Martin Tudor is an active British

science fiction fan Science fiction fandom or SF fandom is a community or fandom of people interested in science fiction in contact with one another based upon that interest. SF fandom has a life of its own, but not much in the way of formal organization (although ...

, editor or co-editor of several

science fiction fanzines A science-fiction fanzine is an amateur or semi-professional magazine published by members of science-fiction fandom, from the 1930s to the present day. They were one of the earliest forms of fanzine, within one of which the term "''fanzine''" wa ...

(''Empties'' and the semi-professional ''

Critical Wave ''Critical Wave'', later subtitled "The European Science Fiction & Fantasy Review", was a British small-press magazine, initially published and co-edited by Steve Green and Martin Tudor during the period 1987-96. There was also a short-lived US ...

''), and a member of various convention committees, most notably

Novacon Novacon is an annual science fiction convention, usually held each November in the English Midlands. Launched in 1971, it has been hosted by the Birmingham Science Fiction Group since 1972. History The first Novacon was organised by the University ...

(he has chaired more of these than anyone else). He ran the fan programme at the 1987

worldcon Worldcon, or more formally the World Science Fiction Convention, the annual convention of the World Science Fiction Society (WSFS), is a science fiction convention. It has been held each year since 1939 (except for the years 1942 to 1945, durin ...

in Brighton. In addition, during the early 1990s, he freelanced as a book reviewer for the magazine publisher Pegasus. Tudor was the 1996

TransAtlantic Fan Fund The Trans-Atlantic Fan Fund, often known as ''TAFF'', is a crowdfunding project created in 1953 for the purpose of providing funds to bring well-known and popular members of science fiction fandom familiar to fans on both sides of the ocean, acro ...

winner, having stood unsuccessfully in 1988. 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. Following Tudor's return to the UK, both he and

Dan Steffan Dan Steffan is an American cartoonist and writer who has contributed to both mainstream and underground publications for several decades. Biography During the 1970s, Steffan drew for such underground titles as ''Bizarre Sex'' and ''Grateful Dead ...

(the North American TAFF administrator ) were criticised by certain fans for not revealing during his tour that the previous UK administrator, Abi Frost, had diverted TAFF funds for her personal use and was unable to repay more than UK£2600. Tudor and Steffan defended their decision by stating they did not want the entire trip overshadowed by Frost's fraudulent actions. Despite promising to do so, Frost failed to repay the majority of the cash and disappeared from the social circles she had once been so active in (she died in 2009). 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. ''Critical Wave'' folded in 1996, after nine years of narrowly averting financial oblivion, but in September 2008, he and Green announced plans for an online relaunch of ''Critical Wave'' via

eFanzines The single largest online distribution point for science fiction fanzines, eFanzines was launched by Bill Burns on 7 December 2000 and recorded its 500,000th visit in December 2008. It was a Hugo Award finalist for "best web site" in 2005, one of ...

. A single issue appeared, but technical problems scuppered the second. Other activities including administering the annual

Nova Awards A nova (plural novae or novas) is a transient astronomical event that causes the sudden appearance of a bright, apparently "new" star (hence the name "nova", which is Latin for "new") that slowly fades over weeks or months. Causes of the dramat ...

, a role he returned to in November 2009 but relinquished the following September. Tudor lives in

Willenhall Willenhall is a market town situated in the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, in the West Midlands, England, with a population taken at the 2011 census of 28,480. It is situated between Wolverhampton and Walsall, historically in the county of ...

, England. His daughter Heloise (born 1997) coincidentally shares her birthday with Tudor's ''

'' partner Steve Green.

References

External links

1988 TAFF platform
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tudor, Martin Living people English male journalists 1959 births English magazine editors People from Willenhall