T A sound which so frequently slips in between n and c that Esperanto
made c stand for the ts sound it has in certain out of the way languages.
TAFF The Trans-Atlantic Fan Fund, a fund intended to take Britons to American
Worldcons and, alternate years, vice versa. It all began with Shelby
Vick's WAW With the Crew in '52 campaign, which undertook to bring Walt Willis
over to America, to the ChiCon II, that year. (There had been a predecessor
in the Big Pond Fund drives sparkplugged by Ackerman.) Early in 1953 Don Ford
and the Cinci Fantasy Group started a fund to bring Anglofan Norm Ashfield to
the Philcon II but he was unable to come and Don offered the funds to anyone
else Anglofandom should select. At the 1953 LonCon at the Bonnington the idea
of a continuing TAFF was brainstormed by Willis, Vin¢ Clarke, Slater, Chuch
Harris, Terry Jeeves, Eric Bentcliffe, Norm Shorrock and John Brunner, after
long hours of discussion and smokefilled-room sessions.
The original idea was that nominees should be "someone fairly well-known
to both British and American fandom" and that voters "should have been active
in fandom to the extent of having subscribed to or contributed to at least one
fanzine or joined a fan-club or organization". Don Ford on this side and Walt
Willis on that side acted as administrators -- exchange difficulties making it
necessary to have operators on each side of the ocean. Afterward, it was
understood that the most recent winners from each side would operate the fund.
So far it's sent over Ken (and Pam) Bulmer, Bob Madle, and Ron Bennett.
(Vin¢ Clarke and Lee Hoffman won the egoboo of election but didn't make the
trip as TAFFen.) In 1957 circumstances of the election kicked up a flap about
definition of a fan which sundered the movement considerably; Madle, the
winner that year, had earlier decreased fanac to write for the [ptui!] proz,
and a number of people never heard of in fandom before seemed to have voted,
despite the requirement noted above. Madle also got some undeserved blame for
the antics of another candidate who toured the country offering to pay the
token contribution (50›, or 2/6) for anybody who'd vote for him. Objection to
such things, with advice to tighten up the rules, was entered by Chuch Harris
and others, but actual rules adopted later (by Madle and Bennett, in September
1958) had the effect of doing away with the voter-requirements and even, by
omission, the candidacy requirements. The administrators, however, apparently
meant this as a move to quell the argument, since they had previously used
their discretion to reject the sort of questionable votes against which
protest was made.
TAPERA Sort of a radio-type play, done on tape. In ancient days something of
the sort was done on sonodiscs, but the Anglofen have been the most
notable modern practitioners of the art. Milt Rothman took wire-recorded
soap-opera parodies "Life Can Be Horrible" and "Who Goes Where?" to the LonCon
in 1951, where the Englishers were much amused by them. At the Coroncon in
'53 the London O produced "Whiskers" by Walt Willis (Walt hates public
speaking and did this as his contribution to the con). The Liverpool SFS was
struck by the idea and got him to do one for them, "Alien Arrives",
which they presented at the 1954 SuperManCon. They followed it by the "March
of Slime" at Kettering in 1955, and the most famous and painstaking of all,
"Last and First Fen", at the 1955 Cytricon.
TAPO What people do on tape that'd be called a typo if they were writing it.
TASFIC The ChiCon II. The committee wanted to call it this -- initialese
from Tenth Annual Science Fiction International Convention -- but fen
wouldn't have it, since the tradition of naming the con for the town was
strong; and anyway, the Worldcon notion began with the NYCon I in 1939, not in
1942 when the planned Pacificon was cancelled, so "Tenth Annual" was
incorrect.
TECHNOCRACY A plan for running North America as an engineering project. It
had origin in Thorstein Veblen's distinction between the
engineers who actually made the machinery run and the "Captains of Industry"
who played with stocks and bonds. After the World War, says Speer (meaning
the last World War but one), a group of scientists are said to have surveyed
the continent's resources and concluded that every adult in the country could
have goods equivalent to $20,000 a year for life by working 4 hours a day, 165
days a year, for 20 years. In addition, food and many basic services would be
free.
New inventions, despite repressive tactics, are making people more and
more productive, and the present Price System, it was declared, was fated to
collapse about 1942; when this happened engineers and Technocrats
(Technocracy, Inc, had elaborately-numbered study groups all over the place,
especially strong in Canada and California) would take over and set up the
Technate, according to blueprints which were drawn up in some detail. It was
to be governed by a self-perpetuating oligarchy of scientists (much better
than messy politics and incompetent voters). Income would be the same for
all, social approval or disapproval supplying the stimulus that money gives
now. Energy certificates (from which the stfnal "credit" apparently got its
inspiration) were to be exchanged for goods by a beautifully worked-out
bookkeeping system.
