan fiction published online.


zinefic

When I said "net Trekdom", that's what I meant. Not all fanfic, just Trekfic. Not zinefic, just netfic.

2000 July 22, Mary Ellen Curtin, “Re: More than a few words about the ASC* Archive”, in alt.startrek.creative (Usenet):

Not to mention she writes absolutely the girliest most pathetic and nauseating excuse for Spock I've ever seen *including* in zinefic.

2001 March 24, Greywolf the Wanderer [username], “Re: Looking back (Greywolf)”, in alt.startrek.creative.erotica.moderated (Usenet):

You're right, Mary Ellen, I haven't seen LowLibido!Spock much in netfic. I'm not widely read in zinefic so I don't know how prevalent he is there.

2001 August 20, mgtrek [username], “Subject: "Canon" (was Re: Who's on top?)”, in alt.startrek.creative.erotica.moderated (Usenet):

(fandom slang) Fan fiction published in a print zine.


Trekfic

Trekfic (countable and uncountable, plural Trekfics)

At any rate, the first Trekfic I posted was non-slash, and I'm pretty much rampantly bifictional in my reading, although I don't like most het (probably because I don't have good enough filters in place to eliminate the bad stuff).

2000 June 22, laura jacquez valentine, “Re: Slash versus non-slash”, in alt.startrek.creative.erotica.moderated (Usenet):

Lois McMaster Bujold, according to reports, wrote a Trekfic which contained the seeds from which grew some of her Vorkosigan series.

2005 May 29, Sea Wasp [username], “Re: AKICIF: Fanfic writers turning pro”, in rec.arts.sf.fandom (Usenet):

Well, it's my first Trekfic, so I'd agree. :)

2008 January 7, Aya <3 [username], “Re: NEW TOS The Surgery 1/1 (K/Mc) [PG-13]”, in alt.startrek.creative.erotica.moderated (Usenet):

(countable, fandom slang) A fanfic based on the Star Trek television series and films.

There was some fairly decent Trekfic before the age of computers.

1998 April 24, Ellen Lewis, “Re: TSU: The New Wing”, in alt.startrek.creative.erotica.moderated (Usenet):

Speaking just from a writer's viewpoint (I write Trekfic -- only 3 XF stories written), I will usually write a little PWP smut story after I've spent sometime agonizing over a serious piece.

1998 December 6, trxphile [username], “Re: Why Smut?”, in alt.tv.x-files.creative (Usenet):

McCoy is often portrayed in Trekfic as motivated by agape.

2001 August 21, Dunyazad9 [username], “Subject: "Canon" (was Re: Who's on top?)”, in alt.startrek.creative.erotica.moderated (Usenet):


Hanfic

Hanfic (countable and uncountable, plural Hanfics)

What other Hanfic do you guys like?

1998 December 20, yellowdocs [username], “Re: Aretha sings about it but we seem to forget it sometimes...”, in alt.fan.hanson (Usenet):

However, I will say that there is some truly marvelous Hanfic out there, hard as it is to find.

2000 November 28, Shadowy Moon [username], “Re: Good Hanfic?”, in alt.fan.hanson (Usenet):

I know I haven't had the time to read a lot of Hanfic lately, I haven't even had time to *write* Hanfic.

2001 January 4, LadyLurker [username], “Re: The Hanfic Awards 2000”, in alt.fan.hanson (Usenet):


Moffic

i've just been working on my novel more than my moffic story, cuz... well, the novel might actually make me some money some day, and the moffic won't :oX

2000 March 28, MMMBopJenn [username], “jenn update :oX”, in alt.music.moffatts (Usenet):

you write moffic better then^([sic]) anyone on^([sic]) the galaxy.

2000 May 31, Kaleeeeeee [username], “HAPPY BIRTHDAY JENN@#!(@*!_@$#*&$”, in alt.music.moffatts (Usenet):

There's soo much more Hanfic out there than Moffic.

2001 October 2, Erin, “LOL the Moffatts have published fanfiction - OT”, in alt.fan.hanson (Usenet):

(rare, fandom slang) Real person fiction focusing on the imagined activities of the Canadian band The Moffatts.


finishipper

Yes, I'm a shipper! I feel that M and S secretly love each other, but can't express their feelings right now due to their partnership. so I'm technically a finishipper!

1999 February 23, Jewlz! [username], “This is where I stand..”, in alt.tv.x-files (Usenet):

I have some respect for the views of the finishippers, as they realize that a romance would ruin the show, so they'll put it off till the end.

