Bob Tucker
| Fan | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Arthur Wilson Tucker |
| Alias(es): | Bob Tucker, Wilson Tucker, TuckerBob |
| Type: | fan, fanzine publisher, writer |
| Fandoms: | science fiction fandom |
| Communities: | |
| Other: | |
| URL: | Wikipedia; Fancyclopedia3 |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Arthur Wilson Tucker (November 23, 1914 – October 6, 2006) was a theater tech; a professional writer of science fiction and mysteries (as Wilson Tucker), and a member of science fiction fandom, known to fandom as Bob Tucker, TuckerBob or Hoy Ping Pong. His fanzine Le Zombie was published intermittently from December 1938 to August 2001. He coined the term space opera and pioneered the literary technique of fan cameos and shoutouts known as a tuckerization.
He was also responsible for one of the first fan surveys with "Lez" Done-Took a Poll! in 1939, where he sent 90 postcards to Le Zombie readers to vote on their favourite fan, zine and published magazine. He also frequently reviewed other zines of the period in his editorials, including Cosmic Tales, Science Fiction News Letter, Futuria Fantasia, Polaris, Spaceways, Horizons, FMZ Digest, Fantasy-News, The Satellite and Future Science Fiction and Science Fiction Stories, helping to spread interest in them among the science fiction fan community.
He was also the director of the Illini Fantasy Fictioneers (IFF), who were awarded the running of the 2nd WorldCon in Chicago in 1940, the acting president of the National Fantasy Fan Federation in 1945 and president (1940-41) and vice-president (1945-46)[1] of the Fantasy Amateur Press Association.
Awards
Hugo Awards
1970 - Best Fan Writer
2001 - Best Fanzine for Science Fiction Newsletter (a.k.a. Bloomington News Letter) (Retro Hugo for 1951)
2004 - Best Fan Writer (Retro Hugo for 1954)
2018 - Best Fanzine for Le Zombie (Retro Hugo for 1943)
2019 - Best Fanzine Le Zombie (Retro Hugo for 1944)
Also nominated for the 1951 Best Fan Writer Retro Hugo and the 1946 Best Fan Writer Retro Hugo.
The Bob Bloch Black Block Award
1970
John W. Campbell, Jr. Memorial Award
1976 - Special Award for The Year of the Quiet Sun (1970)
First Fandom
1985 - First Fandom Hall of Fame Award
Edward E. Smith Memorial Award for Imaginative Fiction
1986 - The Skylark Award for significant contributions to science fiction through work in the field AND good personal qualities.
Southern Fandom Confederation
1990 - Phoenix Award - for contributions as a pro to Southern fandom
1998 - Rebel Award - Lifetime Achievement Award
Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame
2003 - Inducted along with Kate Wilhelm; Damon Knight; Edgar Rice Burroughs.
Notable Works
Zines
As Publisher
- The Planetoid (1932)
Distributed in November 1932, or thereabouts, The Planetoid was a midget-sized printed four-sheet chock full of "scientific facts" to, stun the fan world. And stun them it did. The offering met a thundering reception. So thundering, in fact, that I lost the courage to distribute the second issue, and slunk away to hide. Thus ended my first publishing spree.
- D'Journal (1935, 1939)
- Le Zombie (1938-1948: 1955-1978; 2000-2001)
- 1940 Chicon Scrapbook (1940)
- Science Fiction Newsletter (a.k.a. Bloomington News Letter)
- The Neo-Fan's Guide To Science Fiction Fandom (1955-1996)
As Contributor
- Fantasy Fictioneer - "The Director's Message" - article, issue 1, 1939
- Fantasy Fictioneer - " .44 Calibre Science Stories" - satire (as Hoy Ping Pong), issue 2, 1939
- Fantasy Digest - "Science Fiction 1894 Style" - article, Vol 1 No 4, 1939
- Spaceways - The Moon Changes, Too - satire, issue 4 1939
- Spaceways - A Little Lesson in Tuckerology - satire, issue 7 1939
- Fantasy Fictioneer - issue 3, 1940
- "To the Attention of Messrs. Moskowitz and Sykora, A Statement of Policy" - co-written with members of the Illini Fantasy Fictioneers.
- "Utopia With a Barbed Wire Fence" - article
- "Filler - Pure Filler" - article
- "Booster Ads" - calls for advertising for the upcoming convention program book.
