This is the newsletter that announces the race to elect a successor to current European TAFF administrator Pam Wells, still resident at 24A Beech Road, Bowes Park, London, N11 2DA despite strenuous efforts to sell up and move. Telephone 081 889-0401. This issue dated November 1992.
The race is on to elect the next European TAFF representative, and I'm delighted to announce that you lucky voters have a choice between four excellent candidates, any of whom would make an excellent delegate. As usual, it's a shame that there will have to be losers, and this race will see more of them than has been the case in recent years. I'm delighted to be able to present such a strong and varied range of candidates, and hope that such a broad field will encourage a huge number of voters to declare their preferences.
As you will see from the ballot form, the write-in vote has been discontinued, and a new option of 'No Preference' has been added. This allows voters to participate in the race even if they do not wish to choose between the candidates, and provides an alternative to holding over the trip. In the same way that 'Hold Over Funds' represents 'none of the above candidates', so 'No Preference' represents 'any of the above candidates'. Any 'No Preference' votes will be counted in the overall voting totals, but will not affect the vote tallies for individual candidates nor count towards their 20% minimum requirements.
I have received no further correspondence about the abolition of the write-in vote or the position of TAFF on mainland Europe, except for a very pertinent comment from Matthias Hoffman asking how many copies of TAFFERVESCENT get sent to non-Brits. Touche! I arranged to distribute a number of extra copies of TAFFERVESCENT 5 via Bridget Wilkinson with the Fans Across The World Newsletter, and hope to continue with this practice. I have also agreed to write an article about TAFF for Roelof Goudriaan's excellent newszine Shards of Babel, which has a wide European readership. Beyond this, I don't have any further ideas for widening my mailing catchment, bearing in mind that I don't want to waste TAFF's money by sending issues of its newsletter to people with no interest in the fund. Perhaps something can be made of the 'TAFF in Europe' issue at next year's Eurocon, which happens to coincide with the British Eastercon, Helicon, in Jersey. I'll be in touch with their committee between now and then to see if they'd like this on their programme.
A couple of programme items which have already been confirmed will take place at this year's Novacon (where most of you will be receiving this newsletter). On Sunday afternoon, I will be interviewing the candidates in the current race and inviting the audience to add their questions. There will also be the now-traditional TAFF auction on Sunday night -- this year to be shared with GUFF and Fans Across The World. If you read this before Novacon and have any items to donate towards the auction, please bring them along. You can state which fund the proceeds should go to, or whether they should be split across all the funds.
As many of you will know, the 1995 Worldcon is to be held in Glasgow. If the TAFF races continue as at present, the race that year will be from Europe to North America. I would like to suggest that a change is made to this schedule, to allow for a North American TAFF delegate to come to Glasgow. My preference for managing this would be to run next year's race from Europe to North America again, allowing the winner to attend a Worldcon in Canada instead of the USA, and postponing the next North America to Europe race until 1995. There are undoubtedly other ways in which this problem can be solved, and I shall be discussing the alternatives with all the current candidates and the North American administrator, Jeanne Bowman. If you have any strong feelings on this subject, please contact me as soon as possible. Although not strictly my responsibility, there won't be much time for discussion available to my successor: if the next North America to Europe race is to continue as usual, nominations are likely to close before the next European winner has completed their trip.
After complaining last time that interest in the TAFF mail auctions was slight, I now have to eat my words and express my gratitude and amazement to all of you who have placed bids in last time's First Round (the Second Round this time). I will therefore continue with the mail auction and encourage my successor to keep it going as well, unless interest starts to wane again.
The first completed round of auction items raised a total of £61.50, although some of this has yet to be received. Will those of you who have not paid yet please take this as a reminder -- you know who you are. To summarise, the set of GROSS ENCOUNTERS went to Robert Lichtman for £6, the collection of Dave Bridges fanzines went to Paul Vincent for £6, SMALL FRIENDLY DOGs 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 and 22 went to Kim Huett for £3 each, INDIAN SCOUT 21 went to Paul Vincent for £5, IZZARD 9 went to Mark Nelson for £3, the first FEAPA mailing went to Mark Nelson for £10, and issues 4, 4.5 and 5 of ZIMRI went to Harry Bond for £3.50 each.
The current balance in the coffers of European TAFF is £1,474.59. TAFF would like to thank the members of the Birmingham Science Fiction Group for spending £35.52 at the TAFF auction in August, John Dallman, Dave Langford, Darroll Pardoe, Nick Shears and Cyril Simsa for donations of material, all Mail Auction participants, and all the current candidates and their nominators for being part of what looks set to become a very exciting race.
Now on to the Mail Auction again, with the return of Direct Sales listed at the end. A reminder of the rules: Direct Sale items will be supplied on a first come, first served basis. Auction items will be listed in three issues of TAFFERVESCENT before a winner is announced. Bids may be made by mail or phone, and if I receive two bids for the same amount, I'll take the one I received first. When the third round figures have been printed and a deadline for final bids set, current winners will be contacted if their bids have been beaten, to see if they wish to place a higher bid. Anyone wishing to receive continued updates of bids should send me a stamped, self-addressed envelope (with British postage stamps to the correct value). Payment for Direct Sale or Mail Auction items may be made in US Dollars to Jeanne Bowman if this is more convenient: as a rough guide, the dollar amount will be about twice the sterling figure; perhaps a little more if postage by air is required. I'll let you know the dollar equivalent if this is how you would prefer to pay. Please contact me if you have any queries.
Auction Items: First Round
1. FANTHOLOGY 1981, edited and published by Patrick Nielsen Hayden, first printing: Summer 1982. Cover by Richard Bergeron, interior art and lettering by Teresa Nielsen Hayden, Bhob Stewart, Ted White and Sylvia Dees White. Articles by Alais Adverse, Chris Atkinson, Ted White, Avedon Carol, Eric Mayer, Kevin Smith, John Bangsund, Chris Priest, Dave Langford and Greg Benford, from Venom, Tappen, Pong, Harlot, Groggy, Dot, Warhoon, Energumen and Boonfark. Together with an introduction by Patrick Nielsen Hayden, a superlative collection of fanwriting. Minimum bid: £5.
2. NAPALM IN THE MORNING: issues 1, 2 and 3 of this personalzine by Joseph Nicholas, published in 1980 and 1981. Buy these and see whether Joseph really did write all that KTF stuff everybody stili accuses him of. (Oh damn, he'll give me hell for using a preposition to end that last sentence with!) To be sold as a set. Minimum bid: £3.
3. TALES FROM THE SLAG HEAP, edited by Abigail Frost and Helen Starkey, 1984. A great piece of time-binding, not to mention gossip, and That Cover -- which is a decidedly dodgy version of the Fannish Relationships Diagram which swept through British party fond om in 1984. Ah, such memories! Minimum bid: £1.
4. MOOD 70, an anthology of British fanwriting produced for the 1979 Worldcon (Seacon 79), edited by Kevin Smith. Proving that only men could write decent stuff in the 70s, it contains articles by Graham Charnock, Malcolm Edwards, Rob Holdstock, Leroy Kettle, Dave Langford, Peter Nicholls and Greg Pickersgill. Pretty much a tribute to Rat Fandom. A4, very neatly produced, litho printed and slip-bound. Minimum bid: £3.
5. Four issues of TWENTYTHIRD by Jimmy Robertson, and if I could work out the issue numbers I'd tell you what they are. Oh, OK then, issues 5, 6, 8 and 9. Jimmy Robertson's unique style makes these well worth getting if you haven't got them already. To be sold as a set. Minimum bid: £3.
6. NABU, issues 8, 9, 10 and 11, edited by Ian Maule (remember him?). Classic seventies genzine, duplicated on coloured quarto paper, cover art by Jim Barker, Stu Shiffman et ai, minimal internal art. Issue 11 contains an insert of the Gannet Fandom family Tree. Issues to be sold separately. Minimum bid: £1.50 each.
Auction Items: Second Round
1. FANCYCLOPEDIA II edited and published by Dick Eney, first edition, copy number 216 of 450. Published in 1959. Some 200 pages of definitions of fannish words, with around 30 illustrations. Clearly a collector's item. Minimum bid: £15. BIDS RECEIVED Mark Nelson £25, Chris Suslowicz £25.
2. The first 19 issues of LES SPINGE, edited by Ken Cheslin, Dave Hole and Darroll Pardoe. 1959-1967. Many fan articles; on-stencil artwork, including much by ATom. A slice of history! To be sold as a set. Minimum bid: £12. BIDS RECEIVED Chuck Connor £15, David Rowe £20, Chris Suslowicz £30, Chuck Connor £35, Rog Peyton £38, Chris Suslowicz £50.
3. The masters of FUCK THE TORIES. Five sets of masters from which the issues 4 to 8 were produced. Articles and artwork pasted up and ready for copying. Edited by Joseph Nicholas and Judith Hanna. Each issue to be sold individually. Minimum bid: £2 each.
4. SIMULACRUM 8, edited by Victoria Vayne, December 1978. "The Doomsday Issue". Expertly duplicated Canadian genzine, with articles by Victoria Vayne, Taral, Don D'Ammassa, Ben Indick and AI Sirois among others, and artwork by Stu Shiffman, Harry Bell, Taral, Bill Rotsler, Jim Barker, Alexis Gilliland, Andy Porter et 01. Same excellent use of coloured duplicator inks. Minimum bid: £4.
5. THE PATCHIN REVIEW no. 5, Oct-Dec 1982. "The inside guide to science fiction" edited by Charles Platt. Features Brian Aldiss, Piers Anthony, Philip K. Dick, Jody Scott and Donald A. Wollheim. A5, duplicated. Includes artwork and photographs. Minimum bid: £4.
6. BAYCON Program Book -- the programme book of the 26th World Science Fiction Convention held in the Berkeley-Oakland area of California in 1968. Guest of Honour Philip Jose Former, Fan GoH Walter J. Daugherty, Toastmaster Robert Silverberg, Hugo awards presided over by Harlan Ellison. 120pp, A5. Minimum bid: £5. BIDS RECEIVED Robert Lichtman £6.
7. Bibliography of Fritz Leiber, 1934-1979, compiled by Chris Morgan. First edition of 1000 copies, published August 1979. 36pp, A5. Includes centre-spread photos of book jackets. Minimum bid: £3. BIDS RECEIVED Dave Mooring £15.
Auction Items: Third Round
1. EGG by Peter Roberts, issues 7 (March 1973) and 11 (May 1978). "The official journal of aardvark fans". Nicely produced genzine, in the forefront of British fandom in the seventies. Issue 7 contains material by Eric Bentcliffe, Ian Williams, John Brosnan, Harry Bell and others, issue 11 contains the first couple of chapters of Peter Roberts' 1977 TAFF trip report. Issues to be sold separately. Minimum bid: £5 each.
3. GAMBIT by Ted White, issues 55 (March 1982) and 56 (August 1982). Both have Dan Steffan covers and much written material by Ted White. Issue 55 also contains articles by Lee Hoffman, Avedon Carol and Malcolm Edwards. Issue 56 contains articles by Paul Skelton and Malcolm Edwards. Issue 55 has 24 pages while 56 runs to 38 pages. Some text is printed using a small typeface, but clean duplication makes it all perfectly legible. Interior art by Bill Rotsler, Lee Hoffman, Dan Steffan and others. Issues to be sold separately. Minimum bid: £5 each.
4. STILL IT MOVES issues 1 to 5 and STILL LIFE 1 by Simon Ounsley, published between 1981 and 1984, before Simon got really ill. Great British fanwrlting by Ounsley and his contributors, who include Michael Ashley, Helen Starkey, Alan Ferguson, Jackie Gresham, Simon Polley, Pete Lyon, Colin Greenland and Paul Vincent. To be sold as a set. Minimum bid: £6. BIDS RECEIVED Paul Vincent £8, Robert Lichtman £10.
5. BOONFARK by Dan Steffan, issues 4 to 7. More neat duplicating in many colours, more great writing and artwork. I'm running out of superlatives and beginning to sound like a used car salesman. These are really excellent, trust me (see what I mean?). Issue 4 (January 1981), 5 (August 1981), 6 (Spring 1982) and 7 (Fall 1982). Issues to be sold separately. Minimum bid: £5 each.
The third round is the final round, and the highest bids quoted above are the winning bids IF THEY ARE NOT BEATEN BY 1st DECEMBER 1992. If I receive a higher bid for any of these items, I shall contact the person listed here to see if they wish to increase their bid. All items will be dispatched to the highest bidder soon after 1st December. Payment should be mode in pounds sterling, made payable to Pam Wells. If you would prefer to pay in US dollars, please contact me and I'll let you know the amount to send to Jeanne Bowman.
Direct Sale Items
1. THE LINDSAY REPORT, Ethel Lindsay's 1962 TAFF trip report, reprinted in 1992 by Joyce Scrivner. limited edition of 150 copies, each copy numbered individually. £3 each.
2. In the limited space remaining, I'll summarise the items listed previously which ore still available.
BY BRITISH: £2.50, MEXICON 2 -- The Fanzine: £2, JON SINGER FAN CLUB: £1, THE ENCHANTED DUPLICATOR: £4, INNUENDO 12: £4, KAUFMAN COAST TO COAST: £4, THE TRANSATLANTIC HEARING AID: £2, PLATEN STORIES: £2. Contact me if you would like further details of any of these items, or if you would prefer to pay in US dollars.