Demi-TAFF Americain 1

Demi-TAFF Americain #1 is the first TAFF Newsletter from incoming U.S. TAFF administrator Ulrika O'Brien, wherein murky things are made pellucid, plans are laid, names named, and crispy, crunchy numerical things are displayed without fig-leafy impedimenta. The Demi-TAFF originates at 123 Melody Ln., #C, Costa Mesa, CA 92627, and Ulrika can be reached there also. For those with e-mail access, Ulrika can also be contacted at uaobrien[at]uci.edu or ulrika[at]aol.com at all hours of the day or night. Copyright 1998.

Vol. 1 -- No. 1 -- February 1998

Giving Thanks to All

For those who have not heard by other means, my name's Ulrika O'Brien, and I have (apparently) very kindly been selected to go to the 1998 Eastercon as the Norte Americano TAFF delegate. I wanted to thank everyone involved in the process for this unexpected honor. Thanks first to my nominators, Patrick & Teresa Nielsen Hayden, Rob Hansen & Avedon Carol, Dave Langford, Geri Sullivan, and Andy Hooper. Thanks also to Dan Steffan & Martin Tudor, for administering the race, the fund, and untold help and encouragement and information since I assumed the mantle of knock-kneed-neoTAFF Delegate designee. Thanks certainly to my fellow candidates, Victor Gonzalez, Vicki Rosenzweig, and Tom Sadler, for a clean, friendly race, and for compounding the honor (and utter, blinking stupefaction) of my delegacy in the face of such worthy competition. Most especially, though, thanks to everyone who voted in the race, for their kind donations to the fund, and for their support of TAFF as means to build and maintain fannish links across the Atlantic.

Those who submitted ballots on the North American side were:

Alyson Abramowitz, Jae Leslie Adams, Harry Andrushak, Michele Armstrong, Karen Babich, Freddie Baer, Len Bailes, Kris Bauer, Allen Baum, Tracy Benton, John D. Berry, Sheryl Birkhead, Bill Bodden, Vijay Bowen, Jeanne Bowman, Richard Brandt, David Bratman, Seth Breidbart, Andre Bridget, Kathleen Bridget, Bill Bridget, Jim Brooks, Ned Brooks, rich brown, Randy Byers, Robbie Cantor, Russell Chauvenet, Sandy Cohen, Robert Coulson, Juanita Coulson, Steven Des Jardins, Soren Deselby, Howard DeVore, Carolyn Doyle, Cathy Doyle, Karrie Dunning, Marjii Ellers, Gary Farber, Doug Faunt, Michael Feldhusen, Tom Feller, George Flynn, Steve Forty, E.B. Frohvet, Michael Galloway, Terry Garey, Janice Gelb, Alexis Gilliland, Mike Glickson, Don Glover (the younger), Jeanne Gomoll, Victor Gonzalez, Glenn Hackney, Gilbert Head, John Hedtke, John Hertz, Andrew Hickmott, Arthur D. Hlavaty, Dan Hoey, Marilyn Holt, Andrew Hooper, Ben Indick, Terry Jeeves, Ken Josenhans, Joyce Katz, Arnie Katz, Jerry Kaufman, Robert S. Kennedy, Jr., Jay Kinney, George Laskowski, Marilee Layman, Fred Lerner, David Levine, Robert Lichtman, Sheila Lightsey, Guy Lillian, III, Dave Locke, Gary Louie, Frank Lunney, Susan A. Manchester, Mark Manning, Michael Mason, Gary Mattingly, Rich McAllister, Jo McBride-Wilson, Lynn McConchie, Luke McGuff, Mike McInerney, A.P. McQuiddy, Stevens R. Miller, Craig Miller, Catherine Mintz, Len Moffat, June Moffat, Murray Moore, Martin Morse Wooster, Liz Mortensen, Janice Murray, Patrick Nielsen Hayden, Teresa Nielsen Hayden, Hal O'Brien, Ulrika O'Brien, Elizabeth Osborne, Peggy Rae Pavlat, Bernie Phillips, Sarah Prince, Ray Radlein, Barnaby Rapoport, Lesley Reece, Mark Richards, Dave Rike, Alan Rosenthal, Vicki Rosenzweig, Kathryn Routliffe, Dave Rowe, Anita Rowland, Patricia Russo, Tom Sadler, Kate Schaefer, Karen Schaffer, Jeff Schalles, Joyce Scrivner, Roger Sims, Pat Sims, Jon Singer, Randy Smith, Leslie Smith, Dan Steffan, Lynn Steffan, Joanna L. Stern, Geri Sullivan, John Thiel, Dianne Thome, Suzle Thompkins, Amy Thomson, R. Laurraine Tutihasi, Edd Vick, Jean Weber, Michael Weholt, Ted White, Lynda White, Donya Hazard White, Tom Whitmore, Art Widner, Kip Williams, Clifford Wind, Gene Wolf, Heather Wright, Ben Yalow, Kate Yule. Thanks to each of you, and thanks to Dan Steffan for providing the list of voters.

