Hello and welcome to the very first TAFF news bulletin from Christina Lake and Lilian Edwards in which the terrible twins offer full and frank answers to those SIX vital questions about their trip they just know are being asked almost hourly around the pubs, bars, bistros and duplicating rooms of Europe.
Where did they go?
Well, almost everywhere, actually. New York, which we skipped out of double quick to avoid the heat wave (many thanks to Andy Porter for meeting us at the airport). Seattle where the temperatures were merely in the 70s and John Berry and Eileen Gunn provided us with the most comfortable bed of our trip. San Francisco where we crashed out chez Lucy Huntzinger. Rohnert Park, California where Allyn Cadogan finally had her wish of monopolising the visiting Brits for a couple of days, much to our mutual enjoyment. New Orleans for the convention. Dallas for the freeways, and to tell the world that Linda Blanchard and Dave Bridges are still alive (just). And back to New York for a proper visit and to deprive Bill Wagner of the use of his living room for at least a week. Christina also went to a wonderfully friendly convention in Toronto called Ditto, where she was made welcome by, in particular, Catherine Crockett and Mike Glicksohn.
What did they do?
Went to parties mainly. How else does one meet a substantial proportion of the local populace at one time? Thanks to Jerry Kaufman and Suzle for organizing the party in Seattle, Lucy Huntzinger for a soiree in San Francisco, Allyn Cadogan for enticing over Glen Ellen fandom (and others) for a barbecue at her place and Bill and Mary Burns for timing their party just as we were returning to New York (and being happy to invite us)
When will the trip report be out?
Any day now is the common reply. This is actually a lie, but look out for parts in THIS NEVER HAPPENS, FREE LUNCH, XENIUM, PIRATE JENNY and many others.
Is there any money left?
Well not a lot actually. Though things have improved slightly since the time Lilian could go round America claiming that TAFF UK had only about seventy quid to its name, thanks to auctions at Nolacon and Ditto and some clever book dealing by the last administrator. But - we still need lots of money! There will be the fannish jumble sale/auction at Novacon. Bring along your favourite convention outfits of yesteryear, those socks with the vomits stains, T-shirts with D West originals or anything else you think your fellow fans will part with good money for! We are also planning to run a postal fanzine auction, so if you'd like to donate any fanzines you think people would be willing to pay money for, send them to Christina at the address below, or give them to either of us at Novacon.
Who should we vote for next?
Look at the attached ballot form and make up your own mind. We're looking forward to involving either Robert or Luke in serious fun and games (and even discussions on feminism) in our fan room at Contrivance. Vote now, and come and see the winner in action at Easter - you won't be disappointed (if we have our way!).
Who are Christina Lake and Lilian Edwards anyway?
Just these gals, you know. But they can be contacted with monies, ballots and fanzines at 47 Wessex Avenue, Horfield, Bristol, BS7 0DE and 1 Braehead Rd., Thorntonhall, Glasgow, G74 5AQ respectively. We look forward to hearing from you!
This has been an official bulletin from TAFF the Interactive Fan Fund (slogan courtesy Saatchi & FIAWOL).
...is not some kind of fiendish tongue twister, but actually the latest TAFF newsletter from current European administrators Christina Lake (47 Wessex Avenue, Horfield, Bristol, BS7 0DE) and Lilian Edwards (10C Bleachfield, York University, Heslington, York, YO1 5DD)
The big news round here is that ROBERT LICHTMAN of downtown Glen Ellen, California has won this year's America to Europe TAFF race by a convincing margin. Lichtman wound up with over half of the total first place votes, which meant that there was no need to look into second preferences (much to the relief of those doing the counting). Some consolation for Minneapolis roadster Luke McGuff -- he makes it on the twenty percent rule on both sides of the Atlantic.
UK/EUROPE NORTH AMERICA FOREIGN TOTAL ROBERT LICHTMAN 26 77 6 109 LUKE MCGUFF 10 34 0 44 HOLD OVER FUNDS 5 5 0 10 MISCELLANEOUS 2 0 0 2 TOTAL 43 116 6 165 The miscellaneous incidentally were Oliver North and T.D. the Cyberpunk Teddy Bear, and can be largely put down to one of the administrators taking votes at a New Year's party.
There were also a couple of donations from fans who didn't feel they knew enough about either candidate to actually vote (but whose money was appreciated just the same), plus a transatlantic offering from the man with the unlikely name of Covert Beach -- which didn't quite make it across in time for the count, and a late cheque from Vin¢ Clarke who was rather busy at the time with more important matters like visiting Chuch Harris and ATom in hospital.
