... comes to you from Suzanne Tompkins, the 2005 TAFF delegate and North American administrator, at PO Box 25075, Seattle, WA, 98165, USA, suzlet at aol dot com. Also see: taff.org.uk for more info.
Today is September 5, 2007 and the West to East TAFF race is finally underway. (I'm beginning to think this should be called Three Year TAFF Life...).
2008 RACE IS ON -- VOTE!
This time around there are four candidates pledging to make the trip to the UK and Eastercon in 2008: Chris Barkley, Linda Deneroff, Chris Garcia, and Christian McGuire are all excellent candidates with different fannish backgrounds.
A ballot is enclosed and the November deadline will come about faster than you think, so please fill it out -- soon -- and return it per instructions.
THE CURRENT STATE OF THE TAFF NA FUND
Because of the generosity of many fans, fan groups & conventions, and the lack of a 2007 trip, the TAFF coffers are doing quite well. As of today, there is $8,730 in the TAFF bank accounts. Since my last report, we have had two Trip Report awards, a number of donations, auction proceeds, sales, CD interest, and misc. income, as well as expenses, such as printing and mailing costs; auction material shipping; 2006 TAFF delegate donation, etc.
DONATIONS, SALES, AUCTIONS, VOTES, MISC.
Auctions/sales at various cons did quite well: the FanFund Auction at LACon IV, though sparsely attended, brought in $418; sales in the Fan Lounge (thank you, Milt Stevens!) added $142; the auction at the '06 LosCon sent another $188.
AND the fabulous TAFF suite party, courtesy of James Bacon (TAFF '04), Max, and other Brits at LACon, a huge success for TAFF awareness and talk of the convention, not only repaid the $300 that TAFF NA donated to help pay for the suite, but sent along additional funds, all totaling $330. I had not expected to see anything back, considering their expenses for truly impressive "drinkable supplies" and I must thank them all for their generous donation.
Corflu Quire in Austin sent us $192.00. While at the Con, Randy Byers, who produced Steve Stiles's Harrison Country, his 1968 TAFF trip report, sold $139 worth of copies. $45 more in sales has since been deposited.
Harrison Country, the 1st trip report from a NA TAFF winner since 1974, has also added $600 to our bank account. Thank you very much to FANAC, who sent $500 and SCIFI, who contributed $100, awards for the completion of a FanFund trip report. And to Steve Stiles, for actually completing his report, and Randy Byers and Geri Sullivan for producing it.
Sales: Andy Hooper conducted an EBay auction last Spring with a few items we thought would earn more there than at a convention auction and we netted $60. Thank you, Andy.
Continued sales of John Hertz's zine Dancing and Joking brought in an additional $44.50, bringing the total to date to $316.50. Again, John, thank you. Sales in the cozy Fan Lounge at Orycon (thanks, Arthur Aldridge!) brought in an additional $20 in sales. There were also a few more individual sales, TAFF candidates' bonds, a payment towards a TAFF debt, and interest from CDs to add to the total.
Votes: Although the 2007 race was aborted, a number of voters allowed TAFF to retain their donations, equaling $160.00. Votes for the 2008 race are just starting to come in, and will be reported on next time.
EXPENSES -- since August, 2006
Printing/mailing Two Year TAFF Life #2; printing costs for ballots for the 2007/2008 Races, flyers for reports/zines, Stiles's trip report; shipping/postage for auction/sale items; TAFF NA gift to the '06 TAFF UK delegate, etc. -- $500.
FOR SALE NOW
HARRISON COUNTRY
Steve Stiles' TAFF report chronicles his 1968 TAFF trip, where amongst other things and mysteriously enough he apparently ended up on the Goon Show as played by Neddie Seagoon. This is the first full-length North American TAFF report completed since Len and June Moffatt published The Moffatt House Abroad in 1974, the first completed North American TAFF report in over thirty years!! Covers and interior artwork by Steve with Goon Show art by the splendid Dave Hicks. The report opens a window on British fandom of almost forty years ago, and then splashes cold seawater in their faces, much to their surprise....
Cost: $6.00 postpaid (if ordering this solo, you needn't add the $3.00 to orders as requested below)
Other TAFF Trip Reports and Publications -- All $5.00 except as marked
- The Transatlantic Hearing Aid, Dave Langford
- Wrath of the Fanglord, Dave Langford, Ed., Collection of Fanwriting
- On The TAFF Trail, Rob Hansen
- Have Bag -- Will Travel, Martin Tudor
- The Tudor Dynasty (Pre-Election Zine), Martin Tudor -- $1.00
- Tobes' TAFF Ting, Tobes Valois
- WorldconNomicon, James Bacon
- The Moffat House Abroad, The Moffats
- Joe Phan! Filk Musical based on the Enchanted Duplicator, by Filthy Pierre
- -- $2.00
"NEW" FREDDIE BAER T-SHIRTS AVAILABLE
Like Steve's trip report, we have wonderful "new yet older" t-shirts available. Former TAFF winner Jeannie Bowman has unearthed a cache of great items, including never-before-sold Freddie Baer t-shirts that she designed for the 1992 TAFF race. They are black with one of her fabulous collages, with the theme of communication -- flowers, stamps, woman writing -- without "TAFF" or other wording. Sizes: L, XL, 1 only-XXXL.
Freddie's shirts sell for big bucks at auctions, so order yours today at the low cost of:
$15.00 postpaid
TO ORDER ANY OF THE ABOVE
Send me your name, mailing address, email address and/or phone number, t-shirt size if applicable, the cost of the item(s), plus $3 postage for items not listed as postpaid, and they will be yours!
TAFF logos by Anne Stokes