How The Voting Went

The most complete information I have regarding the Eastbound 1998 TAFF race to send a delegate from North America to Intuition, is the following breakdown. This is the full combined voting totals, thus the figures reflect the total number of ballots cast in North America and Europe together. I expect that more detailed breakdowns of vote tallies for each administrative zone, and a list of UK voters, should be available in the forthcoming newsletters from Martin Tudor and Dan Steffan.

1st place votes 2nd place votes Final Round
Victor Gonzalez 55 60 77
Ulrika O'Brien 69 82 105
Vicki Rosenzweig 46 57 -
Tom Sadler 42 - -
Hold Over Funds 3 - -
No Preference 9 - -
Total Ballots cast 224

While not explicitly reflected in these figures, Tom Sadler was eliminated after the first round on the grounds of failing the '20% Rule' watermark as well as having the fewest votes. The other three candidates attained at least 20% of ballots cast in both Europe and North America.

Address Change

Dan Steffan will be moving as of March 1, 1998:

Dan & Lynn Steffan
800 S. Ivy Street
Arlington, VA 22204

Please make a note of the new street address for ballots in the Europe-to-North America 1998 TAFF race. Dan's phone remains unchanged. Dan and I will both be producing and disseminating address-corrected ballots, but in the meantime, old ballots may also be sent to the new address, and in the event of a complete miss, Dan has already requested mail forwarding. Ballots may also be sent to Ulrika O'Brien (er, me) for forwarding, if you prefer.

Fund News

Here at the Sunny West Coast Headquarters of the Incoming TAFF Administration (pause for crack-of-thunder-and-hiss-of-pouring-rain SFX provided by El Nino) we have some money in hand. Dan Steffan, incumbent TAFFboy, reports his intention to transfer full books, records, and administration of the fund as of the close and tally of the Europe-to-North America TAFF race, on April 25, 1998, so I haven't got a full accounting of the fund just yet, but can offer an initial summary:

O'BRIEN TAFF ACCOUNT

                                  Income          Expense 
TAFF Travel Advance 
(Dan Steffan)                    $1500.00 
LosCon TAFF auction                230.88 
SCIFI Donation 
(K. Bulmer Trip Report)            500.00 
LoneStar Con II 
(Fanzine room sales)               191.06 
 
Roundtrip Airfare to UK                           407.43 
Trip Report Sales                   30.00 
Online Sales/Auctions               45.00 
Ballot Donations                    10.00 
                              ——————————— 
Current Balance                  $2099.00 

I expect to spend another roughly $700.00 on a Britrail pass and connecting airline ticket, while Dan Steffan expects to be forwarding a balance TAFF funds check of $2000.00 within the week, leaving an projected North American TAFF fund balance of roughly $3400.00, a healthy sum to look forward to, should all go as expected. Thanks again to all the generous TAFF donors who have made that prospect possible. I expect to use some of that balance toward mailing auction goods around to conventions, repro and mailing costs on this newsletter, and similar administrivia. From Martin Tudor we (mouse in the pocket time -- we're tired of saying "I" all the time) hear that my expenses on the ground during my TAFF trip will be covered out of UK-held funds. But we also hear, here in the TAFF Itinerary Planning Nerve Center, that Sometimes Stuff Comes Up in the course of a TAFF Trip. Obviously, Your Humble Narrator has no real desire to play intercontinental Whack-A-Mole with these Lovecraftian horrors, The Things That Come up, but as I am but an egg in the TAFF delegate-ing and administrating biz, I won't make any rash promises.