Technocracy was prominent among the plans offered to get us out of the
Great Depression in '29, and was publicized by Gernsback's managing editor
David Lasser. Under the New Deal it was little heard of, but about 1939 made
a comeback under Howard Scott. It was taken up by Yerke and Hodgkins of the
LASFS, interested Ackerman briefly, but made few converts till the outbreak of
war when several Futurians, saying that that event had made internationalism
useless for the time being, turned to Technocracy. (They were not welcomed by
the Angelenoes.) It is said that Technocracy study groups still exist, but
it's been little heard of in fandom for years now.
TENDRILSESSION A fannish gabfest. Expression derives from the tendrils of
the slans, which were the organs of telepathic communication.
TENTACLES ACROSS THE SEA A benevolent but sinister organiz/sation created by
Chuck Harris and Dean Grennell to equalis/ze credit
in the sterling and dollar areas, respectively, in the mid-50s, when
governmental regulations obstructed direct swapping of cash back and forth.
With the aid of TATS deserving Anglofen could put shillings into the British
branch and have them come out as 14› pieces from the American branch for
purposes of paying FAPA dues, etc. Excess balances at either end are spent on
native literature and riotous living, for export to the opposite branch and
domestic consumption, respectively.
TERRANS (2) The Cleveland SF Association, now Incorporated. They put on the
very successful Clevention. Not to be confused with (2) Terran
Society, a club in and around Aberdeen, Washington, in 1950. They were
informally allied with the Nameless Ones of Seattle, and OO Dan'ls Babel went
to the membership of both clubs.
TETRAHEDRON A triangular pyramid. In position of two such-shaped
spaceships set for ramming, a pair of tetrahedra bracketing a
publication's title indicate that it's from Speer's publishing house.
TFG Terrestrial Fantascience Guild; name taken in 1935 by the former
International SF Guild, which in turn was originally Impossible Story
Club -- an organization said to have antedated Amazing. General Manager
Wilson Shepard at one time claimed that it had a membership between 1000 and
2500, but that's doubtful since it folded within a year or two of its
formation. But it is historically important because in its bulletin Wollheim
published the report of WS' non-payments, which resulted in the ISA-SFL war.
The TFG adopted a code of fair practice and their emblem above was allowed to
be displayed by proz and fanzines complying with it (Square Deal for Fantasy
Fiction). It probably had a membership not over 100, maybe much less.
THIOTIMOLINE Isaac Asimov intruded in the normally sercon article pages of
Astounding a deadpan exposition of a substance which had, when
progressively purified, shorter and shorter solution times. When resublimated
it actually (if that's the word we want) went into solution so fast that it
dissolved before the solvent hit it. The notion struck fan whimsy and
writings on the subject developed such variants as selenotimoline, a
photosensitive analog which could be used to tell whether a picture would come
out all right before clicking the shutter. Hoax articles like this were one
of the curiosa in JWC's seeking for popularity in the early '50s, of which the
Predicted Issue was the whimsical best and pooping of dianetics, Hieronymus
machines, and dowsing, the horrid ultima.
13APA (Vorzimer) The Cult, sometimes, because that's how many members it
has.
TIMEBINDING (Korzybski) The distinguishing characteristic of Homo sapiens,
says K. It's the ability to establish continuity beyond the
individual life span by the use of permanent communications and multiple
record. Historical articles and things like this dictionary are examples of
the practice as it applies to fandom.
TOILET ROLL (FM Busby) The list of the dishonored in SAPS who didn't make a
contribution to the mailing.
TOP FAN An undefined designation, which has been filled in various polls.
The IPO Polls in the SF FAN found Don Wollheim top fan twice; from
the NYCon I to the end of World War II Ackerman was #1 fan; Tucker, Redd
Boggs, and Walt Willis have occupied the position at various times thereafter,
tho since about 1952 polls to determine Top Fan have been of dubious validity
due to the difficulty of getting proper poll cross-sections.
The criteria on which different voters base their choices differed
seriously, so Speer thought that the effort to lay down the law here might be
of some value. In the first place, ideally the list of top fans for one year
should be good, by and large, a year or so later. Choices should be based on
probably future value to fandom, estimated of course from past performance.
