From the TAFF ballot form: The Trans-Atlantic Fan Fund was created in 1953 for the purpose of providing funds to bring well-known and popular [science fiction] fans familiar to those on both sides of the ocean across the Atlantic. Since that time TAFF has regularly brought North American fans to European conventions and European fans to North American conventions. TAFF exists solely through the support of fandom. The candidates are voted on by interested fans all over the world, and each vote is accompanied by a donation [...] These votes, and the continued generosity of fandom, are what make TAFF possible. (See ballot link below for more.) This page is maintained, irregularly, by David Langford.
TAFF Archive
- 2010 TAFF Ballot
- TAFF in Thirteen Paragraphs
- TAFF Publications On Line
- All the Past TAFF Races
- Past TAFF Ballot Forms
- TAFF Winner Index
Current Administrators - Europe: Steve Green, 33 Scott Road, Solihull, B92 7LQ, UK. Email stevegreen at livejournal dot com.
- North America: Chris Garcia, 962 West Weddell Dr. #15, Sunnyvale, CA 94089, USA. Email garcia at computerhistory dot org. Incoming: Brian Gray & Anne KG Murphy
Additional - TAFF Administrator FAQ
- Voting Procedures Since 1954
- Trip Reports Sampler ... brief extracts from unfinished reports
- TROLL (TAFF Reports On-Line Library) ... rekeying/scanning old material – with wants list!
- FANAC Fan Funds Page
- FANAC TAFF Ephemera – miscellaneous scanned newsletters
TAFF Reports in Printed Form
- Tobes Taff Ting, extracted by torture from Tobes Valois at the 2005 UK Eastercon and published April 2005. Available as described here, including PayPal option. Best to send a cheque for £3.50 to T Valois, 20 Bakers Lane, Woodston, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, PE2 9QW. Available in the USA from Suzanne Tompkins – see her newsletter, Two Year TAFF-Life #1.
- WorldConNomicon, James Bacon's lightning 2004 report (40pp A4, small print with many photographs) is available from him: £5/Euro7/$9 inclusive of postage, to 211 Blackhorse Ave, Dublin 7, Ireland. For those on the UK mainland, Claire Brialey adds: "We have a stock of James Bacon's TAFF trip reports here, for easier payment and posting to people who want them in the UK. The same price of five quid including p&p applies (cheques can be made payable either to me or to James himself) ... 59 Shirley Road, Croydon, Surrey CR0 7ES." Available in the USA from Suzanne Tompkins – see her newsletter, Two Year TAFF-Life #1.
- New Routes in America, Peter Roberts's at-last-completed 1977 trip report – now running to 30,000 words, with copious cartoons and five new concluding chapters written in 1999 – was published in December 1999; A4 softbound, 32pp small print plus covers, prelims and binder. Available post free at £6 from Dave Langford, 94 London Road, Reading, RG1 5AU, England ... actually it's out of print, but I'll consider a reprint edition if there's sufficient UK interest. Meanwhile, Jerry Kaufman has reissued New Routes in America in the USA: $10 postpaid within North America, from Jerry at 3522 NE 123rd St, Seattle, WA 98125, USA. All profits to TAFF. [Currently OUT OF PRINT.]
- Snufkin Goes West, Maureen Kincaid Speller's collected 'Notes from the TAFF Trail' – not the full trip report, which is to follow – has a tasty Sue Mason cover; 10pp A4; £1.50 (cheques to Maureen Speller) or $3 (cheques to Roger Robinson) from Fishlifter Press, 14 Northway Rd, Croydon, Surrey, CR0 6JE.
- Have Bag, Will Travel is the 1996 TAFF trip report by Martin Tudor, who published it while still in office (it takes the average Langford five years, and the average Hansen ten). £5 post free from Martin Tudor at 22 Ravensbourne Gro, Willenhall, W.Midlands, WV13 1HX, or from Mark Plummer at London pub meetings. Available in the USA from Suzanne Tompkins – see her newsletter, Two Year TAFF-Life #1.
- The Tudor Dynasty (Bid Zine), Martin Tudor. Available from Suzanne Tompkins – see her newsletter, Two Year TAFF-Life #1.
- On The TAFF Trail, Rob Hansen's 1984 trip report. Available from Suzanne Tompkins – see her newsletter, Two Year TAFF-Life #1.
- The TransAtlantic Hearing Aid, Dave Langford's 1980 trip report, was published by Rob Jackson's Inca Press in 1985 and remains available from Dave Langford, 94 London Road, Reading, Berks, RG1 5AU. This is a 74pp (plus card covers) A5 booklet illustrated with splendid cartoons by Atom, Jim Barker, Brad Foster, Alexis Gilliland, Rob Hansen, Stu Shiffman, Dan Steffan, Taral, and D. West. £5/$10 post free. Proceeds to TAFF. Available in the USA from Suzanne Tompkins – see her newsletter, Two Year TAFF-Life #1.
