The Weekly TAFF News

A Semi-Annual Publication

The second issue of The Weekly TAFF News is brought to you in October 2004 by the North American TAFF administrator, Randy Byers, at 1013 N. 36th St., Seattle WA 98103, USA, fringefaan@yahoo.com. The newsletter was designed by Denys Howard, may hooplah be raised in his name. Thanks to Dave Langford, Robert Lichtman, Ulrika O'Brien, and Andy Hooper for consultation and advice.


Weakly Weekly

First I was doubtful I'd publish any newsletters (on the theory that I was too lazy), then I was going to publish one a year (which didn't seem too strenuous), and now I've published the second ish in six months. This might end up being a weekly after all.

[*Randy shoots himself.*]

(But death will not release me...)


Looking for Adventure? - or, Have Ticket, Will Glasgow

I'm pleased to announce that nominations are now open for the 2005 North-America-to Europe TAFF race. The winner will attend Interaction, the 63rd World Science Fiction Convention, to be held August 4-8, 2005 in Glasgow, Scotland.

To become a candidate for this race you must provide:

All nominations, platforms, pledges, and $20 bonds must reach me at the address(es) below by midnight, November 20, 2004. So long as at least two prospective candidates have satisfied these requirements by that date, distribution of ballots, in both electronic and paper form, will begin immediately thereafter.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact me. If you plan to run, please alert me as soon as possible.

Randy Byers
North American TAFF Administrator
1013 N. 36th St.
Seattle WA 98103
USA
E-mail: fringefaan@yahoo.com


2004 Race Results and Voters

I thought that the turnout for the 2003 eastbound race was good with 170 voters, but the 2004 westbound race blew right past that mark with a total of 213 votes, thanks to the vicious trench-by-trench campaigning of both James Bacon and Anders Holmström. James was the winner with 90 first place votes in Europe and 22 in North America for a total of 112, while Anders received 58 in Europe and 23 in North America for a total of 81. Both satisfied the 20% rule. There were also 19 votes for No Preference and one for Hold Over Funds.

There were 59 voters from the US and Canada (plus two late ballots that were counted as No Preference): Jae Leslie Adams, Chaz Boston Baden, Allen Baum, Tom Becker, Tracy Benton, Bill Bodden, Cuyler W. Brooks Jr., Randy Byers, Jack Calvert, Bob Devney, Bobbie Farey, Nic Farey, George Flynn, E.B. Frohvet, Alexis Gilliland, Dan Glover, Victor Gonzalez, Joe & Gay Haldeman, John Hertz, Andy Hooper, Jim Hudson, Benjamin Indick, Mary Kay Kare, Terry Karney, Jerry Kaufman, Roy Lavender, Thomas Lawrence, Hope Leibowitz, Robert Lichtman, Guy H. Lillian III, Michael J. Lowrey, Rich McAllister, Luke McGuff, A.P. McQuiddy, June Moffatt, Len Moffatt, Murray Moore, Marilyn (Fuzzy) Niven, Ulrika O'Brien, Hal O'Brien, Spike Parsons, Curt Phillips, Andy Porter, D. Potter, Sarah Prince, Neil Rest, David Rike, Jeff Schalles, Ben Schilling, Georgie L. Schnobrich, Craig Smith, Janine Stinson, Ian Stockdale, Erwin S. Strauss, Charlene Taylor D'Alessio, Suzanne Tomkins, R-Laurraine Tutihasi, Tamara Vining, George H. Wells, Donya White, and Martin Morse Wooster.

There were 154 voters from Britain and Europe: Nicklaus Andersson, Martin Andreasson, Jonas Bagge, Julian Barham, Suzanne Barren, Tony Berry, M Blackham, Pamela Boal, Robbie Bourget, Bridget Bradshaw, Claire Brialey, James Brophy, Maric Bukumunhe, Leonia Carroll, Mike Carroll, Cat Coast, Ian Collier, Kate Costello, Enid Crowe, Tony Cullen, Jennifer Cumming, Julia Daly, Andreas Davour, Anna Davour, Rachel Decroo, Sharon Dennett, Vincent Docherty, Steve Dunn, Sue Edwards, Dave Elder, Jessica Elgenstierra, Greg Elkin, Bertil Falk, Tommy Ferguson, Dave Ford, Jorgen Forsberg, Susan Francis, Alison Freebairn, Anders Frihagen, Tony Furnell, Jacqueline Gray, Richard Gray, Urban Gunnarson, Catriona Hamman, John Harold, Julian Headlong, Anders Hedenlund, Mats Henricson, Dave Hicks, Graham Hill, Martin Hoare, Sally Humphreys, Sally Hurst, Wilf James, Jason Joiner, Gill Jones, Maria Jonsson, Lee Justice, Tudno-Jones Kate, Tony Keen, Carolyn Lagerlof, Stef Lancaster, Matt Langley, Alix Langridge, Sarah Laslett, Sue Lawson, Rory Lennon, Mafgs Lhalliday, Maths Llaesson, Christine Lochert, Daniel Luna, Kevin Lundwall, Franck Martial, Neil McChrystal, Siobhan McDermott, Ian McDonald, Grant McDougall, Angela McGovern, Angela McGovern, Catriona McGrath, Lorriane McGregor, Tim McGregor, Bobby McLaughlin, Alex McLintock, Darren McMahan, D McMahon, Pat McMurray, Simon McRory, Farah Mendelson, Brian Milton, Heidi Mounsey, Marie-Catherine Mousseau, Caroline Mullan, Darren Nash, Hazel Newman, Robert Newman, Feorag NicBhride, Phil O'Connor, Mick O'Connor, Rod O'Hanlon, James Peart, Mali Perera, Greg Pickersgill, Catherine Pickersgill, Mark Plummer, Silas Potts, Robert Rankin, Aletia Ray, David Redd, K Rennie, Anders Reutersward, Julie Rigby, Angela Rosin, Yvonne Rowse, Mhairi Sage, Meurie Sage, Suerre Schollwer, Jamie Scott, Magnus Seter, Fredik Setrafeh, Randall Shepherd, James Shields, Ina Shorrock, Eira Short, M.J. "Simo" Simpson, RJ Smith, SMS, Ross Smullen, Christine Sneddon, Peter Sneddon, Ylva Spangberg, Sparks, Douglas Spencer , Mike Spiller, Edward Stafford, Lars Starandberg, Conor Stevens, Christine Stewart, Dave Stewart, Billy Stirling, June Straihan, Charlie Stross, Alice Sugg, Johnny Sullivan, Paul Tomlinson, Dave Ulicsak, Jan Van't Ent, P Waldock, Helen Wallace, Peter Weston, Alan Woodford, Mark Woodward, Pete Young, and Lucy Zinkiewicz.

