Tuckerized

Synonyms:	shout-out, Friends of Gillian, Friend fiction
See also:	Self-insertion
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Paula Smith was portrayed as a character on the bridge of the Enterprise, from the back cover of Sehlat's Roar #4, artist is Mary Ann Emerson.

Tuckerizing is named for Bob "Wilson" Tucker, an early SF author who published professional mystery and sf novels in which he used the real names of fan friends for characters that, of course, bear no resemblance to the real person.

Reasons for Tuckerization might include amusing knowledgeable readers, amusing those Tuckerized, to raise money for charity (by selling a chance to appear as a fictional character in a story), and occasionally out of some degree of malice (by having the named character do something reprehensible), though there is a risk of legal problems in such cases.

There may occasionally be other problems; for example, adventures for Games Workshop's Judge Dredd RPG often named game writers and other industry figures (including fanzine editors) as Judges or perps (criminals), or used their names for buildings etc.. On one occasion a name had to be changed after it was pointed out that it was also the name of a recently-deceased real-world Judge (related to the author whose name had been used) and might upset the family.

In other cases, tuckerization is a tribute like what happened in the early 1930s, before Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster created the comic-book superhero Superman, they wrote and illustrated a fanzine story, "The Coming of the Superman", featuring a super-powered villain. This story includes one of the very first tuckerizations: a character named Forrest J Ackerman in honor of the authors' friend.

Writers

Writers who have Tuckerized fans, friends and/or relatives as characters:

• Lois McMaster Bujold
• Stephen King
• Tamora Pierce
• Larry Niven, alone and with Jerry Pournelle and Michael Flynn
• Anthony Boucher
• David Weber

Notable Fans

Note: This page is a place to add Tuckerized fans who are already in the Fanlore wiki or should be; this is not intended as a way to "out" fans who appear in sff works under their real names if those names are not more broadly known.

Notable fans who have been Tuckerized:

• Sandy Herrold was Tuckerized in the Vorkosigan saga as "Trooper/Lt. Sandy H."
• Peter David Tuckerized a key guest character in his licensed Star Trek comics for one of his first fanfic editors, Mary D. Bloemker.
• Diane Marchant was Tuckerized in several Star Trek fan stories.
• Ian McLean and his Andorian alter ego, Therin of Andor, have been Tuckerized in several licensed Star Trek novels (as Shantherin ch'Thane, Therin Park, New Therin Park and the warship, Therin).
• Geoff Allshorn was Tuckerized by a friend in a fan fiction story for the 1960 film, The Magnificent 7.
• a list of fans that Bujold has Tuckerized can be found here.