Free ebook edition released in 2015!
(A donation to TAFF would be appreciated.)
The TransAtlantic Hearing Aid by David Langford is a report of his journey to the 1980 World SF Convention in Boston (Noreascon II) as elected delegate of TAFF, the TransAtlantic Fan Fund which promotes exchange visits of SF fans between Europe and North America. All you could possibly wish to know about TAFF appears at the website linked above. Full of insider references and jokes, this is one for people plugged into the SF fan community, rather than the general reader.
Many thanks to Rob Jackson, who designed the booklet and published it through his Inca Press imprint.
- Publication Date: 1985
- Publisher: Inca Press, West Sussex, UK
- Format: A5 paperback chapbook
- ISBN: none
- Page Count: 74
- Cover Artist: Jim Barker
- Availability: booklet from David Langford by arrangement; free ebook download from the TAFF site.
Contents & Original Appearances
The TransAtlantic Hearing Aid was first published chapter by chapter in various fanzines as below, with a brief introduction added to the collected edition. The full text can now be read here and at the TAFF site. Many thanks to Bridget Bradshaw for heroically rekeying chapters 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7, and to Rob Jackson for completing the job with chapter 1.
- Preliminary Bit, in collected edition, 1985
- 1: "Travelling Hopefully", Twll-Ddu 19, ed. Dave Langford, April 1981
- 2: "Vaster Than Empires and More Slow", Boonfark 5 ed. Dan Steffan, August 1981
- 3: "From Pole to Pole", Nabu 11 ed. Ian Maule, 1981
- 4: "The Day of the Jackpot", Warhoon 30 ed. Richard Bergeron, September 1982
- 5: "Running Down", Tappen 3 ed. Malcolm Edwards, November 1981
- 6: "Is There Life After Worldcon?", The Zine That Has No Name 3 ed. Paul Skelton, November 1982
- 7: "Yes! We Have Parakeet Diapers", Mainstream 9 ed. Suzanne Tompkins and Jerry Kaufman, October 1983
- 8. "I Was a Worm in the Big Apple", Wallbanger 9 ed. Eve Harvey, May 1984
- Appendix 1: "Yesterday's Men", Visitor's Pass ed. Dave Langford and Stu Shiffman, April 1981
- Appendix 2: "Vital Statistics", in collected edition, 1985
- [Appendix 3, not included in printed report: "The Call of Kho-Ad", Space Junk 6 ed. Rich Coad, 1981]