It follows that no stfnist should be considered for one of the top places
until he has been active for at least two years; many may run thru the cycle
of fanac and make a big noise for a moment, then fizzle out. In addition to
beneficial effect on fandom, it is usual to consider prestige and weight
carried in organizational activities and the formation of opinions. It is not
a popularity contest; the twenty-odd top fans are probably the ones without
whom it is supposed that fandom would not be what it is.
TOWER TO THE MOON (Rike&Carr) A project of the Berkeley Bhoys to build a
tower to the moon out of empty beercans. Much calculation
and enthusiasm (and not a little constructive support) has been expended on it
by fans, but Poul Anderson points out that as the Earth spins any such tower
will tend to trail behind the point it's attached to and eventually form, not
a tower, but a loop encircling the planet. And he points to a well-known
astronomical object with the warning: "The rings of Saturn! Don't you
understand? It's been done before!"
TOWNER FT Laney. That's what the T stood for.
TREASURER In fan organizations often combined with the secretaryship. The
general treasury of an organization consists of dues, funds from
sale of surplus stock, proceed from auctions, and contributions. The treasury
ordinarily, in well-organized clubs, bears the expense of the official organ
and other official publications, postage thereon, and also postage etc for
other official mail, tho claims from the other officials are seldom made. Fan
gatherings staged by the organization may be financed either out of the
treasury, or out of members' pockets, in which latter case profits of the con
often go back to the individuals putting it on.
TRIUMVIRS (Speer) Three who share authority and rule. The Triumvirate of
fandom was Moskowitz, Sykora, and Taurasi, drawn together by enmity
toward Wollheim. Sykora's feud with the latter dated from the dissolution of
the ISA in 1937; Moskowitz' originated in W's charge that SaM's account of the
Third Convention was full of errors and typical of the shallow fans who will
not think, and of the exchange of barrage that followed; Taurasi had been a
neutral prior to the breakup of the GNYSFL.
Not long after this last event, Moskowitz got them together, and after a
period of conferring they started New Fandom. Following the policy, newly
popular, of refusing to engage in feuding, they built up the QSFL, New Fandom,
and the widely-circulated FANTASY NEWS. Their power became such that their
opponents referred to them as dictators, and Michel and Speer coined a series
of ekenames patterned on those of the Axis leaders; Moskowitz was Der Fuhrer
of the Newark Swamps, Taurasi Il Duce of Flushing Flats, Sykora the Mikado of
Long Island City -- all this from their places of residence. They
successfully staged the NYCon I, but the X Act alienated such former neutrals
as Tucker, Ackerman, and Hart. With the support of the large QSFL, however,
and usually of the Phillies against the Futurians, they continued to be strong
thru the 1940 PhilCo.
About this time, Taurasi became less active, talking of going into the
service, and Sykora took over FANTASY NEWS. Sykora was discredited after the
ChiCon I by the report circulated therein that he had been arrested, and
released with a warning, on an IMM charge [hence the by-name "Psykora"].
Moskowitz had set up shop as an agent, and became less active before he was
drafted. That the Triumvirate was still in existence, however, was shown
early the next year in the fuss at the QSFL.
TRUE FAN One to whom stf Breathes there a fan with soul so dead
and crifanac He never to himself has said,
afford such pleasure that he "I am a member of Trufandom!"?
would rather enjoy them than Who ne'er has called himself twice blest
anything else except femme- Finding a stfyarn 'mongst the rest
fans, and who willingly goes In some mundane zine picked up at random?
to all sorts of trouble to If such there be, his fate how gruesome!
maintain his fannish status No fannish fire expands his bosom;
and connections. He is Let fandom clap him, prodom too,
almost always an actifan. In Boundless howe'er his egoboo
connection with TAFF a furor The wretch who finds no joy in stf
arose over the definition of Living shall be an LNF
a Trufan, the active faction And, doubly dying, shall be forgotten --
insisting that a trufan Evicted from the realm of the starbegotten!
exhibit his quality by some
sort of fanac -- crifanac for choice -- while others maintained that
nomination to or interest in so stefnistic an enterprise as TAFF was
sufficient to prove fannishness. In the opinion of your editor the
requirements noted in the second paragraph under TAFF could hardly be
fulfilled without engaging in crifanac to some extent except by a few people
like Don Ford who engage vast numbers of fans as participants in regular
gatherings like the MidWestCon.
