This article is classified "Partly real, partly fictional"
Imperial College Science Fiction Society is one of the largest social clubs
at Imperial. Its main function is to store a library of more than 2500
books. These are kept at the "ICSF library" which can be found below Beit
Quad, at basement level, behind a door with a sign saying "beware of the
leopard."
This fact is often lost on first year students who totally fail to find this
room, thus failing the second intelligence test of starting college. The
first is, of course: "How do I get my library text-books before everyone
else?"
The third intelligence test involves members of the opposite sex.
Unfortunately, the ICSF library is particularly unsuitable for such enquiry
as the male to female ratio usually ranges around the 7 to 1 mark. This is
slightly worse than that of Imperial as a whole. (Although I am speaking
from the male standpoint I am told that it is just as bad for the female
students. Their general solution is to get a steady boyfriend and make sure
everyone knows about him.)
There is some debate as to whether the third test involves finding the Union
Bar and purchasing large quantities of alcohol. This argument is undecided.
However, it is nearby and so rare members of the society can display prowess
in both third tests simultaneously.
Communication with the Committee of ICSF is through various primitive means
such as face to face verbal communication. In recent years they have
discovered email (try "icsf@imperial.ac.uk") and even the World Wide Web
(try "http://www.su.ic.ac.uk/" or "http://www.ph.ic.ac.uk/moontg/").
Post to:
ICSF c/o Imperial College Union,
Beit Hall,
Prince Consort Road,
South Kensington,
SW7 2BZ
United Kingdom.
Under no circumstance should telepathy be tried -- especially
transatlantic telepathy. The energy requirements for that fried the brain
of the last guy to try it and all he does now is read Gor books [1].
(definition of a committee:
A creature with more than six legs, and no brain -- Lazarus Long)
The society aims at producing at least one one-day convention per year. It
regularly fails to get much enthusiasm from the general bulk of the members
who have never been to a science fiction convention.
In case you were wondering, Imperial College is a large part of the
University of London. Its E-mail domain is .ic.ac.uk. It's not so bad as
long as you choose a course you enjoy.
[1] These are sword and sorcery type stories written about an alternative
planet Earth. Its main criticism is that all the women are subjucated
to slaves, dancers, whores etc -- totally politically incorrect. They
have become a byword for bad science fiction and fantasy.