1999 July 11, Marita the Land Manatee [username], “Re: NRMTPB”, in alt.tv.x-files (Usenet):

I think that if they showed us a consummation or even a simple acknowlegement of their wuv at the end of the series, there would be no way they could focus on it, except in a movie, and even then, I wouldn't want more than one or two scenes that acknowlege^([sic]) the relationship. I guess that makes me more of a finishipper.

2000 May 3, Kool Kristen [username], “Re: All Things Re-Examined”, in alt.tv.x-files (Usenet):

(X-Files fandom slang) A shipper of Fox Mulder and Dana Scully who only wanted the pair to become romantically involved at the end of the series.


Weasleycest

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-Weasleycest.wav

Unlike Weasleycest, which has spread across the fandom like kudzu, Malfoycest has always been more difficult to find, and its writers a bit more secretive.

2007, Catherine Tosenberger, "Potterotics: Harry Potter Fanfiction On The Internet", dissertation submitted to the University of Florida, page 151

Although, in Weasleycest, incestuous stories with all members and possible pairings engaging in sexual acts can be found, the most popular pairing by far is George and his twin Fred.

2010, Sigrid Sindhuber, "Slashing Harry Potter: The phenomenon of border-transgression in fan fiction", thesis submitted to the University of Vienna, page 93

And if you just want to come reminisce about the glory days of Weasleycest and your early exposure to Flowers in the Attic, that’s fine too!

2012, "Family Relationships in Fanfic [Keeping It in the Family]", Wincon 2012 programme, page 21

(fandom slang) Any ship involving members of the Weasley family from the Harry Potter series in an incestuous relationship.


galactography

Either galactic + -graphy or blend of galactic + geography. Coined by American science fiction author Isaac Asimov in 1950 in the final installment of the novella "...And Now You Don't" (collected as part of Second Foundation).

coin

‘Galactography,’ said the mayor, ‘is our greatest enemy. Our admirals make no secret of our almost hopeless, strategic position.’

1950 January, Isaac Asimov, “...And Now You Don't”, in Astounding Science-Fiction, volume 44, number 5, page 113:

Well, one knows that. I mean, one studies galactography and gets to recognize the stars with inhabited planets in the sky at night.

1960, John Brunner, Slavers of Space, Ace Books, page 22:

(science fiction) The science of charting and mapping galaxies.


galactographer

From galactography (“science of charting and mapping galaxies”) + -er. Coined by American science fiction author Edmond Hamilton in his 1965 novelette The Shores of Infinity.

suffix

Early galactographers had defined it as that part of the galaxy which lay between the eastern and southern kingdoms, and the edge of the island-universe.

1965 April, Edmond Hamilton, “The Shores of Infinity”, in Amazing Stories, volume 39, number 4, page 24:

It seems like these 'cats might be left over from wetter days. I found a brief study of Rhyl done by a couple galactographers, and they reported this was once a cooler planet.

1978, Robert Edward Vardeman, The Sandcats of Rhyl, →ISBN:

Some galactographers have estimated that there may be up to ten thousand inhabited planets that aren't listed at all.

1982, Isaac Asimov, Foundation's Edge, →ISBN, page 99:

(science fiction) A specialist in galactography.


galactographic

en-adj

galactographic (comparative more galactographic, superlative most galactographic)

more galactographic (comparative)
most galactographic (superlative)

From galactography (“science of charting and mapping galaxies”) + -ic. Coined by American science fiction author Isaac Asimov in 1950 in the final installment of the novella "...And Now You Don't" (collected as part of Second Foundation).

suffix

Nor were the galactographic verities of the situation lost upon Stettin.

1950 January, Isaac Asimov, “...And Now You Don't”, in Astounding Science-Fiction, volume 44, number 5, page 115:

Is there some place here where we can make some galactographic computations?

1969 May, Edmond Hamilton, “The Horror from the Magellanic”, in Amazing Stories, volume 43, number 1, page 11:

This new planet didn't have a name. It could just about support life, but not a lot, and as opposed to Beta Caprisis—where entirely too many interesting things had happened for it to be inhabited—this planet simply wasn't interesting enough. It had a galactographic classification, in a desultory sort of way, but for various reasons you‟re not going to get it out of me.

1999, Dave Stone, The Mary-Sue Extrusion, →ISBN:

(science fiction) Pertaining to galactography; to the charting and mapping galaxies.


