OMPA
Entry updated 15 June 2026. Tagged: Community, Fan.
Known usually by its acronym, the Off-trails Magazine Publishers Association (1954-1978 or 1979) was an Amateur Press Association or APA (which see) formed in the UK by Kenneth Bulmer and A Vincent Clarke, whose founder members included Chuck Harris. OMPA was modelled on FAPA, and was likewise created to facilitate distribution of Fanzines published by and for members. Administrative matters appeared in Off Trails, the APA's OO or Official Organ published by its current OE or Official Editor, which also listed members and their contributions. Early contributors included John Brunner and Michael Moorcock; others with entries in this encyclopedia who were members at one time or another include Mike Ashley, Gregory Benford, Terry Carr, Howard DeVore, Gordon Eklund, Terry Jeeves, David Langford, George Locke, Bill Rotsler, Larry Shaw, Arthur Thomson, Bjo Trimble, Bob (Wilson) Tucker, Harry Turner, Peter Weston, Ted White and Walt Willis. In later years the hyphen in "Off-trails" was sometimes omitted or replaced with a space: "Off Trails".
Uniquely for an APA, OMPA once organized a national convention: OMPAcon, the 1973 UK Eastercon. This climactic effort may have hastened the end of an APA already perceived as in decline; OMPA was moribund by 1976 and faded away altogether by the end of the decade. A 1974 attempt to start afresh with the Rival Off-trail Magazine Publishers' Association (ROMPA, first proposed under that name in 1972) was unsuccessful and achieved only five mailings, the last in February 1975. Its Official Organ was titled Bumf. [PR/RH/DRL]
links
- Fancyclopedia 3
- OMPA at Fanac.org
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