- The Moffat House Abroad, Len & June Moffatt's 1973 trip report. Available from Suzanne Tompkins – see her newsletter, Two Year TAFF-Life #1.
- Colonial Excursion, Ron Bennett's 1958 trip report (published 1961), was available from him until his death in 2006: it is expected that his son will pass the remaining copies, if any, to the US TAFF administrator. 93pp duplicated UK quarto (10" x 8") plus card covers. £5/$10 post free.
Announcements & Updates
23 December 2009 Brian Gray & Anne KG Murphy are announced as the 2010 TAFF winners, The official race report by Chris Garcia is in the latest issue of his newsletter President TAFF's Bathtub.
6 October 2009 The promised HTML version of the 2010 ballot.
5 October 2009 Here's the 2010 TAFF ballot – temporarily here as a Word document. The HTML version to match the past run of ballots will follow.
3 September 2009 The 2010 TAFF race is announced, with nominations closing on 4 October. See press release.
24 April 2009 Chris Garcia sends the latest issue of his newsletter President TAFF's Bathtub with the official 2009 race announcement.
20 April 2009 Suzanne Tompkins has published Jerry's Suzle's 2005 TAFF Trip Report – Travels in the United Kingdom in 2005. Available from her at PO Box 25075, Seattle, WA 98165, USA.
19 April 2009 Steve Green has won the current westbound TAFF race with a first-round majority, as announced here.
Easter 2009 Last-minute improvised campaign video with Steve Green and Tom Womack interviewed by Peter Sullivan. Voting closes 18 April.
19 December 2008 Chris Garcia writes: "I think it's time to open up my TAFF Report to the masses for free. So if you find the time, just remove the password protection and let 'er go!" Front page now freely accessible here.
1 December 2008 By popular demand, here too is a PDF version of the 2009 Westbound TAFF Ballot.
26 November 2008 On this site at last: the 2009 Westbound TAFF Ballot (HTML).
13 November 2008 Update, update – everything you know is wrong! The TAFF candidates are now Steve Green and Tom Womack. Updated LJ announcement.
6 November 2008 Candidates for the 2009 westbound race are John Coxon and Steve Green. Preliminary LJ announcement.
24 September 2008 The second issue of Chris Garcia's newsletter President Taff's Bathtub.
26 August 2008 The westbound TAFF race from Europe to the 2009 Worldcon (Anticipation in Montréal, Canada) is announced.
19 June 2008 Today's amazing double-bill: Suzanne Tompkins's fifth and final TAFF newsletter, and Chris Garcia's first.
10 April 2008 Chris Garcia, man of dynamism, apologizes for the delay in sending Rockets Across the Waters, the complete report on his March 2008 TAFF trip. There is a copy on this site (7.92Mb PDF), but for the time being Chris has requested that access should be reserved for TAFF supporters whom he'll provide with the login ID and password. Ask him: garcia at computerhistory dot org.
10 February 2008 Here is Suzanne Tompkins' latest TAFF newsletter.
6 February 2008 Latest voting figures now added to the Big List, here. • First word of Chris Garcia's itinerary: "He reports that so far he is: arriving on the 15th [March] and leaving on the 30th; traveling to various parts of the UK including Croydon on the 15th/16th, North London for the 17th/18th, and then to Eastercon. After the con, he is planning to visit folks in Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds."
22 January 2008 Our TAFF administrators still haven't managed to release the detailed voting figures. Suzanne Tompkins has stated that Chris Garcia's win was "on the first ballot with 62.7% of the total combined NA/Europe votes. No other candidate received 20% of this combined vote." • Peter Sullivan felt that a link from here to his "Chris for TAFF" site would be inappropriate while the race was still on: but now here it is in all its glory. Just for the record....
November 2007 The winner of the 2008 TAFF race is Chris Garcia – see announcement.
September 2007 Suzanne Tompkins's latest TAFF newsletter: Two-Year Taff-Life #3.
August 2007 The 2008 TAFF race is on, with four NA candidates – Chris Barkley, Linda Deneroff, Chris Garcia and Christian McGuire – and here's the ballot. • Although this site has a policy of HTML documents only, there is a demand for downloadable PDFs of this ballot. Duly added, with much grumbling: European A4 and US Letter formats.
Peter Sullivan has rekeyed the relevant parts of Shelby Vick's fanzine confusion 12 (1952), covering the original Walt Willis trip fund and its final accounts. Later: Peter has also rekeyed the missing issues of Jean Gomoll's newsletter Taffiles, so the set on this site is now complete. What a hero!
July 2007 The 2008 nominations deadline has been extended to 31 July – see announcement.
April 2007 Nominations are now open for the 2008 race – see announcement.