We were slightly disappointed to see no votes at all from mainland Europe (I guess Roelof Goudriaan was too busy planning his GUFF trip). Any suggestions on what to do and who we should be sending to would be very welcome. We know you're out there! (The next newsletter will appear in French, German, Dutch and Norwegian)
We note with interest that holdover funds placed not a bad third in the UK. We reckon that this small but enthusiastic campaign can be attributed to some people's unrealistic desire for a UK to Boston race this year. I mean it couldn't be sour grapes over sending a delegate to Contrivance instead of Mexicon, could it? (Naah, those people didn't bother to vote at all)
(This was the mandatory one piece of bitchiness required to keep people reading the newsletter. The administrators apologise -- this type of non-neutral behaviour will not occur again. At least, not in the next five minutes).
Thanks go especially to all those generous voters who sent in fivers and a couple of heroes who parted with ten pounds apiece. All of which bring the TAFF funds up to a reasonably healthy 1,342,86. However look out for future fund raising events - when we shall be auctioning some of the wonderful materials donated by Dave Langford and Jo Nicholas and Judith Hanna -- including the Langford collection of tasteless ties, several extraordinarily unbelievable editions of the Weekly World News and 'a lovingly inexact facsimile of the vest worn by M. P. Shiel while writing THE PURPLE CLOUD.' Need we say more? Probably not.
Meanwhile back in Glen Ellen, Robert Lichtman is busy making plans for his trip. He's going to be over for about two and a half weeks, he reckons, and is buying a BritRail pass, so he can get round to see as many fans as possible during his stay. The itinerary so far includes London, Leeds and Bristol -- but he is open to offers! He will also of course be going to Jersey (not, alas on a BritRail pass) to appear live in the Contrivance fan room and bring a bit of Californian sunshine to what promises already to be quite a sybaritic Eastercon. But for those who can't make it quite as far as Jersey, Robert's planning to be at the April 'Ton, providing he can stretch his stay that long. He's also looking forward to sampling as many of our ethnic restaurants as possible, though he would like to warn any potential hosts that he is mostly vegetarian.
Finally, for those who like this sort of thing, here's the full list of those who voted on this side of the Atlantic:
H.A. ASHWORTH, MAL ASHWORTH, ERIC BENTCLIFFE, HAZ BOND, KEN BULMER, AVEDON CAROL, MIKE CHRISTIE, BRIAN DAVIES, JAN DAWES, ABIGAIL FROST, GWEN FUNNELL, TIM GOODRICK, JUDITH HANNA, ROB HANSEN, R.C. HEWISON, STEVE HUBBARD, RICHMOND HUNT, PAUL KINCAID, DAVE LANGFORD, ETHEL LINDSAY, RICHARD MCLAREN, NICK MILLS, DAVID C. MOOR, TERRY MORAN, JUSTIN MOSS, JOSEPH NICHOLAS, CHRISTOPHER F. O'SHEA, SIMON OUNSLEY, GREG PICKERSGILL, LINDA K. PICKERSGILL, MAUREEN PORTER, ALISON SCOTT, NICK SHEARS, NATHAN SIDWELL, CHARLES STROSS, PETER-FRED THOMPSON, GLEN WARMINGER, PAM WELLS, D. WEST, OWEN WHITEOAK, MADELEINE WILLIS, WALTER A. WILLIS, DAVE WOOD
is a special Novacon issue of the newsletter that keeps you up to date with all things TAFFish and bores you rigid by telling you once more that TAFF still stands for the Transatlantic Fan Fund and still exists to promote links between North American and European fandom (one day I'll slip Peru in there somewhere and no-one will even notice - until the first snapshots of the llamas come back.)
So you read it in Critical Wave first
Yes, for once Critical Wave's TAFF story is true. The next race really will take place in August/September 1991 and a bright sparkly European delegate really will be sent to represent us all at the next American Worldcon in Chicago.
More to the point, that delegate could even be you. Anyone can stand for TAFF providing they can find three Europeans and two Americans willing to nominate them, and post a bond for £5 to confirm their serious intentions. Of course it helps if you have some contact with American fandom, and your fellow fans like and respect you (but that's never stopped anyone before). In any case, you don't have to have been in fandom for donkeys years and you don't have to be a fanzine fan. It doesn't even matter if you've been to America before. All that counts is that you have been doing something of note in fandom, and that fans in your own country and the receiving country think you are worthy of the honour.
