- Tuckerization
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 fromWilson Tucker , an Americanscience 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 inS.M. Stirling 's "Island in the Sea of Time " trilogy, clearly modeled on his good friendHarry Turtledove , albeit an alternate history Turtledove. Manyscience fiction authors auction off tuckerizations atscience fiction conventions with the proceeds going to charity.In most cases, tuckerization is used for bit parts, an opportunity for the author to create an
homage to a friend or respected colleague. But sometimes an author will attach a friend's name, description, or identifiable characteristics to a major character, and in some novels nearly all the characters represent friends, colleagues, or prominent persons the author knows. When this happens, tuckerization can rise to the level of aRoman à clef .Larry Niven andJerry Pournelle have done this at least twice:
* "Inferno", in which about half the people the main character meets are famous people.
* "Fallen Angels", nearly everybody who assists the effort to return the "angels" (astronauts) to orbit is either a well-known fan (Jenny Trout = filksinger, author, and political activistLeslie Fish ), a friend of Niven & Pournelle (Dan Forrester =Dan Alderson ), or somebody who paid (through donation to a fan charity) for the privilege of appearing in the book. A similar effect is seen in Niven's collaboration withDavid Gerrold , "The Flying Sorcerers "; all the gods are well known science fiction or media personalities (Ouells =H. G. Welles , Rotn'bair =Star Trek creatorGene Roddenberry ), etc.Related to it is redshirting, where the character named after the real person is killed in some way. Many authors consider tuckerization and redshirting interchangeable; 'redshirted' characters do not necessarily die. One of the earliest tuckerizations was between
Robert Bloch and his mentorH. P. Lovecraft : Bloch's story "The Shambler From The Stars" (1935) featured a Lovecraft-inspired character, who was gruesomely killed off. Lovecraft replied in kind with "The Haunter of the Dark " (1936), whose characters included oneRobert Harrison Blake (who had the same address as Bloch), whom Lovecraft killed off in an equally horrible fashion. After Lovecraft's death, Bloch wrote a third segment, "The Shadow From the Steeple" (1950), in which the events of the first two stories are further explored. In the early 1930s, beforeJerry Siegel andJoe Shuster created the comic-book superhero "Superman ", they wrote and illustrated afanzine story, "The Coming of the Superman", featuring a super-powered villain. This story includes one of the very first tuckerizations: a character namedForrest J Ackerman . More recent examples include the many science fiction and military novelists whose names are borrowed in theAxis of Time byJohn Birmingham , and the Lachlan Fox thriller series byJames Clancy Phelan (eg Birmingham gets it in FOX HUNT).Tuckerization should not be confused with the inclusion of living or deceased real persons in fiction, either as major or minor characters (
Chelsea Quinn Yarbro in "Warday ",Forrest J Ackerman in various novels, etc.).=See also=
* List of Tuckerizations in theLegion of Super-Heroes comic book series at the Legion Wiki [http://www.legionclubhouse.com/wiki/index.php?title=Tuckerization]
*The Flying Sorcerers byLarry Niven andDavid Gerrold
* Inferno byLarry Niven andJerry Pournelle
* Fallen Angels byLarry Niven ,Jerry Pournelle , andMichael Flynn .
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