And for those curious about the book this event was based around... Vril, The Coming Race is available free on Project Gutenburg if you want to read it.
Fascinating! I'd always thought the first science fiction convention was the World Con in New York in 1939, which I know of through Isaac Asimov's autobiography, as he was one of the attendees (as...
Fascinating! I'd always thought the first science fiction convention was the World Con in New York in 1939, which I know of through Isaac Asimov's autobiography, as he was one of the attendees (as a fan, not a writer!). They invented the idea of a convention for science fiction fans on their own, obviously not realising it had been done half a century earlier and half a world away.
But the illustrations of this event show an early version of cosplay. How cool!
Yeah, I really liked those illustrations of the crowd in "cosplay" too. Even the vendor booth setup was pretty funny to see and incredibly relatable as well. The Bovril booth was especially funny....
Yeah, I really liked those illustrations of the crowd in "cosplay" too. Even the vendor booth setup was pretty funny to see and incredibly relatable as well. The Bovril booth was especially funny. And who knew Bovril = Bovine + "Vril powers/people", which was taken from the 19th century scifi book this "con" was based around? Fascinating stuff!
It was bizarre seeing a lady in full Victorian get-up, with a pair of fairy-wings on her back. Although, seeing as it was a hand-drawn illustration and not a photograph, I did wonder whether the...
It was bizarre seeing a lady in full Victorian get-up, with a pair of fairy-wings on her back.
Although, seeing as it was a hand-drawn illustration and not a photograph, I did wonder whether the artist might have taken a few liberties. For example, were there really that many people there at one given time?
I figure that "Vril" is a deliberate mutilation of "virile". Drop that first "i", to make "v'rile", and you're halfway there.
Digging deeper, it turns out that this book, along with the wider esoteric movement it was part of, was quite influential. That's surprising. It may even have fed into the mysticism of the Nazis!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vril#Publications_on_the_Vril_Society_in_German How bizarre! Incidentally the kindle version of the book cited in that section is available for $2 on Amazon. But...
How bizarre! Incidentally the kindle version of the book cited in that section is available for $2 on Amazon. But based on one of the reviews, I wonder how accurate that connection really is:
In this book, Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke tries to give an account of the continuation of much of the Nazi philosophy after the demise of the Third Reich. However, after his previous work The Occult Roots of Nazism this book is surely a large disappointment. The book presents chapters on the American NeoNazis (especially Rockwell), British Nazis (including Colin Jordan and "Combat 18"), Julius Evola, Francis Parker Yockey and James Madole, Savitri Devi, a collection of "mysterious" and occult phenomena surrounding the Third Reich, Wilhelm Landig, UFOs and Antarctic underground bases, Miguel Serrano, black metal, Nazi Satanism, Christian Identity, Nordic paganism, and conspiracy beliefs regarding the New World Order. Unfortunately, there is very little holding this book together and it is rather poorly written. Although the book is entertaining, some of the weirdest things you are likely to read about, it fails to achieve any sort of conclusion at all and resorts to gratuitous references to terrorism (the events of September 11, unconnected with Nazism at all).
For a much better account of NeoNazi and far right beliefs read either: Arktos by Joscelyn Godwin or Dreamer of the Day by Kevin Coogan.
And for those curious about the book this event was based around... Vril, The Coming Race is available free on Project Gutenburg if you want to read it.
Fascinating! I'd always thought the first science fiction convention was the World Con in New York in 1939, which I know of through Isaac Asimov's autobiography, as he was one of the attendees (as a fan, not a writer!). They invented the idea of a convention for science fiction fans on their own, obviously not realising it had been done half a century earlier and half a world away.
But the illustrations of this event show an early version of cosplay. How cool!
Yeah, I really liked those illustrations of the crowd in "cosplay" too. Even the vendor booth setup was pretty funny to see and incredibly relatable as well. The Bovril booth was especially funny. And who knew Bovril = Bovine + "Vril powers/people", which was taken from the 19th century scifi book this "con" was based around? Fascinating stuff!
It was bizarre seeing a lady in full Victorian get-up, with a pair of fairy-wings on her back.
Although, seeing as it was a hand-drawn illustration and not a photograph, I did wonder whether the artist might have taken a few liberties. For example, were there really that many people there at one given time?
I figure that "Vril" is a deliberate mutilation of "virile". Drop that first "i", to make "v'rile", and you're halfway there.
Digging deeper, it turns out that this book, along with the wider esoteric movement it was part of, was quite influential. That's surprising. It may even have fed into the mysticism of the Nazis!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vril#Publications_on_the_Vril_Society_in_German
How bizarre! Incidentally the kindle version of the book cited in that section is available for $2 on Amazon. But based on one of the reviews, I wonder how accurate that connection really is: