Site of the Week -- September 25, 2000
erhaps one of the biggest questions anyone can ever ask is "What if?" And it's from this question that the genre of alternate history (also known as uchronia, allohistory and a number of other names) arose, encompassing stories that explore such questions as "What if the Nazis had won World War II?" or "What if Babbage's analytical engine had actually worked?"
Uchronia is first and foremost "an annotated bibliography of novels, stories, essays and other material involving the 'what ifs' of history." It is lovingly and intelligently compiled, and arranged in a no-nonsense manner. The site includes, among other things, a searchable database of allohistorical works in print, with separate lists of anthologies and collections, series, reference materials and works published in other languages; the entries for the works themselves also contain a great deal of information, including brief synopses. The site also provides a "divergence chronology" (a timeline of dates/periods addressed in all the listed works), a large cover art gallery and a heap of good information about how to obtain alternate history books.
And "what if" visitors are still having a hard time figuring out exactly what alternate history is all about? Well, the smart and accessible essay the site offers as an introduction to the genre is, like the site as a whole, a great resource.
-- Matthew McGowan
Site of the Week -- Sept. 19, 2000
ene Roddenberry's Andromeda begins syndicated play the week of Oct. 2, 2000, and it already has science fiction fans speculating, criticizing and anticipating. The show stars Kevin Sorbo as Dylan Hunt, Lisa Ryder as Beka Valentine and Keith Hamilton Cobb as Tyr Anasazi. The story begins with Hunt awakening from suspended animation. A relic from pre-stellar civil war times, Hunt turns the mercenaries who awakened him into a new crew and continues his duties as a protector of the splintered Commonwealth.
Fan sites for the show have already sprung up, and one of the best is SlipstreamWeb. The site is information-heavy, and provides access to official press releases, episode guides and news about the stars. SlipstreamWeb's information is augmented by a thorough system of links to the official Andromeda Web site, to the Internet Movie Database (www.imdb.com) and to other news sites.
SlipstreamWeb depends on fans submitting leads and stories, and the site's creators do an excellent job of giving credit to the folks who contribute stories. Good stories, rapid updates and an active community of fans make SlipstreamWeb worth a look.
-- Jesse Decker
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
