Fender Tucker

Fender Tucker has been a disk magazine editor and publisher, and a self-publisher of books.

Tucker acquired his first name in high school, naming himself for his favorite guitar. Ironically, he played a Fender Stratocaster for only a few years before switching to the 1966 Gibson ES-335 which he still plays. He discovered computers in the early 1980s when the home computer was introduced and was hooked by the "puzzle" of learning BASIC. He still considers programming as true computing and Internet use as "shopping".

Fender Tucker was born in the bayou, but was moved along with his parents and 3 brothers to Farmington, N.M. in the early 50's. He thrived there, providing many hijinx with his local buddies, including rearranging the letters on the movie marquis of the 2 local theaters to spell out dirty words as they worked. He joined the army (no choice in those days) in his late teens. He was the lucky recipient of a bright and talented daughter, Naomi, in 1970 and supported his family playing in bands at local bars. His work ethic is legendary and he now has a grandson of his own in California who adores his "Grandpa Fender".

In 1986 he sold a couple of his home-programmed games to the "Loadstar" disk magazine for the Commodore 64 computer, and in September of 1987, applied for and got the job of Managing Editor of the magazine. There, he set a tone for the publication which gave it a "cult following" which lasted even after the Commodore 64 was considered "obsolete" by most. By the mid-1990s, its publisher, Softdisk, was no longer interested in continuing its publication, so Tucker, along with his wife Judi Mangham (a co-founder of Softdisk) split "Loadstar" off as a separate company, J&F Publishing. In 2001, the editorship was passed to Dave and Sheri Moorman.

An incessant reader, Tucker has a collection of vintage paperbacks and juvenile series books. His current obsession is Harry Stephen Keeler, a wacky mystery writer from the 1930s and 1940s. Tucker operates an independent publisher named Ramble House which republishes Keeler novels and other "forgotten" works.

External links

* [http://www.ramblehouse.com Ramble House Publishing]