If you’ve ever wanted to be Tuckerized, the SFWA auction at Sasquan is going to have some amazing opportunities.
— Cat Rambo (@Catrambo) August 7, 2015
@Catrambo @scalzi Been there, done that, got three different editions of the book.
— Terry O’Brien (@HoosierDragon) August 7, 2015
There is a tradition in SF fandom known as “tuckerizing”. It was started by long-time fan and author Wilson Tucker, who would write friends into his stories as identifiable characters. I know because I was tuckerized myself.
As part of an effort by a Midwest area fan to support artist Kelly Freas after the death of his wife, authors Michael Kube-McDowell and Lois McMaster Bujold offered to tuckerize one person in their next novel. The tuckerizations were offered as part of a charity auction and I won the one being offered by Michael.
Altermaties paperback cover
Michael was writing a stand-alone novel entitled “Alternaties”. It was a story about several different parallel Earths, none of which was our own, and what happened when an agent from one Earth was discovered by government forces on another Earth. That happened in the alternate world’s Philadelphia, where the mayor was the thuggish Frank Rizzo, not much different from the real-world person. A biological terrorist group known as Les Miserables threatened to release a deadly virus in the city, so the mayor ordered the entire downtown evacuated and gave police shoot-to-kill orders for anyone left. Agent Rayne Wallace entered the parallel world on a routine courier assignment, unaware of the developments, and wandered through the vacant streets to a familiar location. the local neighborhood bar known as Terry’s Spirit World.
The silver ring was created by artist Darlene Coultrain.
I became the owner of Terry’s Spirit World and the owner of the largest collection of whiskey bottles on the East Coast. I was easily identified by the elaborate silver ring I wore at the time (which I no longer wear, because it became too small for my fingers and because it always caught on things like clothing) that can be seen in the image (left). Terry was there guarding his bar with his shotgun, but he recognized the agent as a regular and put down the shotgun. They talked for a bit, then Terry went to pick up the shotgun and put it away.
That’s when Philadelphia’s finest stormed in.
The agent lived, but Terry the bartender fell to a fusillade of gunfire.
All in all, my tuckerized self lived for two (hardcover) or three (paperback) pages and had just enough dialog to qualify as more than just an “extra” on any television episode.
It was all worth whatever I contributed.
And what about the tuckerization from Lois McMaster Bujold? A good friend of mine won that, and she became Lt. Bone, the fleet accountant of the Dendarii Free Mercenaries in the novel “Brothers in Arms”.
Lieutenant Bone, squeaky-clean, polished, and striking in her best velvet dress greys, exited her shuttle and approached the remnant of men left at the foot of the larger shuttle’s ramp. “Admiral Naismith, sir? Are you ready for our appointment … Oh, dear …”
At least she survived throughout the book, although I believe the character never reappeared in any subsequent novels.
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