The Guffiate 1

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The Guffiate is a newsletter for the Going Under Fan Fund, published by the European GUFF administrator. Roelof Goudriaan, Caan van Necklaan 63, 2281 BB Rijswijk, the Netherlands. The Guffiate is sent to all Europeans who voted for GUFF, donated money or otherwise ended up on the GUFF mailing list. Additionally, this newsletter is sent along with most copies of my European SF newsletter Shards Of Babel.

(July 11, 1991)

CALL FOR NOMINATIONS FOR GUFF

GUFF, the Going Under Fan Fund or Get-Up-and-over Fan Fund (depending on where you're standing), was founded in 1979 to further contacts between the SF fan communities of Europe and Australia. It facilitates this objective by sending a popularly elected fan from one continent to the other, to attend a major convention and meet local fans.

Candidates are put up for election upon their nomination by three European fans and two Australian fans. They are required to present a 50 word description of themselves (or anything they think will help their chances – after all, it's their platform), pay a bond of 10 dollars, five pound sterling or equivalent and pledge to attend the convention if they should win the GUFF Race.

The candidate elected makes the trip, and upon returning home administers the fund for the next two elections and fends off questions relating to the publication of a trip report... The money which goes towards paying the winner's airfare is raised via voting fees, general donations, donations of material for mail and con auctions, and any other fundraising stunts the administrators can dream up.

Last year, Guff winner Roman Orszanski, of Adelaide, South Australia, attended the Worldcon in the Hague, The Netherlands. Parts of his trip report have appeared in doxa!, his fanzine, and he threatens to bring out a complete edition by year's end. Roman joins John Foyster (1979), Joseph Nicholas (1981), Justin Ackroyd (1984), Eve Harvey (1985), Irwin Hirsh (1987) and Roelof Goudriaan (1989) as previous Guff winners.

Nominations are now open for the 1991 Guff Race, to send a fan from Europe to the 1992 Australian National Convention in Sydney. (Easter 1992)

Nominees have until Midnight August 31st, Greenwich Mean Time this year to get Nomination details to. either of the current administrators:

Australia: Roman Orszanski Europe: Roelof Goudriaan
PO Box 131 Caan van Necklaan 63
Marden 2281 BB Rijswijk ZH
SA 5070 Australia The Netherlands

Nomination packages must include the candidate's platform, a signed pledge to attend the convention (barring acts of god) if they win the race, nominations from five fans (three from Europe, two from Australia), and a nomination fee of $10 or equivalents.

Reproduction of this sheet is encouraged, provided that the relevant details are included.

The Guff Fanzine Sale

GUFF has piled up a collection of good fanzines to sell. If you have any holes in your fanzine collection, you stand a good chance of finding some of what you need, donate to a worthy cause, and feel doubly good about it! GUFF is offering a large selection of fanzines for sale, from Philip K Dick in a 60s issue of Niekas to Pat Mueller in an 80s Pirate Jenny.

Here is how the fanzine sale works. The fanzines will sell to the first interested party. Prices are extremely moderate: US$1 a piece, unless otherwise noted. You pay an extra US$2 per order to help pay for postage – the more you order, the cheaper the fanzines are!

Most of these fanzines date from the early to mid-eighties; exceptions are usually noted. Names of interest are sporadically noted – there is much more fascinating material in these fanzines than I had space to write down, though!

Prices are in American dollars (not in Australian ones), though equivalent amounts in Dutch guilders, pound sterling. Deutschmarken or Australian dollars are equally welcome. However, since of most fanzines, only one copy is available, don't send money yet: just send a postcard or letter with the fanzines you want to Roelof Goudriaan, Caan van Necklaan 63, 2281 BB Rijswijk ZH, the Netherlands, and I will bill you.

As quite a few copies of The Guffiate will remain on the European Continent, there is a special offer for Continental (or other) fans who don't know English-language fanzines that well: send a ten dollar donation to Guff with a note describing your tastes, and I will prepare a mixed fanzine package for you that I think you'll like. Don't hesitate to use this opportunity to get in touch with British. Australian and American fandom!

At last – The Fanzine list:

This list is produced on July 15; a new version should be appearing in Autumn.

If you have any English-language fanzines or other items and are willing to donate them to a good cause like Guff, please get in touch. Good material is always welcome. Guff will also gladly accept SF books worth selling at an auction, or interesting related material. Cash donations are always welcome, of course! Make sterling cheques payable to Eve Harvey, and all other cheques payable to Roelof Goudriaan. not to GUFF, please! We appreciate your continued generosity.

TAFF NEWS

British TAFF winner Pam Wells published the first issue of Taffervescent earlier in July, a month before leaving on her transatlantic trip. Fans interested in finding out details of the Transatlantic Fan Fund, the oldest fan fund which is running between Europe and North America, should write to Pam at 24A Beech Road. Bowes Park, London N11 2DA, Britain. Excerpts from the newsletter:

"You'll doubtless be pleased to know (I certainly am!) that my transatlantic travel arrangements are now confirmed. I'll be leaving Britain on Sunday 18th August and spending chunks of time in Minneapolis. Madison, Chicago, Seattle and San Francisco before returning to these shores on Monday 16th September.

"As well as writing sections of trip report for various fanzines. I will also be talking about my trip and running TAFF auctions at Novacon 21 this year and Illumination next Easter. I am collecting material to sell at these auctions: please contact me if you can donate items for sale. The most popular buys at Novacon 19 were Dave Langford's colourful ties; apparently he has now run out of these, so we may be reduced to selling fanzines, books and artwork, unless anyone else can donate interesting items of clothing... anyway, if you can't find anything more exciting, at least donate some interesting chocolate!

"Christina Lake raised some interesting points about TAFF and Europe in her last issue of Two Times TAFF, and I'm hoping to broaden discussion on this topic in Taffervescent. What do you, the voters, think about it? With 1992 on the horizon, should we be making more of an effort to involve mainland European fandom in TAFF?"

THE NEXT RACE IS ON
(SOONER THAN YOU THINK)

The forthcoming 1992 TAFF election will select a North American fan to attend the 43rd British National Science Fiction Convention (Eastercon), being called "Illumination," which will convene next April at the Norbreck Castle Hotel in Blackpool on the west coast of Northern England. Here is the schedule for that race:

Nominations open: June 15, 1991
Nominations close: August 15, 1991
Ballots available: September 6, 1991
Voting deadline: December 31, 1991
Eastercon: April 17-20, 1992

To be eligible, a prospective candidate must obtain five nominators (three from North America, two from Europe/U.K.), provide a platform for the ballot of not more than 100 words (which need not be self-authored – mine wasn't), furnish a $20 bond, agree to take the trip if elected (barring acts of Ghod), and – finally but importantly – administer the North American half of the fund through two elections until a successor is selected. Nominations may be sent to either administrator, but bonds and platforms should be sent to the North American one only (address above). Fanzine editors please mention this schedule in your next issue, thank you.

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