The collection consists of the program books, documents, correspondence, and miscellaneous items collected by the Cepheid Variable Science Fiction Club from its inception in 1969 through 2005. The collection was assembled from deposits of the club, gifts from Bill Page, and other occasional donors.

The Media Fanzine Collection is comprised of numerous pre-Internet fan-produced publications that document their involvement in a particular fandom. Fandoms are based around media productions such as movies (i.e. the Star Wars film series) or television shows (i.e. Star Trek in its various iterations). Although traditionally most media fandoms involve productions from the science fiction and fantasy genres, there are numerous exceptions.

The majority of the contents in this collection consists of fan fiction. Fan fiction is the name given to literary or artistic productions created by fans about the characters, settings and events of the media universe in which they are interested. A substantial portion of the fanworks in the Media Fanzine Collection is identified as "slash”. "Slash" refers to fanworks that feature same-sex relationships and are sometimes (though not always) sexually explicit. In slash, sexual identity, sexuality and/or romance are often the centers of the story, rather than the conventional adventures featured in more traditional fanworks.

A small portion of the collection consists of "het" material. "Het", like slash, refers to fanworks featuring sexual or romantic content, but with opposite-sex relationships.

Slash and het items are identified as such on the item folder. If an item is not identified as slash or het, it is to be assumed that the item is “gen” (containing no sexual or romantic content. Both slash and het items have been specifically identified because of their importance as highly visible fan fiction subcultures. (s) indicates slash material. (h) indicates het material.

Fanzines are organized alphabetically by fandom name, and thereunder by title. The term “Multimedia” refers to anthologies of material from different fandoms. The term “Crossover” refers to stories in which characters from one or more media universes interact with those from another. (For example, a story in which Mal Reynolds' ship Serenity passed through a wormhole and encountered Captain James T. Kirk's U.S.S. Enterprise would be a Firefly/Star Trek crossover.)

The October 2016 Addendum includes several "friend books", tiny zines used by pre-teens and teens in the 1970s and 1980s as a way of finding other like-minded fans in the pre-Internet era. Some "friend books" were sized small enough to fit into an international envelope (2-3 inches), and consisted of no more than a few pages. The covers were pages cut from magazines or advertisement and were stapled or taped into a booklet shape. Many were multi-fandom, but some focused on single fandoms like Star Wars. Fans would write their name and address, and list their interests. The book would then passed along to the next fan. When the booklet was filled it was to be mailed back to the original fan. Often times questions were asked (ex: Who is your favorite Star Wars character?)

There are several additional items, including materials from genre conventions, ads and flyers, professional publications that relate to various fandoms, and various items of printed realia. The Christina Pilz February 2024 Addendum contains a number of fanzine advertisements and documentation devoted to fanzine and fanfic productions.

Sub-Series 1 of the Georgia Barnes Addendum contains maps of the Star Trek universe, and has therefore been filed with other items in the Maps Of Imaginary Places Collection.

Audio-Visual Materials

The collection also contains non-print materials. There are a significant number of fanvids in the collection (and the fandoms for those vids are noted in the finding aid). There are also several DVDs that contain recordings of fanfiction podcasts, from a number of different fandoms.

On Star Trek

Since 1966 there have been 5 non-animated television iterations of the television franchise Star Trek. Each one has its own dedicated fandom (although certainly many Trekkers are fans of multiple series), and each one has a generally accepted denotation. Those denotations are used in this collection, as follows:

Star Trek [TOS] refers to the original series(1966-1969).

Star Trek [TNG] refers to Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987-1994).

Star Trek [DS9] refers to Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993-1999).

Star Trek [VGR] refers to Star Trek: Voyager (1995-2001).

Star Trek [ENT] refers to Star Trek: Enterprise (2001-2005).

