Fans of science fiction offer an unusual opportunity to study that rare bird—a “public” view of science in history. Of course science fiction fans are by no means representative of a “general” public, but they are a coherent, interesting, and significant group in their own right. In this article, we follow British fans from their phase of self-organization just before World War II and through their wartime experiences. We examine how they defined science and science fiction, and how they connected their interest in them with their personal ambitions and social concerns. Moreover, we show how the war clarified and altered these connections. Rather than being distracted from science fiction, fans redoubled their focus upon it during the years of conflict. The number of new fanzines published in the midcentury actually peaked during the war. In this article, we examine what science fiction fandom, developed over the previous few years, offered them in this time of national trial.

中文翻译：

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英国科幻迷中的战争与和平，1936-1945

科幻小说迷提供了一个不同寻常的机会来研究这种稀有鸟类——一种“公众”的历史科学观。当然，科幻迷绝不是“一般”大众的代表，但他们本身就是一个连贯、有趣且重要的群体。在这篇文章中，我们从二战前英国球迷的自组织阶段以及他们的战时经历来跟踪他们。我们研究了他们如何定义科学和科幻小说，以及他们如何将他们的兴趣与他们的个人抱负和社会关注联系起来。此外，我们展示了战争如何澄清和改变了这些联系。在多年的冲突中，粉丝们并没有从科幻小说中分心，而是加倍关注它。世纪中叶出版的新粉丝杂志的数量实际上在战争期间达到了顶峰。