I live in a SoCal beachy town, where I may be the only resident who reads primarily science fiction and fantasy, and am certainly the only middle-aged woman here who attends WorldCons and plays MMOs. I have a deep and abiding need to be “among my people,” which is the main reason I attend Cons. I would much prefer to live in a community of like-minded people, where spontaneous discussions of books, games, etc. aren’t met with confusion and disdain.
I have a belief (based on nothing in particular) that Portland would be a place of readers, writers, and genre appreciators of all ages and genders. Possibly Seattle as well. I don’t know if there is any truth to that.
Can any of you recommend a place to live where I would be comfortably among my people, not the odd one out, hiding alone at home?
Either Portland or Seattle would be good-large SF communities in both cities and, because it’s not that long a drive, quite a bit of crossover between the two groups.
Hi there! I am also a middle-aged woman who reads primarily science fiction and fantasy who lives in a SoCal beachy town! (I must confess I’ve only attended a couple of cons – which I liked, and husband and I wouldn’t mind attending another one sometime – and I don’t play MMO’s, though mostly because I fear I would never be able to stop. I had a bad addiction experience with Nethack earlier in my life… )
I take care of most of my fandom life online and not in RL, but as far as I know California is a great place to be a science fiction fan! I have real-life friends in both San Diego and San Francisco who are heavily involved in the communities there. The one in San Diego, I know, is also involved in running a relatively new con down there – my husband and I went and quite enjoyed ourselves. I can find more info on that if you want.
I lived in LA for a while, and while I wasn’t involved in the communities there, LA is so big that I know there are a bunch. And with UCLA and Caltech and several other colleges in the area… yeah.
You may be surprised at how many of us are hiding at home! At my workplace, there are a nontrivial number of us, ranging in age (though my workplace is mostly male, so I’m the only female fan there) who have over the years found each other, but always through chance encounters like someone mentioning Robert Jordan or Stargate. (Neither of which I am a huge fan of, but it’s a useful marker to find people who like science fiction!)
But yeah – basically anyplace that’s a) a large city or b) a university town, or both, is going to have a fairly active scene, I think. I know online a bunch of fans in Boston and New York, for instance, in addition to my RL friends in SF and SD.
I appreciate your comments. I do live in a university town, but because there aren’t enough long-term residents with an interest, no broad SF community has built up around the university. In my experience, having grown up in L.A. and lived in a beachy SoCal town for decades, the culture generally doesn’t tolerate quirks and differences among people (except in the very young), and instead promotes the ideal of physical perfection and enhancement, along with all the social stuff that goes with it. Of course there will always be outliers, but I’m looking for a community based upon creativity, intellectual curiosity, a level social playing field, and a broader range of tastes, including genre interests.
My online life does supplement my need for SF/gaming/geek community, but because I’m single and alone, I’d like to find a real-life community of all ages, one that’s pervasive enough in the local zeitgeist to spawn multiple venues to bump into others of the same ilk.
Thanks for your confirmation of my hunch, Czarcasm.
The Twin Cities has the Minnesota Scientifiction Society, a very active group of fans & such. The annual con (MiniCon) got so big about 10 years ago that it split into the separate cons, and they’re all going strong.
It also has arctic tundra and tornadoes, so unless you’re really desperate to be among fen, I’d recommend against it.
> . . . on the east coast, the big areas are NYC, Boston, and Philadelphia . . .
I know that you’re a science fiction writer, but do you have any actual evidence that these cities have a higher proportion of fans than other cities? I would be more confident in saying that the entire Boswash area (Boston to Washington) have a lot of fans.
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