On The Professionals Circuit Archive:

There are several boxes of fanfiction from The Professionals Circuit Archive. The Circuit Archive is a singular form of fannish creative association, that for The Professionals fans actually predates the creation of more typical zines. In a standard fanzine distribution, a fan or group of fans will write, edit and publish a fanzine, and the publication will be printed and made available for sale. With The Professionals fandom, things began much more informally. Fans would place their stories 'on the circuit'. That is, they would write their stories and then produce photocopies; the copies would then be circulated among one another via standard mail. In time, certain fans began collecting copies together into 'circuit libraries'. Interested fans could become members of these informal lending libraries, and would receive titles on request, which they could read and /or photocopy and then return to the library. Although, in time, The Professionals fans began producing zines in the same ways that other fans did, much of the fanfiction remained (and remains) on the circuit.

By the late 1980s, two large circuit libraries were in place: one in Great Britain, and another in the United States. They enjoyed considerable overlap in their contents, but because of geographical distance and the informality of circuit distribution did not duplicate each other. In the early 1990s, as zines started entering the electronic era, fans began working to convert the vast number of paper stories into an electronic format that would encourage and increase access (as well as help preserve the much-used paper originals). In 1996, the Circuit Archive went online and continues to periodically increase its contents with new stories. The Circuit Archive, sprung from humble beginnings, now holds more than 1000 individual stories, which form the backbone of The Professionals creative fandom.

To quote Morgan Dawn, "the circuit library in the Professionals fandom is a unique tradition of women writing and sharing fan fiction (often anonymously) without going through the editorial and fanzine publication process. In many ways, it is the precursor to the fan fiction on the Internet where people would read a story, photo-copy it and send it on to someone else, and then write a response story, copy that and mail it on in an endless flow...and because The Professionals was a UK show, you have the unique situation where this communication was crossing both cultural and geographic barriers." Stories in these folders include both gen and slash.

This collection contains materials relating to Golden Gryphon Press and its publication of Howard Waldrop's 2003 novelette "A Better World's In Birth!". Materials in the collection include Waldrop's hand-typed manuscript, editor Marty Halpern's edited draft of the story, a final typescript, a copy of the chapbook and a cover flat, and electronic copies of the final typescript.

The novelette tells the story of an alternate central Europe, in which a Communist revolution occurred in the middle of the 19th century, led by Karl Marx, Friederich Engels, and Richard Wagner. In 1876, rumors fly that the ghosts of these three revolutionary martyrs have begun appearing in the city of Dresden. The story examines how these specters may be tied into a larger political conspiracy.

This collection contains materials relating to the lives and literary careers of horror writers Steve Rasnic Tem and Melanie Tem. Materials in the collection include manuscripts of novels, short stories, and other works by the Tems, whether written as individuals or together as co-writers; associated literary materials; correspondence; and other materials. Also included are recorded podcast interviews of Steve Rasnic Tem and readings of works by the Tems.

Also included are several literary awards won by the Tems individually and jointly.

This collection contains materials relating to the life and career of Texas-based science fiction and fantasy writer Jessica Reisman. Materials include typescript drafts for many of her published and unpublished stories, as well as drafts and notes from stories written before her professional career began. Other items in the collection include spec scripts and screenplays written by Reisman, academic writing from her undergraduate days, and assorted other materials.

This collection contains manuscripts from the works of fantasy writer Marie Brennan. Included are the original manuscripts and the page proofs for the four books of Brennan's _Onyx Court_series. The _Onyx Court_novels are comprised of a series of semi-standalone historical fantasy novels set in London at different points in English history. Also included are proofs for several volumes in Brennan's more recent Victorian pastiche fantasy series The Memoirs of Lady Trent.

Also included in the collection are copies of literary magazines that contain short stories by Brennan.

The Sam Moskowitz collection consists of his research files, correspondence, manuscripts, many of his books, and working documents related to his study of the history of science fiction and fantasy.  Drafts of two unpublished books are included.

