The Internet has bridged many of the physical gaps that have kept fans, readers, writers, publishers, etc., from coming together as a worldwide community. Nowadays, it is common to interact with people all over the globe, chatting about great SF/F/H literature, reading interesting reviews, and taking part in special promotions.

However, there are still members of our community who face massive obstacles when asked to join their peers at literary events here in the U.S. That’s why a very savvy and thoughtful group of people came together to start The World SF Travel Fund. Its purpose is to “enable one international person involved in science fiction, fantasy or horror to travel to a major genre event.”

The first ever recipient of this travel award is genre blogger, writer, editor, and promoter Charles Tan, who resides in the Philippines.

In addition, Charles is also one of the winners of the Special Award, Non Professional given by the 2011 World Fantasy Convention. However, living in the Philippines pretty much means that Charles has a significant financial burden on his hands in order to attend the conference and receive his well-deserved award. Enter the World SF Travel Fund. With this fund, Charles will actually be able to travel to San Diego to receive his award, but we need your help.

Here’s a statement from the World SF Travel Fund’s Website:  http://peerbackers.com/projects/the-world-sf-travel-fund

Charles [Tan] is a tireless promoter of speculative fiction. Besides his own Bibliophile Stalker blog, he contributes to the Nebula Awards blog, the Shirley Jackson Award blog, SF Signal and The World SF Blog. He also edited two online anthologies of speculative fiction from the Philippines. Charles is highly regarded in the SF scene both in the USA and internationally. The Fund’s intention is to facilitate Charles’ travel to World Fantasy Con 2011 in San Diego, California.

Multiple award winning editor Ellen Datlow said: “Charles Tan has in a very short time, become a major force in science fiction and fantasy. Bringing Charles over to the United States for the World Fantasy Convention would be a boon the convention by adding a truly international voice to the mix and selfishly, it would allow many of Charles’s fans in the field to meet him personally.”

Living in the Philippines, where wages are far lower than in the West, Charles would be otherwise unable to ever attend a major convention. The Fund’s purpose is to make such a trip possible, for the benefit not only of the recipient but for creating and extending dialogue in the wider world of speculative fiction.

Charles is a friend of mine. I see him online every day promoting fiction, authors, publications, bloggers, and others within the science fiction, fantasy, and horror community. He always seems to be there when someone needs a hand. I honestly can’t think of a better or more appropriate person to be the first recipient of The World SF Travel Fund. Right now there are 27 days left to contribute to the fund. The goal is $6,000 (to cover the travel costs of this year’s recipient and to establish a base for next year’s recipient). However, we still need another $1,816.00 to fully establish the fund.