Item of fan Terminology usually denoting the Recursive-SF naming of fictional characters for members of the sf and fan community. The term derives from Wilson Tucker, who frequently "tuckerized" friends and whose Wild Talent (1954; exp 1955; vt The Man from Tomorrow 1955) is a classic – though far from the first – instance. Character surnames in this novel include Bixby, Carnell, Conklin and Palmer, while the full name of Walter Willis is given. Here only names are echoed, not personalities or physical descriptions. Other authors went beyond mere naming. Anthony Boucher's detective story Rocket to the Morgue (1942) slightly disguises its sf characters: John W Campbell Jr, for example, is alluded to as Don Stuart (his pseudonym), editor of Surprising Stories and The Worlds Beyond (Astounding Science-Fiction and Unknown).
Multiple sf authors are "tuckerized" under more or less transparent disguises in Michael Moorcock's Barsoomian Barbarians of Mars (1965 as by Edward P Bradbury; vt Masters of the Pit 1971), featuring such reversed spellings as S'sidla, Drallab, Nosirrah and even K'cocroom; as the gods of primitive Aliens in Larry Niven's and David Gerrold's The Flying Sorcerers (1971); as an sf think tank in Niven's and Jerry Pournelle's Footfall (1985); and as vowel-starved Aliens like "Sc'smv" in Earthdoom! (1987) by David Langford and John Grant. Traditional tuckerisms were merely playful; nowadays the opportunity to bestow one's name on a character in some favourite author's book can often be bought at sf charity auctions. [DRL]
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