Administration News

What we hear from Dan Steffan: Earlier in his administration, Dan was under the cloud of an IRS audit, and felt he couldn't deposit TAFF checks to his account for fear that the funds would be garnished right back out. Instead he held the checks aside. Some significant number of the TAFF checks that Dan held on to during that time period went too stale to deposit, and Dan plans to write to those TAFF donors individually to give a more personalized account, apology, and to request replacement checks. Dan says more current checks from the recent North American TAFF race are now all deposited and in the bank -- if you have a recent check to TAFF that you believe to be still outstanding, please contact Dan or me so that we can track it down.

Dan and I discussed the matter of current donations to TAFF, and Dan recognizes that his past delays in processing funds may have affected some TAFF supporters' confidence in sending checks to him. For that reason, donations will be gratefully accepted by either the incoming or outgoing administrator, according to the preference of the kind, generous donor, up to the April 25 voting deadline for the current race. After that time, all donations should be directed to me, and I promise to do my best approximation of handsprings and backflips of joy and gratitude.

In the meantime, Dan currently plans to issue his own newsletter, giving full details on the recent election, and issuing an updated ballot with his new address as well. Once I've had a chance to loll about indolently through the length and breadth of Britain, and the current TAFF race closes and ballots are toted up, Dan will pass the full mantle, and all the associated fussy little bits of paper, on to me. Until then we will share administrative duties as best as my travel schedule and planning will permit.

Viking TAFF Trip Itinerary

And, oh, yeah, I was planning on going to the UK. Here's what's in the works so far:

3/14-16 -- Corflu UK -- Leeds -- TAFF winner warmly greeted with traditional Leeds welcome of PR crucifixion in effigy; D.West sacked & burned

3/16 -- Busman's tour of Leeds, courtesy Jim Trash

3/17 -- Touring York, with Mike Ford

3/17 -- Train to Edinburgh & Steve Glover, pub meet with local Edinburgh fan rabble, first round of Not Falling Over training.

3/18-20 -- Sightseeing Edinburgh and local Scottish country- side; harassing local Scots

3/20 -- Train to London to Rob Hansen & Avedon Carol

3/20-25 -- London and Environs; possible raid on Croydon coypu fans; harassing local Welsh & Armenians

3/23-25 -- Unspeakable adventures with Pam Wells; harassing local Tarts; collect curry-flavor condoms

3/26-27 -- Possible raid on Folkestone fandom, all two of them, with side trips out among the Downs, in search of ominously missing Ups.

3/28-29 -- Uncharted territory; Wales in grave danger

3/29-30 -- Reading; fall from great height onto Steve Davies

3/30-4/1 -- Reading; gaoled w/Langfords to study ancient Welsh martial art of flaming toast flinging, at the feet of master; harassing local Welsh

3/30 -- Stonehenge & Avebury assault with Morgan Gallagher, Country tea, subsequent collapse

4/2 -- London group pub meet, Jubilee; begin intensive leg of Not Falling Over training

4/3 -- Up to Birmingham, Brum group meet

4/4 -Birmingham, American touristry with Anne and Alan Woodford, then Brum pub meet -- final push for Not Falling Over At All

4/5-4/9 -- here be dragons; possible raid on Cambridge Former Attitude Editors Fandom and/or conquering Portmeiron via Chester zoo (harassing local Scotts)

4/9-12 -- Manchester, Intuition -- one shift as Green Room shift boss. What was that about Never Again Volunteer Yourself, swabby?