Schmucksville

That maybe^([sic]) okay for some hick from Schmucksville, Tennessee. But not for you kid. You got talent.

2007, David Lee, Nothing Rhymes with Silver 2, page 222:

You finally graduated—and with honors—but unfortunately you went to Schmucks University somewhere in Schmucksville that no schmuck has ever heard of.

2009, Gregory Bergman, Jodi Miller, WTF? College, page 232:

(US, informal, derogatory) A dull and insignificant town.


non-mimetic fiction

In the nineteenth century, the sustained metaphors of sf—non-mimetic fiction—were reconceived with the aid of science, the same science that Arthur Miller quails before today.

1976, Alexei Panshin, Cory Panshin, “The World Beyond the Hill”, in SF in Dimension: A Book of Explorations, →ISBN, page 50:

Instead of requiring to be persuaded that the heterocosmic construction is as perfect a simulacrum of the primary world as can reasonably be contrived, the readers of non-mimetic fiction require to be persuaded that world within a text is plausible and interesting in spite of its marked differences from the primary world: differences that might pertain, as a set, uniquely to the world within a particular text.

2007, Brian Stableford, Heterocosms, →ISBN, page 195:

The first magazine solely devoted to horror was the long-running pulp Weird Tales (1923–54), where Lovecraft and his disciples published much of their work. their very appearance in this magazine has been held as a mark against them, but it was at this juncture that the supernatural (even in the form of the innocuous Christmas ghost story) became generally banished from mainstream periodicals, so that these writers had no other markets to peddle their wares. Whether the existence of the pulp magazines engendered this banishment, or whether changes in literary fashion triggered the scorning of non-mimetic fiction from mainstream magazines, is a question that has not been satisfactorily answered.

2009, Sunand Tryambak Joshi, Junk Fiction, →ISBN, page 197:

Fiction not based on reality; fiction set in a fictional fantasy world that does not exist.


low fantasy

en-noun

low fantasy (countable and uncountable, plural low fantasies)

Fantasy fiction has been categorized and described in different ways. One classification divides fantasy into two major types: low fantasy, which takes place in the primary world (our world); high fantasy, which takes place in alternative worlds.

2008, Nikki Gamble, Sally Yates, “Fantasy and Realism”, in Exploring Children's Literature, →ISBN, page 120:

(uncountable) A subgenre of fantasy fiction set in the primary or real world as opposed to a secondary or fantasy world.


secondary world

secondary world (plural secondary worlds)

Coined by J. R. R. Tolkien in his 1947 essay "On Fairy-Stories".

What really happens is that the story-maker proves a successful 'sub-creator'. He makes a Secondary World which your mind can enter. Inside it, what he relates is 'true': it accords with the laws of that world. You therefore believe it, while you are, as it were, inside. The moment disbelief arises, the spell is broken; the magic, or rather art, has failed. You are then out in the Primary World again, looking at the little abortive Secondary World from outside.

1947, J.R.R. Tolkien, “On Fairy-Stories”, in Essays Presented to Charles Williams, page 60:

From beginning to end of the fiction we are in the secondary world.

1982, Frederick M. Burelbach, “An Introduction to Naming in the Literature of Fantasy”, in Literary Onomastics Studies, volume 9, number 11, archived from the original on 2021-05-16, page 133:

The girls stress the internal logic of the Secondary World as the crucial point for fantasy pleasure. Mastering the elaborate structure of the Secondary World is part and parcel of the reader's quest to experience a text such as Harry Potter, although the central hero would identify the text as masculine.

2004, Holly Virginia Blackford, “It's Like a Fantasy World”, in Out of this World: Why Literature Matters to Girls, Teachers College Press, →ISBN, page 48:

The world to which the protagonist belongs is the 'primary' or 'domestic' world. The secondary world is often a binary opposite of the primary world; an inverse, or mirror-image of the consensual reality of the text.

2012, Jane Suzanne Carroll, “The Sanctuary Topos”, in Landscape in Children's Literature, Routledge, →ISBN, page 26:

(fantasy) An internally consistent, fictional, fantasy world or setting that is different from the real "primary world".


primary world

Now, this secondary world can be made to stand entirely on its own, so that there is no primary world in the fiction and the only reference points to the real world are those the reader brings with him or forges for himself. This is generally the case with what is commonly called "high" fantasy, such as J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings.