Alternatively, for the more modest amongst you (are there any such in fandom?), maybe you'd like to nominate the person you think would make a really good TAFF delegate, or at least indulge in some gentle arm-twisting and cajolery to convince them to stand.
Make 1990 a year to remember...
...says the air miles brochure in front of me. Or in the case of TAFF 1991. Since a large proportion of TAFF expenditure goes on travel we thought collecting unwanted air miles would be a good way to raise some extra money. Admittedly we need to collect 7,800 Air Miles to fly a candidate out to Chicago from London, but even a proportion of this total could be used for shorter trips, for example to help a North American delegate visit some fannish centre in Europe. In any case, Air Miles are available on a variety of products.
Current participating companies include :
Alfred Marks Fuji Secrets Allied Carpets Goodbye Chemicals Shell Automobile Association Hanimex Holiday Inn Barrat International Resorts Hertz Skol lager, Castlemaine British Gas Holiday Inn XXXX, Swan Light Burton Retail Keesing Puzzle Books Tetley Bitter Cadbury's chocolate eclairs Langs Supreme Whisky Superdrive Champion Sport Little Chef Top Man Comet NatWest Access/Visa Toshiba Commodore Polycell United Agricultural Daily Express Principles Merchants Debenhams Radius Video Vacations Dorothy Perkins Royal Life Vivitar Air Miles Vouchers are transferable as a gift, so if you find yourself handed any in the course of your Christmas purchases, and aren't collecting them yourself, why not send them on to TAFF?
***TAFF AUCTION***
LOOK OUT FOR THE TAFF AUCTION ON SUNDAY NIGHT AT NOVACON FOR A VARIETY OF T-SHIRTS, TASTELESS TIES, BOOKS, FANZINES AND OTHER BIZARRE OFFERINGSDirect Sales
The following are a random selection of publications that we're selling on a first come first served basis either at Novacon or by mail (postage and packing 20p per item, or free for orders of over £5) Cheques payable to Lilian Edwards please.
Fifty pence per item
British Fantasy Newsletter Vol 13 no 2, Vol 13 no. 3, Vol 14 no. 1, Vol 14 no. 2
Dark Horizons no 29 & 30 ed. David Sutton. Mixture of fantasy fiction & analysis
Hearts of Darkness -- Poems of the fantastic and macabre ed. Nic Howard 1983
The Book of Gold : The newsletter on Gene Wolfe and his works ed. Jeremy Crampton
Aussiecon Two Film Notes Find out if the films at Aussie worldcons are the same as anywhere else
Caprician 3 ed. Lilian Edwards & Christina Lake. Includes articles by Dave Langford and Zy Nicholson
Yuppie Terrorist Reprisals Hit Bristol ed. Christina Lake & Peter-Fred Thompson. Bristol-based genzine
Balloons Over Bristol 1 ed. Christina Lake & Peter-Fred Thompson. As above.
Free Lunch 4 Parting shot from Mike Christie & Sherry Coldsmith before they left these shores. Features the infamous deconstruction of John Clute's vocabulary
Specific Levity of Corflu Five eds. Shelley Dutton Berry & Steven C. Berry. One shot fanzine to prove that from little fanzine conventions little fanzines grow
Uncle Dick's Little Thing ed. Richard H E Smith. Out of date gossip with a suggestive title
Holier Than Thou 24 ed. Marty & Robbie Cantor. 70pp of fun. Articles by Linda Blanchard, Skel & many others
Outworlds 55-58 ed. Bill Bowers. Repository of famous (and not so famous) veterans, Americans & Skel
YHOS 43, 44 & 46 ed. Art Widner. America's answer to Dave Wood pastes in letters and articles from more of those famous Americans and Skel
SwedeIshes : Illustrated Fanthology of Swedish Fan-Writing ed. Ahrvid Engholm 1987 in English. All feuds removed in the translation.
One pound per item
Chocolates of Lust 2 ed. Phil Palmer. Visually inventive genzine featuring Nick Lowe's top ten lavatories and Geoff Ryman in the pre-AIDS gay scene
Get Stuffed 7 : Apa for soft toys, featuring writing from toys belonging to Maureen Porter, Pam Wells and many others too shy to put their name here
Pirate Jenny 2 ed. Pat Mueller. Successor to Texas SF Enquirer, featuring articles on hard SF and 'The Robert L. Fanthorpe revival'
Lan's Lantern 27 ed. George Laskowski A mind-boggling 136 pages long. More on R.L. Fanthorpe, more on Star Trek the Next Generation, more on almost anything you can think of...