Thanks to everyone who voted. TAFF depends on your support, and it is very much appreciated.


Raising the Fund

The major fund-raising effort since the last newsletter was the fan fund auction at Noreascon 3, this year's Boston Worldcon. Many thanks, to begin with, to Guy Lillian for working with the concom to schedule the auction, and many thanks to the concom, especially Deb Geisler and Priscilla Olson, for all their efforts and support on behalf of the fan funds. Cheers to Guy and Rosy, too, for including TAFF in the fan fund reception they threw Thursday evening at the convention, and to John Hertz for hosting a Fan Fund Tea Party on Saturday, with goodies provided by the convention. I'm just sorry I missed out on the fun, as I huddled in my dank basement room fretting over accounts and the injuries of the past.

It takes a village to put on a Worldcon auction, and one of the happy aspects of TAFF is discovering how many people are willing to pitch in, even (or especially? out of pity?) for a vague and confused administrator such as yours truly. First and foremost has been Ulrika O'Brien, who was a heroic fund-raiser for TAFF in her own time and who helped me at every stage of planning for the Worldcon auction both last year and this. Bravissima! I wasn't as diligent or clever as I could have been at digging up goodies for the auction, but as usual Dave Langford came through with more than his share of donations, including very cool CD-ROM archives of the complete Ansible. Dave should get a Pillar of TAFF award to go on the mantle with his collection of rockets. I also got great stuff from Vonda McIntyre, Ulrika, James Bacon, and the amazing Peter Weston, who delivered the prize item: an unfinished, as-cast Hugo rocket that brought in $230 on its own. Thanks are due also to Marci Malinowycz, who hauled a small suitcase full of goods to the convention despite a thrown-out back, and who also introduced me to the wonders of Mashiko's sushi on the way to the airport. Wow, that plum sauce with curry was something! Thanks to Jerry Kaufman for initially asking Marci if she could help, and for the copies of the Peter Roberts TAFF report that he sent to the fanzine lounge for sale. Huge thanks to Peter Weston for finding an hour in his busy Fan Guest of Honor schedule to take the mike as auctioneer for TAFF, and thanks to Mary Kay Kare for once again rolling in the dough and keeping accounts, and to James Bacon for taking time out of his own headlong schedule to help as a runner. Thanks to Victor Gonzalez for providing moral support to Peter from the crowd, and for all the publicity he gives TAFF on trufen.net. Victor has shown that it's possible to administer TAFF without being driven to gafiate, and thus gives me hope. Special thanks to John Hertz for several acts of overt kindness to TAFF, including holding the auction goods until they were ripe and also putting out items for sale in the fanzine lounge. No, John, I haven't quite finished my TAFF report yet, but it's getting closer! Thanks to Janice Murray for passing along the TAFF money earned in the fanzine lounge.

Special thanks also to SF3 for a donation via Jim Hudson during the last race. If other fannish clubs or organizations are looking for worthy causes to support, please consider making a donation to TAFF!

The next major fund-raising effort, if I can work it out with the concom, will be an auction at Corflu Titanium under the guiding gavel of ghu Andy Hooper. Corflu is a great venue for selling fanzines, so I'm looking for donations of rare and valuable zines. Who's got a copy of Fanzines in Theory and Practice they'd like to part with?


The Current North American Account

There is currently almost $5100 in the North American TAFF account, which is about a thousand more than last time I reported. This will be diminished a bit by the cost of this newsletter, but that shouldn't be much, especially because I'm not mailing it to Europe this time. Income in the past six months has been from ballot donations for the 2004 race and from the Worldcon fan fund auction and fanzine sales. Expenses have been the cost of the first newsletter and a small gesture of good will to the visiting TAFF delegate.

North American TAFF Account as of October 2004

Item Amount Total Fund
Account as of April 2004 $4,140.00
First newsletter -$180.00 $3,960.00
Donations with 2004 ballots $590.00 $4,550.00
Honorarium for Mr. Bacon -$100.00 $4,450.00
Noreascon 4 auction & sales $630.00 $5,080.00

Don't forget to run for TAFF!!