The Southern Fandom Press Alliance (SFPA) is a regional amateur press association (APA) generally based in the Southern United States, but with notable membership from other regions.  SFPA was formed in 1961, with Bill Jennings serving as the first Official Editor.  The first mailing was in September 1961, consisting of 76 pages of contributions.  The APA grew in both members and page count, with a record 100th mailing that contained over 1400 pages.  Guy Lillian served the APA as the Official Editor for a number of years. (C000009)

The collection also includes various mailings from the Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society (LASFS) APA, which first began publication in 1976 and was still being published as of 2013.

Finally, there are some additional fanzines in the collection, published independently of SFPA or LASFS.

The collection spans Bill Crider's entire career. A near-complete run of manuscripts traces his writing career, supplemented by a correspondence file, miscellaneous material, and books and magazines. A long run of "DAPA-EM," the organ of a mystery writer's amateur press association completes the collection.

This collection contains manuscripts and associated materials from John W. Campbell Award-nominated science fiction and fantasy author Stina Leicht. Also included are convention materials from various cons attended by Leicht, as well as correspondence, notebooks, and assorted other materials.

This collection consists of typescripts of several of Binder's novels with most including the author's corrections and accompanying carbons, and a number of short stories with most corrected including carbons and in some cases tearsheets from the magazines in which the stories initially appeared, corrected and with continuation sheets for expansion into full-length books.

In addition, there are close to 300 business and personal letters, photographs, postcards, and other files including broadcasting projects, non-fiction articles, letters and critiques from literary agents and publishers, materials on Space World, and several folders of unfinished manuscripts. Unusual "picture cards" featuring text and photographs on postcards are included.

Excluding duplicate carbons, letters, etc., there are approximately 2,300 pages (mostly 11 x 8.5-inches) of typescript with a total of about 575,000 words. Many of Binder's letters are on letters received or on the backs of manuscript or script fragments.

This collection consists of various items from or relating to NecronomiCon Providence, a biennial convention and academic conference centered on the work of H.P. Lovecraft and on Weird Fiction more generally. It is always held in Providence, Rhode Island, Lovecraft's home, and generally held in late august, close to Lovecraft's birthday.

This collection consists of a number of action figures, statues, and Funko POP figures, almost all of whom depict Marvel or DC superheroes. There are several other items that depict other figures from pop culture.

This collection consists of manuscripts and literary materials from Mexican-Canadian fantasy and horror novelist, editor, and short-story writer Silvia Moreno-Garcia. Materials include versions and drafts (in paper and digital form) of her novels Signal to Noise (2015), Certain Dark Things (2016), and The Beautiful Ones (2017), among others.

This collection contains manuscripts and manuscript material from noted science fiction author and historical novelist (under the name Jon Williams) Walter Jon Williams. Included are drafts in various stages of evolution for a number of Williams' novels and stories.

The collection contains small amounts of other materials relating to Williams' life and career, including correspondence.

This faceplate was on an old workgroup server (the hot-swap machine) originally used by the UNIX support team at Texas A&M University Libraries. This and other servers, which were replaced in the late-2000s, were whimsically assigned nicknames by the staff based on characters from the science fiction television show Farscape.

The server to which this faceplate was attached was named "Crais", after Captain Bialar Crais, a major Farscape character. In March 2003, Lani Tapu, the actor who portrayed Crais, was a guest at Aggiecon, and while on campus autographed this faceplate. After several years in operation, the server was replaced and sent to surplus, but the faceplate was retained by the Associate Director for Systems and eventually donated to Cushing Library.

This collection details some of Heinlein's interactions with Shasta Publishers and with Playboy Enterprises.

The Shasta Publishers' correspondence, primarily from 1945-1958, provides insights to the dealings of Heinlein with an early specialty publisher of science fiction, and to one of the first science-fiction specialty publishers. The Playboy correspondence covers some contractual issues and providing insight on the methodology of creating a "Playboy Interview," including the "caboose," a two-page typescript addendum to the 1969 Playboy interview. The letters reference Heinlein's trip to Chicago, and to the Playboy panel in 1984.