1982, Frederick M. Burelbach, “An Introduction to Naming in the Literature of Fantasy”, in Literary Onomastics Studies, volume 9, number 11, archived from the original on 2021-05-16, page 132:

Fantasy fiction has been categorized and described in different ways. One classification divides fantasy into two major types:¶ low fantasy, which takes place in the primary world (our world);¶ high fantasy, which takes place in alternative worlds.

(fantasy) The real world of the reader or viewer, as opposed to the imaginary "secondary world" of a work of fiction.


sweet savage romance

sweet savage romance (plural sweet savage romances)

After Sweet Savage Love (1974) by Rosemary Rogers, an early novel of this type.

A style of romance novel featuring explicit sex and sexual aggression.


Vancian

en-adj

Vancian (comparative more Vancian, superlative most Vancian)

more Vancian (comparative)
most Vancian (superlative)

Vance has, in short, more than any other science fiction writer ‘colonised’ the entirely new imaginative space created by the nineteenth- and twentieth-century science of anthropology, […] Is it merely local colour? To answer that, one has to note, beneath the constant Vancean surface of strange ‘xenography’,⁸ the recurrent Vancean theme of human ‘plasticity’.

2016, Tom Shippey, ““People are Plastic”: Jack Vance and the Dilemma of Cultural Relativism”, in Hard Reading: Learning from Science Fiction, Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, →ISBN, →JSTOR, page 111:

(literature) Of or relating to Jack Vance (1916–2013), American writer of mystery, fantasy, and science fiction stories.


slashdom

Apart from that, it's usually for the sex itself, or to explore some interesting question that's come up either in the programme/book or in society in general or in slashdom.

1998, Theorizing Fandom: Fans, Subculture and Identity, eds. Cheryl Harris & Alison Alexander, Hampton Press, →ISBN, page 30:

The slash community has extensively discussed this issue of slashdom as a homoerotic space.

2006, Kristina Busse, “My Life is a WIP on My LJ: Slashing the Slasher and the Reality of Celebrity and Internet Performances”, in Karen Hellekson, Kristina Busse, editors, Fan Fiction and Fan Communities in the Age of the Internet: New Essays, McFarland & Company, →ISBN, page 219:

What thrills me, as a slash reader of almost any slashdom (and currently I write in two and read in a total of four, and happily so) is the actual crafting of the storylines and the variety of experiences and activities described in each.

2009 August 9, Jean Roseman, “Re: Questions on slash Thanks for the responses everybody!!!!!”, in alt.startrek.creative.erotica.moderated (Usenet):

(fandom slang) The culture or community of slash fiction writers.


Lojbanistan

“Lojbanistan” is both an imaginary country where Lojban is the native language, and a term for the actual community of Lojbanspeakers, scattered over the world.

1997, John Cowan, The Complete Lojban Language:

The entire community of Lojbanists (Lojban users)


Sherlockiana

From Sherlockian + -ana or Sherlock + -iana.

I collect Sherlockiana first and foremost because I am a Sherlock Holmes bug.

1954, Nathan L. Bengis, “Why I Collect Sherlockiana”, in Hobbies, volume 59, number 1, page 126:

McCutcheon has built up a small but extensive collection of Sherlockiana headed by a copy of Beeton's 1887 Christmas Annual, the publication in which Sherlock Holmes made his debut.

2007, Howard Burman, Paradise by Paradise, iUniverse, →ISBN:

On the ground floor there is a good collection of Sherlockiana. This includes the face-mask used for the Hound of the Baskervilles in the 1960s Hammer movie, complete with phosphorescent paint.

2011, Robin James, “The performance of power”, in Cath Phillips, editor, Time Out London Walks: 30 Walks by London Writers, Volume 1, Time Out Guides, →ISBN, page 30:

Memorabilia or writings related to the fictional detective Sherlock Holmes.


alternative history

en-noun

alternative history (usually uncountable, plural alternative histories)

One of the many criticisms that can be directed at alternative historians is their failure to think historically. For alternative history, the past is not a ‘foreign country’, but rather a country that closely resembles the Russian Empire of recent times.

2014 May 13, Konstantin Sheiko, Stephen Brown, History as Therapy: Alternative History and Nationalist Imaginings in Russia:

Counterfactual history, a form of scientific speculation used by historians.

(fiction) A genre of fiction based around or involving ahistorical events (often occurring after a fixed point of divergence from real history).