New Worlds 189 : Stories by Ellison, Ballard, Aldiss, D.M. Thomas etc.
New Worlds 190 : Stories by Aldiss, Moorcock, Harrison & Dr. Christopher Evans
SPECIAL OFFER -- Fanzine trial pack : a pack of six assorted fanzines for £1 (post free)
TWO-TIMES TAFF 3 is the newsletter of the European administrators of the Transatlantic Fan Fund who are Lilian Edwards and Christina Lake. All queries, contributions and purchases should be addressed to them at 47 Wessex Avenue, Horfield, Bristol, BS7 0DE
Pam wins TAFF
Well, let's leave the headlines to Critical Wave, and get on with the reportage. Far too early on Thursday 16th May, armed with ballot forms and calculator, I rang Robert Lichtman in California -- for whom it was only Wednesday evening. After being cut off once, we established that mercifully no counting of second place votes would be required, and that with 132 votes out of a possible 227 we could declare Pam Wells the winner. So we did. The full results are as follows:
Europe N. America Total Abigail Frost 37 21 58 Bruno Ogorolec 11 22 33 Pam Wells 84 48 132 Holdover Funds 1 2 3 Dave Piper (write-in) 0 1 1 Total 133 94 227 Not a bad total, considering all this talk of a TAFF crisis. UK voting was down on 1988 by 35 votes, but a good twenty votes higher than the 1986 race when Greg Pickersgill won, while the North American vote was up by a highly significant two, and Australia seems to have lost interest altogether (apart from those living here), unless Robert counted them in with the rest of his votes. Bruno lost on his own side of the Atlantic under the 20% rule, but did much better in the host country, proving perhaps that the Americans actually do read those large fanzines they produce so prolifically. Two votes arrived after the deadline, one from France, and one by fax, unfortunately to an absent recipient - but never mind, that's new technology for you.
So, congratulations to Pam who will go to the Worldcon in Chicago at the end of August, and commiserations to Abigail whose campaign newsletters did so much to enliven (and mythologise) the race, and Bruno whose shadowy presence kept alive the whole question of European representation. Pam is hoping to wangle at least three weeks of holiday out of her employers to make the trip and has grandiose plans that include Seattle, California, Texas and the East Coast, not to mention Madison and Mineappolis around the convention, but admits she may have to prune her itinerary!
The race raised a healthy £349.00 on this side of the Atlantic, with many fans paying well over the £1.00 minimum, notably itinerant American Covert Beach who contributed £20.00 and TAFF benefactor Roger Earnshaw who gave £25.00 without even offering his opinion on which candidate should win. This means that TAFF has something in the region of £2,000 to hand over to Pam Wells.
What of Europe then?
Bruno stood, and instead of drawing in hordes of Yugoslavs to cause consternation to the administrators, attracted the same low level of European attention as ever. (At an early stage, after receiving a vote from Mathias Hoffman, Rober and I fantasised about the German vote swinging it for Bruno, but instead all that ever materialised was the Birmingham vote, swinging it -- slightly -- for Pam.) Meanwhile Abigail proclaimed that if she won, she would make TAFF more European, and, with 1992 turning from a watchword into an iminent date in our diaries, and Bridget Wilkinson selling Eastern European fans like hot cakes, who could argue with that?
Well, it may look wonderful on the surface, but I'm not so sure about the reality of it all. Consider, what if Bruno Ogorolec had won TAFF? What if he had rushed to victory on a surge of votes from middle Europe and pro-European British fans sold on the concept that somehow TAFF would be more meaningful if it was seen to be being European? What would that have actually done for our connections with European fandom? Absolutely nothing. Bruno would have gone to America, Lilian and I would have had a fun time with currency transactions and the rest of you would have had to wait for a trip report that told you all about America. But, hell, all the TAFF trip reports tell you about America. What we want to hear about is Yugoslavia. We know far less about fandom in Yugoslavia, Eastern Europe, Germany and even Sweden, than we do about fandom in America. What we should be spending our money on is bringing these people over here, not sending them off to America, before we've even met them.
