even-time Hugo Award winner Bob Eggleton maintains an official home page that serves as an SF museum online, a place where visitors can see sketches, paintings and otherworldly vistas... not to mention sea monsters, dragons and even Jar Jar Binks.
Known largely in SF and fantasy circles as a book illustrator, Eggleton's imagination has taken him across a range of projects, right up to conceptual work for film and even thrill rides. The page reports on his recent work for the Jimmy Neutron movie, as well as offering a sneak
peek at the art for the book Dragonhenge by Eggleton and John Grant, which is scheduled for release this fall. The page also provides purchase information for the artist's various book projects, making it easy for interested fans to get their hands on larger versions of his work.
The gallery section of the page is, needless to say, replete with Eggleton's art, containing thumbnail images from a large array of projects, including book covers for authors such as Spider Robinson and Lawrence Watt-Evans. There are magazine covers for a variety of publications, too, and self-commissioned works. The "Monster Vision" section of the gallery shows photographs of Eggleton working on a Godzilla-themed painting, complete with brief notes on his artistic process.
Eggleton's site also provides recommendations of favorite books and toys, as well as links to his favorite artists, organizations, writers and musicians. The list, like the Web page, provides insight into the artist's passions—from monster movies to ABBA. With fabulous images and a great
sense of fun, the Bob Eggleton Web page is more than just a window into the world of SF illustration—it is an entire tour.
— A.M. Dellamonica
Site of the Week—January 7, 2002
or a simple down-home boy who started out in the early '80s with a straightforward act of reviewing B-movies in a rudely funny manner, Joe Bob Briggs has shown surprising longevity. The many faces of Briggs are on display at his official home page, which is also part of the B-Film Webring.
Here is a plethora of Briggsian writing of all stripes, each article bearing the traditional hallmarks of irreverence, street-smart perceptiveness and a fondness for what the highbrows deem trash. One could easily spend days reading all the pieces so generously archived on this site. JBB's reviews of the worst the cinema has to offer (much of it science fiction, fantasy or horror), can be found in the Drive-In Archive. The Column Archive features recent, more "sophisticated" writings which chronicle JBB's travels around "Wild America," with a focus on casinos and other lowlife habitats. Joe Bob also offers a kind of weekly "News of the Weird" feature, culling the grossest and most outrageous news events from the mediastream. And then, just when it seems that JBB is all sass and no substance, he shocks with his Book Club, which contains surprisingly serious reviews of meaningful volumes on, for instance, the Taliban.
There's a fair amount of interactivity here, too, mainly in a feature whereby visitors may plumb their knowledge of bad films to identify the mystery film submitted by yet another fan. And of course JBB artifacts galore are available at the online store.
Interested in becoming a "drive-in mutant?" Expose yourself immediately to the radioactive toxicity of Joe Bob Briggs.
— Paul Di Filippo
Site of the Week—January 2, 2002
he history of magazine publishing is replete with "empires" of all sizes, firms which managed to unite many different 'zines under one parental umbrella. From the pulpish glory days of Street and Smith (the famed corporation that issued Astounding and Unknown) to the present likes of Rupert Murdoch, readers have long relied on savvy entrepreneurs who seemed to have a magic touch that allowed magazines to flourish. And today, the science fiction/fantasy/horror field is lucky to have Warren Lapine and his talented crew, who manage to keep afloat no fewer than six different magazines under the rubric of DNA Publications Inc.
Visit their simple yet rich homepage and you'll encounter thumbnails of recent covers of all six 'zines: Absolute Magnitude, Dreams of Decadence, Weird Tales, Fantastic Stories, Science Fiction Chronicle and Mythic Delirium. In order, these separate entities focus on hard SF; vampire fiction; fantasy and horror; an eclectic mix of all three genres; news of the SF/F/H publishing scene; and fantastical poetry. Clicking on each image brings you to a generous sampling from each 'zine, along with ordering details. Other, full-length freebies are available on the main page. There are no bells and whistles, just a smorgasbord of good writing to whet your literary appetite, and an honest inducement to support these fine zines (among which Weird Tales can lay claim to be the oldest continuously published genre magazine of all!).
Additionally, this site is part of two different Web rings, and so your visit here might very well lead you down these paths to other riches and marvels!
— Paul Di Filippo
Back to the top.
