PARSEC is the Pittsburgh area's premiere organization "to promote awareness of the richness of speculative fiction as literature, art and music; further general education in the sciences and arts, support contribution, both scientific and artistic, to society and to espouse the enjoyment of speculative fiction as literature, art and music with others."

Originally, yes it was. PARSEC stood for the "Pittsburgh Area Realtime Scientifiction Enthusiasts Club." Since then, Club was changed to Consortium because in our desire to be registered as a 501.c.3 non-profit organization we learned that the government didn't think that clubs were non-profit enough. In all our official documents, however, there is no mention of the acronym and we are simply PARSEC.

In 1925, Hugo Gernsback was planning to publish a new magazine of "scientific fiction," a term that had been used to describe the works of Jules Verne and H. G. Wells. ("Scientific Romance" had also been used.) Gernsback condensed (some say invented) the term "Science Fiction" and, in further contracting it, intended to name his new magazine "Scientifiction."

A year later, Gernsback published the magazine under the title "Amazing Stories," because it had a more general appeal to it. The sub title that ran on the editorial page read: "The Magazine of Scientifiction."

Kira Heston (Vice President)
William Hall (Secretary)
Sarah-Wade Smith (Treasurer)