ecades of role-playing, board, war and computer games have spawned enough gamer jargon to put even NASA's linguistic gymnasts to shame. GamerJargon.com tracks this ever-morphing lingo with hundreds of entries explaining exactly what each cryptic utterance means, denoting its origin and then using the phrase in a sentence.
The featured jargon spans the entire gaming spectrum. "Alien eyes" refers to rolling two 3s on six-sided dice (rather than the traditional "snake eyes" that comes from rolling 1s). "Aggro," derived from "aggressive," describes the online lynching of a character in EverQuest, and dates from the days of more primitive online games like MUDS. "Wandering damage" refers to any encounter that the game master throws at players for the express purpose of hurting them and getting them to use up valuable supplies.
It's not all about obscure slang, though. The site also defines common gaming terms like "war-gaming" and "role-playing game" and includes brief histories of popular games like Dungeons & Dragons and Warhammer. There are a few holes in its coverage—the classic "TPK" (total party kill) isn't included—but fans are encouraged to submit entries of their own.
— Ken Newquist
Site of the Week—March 25, 2002
've been mildly interested for a while in dipping my toe into Robert Jordan's enormous Wheel of Time series of fantasy novels, just to see what all the fuss is about. But the sheer size of the series always daunted me—until now. I've just read the nine volumes of Jordan's "masterpiece" in a few minutes, and can immediately see that I was wise to forbear earlier. How, you ask, did I accomplish this miracle, short of possessing a watch that stops time? Easily! I visited Book-a-Minute SF/F, where scores of novels are distilled into their pithy—and hilarious—essences.
Click on any of the titles presented here, and you'll encounter the gist of the given book presented in under 100 words. Needless to say, the goal of such drastic boiling down is not to produce serious aids to the study of literature, but rather to highlight the banality of most books. The writers who contribute these capsule satires are more in league with The Onion than they are with Classics Illustrated or Cliffs Notes. You'll chortle if a book you think is particularly dumb is nailed, but you'll howl if one of your favorites is raked over the coals. Still and all, this is an enjoyable way to pass a half hour, guaranteeing that you'll never look at the high and mighty in our field the same way again. And these gleeful conspirators perform their surgery on mainstream classics as well, which you can visit via a handy link.
— Paul Di Filippo
Site of the Week—March 18, 2002
uthor Web sites run the gamut from carnivals of animated features, full of bells and whistles, to simple postings of the author's bibliography with a couple of pictures. The official Harry Turtledove Web Site, maintained by Steven H. Silver, falls somewhere toward the latter end of the spectrum. It's strictly a meat-and-potatoes kind of introduction to the work of this popular writer of uchronias, but on the other hand it's quite comprehensive and neatly organized.
An all-encompassing FAQ, combined with a short biography and several photos of Turtledove, unite to give us a good picture of the history-savvy man behind the fiction. Then that fiction itself is categorized and bibliographically assembled nine ways from Sunday: into thematic and serial groupings, by story collection or magazine appearance, with plenty of thumbnails of various book covers, including foreign editions. (Links for purchasing these books can also be found, naturally.) Anyone searching for a map to the enjoyment of Turtledove's fiction need look no further. Upcoming projects are highlighted, and scheduled chats with the author are advertised. But unless I missed a wing of this Turtledove museum entirely, there are no actual snippets of his writing to be found. This seems an ungenerous flaw in the design. How better to entice new readers than by giving away a sample?
But even with this glaring deficiency, the Turtledove Web site will serve as your passport to unlimited pleasure in worlds never born.
— Paul Di Filippo
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