The Your Cruise Director collection contains material from various fandoms collected by fan and fanfic writer "Your Cruise Director" (who prefers to remain anonymous). The material includes fanzines and fan fiction. A large portion of the media is slash or het, but also contains gen.

This collection consists primarily of fanzines. Fanzines are non-professional and non-official publications produced by fans of a certain media for the pleasure of others who share the same interest. Fan fiction is the name given to literary or artistic productions created by fans about the characters, settings, and events of the media universe in which they are interested.

"Slash" refers to fanworks that feature same-sex relationships and are sometimes (though not always) sexually explicit. In slash, sexual identity, sexuality and/or romance are often the centers of the story, rather than the conventional adventures featured in more traditional fanworks. “Het” refers to fanworks that are sexual in nature, but feature opposite sex relationships. “Gen” refers to more standard storytelling with no sexual content. “Femslash” is a term that refers to same sex relationships with women. “H/C” means hurt/comfort which refers to a relationship in the story where a character is hurt or injured in some way, and is comforted by another character. The folders in this collection are marked with slash, femslash, het, h/c, or gen. If a folder is not marked, it is gen. The term “Multi-Fandom” refers to media that contains material from multiple fandoms.

Series 1, Fanzines, and Series 2, Fanfiction, have been separated based on their difference in media. Fan fiction is fiction incorporating the characters and concepts of a commercial media property, created by its admirers, typically without permission from the author or owner. In these cases, the items are individual stories separated from their original zines or that were published as standalones. Fanzines in this case are full fan magazine publications that include various forms of media, mostly fan fiction.

A large portion of media in this collection is about Star Trek. Star Trek is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the 1960s television series and quickly became a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon. Star Trek has been a cult phenomenon for decades. Fans of the franchise are called "Trekkies" or "Trekkers". The franchise spans a wide range of spin-offs including games, figurines, novels, toys, and comics.

There are four Star Trek series contained in this collection. Their delineations are... Star Trek: The Original Series Star Trek: The Next Generation Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Star Trek: Voyager

This collection consists of a number of typed manuscripts from acclaimed science fiction and fantasy author Andre Norton, spanning much of her later career, from 1981-2005. Nearly all the manuscripts are autographed by Norton, and nearly all are also marked by handmade corrections from either Norton, her editor, or her publisher.

In some cases, individual titles contain multiple copies of manuscripts (albeit with individual hand corrections) and it is unclear in which order the copies were produced. The term "original", which has been given to certain manuscripts, is a term used by Norton and does not necessarily mean that it is literally the original typed manuscript.

The collection also contains several pieces of correspondence from Norton, most dated between 1963-2004, with two that are undated. Most are typed letters that bear Norton's signature, but a few are handwritten.

This collection consists of several apazines to which Prentiss Riddle contributed individual zines. The APAs represented are Argos and Myriad, which take as their subject science fiction, and Lingua (later titled Linguica), which involves explorations of language and languages. The collection contains a few additional materials, including individual zines.

Fanlore.org defines an "apa" (or "amateur press association") as "a kind of fan publication in which all the materials, generally letters, would be sent to a central person, who would simply copy the entire packet in the cheapest possible way (e.g. mimeograph, spirit duplicating, xerography, offset printing; APAs far predate the photocopy machine.) Sometimes each of the contributors sends as many copies of their submission as there are subscribers to the central mailer of the zine, who then collates and mails these, and does not have to take care of the printing.

APAs were, and are, important media for fannish conversation, discussion, and interaction: sort of a fannish mailing list or LiveJournal in print sent by snail mail. "

Apa members were expected to make regular or at least periodic contributions to the mailings (called "minac", or MINimum Activity). The role of the Central Mailer, sometimes called an Official Editor or Central Editor, often rotates between members of the apa. In addition, apa participants often change the title and/or format of their apazines from time period to time period. For example, Prentiss Riddle changed the title of his contributions almost monthly between issues of the apas of which he was a member.

This collection consists of materials relating to the life and career of science fiction and fantasy author Stephen Leigh. Materials include typescripts...

