Martin Tudor (science fiction activist)

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Martin Tudor is an active British science fiction fan, editor or co-editor of several science fiction fanzines (Empties and the semi-professional Critical Wave), and a member of various convention committees, most notably Novacon (he has chaired more of these than anyone else). He ran the fan programme at the 1987 worldcon in Brighton.

Tudor was the 1996 TransAtlantic Fan Fund winner [1], having stood unsuccessfully in 1988 [2]. A collection of his articles for Empties and other fanzines, The Tudor Dynasty, was edited by Bernie Evans and published during the 1996 campaign; his TAFF trip across the United States was later chronicled in Have Bag, Will Travel, sections of which had actually been published in the UK whilst he was still in the US [3][4].

Following Tudor's return to the UK, both he and Dan Steffan (the US TAFF administrator [5]) were criticised by certain fans for not revealing during his tour that the previous UK administrator, Abi Frost [6], had diverted TAFF funds for her personal use and was unable to repay more than UK£2600 [7]. Tudor and Steffan defended their decision by stating they did not want the entire trip overshadowed by Frost's fraudulent actions [8]. Despite promising to do so [9], Frost failed to repay the majority of the cash [10] and disappeared from the social circles she had once been so active in. Tudor and Steffan subsequently built the funds back up to the pre-fraud level, mostly with donations from British sf fans, and TAFF survived the scandal [11] [12] [13] .

Critical Wave folded in 1996, after nine years of narrowly averting financial oblivion [14] [15].

Tudor currently lives in Willenhall, England [16], with his wife Helena and daughter Heloise (born 25 April, 1997; coincidentally, she shares her birthday with Tudor's Critical Wave co-editor Steve Green [17]).

• 1988 TAFF platform
• 1996 TAFF platform
• 1996 TAFF results
• Have Bag, Will Travel #1
• Have Bag, Will Travel #2
• Have Bag, Will Travel #3
• Have Bag, Will Travel #4
• Report in Aparatchik #69 (1996), including press release from UK TAFF administrator Tudor and his US opposite Dan Steffan