4/10 -- RASFF Pub gathering; hit Not Falling Over tape; take Not Falling Over victory lap

4/12 -- Back to Heathrow and home again to harass local cats & water remains of plants; Fall Over

Next TAFF Race Announcement

What, another one, so soon? Well, optimally there is supposed to be one TAFF race per year, for all that we seem to have gotten a bit temporarily bunched up around the midriff and ankles catching up with ourselves. Rather than get afterhand again, barring cavils from the incoming UK administrator, I would like to open nominations for the 1999 North America-to-Europe TAFF race, for a delegate to attend the 1999 Eastercon, as of May 1, 1998. Once I get back from the UK, and the current Europe to North America race is concluded, I'll confirm dates with the incoming UK administrator, and issue the next Demi-TAFF Americain detailing the balloting results, and officially announcing the opening of nominations for the 1999 race. I suggest a July 25 deadline for nominations, and a December 5 deadline for ballots for the 1999 race, pending approval of my opposite number in the UK. Check the April newsletter for confirmation.

TAFF Fundraising

First I want to wave lemons and immoderate praise in the direction of Vicki Rosenzweig. Vicki has very kindly volunteered to administer the mail auction of the Chuch Harris fanzine collection for the benefit of TAFF. The collection contains several rare and valuable items for the discriminating fanzine collector, which I will list very briefly below. For a full list of zines and current auction standings, questions about the auctions, or placing bids, please contact Vicki directly at vr[at]interport.net or at:

Vicki Rosenzweig
33 Indian Road, 6-R,
New York, NY 10034 USA.

or for the absolutely most current bid standings, those with net access can check Vicki's web site at: http://www.users.interport.net/~vr/auct-sum.html

Select auction items (Unless otherwise stated, material is mimeographed):

THE ENCHANTED DUPLICATOR by Walt Willis and Bob Shaw. First Edition. February, 1954. Copy #1, of 200 copies; numbered, limited edition. Current high bid: $250.

THIS GOON FOR HIRE by John Berry. Illustrated by Arthur Thomson, duplicated and published by Chuch Harris. 18 pages. Minimum Bid: $20. Current high bid: $50.

PAMPHREY #7. Walter Willis FAPAzine. October, 1958. Final issue. Single sheet, two sides. Farewell to FAPA. Thanks fans, discusses attacks on Willis by G. M. Carr. Slight folds, but good condition. Minimum Bid: $10.

PAMPHREY #3. Walter Willis FAPAzine. October, 1956. 16 pages; single staple. Traditional green "Hyphen" paper; good condition. Two page article entitled "Love All" by Madeline Willis on ghoodminton session with Bob a nd Sadie Shaw; very funny. Two pages of "THEN": fannish autobiography/history by Walter. "Read Letter Day," three page article by John Berry. "I Remember Me" by Walt Willis, six pages; reminiscence of 1947 fannish days. "Wabherjocky": quarter-page faanish poem by Terry Carr:Last page on TAFF, nitter-natter, and plea "Come back, Redd Boggs." Minimum Bid: $15.

GOONTACT "13." "April 1st", early 196?. Hoax newszine, published "once in a lifetime by the GOONTACT group: Vincent Clarke, Joy Clarke, 'Sandy' Sanderson, Chuck Harris." Editor: V. Clarke; publisher: C.R. Harris. Four pages. Subscription rates in kopecks and roubles. Includes "announce-ments" such as that allegedly from H. L. Gold on his new fanzine: "Scheduled for the first issue is a definitive checklist of Mrs. Frederick Pohls, and an appreciation of Vargo Statten by Damon Knight." Minimum Bid: $10.

3 issues of "Peace on Sol III -- Goodwill To Mellow Fen." 1962, 1964, 1965 Christmas fanzine/cards from Walt and Madeleine Willis. Palm-sized 8-pagers with dialogues and ATom illos. Minimum Bid: $15.

