t's a fan's, fan's, fan's, fan's world!
Back in the very early years of the 20th century, hobbyists with an interest in journalism began congregating in "amateur press associations," national groups that provided home-produced outlets for their writings. H.P. Lovecraft was perhaps the most famous member of such. With the birth of genre science fiction in 1926 and the magazine letter columns that facilitated contact among ardent readers, another network bloomed. Shortly, out of the fusion of these two subcultures, full-blown, true-blue science-fiction fandom emerged as we know it today, a welter of fanzines, personalities, conventions, customs and traditions. All other fandoms since—mystery, western, comic, romance and media—relied on the pioneering efforts of SF fans. And with the broader culture as a whole increasingly reflecting a fannish obsession with the entertainment industry's gossip and news, it's safe to say that the once outcast, nerdy fan is now Everyman.
If you'd like to learn more about the origin of fandom—and to stay in touch with its current incarnations—there's no better place to visit than The Fanac Fan History Project. The opening line on the main page describes its purpose perfectly: "This site is devoted to the preservation and distribution of information about science fiction and science fiction fandom." Galleries of photos await your inspection. Check out Robert Bloch sharing cocktails with Larry Niven. Or perhaps you'd like to brush up on fannish jargon. In that case, Rich Brown's Dr. Gafia's Fan Terms offers endless hours of fascination. You can look at digitized issues of famous old fanzines, such as Red Boggs' Sky Hook, or get pointers to several e-zines. Learn from the experts how to stage a convention. Finally, you can click on the SF Fandom Webring to be transported to a host of allied sites.
You might very well emerge from this experience chanting "FIAWOL!" And if you don't recognize that acronym, you need to visit Fanac now!
— Paul Di Filippo
Site of the Week—January 19, 2004
eeping it simple is the name of the game at How Stuff Works, a Web page that sets out to explain human inventions—from nuclear weapons to CD burners—to ordinary Web surfers.
Simply put, this site is an archive of well-written and deeply informative articles on science, technology, medicine, economics and virtually everything else. It is a researcher's paradise. Whether one is researching lockpicking, the nature of a disease like SARS, how crash testing of automobiles works or the newest advances in space science, the engineers and other experts behind How Stuff Works can spell it out—in a highly detailed and always straightforward manner.
How Stuff Works is also exquisitely cross-linked: The article explaining Mars Rovers leads a reader effortlessly to topics like terraforming, and from there to rocket engines and other types of propulsion systems. The banquet of facts, photos and diagrams is endless and inspiring, a feast for the imagination. In addition to referencing internal articles, links also lead to outside resources for further information, and often to relevant e-commerce sites, too.
For first-time visitors, one of the best ways to explore this site is to simply bring up its master list of articles and start scanning for items of interest. No matter what visitors' personal interests may include, they are certain to find dozens of How Stuff Works articles to satisfy their curiosity.
— A.M. Dellamonica
Site of the Week—January 12, 2004
premium resource for fantasy writers and storytellers, Encyclopedia Mythica is a gold mine of facts and stories about heroes, myths, folklore and all things legendary. With over 6,000 entries and images, the site identifies gods and goddesses, defines a host of supernatural beings and describes mythological lands and events from every corner of the world.
This site provides endless pleasant browsing for anyone interested in mythology and, naturally, can easily be searched for any particular desired fact. Beyond its simple reference functions, though, Encyclopedia Mythica offers a superb links page, as well as interesting extras like a Genealogy section where site visitors can examine the family trees of various pantheons of gods. This section's coverage of Ancient Greek is its most comprehensive, with separate tables for such topics as the descendants of Prometheus and the best-known children borne by Zeus' various mortal and immortal lovers.
Encyclopedia Mythica is the work of a small group of dedicated researchers, and its staff freely acknowledges that the site, while it has gathered an extensive body of lore over the course of its eight-year history, is far from comprehensive. Anyone with expertise on myths that the encyclopedia has covered only slightly is invited to check out the guidelines for submitting information that will make it more complete.
The gaps, however, seem few and far between. Material ranges from Choctaw creation myths to extensive notes on the Arthurian legends, from descriptions of Old Testament leviathans to a pronunciation guide for classical deity names. As such, Encyclopedia Mythica is truly a researcher's paradise.
— A.M. Dellamonica
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