BOB TUCKER Nickname by which Arthur Wilson Tucker (of the Bloomington,
Illinois Tuckers) is generally known. Besides adding several
pages to fan history (which you will find scattered thru this volume) he has
had a number of items, to us of interest, associated directly with the Tucker
name.
The Tucker Hotel was based on a suggestion of Bob's, in 1952 when the
ChiCon II and its prices signalled the start of the Big Convention movement,
that fans simply build a hotel of their very own for holding conventions in,
moving it from one site to another as required. A campaign arose to send
Bricks to Tucker for the construction of this edifice; Rich Elsberry,
denouncing this as a vile proish plot to get free bricks, recommended that BT
be sent straw with which to make bricks for himself. A group of Anglofans
designed, and draftsman Bob Shaw drew up plans for, a Tucker Hotel; Walt
Willis and Chuck Harris located a fine site for it.
Tuckerism is the practice among professional authors of using their
friends' names for characters in stories they are writing, Bob being a leading
exponent of this sort of thing.
There have been two Tucker Death Hoaxes. The first was that mentioned
under Staple War, in which a fellow boarder made the announcement to the proz
-- not actually meaning it as a hoax, but as a joke, tho a sick one. Another
came a few weeks before the CinVention; at that time Ben Singer, an 18-year-
old Michifan stationed at Chanute AFB near Tucker's place, dropped in on Bob
and suggested pulling off a Tucker Death Hoax for the con. Bob deprecated the
idea and thought he'd quashed it, but Singer found it a fascinating notion and
upon leaving sent Don Ford [CinVention chairman] a telegram, ostensibly from
Mari-Beth Wheeler, telling him of Bob's death, and sent Art Rapp a news
release giving gory details. The story ran that Bob had written a love novel
which Rinehart desperately wanted to buy, tho they had lost the manuscript he
had sent them; and that when Tucker got their message his children had just
finished burning the only carbon copy. Tuck, per Singer, drowned his
sorrows, went to sleep drunk while smoking in the projection room of the
theater where he worked, and started a fire in which he was fatally burned.
His last words deserve recording: "Tell them I'm sorry..." (i e the CinVention
attendees, because he couldn't make it to the con). Rapp took the message at
its face value, and flashed the news out to fandom; Will Sykora called
Bloomington to check up and found out from the manager of the theater that it
was all a hoax, which, accordingly, he indignantly denounced. So did the
manager, suspecting Tucker of seeking phony publicity for his writings; only
his strong union, Bob says, kept him from being summarily fired.
TURGID TRIPLETS Walt Daugherty, EE Evans, and Walt Dunkelberger, around the
end of World War II when they were prime movers of the N3F.
All were notoriously poor writers.
TWIPPLEDOP (Boggs) An individzine beta made into a department.
Miscellaneous notes and comments strung together to form a
department or a column, from the title and character of the editorial section
of SKYHOOK.
200th FANDOM The ultimate fandom, indefinite in nature but Utopian in
prospect. Phrase coined by Wrai Ballard; those who rallied to
his standard soon added the emblem illustrated elsewhere, and a motto, "De
garren ha det gut". This was finally revealed to be Norsk for "The crazy have
it good."
TWONK'S DISEASE (MFS) The ultimate in afflictions of any nature, possibly
synonymous with falling of the armpits.
TYPER Fans have machins a ecriré of all vintages, even some of
the antiquated strike-underneath kind. The lack of the letter F on
Perdue's typewriter gave him his first fame; one time Jack Gillespie of the
Futurians stencilled a tirade against Moskowitz on a machine whose z was
missing.
Blue-and-red and sometimes odd combinations like neotric green-and-brown
typeribbons are employed by many fans. The most favored type is elite, like
this before you, but some fans have the slightly larger pica. Variants
include elite with pica spacing, Vogue (similar to gothic), script, and a
Royal face with small serifs tagged deputy serif. In addition, Ackerman,
Konig, Ellington, Magnus and others have had access to Varitypers, which
operate on an awkward principle of moving a block of letters back and forth
and striking the paper against the letters, which permits the use of
interchangeable plates carrying all sorts of alphabets. In size they've
varied from gigantic to teenchy (you figure out the point number!) and in
style have had italic, gothic, boldface, and others besides normal type.
TYPO Typographical error. A savage and untamable beast, the bane of
publishers. Obliterine heals any wound made by a typo, as Jophan found
on his pilgrimage to the Enchanted Duplicator, and this useful fluid should
always be kept handy when indulging in crifanac.
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