- Fantasy Fictioneer - Topics for Discussion and Proposed Resolutions by Mark Reinsberg and Bob Tucker - issue 4, 1940
- Scientifan - letter of comment, issue 2, 1940
- Fan-Atic - Vol. 1 #3, 1941
- letter of comment
- "A Few Feckless 'Forty Fantasy Flickers" - film review
- Voice of the Imagi-Nation - letter of comment, issue 12, 1942
Articles
- Public Headache Dept (1939) - a series of open letters published in Le Zombie between Sam Moskowitz and Tucker re The Great Exclusion Act.
- What Every Young Fan Should Noe (1940)
- Reporter Gets Reported (1940)
Conventions
Honors and GoHships
- 1939 -- Philadelphia Conference of 1939 - attendee
- 1940 -- Chicon 1 - convention committee member
- 1948 -- GOH - Torcon
- 1962 -- Toastmaster - Chicon III (Big Heart Award)
- 1967 -- GOH - NYcon 3
- 1974 -- Toastmaster - Windycon (Chicago con); GOH - Minicon 8, The Tucker Bag fan fund (including sales of The Really Incompleat Bob Tucker fanthology published by Dave Locke) to raise money to send Tucker to the 1975 Worldcon in Australia
- 1975 -- GOH - Windycon 2
- 1976 -- Toastmaster - MidAmeriCon (Worldcon 34)
- 1977 -- GOH - Hippotocon
- 1978 -- GOH - Disclave 22. AggieCon IX, Roc*Kon 2, Anokon 1, Minicon 13; Toastmaster - Windycon (Chicago con)
- 1979 -- GOH - Kubla Khan Ception, AggieCon X, Nutria Con '79; recipient of The Tucker Transfer fan fund to send Tucker to the 1979 Worldcon in Britain
- 1980 -- GOH - Archon 4, Minicon 16, MidSouthCon 1, Torque 1; Toastmaster - Windycon (Chicago con)
- 1981 -- GOH - Capricon 1, Wichacon I, MysteryKon 6
- 1982 -- GOH - MidSouthCon 2, LASTCon Too, OKon 5, Electracon II
- 1983 -- GOH - OryCon V, Wichacon 2
- 1984 -- GOH - ICON 9, AggieCon XV, Minicon 18, Inconclusive .55555
- 1985 -- GOH - Con*Stellation IV, OKon 8, Grand Master of the inaugural Tucker Award
- 1987 -- GOH - OKon 10
- 1988 -- Toastmaster - Name That Con 1, Windycon (Chicago con)
- 1989 -- GOH - 3 Days of the Khandor; Toastmaster - Windycon (Chicago con)
- 1990 -- GOH - InConJunction X, CopperCon 10, X-Con 14 - GOH; Phoenix Award
- 1991 -- GOH - ReinCONation 1
- 1992 -- Toastmaster - Conniption
- 1993 -- GOH - MidSouthCon 12, Neocon 4, Corflu 10 (Past president of the FWA), Rivercon XVIII (commissioned a Kentucky Colonel)
- 1995 -- GOH - ConFusion 10101, DemiCon 6
- 1996 -- ConQuesT 27, SFWA Author Emeritus
- 1997 -- Archon Hall of Fame Award (Grand Master)
- 1998 -- GOH - DeepSouthCon 36
- 2001 -- Tucker Tribute mini-convention
- 2023 -- Ghost of Honor - Chambanacon 52
Trivia
- Initiated the First Staple War a mock-feud in which Tucker represented the Society for the Prevention of Wire Staples in Science Fiction Magazines (SPWSSFM)
- Was the subject of two death hoaxes[3] made by others. The first was in 1936 and was announced in Astounding Science Fiction; it was connected with the First Staple War and resulted in Tucker being banned from publishing in Astounding for a number of years. The second was in 1949, just before Cinvention; this hoax, by Ben Singer. almost lost him his job. Tucker named his personal zine "Le Zombie" in reference to his 'death'
- Voted 2nd most popular fan of 1939 in the "Lez" Done-Took a Poll!.
- Voted 2nd most popular fan of 1940, in Art Widner's Poll.
- The Convention of 1960 - Tucker was written into the fictional convention account as the exhibit chairman dressed as a djinn and vanishing periodically in puffs of smoke. (1941)
- In 1965, he wrote (but never published) The Emperor of America, a novel about fandom taking place at a four-day Worldcon.
- In 1976, The Tucker Issue of SF Commentary was published.
- Star Wars' Roots (1978) - Tucker was one of the cast of the con skit
- A collection of Tucker's fan writing, A Little of the Best of Bob Tucker, was published by Joyce and Arnie Katz in 1995 as a one-shot zine.
- In 2007, the 9th North American Science Fiction Convention // Archon31 was named "Tuckercon" in his honor, Tucker having passed away in 2006.