ncredible as it may seem, Worldcon is again approaching. The 61st annual celebration of science fiction, in all its forms, will be held in Toronto, Ontario, this August, with guests of honor George R.R. Martin, Frank Kelly Freas, Mike Glyer and, as toastmaster, Spider Robinson.
Year by year, Worldcon sites become ever more extensive, informative and well organized, and the Torcon Web page is the best yet. Everything a potential con-goer will need to know has been gathered on the site: Highlights include information about hotels and restaurants, progress reports, volunteer opportunities, data on the Hugo Awards ceremonies and the detailed information needed for U.S. art show participants bringing art over the border from the United States. Those worried about traveling to Toronto because of SARS can even find information on the disease and links to relevant health officials at the Torcon page.
In addition to dry facts and figures about getting to the convention, the site contains plenty of clues that Torcon is going to be a blast, with idiosyncratic touches such as a featured "ghost of honor" (deceased SF and horror writer Robert Bloch) and a challenge to costumers to create the "businesswear of the future." The information provided on Toronto-area fandom and Canadian fan events shows a vibrant and together community of people who are putting together what looks to be an extraordinary event.
The Torcon page is, naturally, in an ongoing state of change, with new updates being added all the time. As the weeks pass and the convention nears, visitors would be well advised to check back with the site to see what's new—and to renew their excitement about the event itself.
— A.M. Dellamonica
Site of the Week—April 28, 2003
hen an SF novel is diamond-hard in its technological speculation, like Geoffrey A. Landis' Mars Crossing, the debt it owes to research, space science and engineering advances is obvious. Science fantasies and soft SF build just as surely on sociology, archaeology and paleontology.
The lightest and most science-wary of SF movies could not exist without the lifeblood of science, even if only in the form of continued advances in special-effects technology.
For anyone interested in writing science fiction—or simply in tracking events in the real-world engine that powers the genre—Eurekalert stands out from the crowd of Internet science magazines. Hosted by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, this site provides articles on current developments in every area of research imaginable—the behavior patterns of cloned pigs, for example, or the development of medical sensors that look for harmful DNA in a patient's body—this site is a storehouse of facts, figures and cutting-edge science, not to mention enough core ideas to inspire a hundred new SF novels, stories and films.
Eurekalert also provides a mammoth list of links to peer-reviewed journals for visitors who want to further explore any topic that raises reader interest. Padding out these resources is a listing of book releases, scientific awards and upcoming conferences (some of them the stuff of pure SF, with no alteration needed, like the American Open for Robot Soccer or the National Nanotech Initiative).
Finally, Eurekalert has one other outstanding writer-friendly feature—its index of links to glossaries on topics from Federal Reserve terminology to the Hubble Space Telescope's keyword directory. Need a crash course on meteor astronomy or the plant fossil record? Without a doubt, this is the site that will point the way.
— A.M. Dellamonica
Site of the Week—April 21, 2003
mallville is nearing the end of its second season, and in its time on the air the show and its stars have garnered a large and loyal following. Smallville Fans is a gathering place for those dedicated to knowing—and sharing—all the hot-off-the-press news about the show.
With a bloggish sensibility to its layout and plenty of pictures and links, this site is crammed with information bulletins about Smallville, all posted by show devotees. Cast birthdays, information about actors' upcoming film projects, interviews, contest announcements—every scintilla of data picked up elsewhere on the Internet has been brought to Smallville Fans, collected in one place and easily accessible. Upcoming episode titles and airdates, along with very minor spoilers, are also provided.
Smallville Fans has a discussion forum for its members, too, as well as an extensive photo gallery and a link to Smallville Radio, a Realplayer "station" that has songs from the Smallville soundtrack on continuous play. Its archive of yes/no surveys contains some quirky and
thought-provoking questions, and makes for entertaining browsing.
This page is still very much a site under development. Its download offerings are scant and occasionally glitchy, and a single extensive surf-through will be enough for most visitors to absorb the bulk of its written content. As the show continues to develop and mature, though, the site's materials will certainly develop more depth. In the meantime, Smallville Fans is a top-notch place for tracking everything related to the doings of TV's latest incarnations of Clark Kent and Lex Luthor—a must-have, especially with the summer hiatus looming in the too-near future.
— A.M. Dellamonica
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