This collection contains manuscripts, printed material, correspondence, legal documents, financial documents, idea books, photographic material, and books created and/or maintained by Howard Waldrop which give a glimpse of his personal life as well as document his professional life as one of the prolific and best-known science fiction writers from Texas.

The first category consists of Howard Waldrop's works both published and unpublished arranged alphabetically by title. Some manuscript files in this category may contain correspondence, notes, research material, contracts, royalty statements, proofs, etc. Thus, information about a specific story can be found in the collection by title.

The second category consists of materials related to Waldrop personally and/or professionally. This category is arranged alphabetically by general topical heading. His idea for some of his stories can be found in his Idea Books file from 1968 to 1988. Information about him personally or professionally can be found in the newspaper clippings, correspondence, and his work diaries files. His movements for any given year from the 1970s to 1994 could be reconstructed from his science fiction convention, conferences, programs, etc. file. But the most important file in this category is his story logs file 1970-1989. The file shows: when and where a story was written, how long it is; who bought it or did not; when and where it was published (or supposed to be published); and any subsequent reprints or foreign editions, royalties, etc.

The last category of the collection is works by or materials related to other science fiction writers. It includes manuscripts of other writers' works that happened to be in his possession or other writers' manuscripts in which he is a collaborator. Some biographical sketches of other writers can be found in the Con Bios-writers file. Information about Waldrop written by other writers can also be found in this category of the collection.

This collection contains materials from the literary career of Pacific Northwest-based poet Jeannine Hall Gailey, who writes poetry with science fiction and fantasy-based themes. Materials in the collection include a number of typescripts of Gailey's work, together with some of her other writings as well as numerous printed publications in which her work has appeared.

This collection contains various materials from noted fan and fanzine publisher Francis Towner Laney (1914-1958). Materials include a number of letters between Laney and fellow fanzine publisher A. Langley Searles, as well as an unbound copy of Laney's 1948 Ah! Sweet Idiocy!: The Fan Memoirs of Francis T. Laney.

This collection contains materials relating to the literary career of acclaimed fantasy author Patrice Sarath. Materials include manuscripts for several of her novels, including Gordath Wood (2008) and its sequel Red Gold Bridge (2009), and the non-genre novel/Jane Austen pastiche The Unexpected Miss Bennet (2011).

This collection contains materials to the business and fannish career of Houston-area fan and con organizer Larry Taylor. Included in the collection are numerous fanzines, most of them from fans and fan associations in Texas in general and the Houston area in particular; program books, flyers, advertisements, and other documentation relating to genre conventions, including Collegecon '80 and Collegecon 2, cons at the University of Houston that Taylor helped run as a UH student; materials relating to Taylor's media company; and miscellaneous other materials.

The Payne Harrison Collection consists primarily of manuscripts, notes, and related material for Harrison's novels and other written works (including an unproduced screenplay, Arrow Storm). There is also a considerably large subject file consisting of news articles, government documents, and other materials that Harrison used in research for his works.

Also in the collection are a number of photographs and slides depicting trips Harrison made (to England and to Japan, among other places), as well as various aircraft and other military subjects. (Some photographs are held in the Subject File.)

This collection consists of the typescript for Bunch's short story, "Moment of Truth in Suburb Junction", which was published in Fantastic, in September 1973. The 10-page typescript has handwritten edits and includes a note from Fantastic editor Ted White and a one-leaf blurb.

The Fern Marder & Carol Walske Fanzine Collection consists primarily of a large number of science fiction media fanzines (primarily fanfiction), mostly relating to Star Trek: The Original Series (TOS). Additional fanzines relate to other media, notably including Star Wars.

Also included in the collection are a large number of scripts (final versions and drafts) and storylines from various science fiction media, including episodes (several of them unproduced) of Star Trek (TOS); Star Wars (in its evolving incarnations); The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai; Blade Runner, and others. Some of this material consists of photocopies, while others are original production copies obtained by Marder or Walske at various intervals.

