Tuckerizations: An Unusual Collection

Tuckerization "is the act of using a person's name in an original story as an in-joke (e.g. Mount Kirby in Kurt Busiek's Astro City comics). The term is derived from Wilson Tucker, an American science fiction writer and fanzine editor, who made a practice of using his friends' names for minor characters in his stories. 

For example, Harry Harrison's To the Stars character: "Old Lundwall, who commands the Sverige, should have retired a decade ago, but he is still the best there is." Sam J Lundwall is a well-known Swedish science fiction publisher and writer, as well as the godfather of Harrison's daughter. 

A Tuckerization can also be the use of a person's character or personal attributes with a new name as an in-joke, such as Ian Arnstein in S.M. Stirling's Island in the Sea of Time trilogy, clearly modeled on his good friend Harry Turtledove, albeit an alternate history Turtledove. Many science fiction authors auction off Tuckerizations at science fiction conventions with the proceeds going to charity."

Last night, I finished Tracy Chevalier's latest novel, A Single Thread, that had a Tuckerization revealed in the Author's Acknowledgments at the back of the book: "Finally, I would like to thank Keith Bain for the use of his name. Keith bought the privilege of having a character named after him at an auction to raise funds for Freedom from Torture, an admirable UK charity that provides treatment and rehabilitation for survivors of torture. Keith took a generous gamble on me and A Single Thread; I hope he feels he won."

OK, so here are four Tuckerizations I've collected. Three I collected while attending World Cons in Chicago and Philadelphia many years ago. They were auctioned off to support the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America -- Emergency Medical Fund. The 4th one was a surprise by the author. Details for each Tuckerization is below the book cover photo. 

In Diplomatic Immunity, flight surgeon Captain Chris Clogston is male, at the author's request. She actually just emailed me and asked if it was OK to switch the character's gender. I obviously didn't have a problem with that. Ms. Bujold also sent me a really nice thank you note in a package of signed books, which was above and beyond what I'd won in the charity auction (naming a character in her next novel).  

Monstrous Regiment has a minor character named Chris Clogston, an attorney who represents the "monstrous regiment", women dressed as men so they could be soldiers. This character always carries snacks with her to fight a recurrent problem with low blood sugar (like me, I usually carry a protein bar or a half of a PB&J).

Terry was very kind an funny in his emails but he did have his solicitor send me a non-disclosure agreement to sign and mail back to the UK -- he wanted to make sure that I didn't leak any details of the novel before it was published (not that he disclosed many details in our emails).

 In Harry Turtledove's alternate U.S. history novel  (one of a series) Victorious Opposition, the character named for me actually features a few personal details. In this novel, Chris Clogston is a 9th generation Irish-American living in Boston with a quilt store. I do quilt and my ancestor John Clogston traveled from Ireland to Boston in 1745. I am Irish-American, but like so many Americans, I'm also a mix of other extractions. Harry was interested in my family history as well as any skills or hobbies I had that were "pre-industrial" to fit his novel's background.

 

 

 Ru Emerson was a Guest of Honor at one of our Southern California Xena Fests and auctioned off a "Dead Body" opportunity for charity (we supported Working Wardrobes for a New Start). Ru is a writer well known for giving characters colorful deaths, so this was an opportunity to be "killed" in her (then) upcoming Xena novel, How the Quest Was Won. I won the auction and asked Ru to "kill off" my good friend Sharon. And she did so with style; Saroni (Sharon) is beheaded by Xena's chakram. What was surprising was that Ru also put me in the novel, as the mysterious high-priestess Krysta. X:WP editor Rob Field is also in the novel under his web handle, Avicus. Ru also wrote a nice acknowledgement at the end of the novel. It was a fun experience for all of us. Thanks Ru!