ike any innovation, online SF magazines come in a number of shapes and sizes, all with varying levels of quality. One of the most promising of the many new publications on the Web, though, is definitely Strange Horizons.
This site is set up beautifully, and offers fans a choice selection of reading material. There are author interviews, book reviews and articles of general interest to SF readers. One especially meaty piece provides in-depth analysis of Ted Chiang's excellent SF story "Seventy-Two Letters," which appeared in the Ellen Datlow anthology Vanishing Acts. The article is doubly a pleasure to read because it gives a deserving work of fiction the sort of attention usually reserved for novels
alone.
Needless to say, this Web page also offers fiction, and plenty of it. Contributors including Bruce Holland Rogers, Cecilia Tan, Jennifer de Guzman, Joe Murphy and D.K. Latta all spin tales for browsers' enjoyment. Exploiting another of the great potential strengths of online magazines, the Strange Horizons back issues are archived, which means there is a growing number of these stories available to readers for a potentially limitless window of time.
Strange Horizons operates on a donor system. Visitors may read anything they wish. If they like what they see, a quick click leads to a page outlining many ways to support the magazine, from cross-linking to a personal web site to putting down cold, hard cash. With so many good stories, illustrations and articles to choose from, this is indeed a site worthy of such support. More importantly, it is one that readers will want to visit regularly.
-- A.M. Dellamonica
Site of the Week -- April 16, 2001
ive-action role-playing, a genre that combines classic sit-down adventure games with elements of improvisational theater, laser tag and group storytelling, defies easy description. The phrase may evoke, in many minds, images of gamers dressed in medieval costumes, brandishing fake swords and charging at each other across the green expanses of public parks and forests. However, such images come from only a small chapter of the larger gaming story. The Live Action Roleplayers site goes to some length to define and include all the diverse forms of live-action role-playing.
In case the concise definitions and well-structured information on LARP don't provide a clear enough picture of what this hobby is all about, the webmasters at LARPA go one step further. Entire game scenarios are available on this site for surfers to download. The adventures offered on the page are not pirated--they appear with author permission. They include tabloid scenarios--"I was a teenaged mutant from outer space!"--mysteries, space opera, vampire adventures and virtually everything else imaginable. There is even an adventure which takes place in the context of an SF convention panel on science and technology! The scenarios are varied enough that there is something for every type of player group, whether it is a small party wanting a few hours of light entertainment, or a crowd complete with costumes and props, looking for a full day's enjoyment. There are even 20-minute microgames for two players that are specifically designed to introduce new gamers to fundamental concepts of live-action play.
The LARPA site functions as a point of contact for gamers, offering current news, a calendar of events and contact information for LARP organizations across the globe. It also features a page of links to gaming resources on the Web. The page itself is simple in design but packed with data. As a result, it sometimes loads very slowly. However, users interested in this gaming sub-genre will find the information very much worth the wait.
-- A.M. Dellamonica
Site of the Week -- April 9, 2001
hat are the defining marks of a "cult" author? A moderate-sized family of loyal followers. A distinguished body of quirky work large enough to inspire deep and varied analyses and a hierarchy of favorites. A vivid personality possessing a certain allure. A real-world mix of accessibility and distance.
By all these signs, the expatriate American novelist Jonathan Carroll is a cult author, a writer's writer who also attracts a band of devoted readers heralding his merits. And in this digital age, one additional mark of the cult object might be necessary: a top-notch Web site, full of gorgeous visuals, hard data and exclusive text. Certainly that's all on tap in the The Official Jonathan Carroll Web site.
Here, surfers can read a ringing endorsement of Carroll's unique virtues from Neil Gaiman, scan the bones of his biography in a well-done informal essay by David Hughes and get the text of rare stories otherwise available only to a few possessors of dusty old magazines. Also included are film scripts, novel extracts, essays such as "Reading My Father's Story," in which Carroll reminisces about the writing career of his dad, interviews previously conducted with Carroll and critical dissections of his writing. On an interactive level, contests to win rare Carroll memorabilia and a chance to pose questions of the author also await. (Promise is made that in the future, the link to "Collaborate" will feature round-robin writing projects involving Carroll and his fans.)
This site is cleverly constructed by Mobius New Media, employing as wallpaper many evocative illustrations with a Euro-fantasy feel. A thumbnail gallery of book covers from many lands offers further eyecandy to go along with the wise and witty words Carroll has thoughtfully shared.
-- Paul Di Filippo
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