To my mind it's a fiction that TAFF represents the whole of Europe. TAFF could only pretend to represent the whole of Europe when there was no European fandom to speak of. Now there is, and most of it extremely different from ours, it is crazy to pretend that we can send one delegate to represent the whole of it. The single European fan market will not magically arise in 1992, it might never arise at all, because we all still speak different languages, and though some of us travel, we do not, mostly, go to conventions together and so there is no real joint community. This may all come in time, but not, I feel through TAFF. Nor should TAFF attempt to improve its image by jumping on the European bandwagon. Either its current role of interpreting the Americans to the British and vice versa is valid (as I believe), or else we might as well wind it up right now and send the money to Bangladesh.
As for talking to Europe -- Fans Across the World exists, and has done much to help links with Eastern Europe, but when it comes down to it, we are left with a few specialists like Bridget Wilkinson or Wilf James who have travelled abroad and seen other fandoms, and a great mass of ignorance. What we need, if people are truly interested in forging a European fandom, is not a more European TAFF, but translations of European fanzine articles, visits to European conventions, European guests at our conventions.
So, am I saying that TAFF should exclude the rest of Europe altogether? That we should tell Europeans that they may not vote and they may not stand? No. But I think TAFF should come clean and admit that it is de facto a British institution. (When did an American delegate last make the effort to go anywhere other than the UK?). In the end it should be up to the rest of Europe to make their own links with America, and not for us to do it for them, under the pretence that we are all part of one big happy European fandom.
Enough of the Polemic and on to Food
Don't forget to send your reviews of restaurants and any other eating establishments for the Fan Good Food Guide to Lilian Edwards, 2 Spring Valley Terrace, Morningside, Edinburgh EH10 4QD -- as soon as possible!
THOSE WHO VOTED
Michael Abbott, Hazel Ashworth, Mal Ashworth, Iain Banks, Linda Barker, Jim Barker, David V. Barrett, Harry Bell, Tony Berry, Harry Bond, Helena Bowles, Jane Carnell, Avedon Carol, Chris Cooper, David T. Cooper, John Dallman, Jim Darroch, Steve Davies, Peter Day, Sarah Dibb, Alan Dorey, Rochelle Dorey, Paul Dormer, Daniel Dvorkin, Malcolm Edwards, Helen Eling, Stan Eling, Brian Ellis, Dave Ellis, Graham England-Koch, Bernie Evans, Mick Evans, Vicky Evans, Nic Fairey, Mike Ford, Susan Francis, Gamma, Jenny Glover, Steve Glover, Roelof Goudriaan, Ann Green, Steve Green, Judith Hanna, Rob Hansen, Alun Harries, Chuck Harris, Sue Harris, Eve Harvey, John Harvey, Eva Hauser, Jackie Hawkins, Karen Heenan, Joy Hibbert, Mathias Hofmann, Dave Holmes, Steve Hubbard, Terry Hunt, Tim Illingworth, Rhodri James, Philip C. James, Wilf James, Kate Jeary, Jeremy Johnson, Al Johnston, Roz Kaveney, Debbi Kerr, Paul Kincaid, Cedric Knight, Linda Krawecke, Ken Lake, Dave Langford, Hazel Langford, Alice Lawson, Steve Lawson, Chris Lewis, Nick Lowe, Hugh Mascetti, Nick Mills, Keith Mitchell, Perry Middlemiss, Robin Mills, Dave Mooring, Andy Morris, Lynne Ann Morse, Steve Mowbray, Michelle Muijsert, Carolin Mullan, Chris Murphy, Penny Myles, Joseph Nicholas, Jan Orys, Simon Ounsley, Anne Page, Darroll Pardoe, Rog Peyton, Simon Polley, Nigel E Richarson, Mic Rogers,, Roger Robinson, Andrew Rose, Marcus Rowland, Alison Scott, Moira Shearman, Cyril Simsa, Cas Skelton, Paul Skelton, Kate Solomon, Maureen Speller, Martin Smith, Ian Sorensen, Richard Standage, James Steel, Alex Stewart, Charles Stross, R Stubbs, Chris Suslowicz, Martin Taylor, Pascal Thomas, Peter-Fred Thompson, Martin Tudor, Steve Tudor, Lisa Tuttle, Paul Vincent, Jonathan Waite, Glen Warminger, Ashley Watkins, Margaret Welbank, Pam Wells, Pete Weston, Bridget Wilkinson, Madeleine Willis, Walt Willis, Laura Wheatly, Dave Wood.
Christina Lake, 47 Wessex Avenue, Horfield, Bristol BS7 0DE • May 1991