reative anarchy rules at Broad Universe, a group dedicated to promoting and encouraging women writers and illustrators of speculative fiction.
Realizing that male geeks dominate most people's minds when they think of science fiction (and to a lesser extent fantasy and horror), the group promotes published works by women while simultaneously supporting fledging writers. The group is free and open to all--men, women and (if they exist) Martians are welcome to join. It's led by an advisory group, but prides itself on being a free-form organization that lets members play an active role.
The group's Web site is a major tool in its efforts. Its newsletter--Broad Sheet--is published on the site and includes advice, commentary and more, mostly written by established writers. The online catalog of "broad" fiction is an excellent data mine. Each book includes its ISBN number, publisher, author and a short description, as well as links to related Web sites. It's a great resource for those looking to expand their reading horizons.
Rounding out Broad Universe's online offerings is its e-mail discussion group. Hosted by Yahoo, this group sees hundreds of messages a month. It's a cordial group that serves as a good source of news about women in speculative fiction, and a great place for folks to talk about--and sometimes with--their favorite female authors.
-- Kenneth Newquist
Site of the Week -- June 18, 2001
nce upon a time, the term "mass media" referred to only two things: radio and "moving pictures." The history of films, in our current era of instant gratification and education via VCR, is quite wellknown. But the history of the more perishable medium, radio, is filled with lacunae. Still, there are many buffs of "Old Time Radio"--OTR for short--who collect, sell and trade tapes of classic performances, laboring to preserve, catalog and disseminate these inventive playlets.
Many of these hundreds of broadcast dramas involved material that would appeal to lovers of fantasy, science fiction, horror or thrillers, both original scripts and adaptations of famous genre stories. But zeroing in on a favorite episode often presents problems--problems which Jeff Dickson is intent on alleviating with his site, The OTR Plot Spot.
Dickson's site is basically a cross-referenced index with notes, so it's light on graphics. No animations or sound files here (although Dickson's extensive set of links will put you touch with many good sources for OTR material). Neither is Dickson selling CDs or tapes. Rather, he is intent on giving handy, short synopses of individual episodes, clustered by shows, so that the interested fan can track down specific stories. For instance, clicking on X Minus One we learn, first, a little about the history of this longest-running of radio SF shows, and then, in a random scan, that the episode "Appointment in Tomorrow" was derived from a Fritz Leiber story, and concerned itself with "a look into a dark future controlled by the 'Thinkers,' and the computer brain they rely on to do the actual thinking." "I'll order a copy now" might be your reaction!
Additionally, Dickson lists episodes per author, and groups episodes across many shows by themes. Dedicated visitors can also post their own synopses or reviews. All in all, this site is your ticket to those thrilling days of yesteryear.
-- Paul Di Filippo
Site of the Week -- June 11, 2001
ssume the following: the health of the SF field depends on the health of its short-story outlets. In the short form, SF can mutate and evolve faster than at novel length, and new writers may more easily make their debuts and learn the ropes. Now, the factors that contribute to the health of the short story in SF are too numerous and detailed to cover here. But surely one of the most important parts of the equation is feedback, in the shape of reviews and criticism (a boon once supplied by letter columns in the good old pulp days). And while SF novels stand a good chance of receiving such corrective input, the average short story generally appears and disappears so fast and to such little notice that the poor author gets no response to her work, and thereby suffers.
Mark Kelly at Locus does a fine job sampling short stories, but he's only one man. Fortunately for the field, however, founder Dave Truesdale has for eight years been holding high the standard of short fiction reviewing with his publication Tangent. The 'zine began in the medium of print in 1993 and migrated to the Web a few years ago. Since then, it has become a one-stop clearinghouse for information on the good, the bad and the ugly in the short-story jungle.
When you visit the home page of Tangent you encounter a crystal-clear array listing all the current venues for SF short stories, grouped according to frequency of publication. Jumping to the name of an individual 'zine (book publications of short stories are covered as well, and so are online outlets), you find archived reviews of its various issues. Truesdale's hard-working staffers--Rich Horton, Steven Silver, Chris Markwyn, Christopher East, Jay Lake, Michael Payne, James Reichert and Lyda Morehouse, among others--diligently report back with grace, perception and honesty which stories soared and which stories sank. Usually, one person reviews an entire issue, but for the review of the April 2001 issue of Analog, the interesting experiment of having a different critic cover each story was attempted. Such dedication and ingenuity are hallmarks of this indispensable site.
-- Paul Di Filippo
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