The Trans-Atlantic Fan Fund , often known as TAFF , is a crowdfunding project created in 1953 for the purpose of providing funds to bring well-known and popular members of science fiction fandom familiar to fans on both sides of the ocean, across the Atlantic.
15-922: The first international fan fund, the Big Pond Fund , was established to get Ted Carnell to the 1947 Worldcon , though it was the 1949 Worldcon he eventually attended. TAFF's roots lie in the successful effort to bring Walt Willis to the 1952 Worldcon in Chicago . Willis published the founding document for TAFF in Hyphen 4 (October 1953) following a discussion with "the available leaders of British fandom" at that year's Coroncon. Since that time TAFF has regularly brought North American fans to European conventions and European fans to North American conventions. The success of TAFF has inspired other regular fan funds between North America and Australia , Europe and Australia, and even Eastern and Western Canada . TAFF
30-550: A bond, promising to travel (if elected) to a major convention on the other side of the Atlantic; and has provided signed nominations and a platform . Voting is by secret ballot, using instant-runoff voting ; and is open to anyone who has been active in fandom for the prior year or more and who contributes to the Fund. Ballots are signed, to prevent ballot-box stuffing and to enable the election administrators to identify each voter as
45-493: A known member of fandom. Although the winner is expected to attend Worldcon or a specific national convention, TAFF delegates generally also tour the country before and after the convention in order to meet a variety of fans. Winning TAFF candidates are expected to write a trip report, which customarily takes the form of a fanzine or a series of fanzine articles. These fanzines are sometimes sold in order to help raise funds towards future TAFF trips. In addition, winners take over
60-490: Is funded through the support of fandom. Candidates are voted on by interested fans all over the world, and each vote is accompanied by a donation of not less than $ 4 or £3 or €4. These donations, and the continued generosity of fandom, are what make TAFF possible. In addition to donations, fans hold auctions at science fiction conventions to raise money for TAFF. Frequently art, books, T-shirts, and other ephemera of fandom are auctioned off for this purpose. Each candidate posts
75-617: The 2019 Worldcon being held in Dublin, Ireland. The race for 2020 was again east-bound, and was to send a North American TAFF delegate to the 2020 Eastercon and Swecon . Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and attendant travel restrictions, the 2020 winner started his trip in April 2022, beginning with the 2022 Eurocon in Luxembourg and continuing with the 2022 Eastercon "Reclamation". There
90-780: The British comics antihero The Steel Claw . Paul Grist 's comics series Jack Staff acknowledges this in the real name of its character The Claw, Ben Kulmer. Bulmer was also active in science fiction fandom , including travelling to the United States in 1955 as the TransAtlantic Fan Fund (TAFF) delegate. In the 1970s he edited nine issues of the New Writings in Science Fiction anthology series in succession to John Carnell , who originated
105-449: The administration of the fund for their region (Europe or North America) until the next regional TAFF delegate is selected (usually a period of two years, unless the next race is delayed). At any given time, there are at least two administrators, one for each region. Past TAFF winners by year. Westbound races are marked ← and eastbound →. There were no TAFF races in 1953, 1967, 1972, 1975, 1978, 1990, 1994, and 1997. The second 1998 race
120-470: The series was continued by Kenneth Bulmer for a further 9 issues. Taken together his publications played a role in starting the careers of Damien Broderick , Brian W. Aldiss , James White , J. G. Ballard , and his successor at New Worlds , Michael Moorcock . Despite that list, Carnell tended to prefer adventure and Hard SF to New Wave experimentation so John Christopher , Kenneth Bulmer , and E. C. Tubb were more typical of his tenure. However, he
135-410: The series. Bulmer's pseudonyms include Alan Burt Akers, Frank Brandon, Rupert Clinton, Ernest Corley, Peter Green, Adam Hardy, Philip Kent, Bruno Krauss, Karl Maras, Manning Norvil, Chesman Scot, Nelson Sherwood, Richard Silver, H. Philip Stratford and Tully Zetford. Kenneth Johns was a collective pseudonym used for a collaboration with author John Newman. Some of Bulmer's works were published along with
150-590: The true ones. For example, the Viking series published under the name "Neil Langholm" included biographical details intended to create the impression that the series – as appropriate to its subject – was written by a Dane : Neil Langholm was born in Copenhagen in 1931, but was educated in England at Eton and Oxford . He started his career as a veterinary surgeon but gave up in 1960 to begin writing full time. He
165-462: The works of other authors under " house names " (collective pseudonyms) Ken Blake (for a series of tie-ins with the 1970s television programme The Professionals ), Arthur Frazier, Neil Langholm, Charles R. Pike, and Andrew Quiller. He also ghost-wrote books for Barry Sadler . In some cases, Bulmer used not only a different name but also included in the books a detailed imaginary biography giving specific personal details substantially different from
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#1732776389992180-468: Was announced to "catch up" after the lack of a 1997 race. The 2007 race between Chris Garcia and Mary Kay Kare was cancelled due to the cancellation of the 2007 Eastercon ; Garcia stood again in 2008 and won. The direction of the 2016 race was switched by the administrators (Nina Horvath, Jim Mowatt and Curt Phillips) to align with the 2017 Worldcon being held in Helsinki, Finland, and the likelihood of
195-618: Was initially published as by Alan Burt Akers, and later as by the first-person protagonist of the series, Prescot himself. Bulmer's works are popular in translation, particularly in Germany, to the extent that in some cases they have been published only in German editions, with the original English-language versions remaining unpublished. Bulmer did some work in comics, writing Jet-Ace Logan stories for Tiger , scripts for War Picture Library , Lion and Valiant , and helping to create
210-467: Was no 2021 TAFF race. John Carnell Edward John Carnell (8 April 1912 – 23 March 1972) was a British science fiction editor known for editing New Worlds in 1946 then from 1949 to 1963. He also edited Science Fantasy from the 1950s. After the magazines were sold to another publisher he left to launch the New Writings in SF anthology series, editing 21 issues until his death, after which
225-1013: Was not seen as an opponent of the New Wave in the way John W. Campbell tended to be, and he even published a number of more experimental works by such authors as J. G. Ballard and Brian Aldiss . He was also the first to publish a story by the then fifteen-year-old Terry Pratchett . Kenneth Bulmer Henry Kenneth Bulmer (14 January 1921 – 16 December 2005) was a British writer, primarily of science fiction . Born in London, he married Pamela Buckmaster on 7 March 1953. They had one son and two daughters, and they divorced in 1981. Bulmer lived in Tunbridge Wells , Kent where he died on 16 December 2005. A prolific writer, Bulmer penned over 160 novels and numerous short stories, both under his real name and various pseudonyms. For instance, his long-running Dray Prescot series of planetary romances
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