Site of the Week -- Jan. 3, 2000
ictional alien worlds are where hard science meets fertile imagination--where
the most provocative ideas and the trusty laws of astrophysics join to
forge new and exciting vistas. Enter the Alien Planet Designer. By translating physical formulas into
a computer program, site designer John Bray has devised a means to predict all sorts
of attributes for pretend star-planet-satellite systems, from density to tides to
horizon distance.
Users start with two systems, modeled either on actual celestial bodies
or on famous fictional systems gleaned from the works of Frank
Herbert, Poul Anderson, and others. There's an opportunity to fiddle with
things like star magnitude, planet shape, and chemical composition. The
final result is a detailed, comparative table that quantifies what these
hypothetical systems would look like and how they would behave. For those less familiar with the science involved, there are explanations and links to in-depth discussions elsewhere.
Though it feels a bit like a graduate student's rainy-day project, the Alien
Planet Designer offers a chance to explore worlds unlike our own in a way
that makes them more believable--and therefore more enticing--than ever
before.
-- Mark Wilson
Site of the Week -- Dec. 20, 1999
here comes a time in the lives of science fiction heroes when they must
make a stand against evil. For L.A.S.M., that stand is against the
various salivating monstrosities rampaging through the universe.
At core of this homage site is a listing of nearly 40 monsters that have
threatened the crew of the starship Red Dwarf in the British SF
series of the same name. The list includes the disgusting "space mumps,"
the bizarre "Flared Nostrilness," and the even more disgusting "Mutton
Vindeloo Monster." Each entry has a picture, and most have descriptive text them.
Venturing beyond the list, Dwarfers and newbies will find plot summaries,
trivia contests, and fan fiction. The site doesn't take itself too seriously
("we scoff at snidiness, nit-pickyness, and all other forms of smeggy,
gimboid-like behaviour") and retains the distinctive feel and tone of the
series it honors.
-- Kenneth Newquist
Site of the Week -- Dec. 13, 1999
efore television, there were the pulps--sensational
fiction printed on cheap paper made from pulpwood scraps. These inexpensive publications caught the public's imagination and introduced readers to such authors as
H.P. Lovecraft, Dashiell Hammett, and E.E. "Doc" Smith. When the
"character" pulp was introduced in 1931, in which an entire magazine was
dedicated to The Shadow or some similarly mysterious and intriguing figure,
publishers had to scramble to meet demand.
ThePulp.Net celebrates pulp magazines--and character pulps in
particular--with well-organized histories, forums, links, and image
galleries for The Shadow, The Spider, and The Avenger. The site offers detailed bibliographies of pulp-related works in print, as well as user polls--a
recent question was a referendum on the upcoming Schwarzenegger version
Doc Savage--and even a chat room. There's also a series of
fascinating photographs showing newsstands from the '30s overflowing with pulps. (It's fun to see The Spider and
Horror crowding out McCall's and Redbook.)
Science fiction owes a great debt to the pulps, which made possible the
golden age of SF short stories and serialized novels through such
titles as Hugo Gernsback's Amazing Stories, Astounding Science Fiction (Analog), and If. ThePulp.Net is a good place to
explore some of our roots.
-- Mark Wilson