FEN CRITTURS COMICAL BOOKS. Summer, 1952. 16 page half-sized mimeo'd comic book. Written and Drawn by Bob Shaw, assisted by Vincent Clarke. Original Story by Bob Shaw and James White. Additional material by Chuck Harris, Vince Clarke, and Walter A. Willis. Faanish parody of Pogo comics, using Pogo characters. Minimum Bid: $20.

THE BOB SHAW APPRECIATION MAGAZINE, "Vol. 1, No 1." July, 1952. 8 pages; magazine done for BoSh when he moved from Ireland to England. Minimum Bid: $20.

BEYOND THE ENCHANTED DUPLICATOR by Walt Willis and James White, illustrated by Stu Shiffman. Copy number 1 of 200 copy limited edition, autographed by Willis and White and Shiffman to Chuch. Mimeoed, offset covers. "Collector's First Edition." 1991. Minimum Bid: $15. Current high bid: $15.

For a complete list of auction items, please contact Vicki. The deadline for bids is April 15, 1998.

In other fundraising news, the merry re-typing gnomes of Reading, under the whip of Dave Langford, issued the collected TAFF Tales, Ken Bulmer's 1955 TAFF trip report. The Southern California Institute for Fan Interests (SCIFI) produced its promised $500.00 standing donation for completed TAFF trip reports with blinding speed, and thanks very, very much to SCIFI for promptness and generosity, and to Langford and his assembled minions for their efforts to coddle, cudgel, and cajole forth outstanding TAFF reports for the masses. Rare, stateside copies of the handsomely bound, ATom illustrated report can be had for a mere $10.00 donation, from the Western Regional Offices of Stateside TAFF, which is to say, from me.

Richard Brandt and Michelle Lyons passed on donated funds to TAFF from fanzine sales in the Fanzine Lounge at Lone Star Con II. Richard reports: 'We did over $1400 in sales out of the Fanzine Lounge, with most publishers donating a portion of the proceeds to one fan fund or another, including $191.06 for TAFF and $182.86 for DUFF... items for sale covered a wide spectrum of fannish interests... just about everything sold at least a copy or two, and many sold incredibly well. At $25 a pop, we sold all seven copies of WARHOON 28...One woman told us she didn't subscribe or write letters to fanzines, but came to Worldcon every year to pick up the latest MIMOSA...This made us rethink a perhaps commonly-held idea, that while fanzine rooms at Worldcons cater to the converted, they don't do a lot of reachout to fans who aren't already hardcore active members of "fannish" fanzine fandom.' Thanks very much to Richard and Michelle, their fine staff, and all the generous fanzine publishers who donated part of their proceeds to TAFF. A mazel on your heads, allayez.

Some uppity TAFF candidate organized a TAFF/DUFF auction at Loscon 24, and with donations of materials from SCIFI, Bruce Pelz, LASFS, Geri Sullivan, Gary Louie, Aahz, the Rotsler estate, Ed Green, Selina Phanara, the Sims, and a host of kind others whose names escape me in the absence of my notes, managed to raise $230.88 for TAFF, and a like amount for DUFF. Thanks both to the generous donors, and to the truly dedicated bidders, and celebrity runners Jennifer Jumper and Geri Sullivan, plus auctioneer Bruce Pelz, who showed up at a truly ghastly hour of Sunday Morning to make it an auction.

Marcus Rowland organized an online TAFF auction on RASFF of dread 'How to Spam' materials, netting a final sum of $30.00 donated by winning bidder, Dave Weingart, who manfully overcame Stevens Miller and John Dallman, while Michael Weholt forwards $15.00 in donations from his unholy trafficking in copies of Vanna Bonta's self-proclaimed classic, Flight. Far, far better thing, Michael. [Correction: Michael forwarded the money, which came from Doug Wickstrom.] Hearty thanks to all concerned.

And that's about all the news that fits. March 13 looms ever larger, much like a rushing freight train. Look for our next exciting installment, post-TAFF trip, in late April or early May.

Ulrika O'Brien, Philosopher Without Portfolio
***ulrika[at]aol.com***