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Sites for Sore Eyes
Our Rod brings you the latest in science fiction and fantasy web
site reviews from the comfort of his warm den in the Highlands.
scifi.com
www.scifi.com
You've probably heard that here at the 'Nest
are number 3 in the online science fiction world? Well, this lot
occupy the number 1 spot. They're actually an American-based website
which is there to support the SCI-FI Channel and as such have a
lot of resources, human and otherwise at their disposal.
This enables them to update material on a weekly basis, something
which would be next to impossible with Crowsnest. Uncle Geoff would
be working a 37 hour day which is much more than his usual 28 hour
daily shift.
This website with its familiar ringed planet logo certainly has
a lot to offer. News on 'Stargate SG-1', 'Farscape', 'Earth: Final
Conflict', 'X Files', 'The Outer Limits' and 'The Dead Zone'. However,
not everything is necessarily connected directly to television output.
In their section, 'Sci-fi.com Presents', you'll find fiction,
reviews and much more. There's also a web guide section with an
abundance of links to other sites of interest, including ours. In
a recent review, Sci-fi were full of praise for Crowsnest.
A flashy website, there is plenty to keep your attention here.
A site like this is more or less planet-wide in nature and it doesn't
really matter if you live in America, Britain, Australia or India,
you should be familiar with most of the information. My only complaint
is that it doesn't connect on certain aesthetic levels.
There is a lack of serious intellectual comment but that's probably
because it's being aimed at a younger audience than we're used to
at Crowsnest. There is a certain scarcity of in-depth literature
review though, in saying this, reading probably takes second place
to viewing with the majority of users.
Also, being tied to a television channel can cause restrictions
rather than advantages and a website which has its own independent
agenda can make more universal impact.
Sci-fi has a lot more money at its disposal than most websites and
probably has more than hundreds of others put together.
This gives it the ability to change on a frequent basis and allows
for more diversity of page style. It certainly isn't boring. By
registering with them, you can be kept up-to-date with lots of news,
etc.
You've nothing to lose by doing this because it's quite easy to
unsubscribe but I don't think you will.
Asimovs.com
www.Asimovs.com
And now, from a television channel website
we come to a magazine website. The same comments apply to this in
that true independence is not possible.
These websites wouldn't exist on their own were it not for the
TV channel or magazine. However, when adding things up, good material
on the Net is scarce and both sites reviewed definitely fall into
this category.
There's the usual stuff about how to subscribe, how to write for
and what's within the magazine. Quite a lot appears about past content
and there are an abundance of links about writers, magazines and
societies.
I found the latter very interesting. An editorial by Gardner Dozois
(the magazine editor) gives an account of his early reading experiences
and how they shaped his life. Robert Silverberg provides reflections
entitled 'the quality of pity is not folded'.
However, the best part for me was the book review section by Norman
Spinrad - they were in-depth, realistic and well-written.
A section on the net provides interesting comment, even some good
words about Crowsnest, (not that we need any convincing ourselves
but nonetheless it's good to know that others appreciate us).
Never do you get far from the message that you should subscribe
to the magazine but surprise etc, this is the aim of the website.
Not everyone likes to read the magazine in paper form but did you
know that this magazine and a host of others are available in single
issues and subscriptions in downloaded form?
Saves space on your bookshelf.
Rod MacDonald
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OTHER CONTENT - October 2002
The Big Bam Boom
John Aegard takes a bemused look at the Orion Project, where NASA and its chums were planning to hurl a spaceship into orbit and beyond by riding the blast generated by a series of atomic explosions.
(ARTICLES)
Pluto Nash
Frank puts his feet up for the space-aged spoof 'The Adventures of Pluto Nash', only to discover this film is about as funny as an asteroid stuck up one's rectum.
(FILM REVIEWS)
Lilo and Stitch
More SF movie action for Frank. 'Alien'-ation from another planet takes a Hawaiian vacation in the cute but thinly breezy sci-fi animation flick "Lilo & Stitch".
(FILM REVIEWS)
DiFate Smiles Kindly
It's hard not to use superlatives when talking about Vincent Di Fate. Just when you've been staggered by this artist's work, you realize he's also the man responsible for the ground-breaking survey of 20th-century SF art, Infinite Worlds.
(INTERVIEWS)
The King of Shannara
Fantasy author Terry Brooks on why he didn't think he would still be writing books in his Shannara universe after all this time, on why less is more, and why, like science in our own world, magic is neither good nor bad.
(AUTHOR INTERVIEWS)
The Offworld Report
A bumper crop of offworld goodies, including an interview with Nancy Kress, short fiction by Ursula K. Le Guin, and the godfather of US science fiction, Charles N. Brown, speaking out about a life serving in the trenches of the fantastic.
(ARTICLES)
The way from ConJose is … Scotland?
Brush the dust off your sporran and boil the water for the haggis, because the World Science Fiction Convention for 2005 has been awarded to Glasgow. We may fail to land the Olympics, but who cares, because science fiction is coming home at last.
(CONVENTION NEWS)
Sites for Sore Eyes
Our Rod brings you the latest in science fiction and fantasy web site reviews from the comfort of his warm den in the Highlands.
(SITE REVIEWS)
Dragonfly won't Fly
There's a sound reason for swatting away the preposterous "Dragonfly", Kevin Costner's latest sappy supernatural romantic thriller. Frank's just the man to tell you what it is.
(FILM REVIEWS)
The
China Syndrome
Author China Miéville on his passion for Gormenghast, the smug utopianism of
Cambridge, why David Cronenberg should make the film version of Perdido Street
Station, and on being a Dr Who man through and through.
(AUTHOR INTERVIEWS)
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