There are also some additional materials, including program books from various Star Trek conventions, as well as oversized materials that include issues of The Monster Times and foldout maps and blueprints from the Star Trek universe. The maps of the Trek universe are considered part of the Maps Of Imaginary Places Collection.

The majority of the contents in this collection consists of fan fiction. Fan fiction is the name given to literary or artistic productions created by fans about the characters, settings and events of the media universe in which they are interested. A small portion of the fanworks in the Marder and Walske Collection is identified as "slash” or as "het". "Slash" refers to fanworks that feature same-sex relationships and are sometimes (though not always) sexually explicit. In slash, sexual identity, sexuality and/or romance are often the centers of the story, rather than the conventional adventures featured in more traditional fanworks. "Het", like slash, refers to fanworks featuring sexual or romantic content, but with opposite-sex relationships.

Slash and het items are identified as such on the item folder. If an item is not identified as slash or het, it is to be assumed that the item is "gen" (containing no sexual or romantic content. Both slash and het items have been specifically identified because of their importance as highly visible fan fiction subcultures.

The Burgess Collection consists of the first draft of the unpublished novel Puma, written in 1976 as a film treatment that was never made into a film. The novel is accompanied by a letter of explanation from Brian Kirby to Jim O'Roark, February 7, 1979.

Portions of the novel, which was pitched as an update of the classic film When Worlds Collide and which would have told the story of a planet [named "Puma"] hurtling towards Earth, was later adapted by Burgess into his 1982 novel The End of the World News.

This collection consists of selected Sunday comic strips (12 in number) from the comic strip John Carter of Mars, based on the series of novels about Carter by Edgar Rice Burroughs. All are from 1942 and encapsulated and backed on board.

The strip was written and illustrated by Burroughs' son, John Coleman Burroughs, and ran from 1941-1943.

This collection contains the manuscript of Pause for Reflection (Superradiance) in three copies (n.a. Pause for Reflection, by A. A. Jackson IV and Howard Waldrop).

This collection contains a 286-page unproofed typed copy of Foster's 1977 novel The End of the Matter.

This collection consists of fanworks produced and gathered by fans of the Klingon culture from the Star Trek franchise. Materials include fanzines, art, club newsletters, and other objects of creative expression.

Klingons represent an active subset of the larger Star Trek fan community, and have been so for several decades. Klingon fans are particularly visible because of their frequent involvement in often-elaborate cosplay (that is, the use of costumes and accessories to represent specific characters, often personae created by the participants themselves).

The Klingons are an aggressive race of humanoid warriors, first seen in the Star Trek: The Original Series episode "Errand of Mercy" (1967). The Klingons started out as major adversaries of the U.S.S. Enterprise crew, Starfleet and the United Federation of Planets. However, as the Star Trek franchise began expanding in 1987 with the debut of Star Trek: The Next Generation, Klingons evolved from enemies into uneasy allies, and numerous episodes of TNG and later Star Trek series were devoted to exploring aspects of Klingon culture. They continue to occupy a major position in the overall Star Trek universe.

Klingon fandom is most notable for its adoption of the Klingon language. Klingon is a real (albeit artificially constructed) language with its own system of grammar, structure and rules of pronunciation. It was originally created by linguist Marc Okrund in the mid-1980s for the Star Trek films and was adopted into later iterations of the television franchise. Klingon has been expanded on by interested fans and language hobbyists to the point where a number of literary works have been translated from English to Klingon. Many Klingon-related fan creations are written at least partially in the Klingon language, and it is not uncommon for dedicated fans to speak it amongst themselves.

This collection consists of materials from the lives and careers of Canadian science fiction and fantasy writers Alyx (A.M.) Dellamonica and Kelly Robson.

Materials include manuscripts, story notes and proofs for their published work as well as for unpublished 'trunk' stories and novels; correspondence, diaries, and various other items relating to their lives and their literary work.

Some of the materials are born digital and not, therefore, physically housed with the rest of the collection.