Site of the Week -- Sept. 11, 2000
ollywood has gotten a lot of mileage out of Philip K. Dick's twisted mind.
The reality-questioning science fiction legend inspired the classic Blade Runner (based on the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?) as well as the not-so-classic but still entertaining Total Recall (based on "We Can Remember It for You Wholesale").
philipKdick.com is dedicated to keeping the deceased author's memory alive, and it does so with an extensive site that is as quirky as its namesake. It has all the things one expects from an author fan site: a book list with reviews, an active discussion board, archived author interviews, artwork, radio clips in RealAudio format and a fanzine.
It also has some unexpected features, like its news section. There's the standard news about PDK-related releases and happenings, but what's really fun are the articles "plucked from the headlines." These are stories weird or cool enough to have been written by Dick himself, such as one describing a gigantic ant colony invading southern California, or another reporting on robots that create and assemble other robots.
-- Kenneth Newquist
Site of the Week -- September 4, 2000
ime~Gen is a fictional universe brought to life in 1969 by Jacqueline Lichtenberg in her story "Operation High Time," (published in If). The following series of books by Lichtenberg and another author, Jean Lorrah, depicts a world in which humanity has split into two sub-species: Sime, who at puberty develop tentacles that they use to drain the life force from the remainder, known as Gen. This unstable state of affairs engenders slavery, betrayal, raids, planet-wide war and a wealth of doomed passion.
The sprawling Sime~Gen site is kept current by Lichtenberg, Lorrah and a legion of fans. It provides the complete text of the first book in the series (long out of print) plus much more fiction set in the universe, some of it written by fans.
In addition, the site offers an extensive writing workshop. The writers have strong connections to Star Trek fandom and romance writing--the romance section provides chats with writers, reviews and so on. Other sections include a marketplace that mainly supports the numerous newsletters devoted to Sime~Gen; a book review section; a gallery of related amateur artwork; links to costuming sites, SF conventions and other topics of interest; much background about the universe and the usual bulletin boards, Web rings and listservs.
Despite a few broken links, the site provides a wonderful sense of community and is overflowing with resources for fans and fledgling writers.
-- Blaise Selby
Site of the Week -- August 28, 2000
r. T was a true-blue American hero, fighting the good fight alongside his fellow A-Team members, converting mundane equipment into assault weapons, and putting the smackdown on any sucka fool enough to get in his way.
The A-Team is coming back in 2001 with a new series produced by Top Cow for Fox 2000. The president of Top Cow (creators of the TV version of Witchblade) says the series will be "reimagined, with a contemporary feel." If he truly wants the series to be reimagined, he should check out Mr. T Is the Toughest Man in Anime.
The site throws the biggest badass in all of TV-land into the world of Neon Genesis, Macross 7, Sailor Moon, Gundam and Fushigi Yuugi. It's fresh. It's imaginative. It has huge mecha wearing gold chains while battling the forces of evil. It also sports classic Mr. T dialogue like "I pity the fool who's corruptin' the youth. This Miaka sucka is dead meat." And let's not forget Mr. T's legendary construction skills--in one episode he constructs a giant, van-mounted cream pie weapon to use against a rampaging, super-sized Bill Gates.
The site is loud, obnoxious and hilarious, especially for those who worshipped the A-Team in the early '80s. Diehard anime fans will undoubtedly consider it high heresy.
-- Kenneth Newquist
