here science meets fiction," reads the banner of the Technovelgy (pronounced tek-novel-gee) Web page, and that is exactly what this site delivers—information on hot new inventions being created around the globe. This is no dry science-news page, though: All the stories are cross-referenced with tantalizing snippets referring to similar technologies created by SF writers, often years and even decades before real-world science caught up with their visions. Readers can thus find a news item about the fastest elevator in the world linked to a short excerpt from Isaac Asimov's Foundation about "gravitic repulsion elevators." Next up—a piece about a man who survived a fall into an industrial garbage compactor, an article that just happens to have a picture of Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia caught in a similar fix.
Technovelgy is a unique fusion of practical science and unadulterated dream. Its backbone is its extensive list of SF inventions, each indexed by its creator, be it Douglas Adams or Roger Zelazny. Each entry includes a small snippet of text from the novel it came from—essentially the critical few paragraphs that explain what the gizmo is and how it works. Visitors can also browse inventions through a timeline that dates back to the 1726 "invention" of bio-energy by Jonathan Swift in Gulliver's Travels. If one is looking for
something particular, these fictional technologies are also indexed by category.
Any real-world technology that is at all similar to a Technovelgy item is fair game for this Web page, which cross-references every news item with as many relevant fictional devices as the site owners can find. Movies are not ignored either: A piece about research into computers that can analyze human voice samples and draw conclusions about the speaker's emotions contains references to I, Robot and 2001: A Space Odyssey. The site accepts new entries all the time: If a favorite author has been overlooked, visitors are invited to help Technovelgy add to their store of knowledge.
Technovelgy is one of those sites with unlimited surfing potential—its articles are short and punchy, and each offers links to another item or three just as intriguing. With more than 700 entries in its SF inventions archive—and a fiction sample appended to each—it is also a great place to go to sample new authors, particularly those writing hard SF. Inspiring inventors and engineers to create real versions of imagined technologies is one of SF's greatest spinoff benefits. This site celebrates that ongoing accomplishment with panache and humor.
—A.M. Dellamonica
Site of the Week—December 27, 2004
ince 2002, The Dragon Page radio show has been discussing the SF and fantasy field, focusing more—though never exclusively—on writers and their fiction than on TV or big-budget film projects. Since its inception, the program has grown and mutated into two different shows. "Live Fire" is a live call-in program that talks about terraforming, military SF, appropriate holiday gifts for fans and just about everything else. Meanwhile, "Cover to Cover" continues to put written SF under the microscope, staying true to the Dragon Page team's original vision.
Broadcast on radio stations across America as well as online, The Dragon Page offers literate and insightful discussion of the genre to any reader with a Web connection. Its site provides just a taste of what the show has to offer, allowing visitors to listen to recent programs while reading through reviews and summaries of earlier installments. Fans can also browse through the Dragon Page blog, a congenial grab bag of posts covering scientific discoveries, serious SF news, humorous links and other items of interest, many of which are contributed by the show's regular listeners.
Dragon Page has interviewed many of the best-known authors working in SF today—giants like Arthur C. Clarke and Ray Bradbury, hot new stars like Cory Doctorow and award winners from Connie Willis to Spider Robinson. Meanwhile, past media guests have included Lani Tupu of Farscape and Battlestar Galactica's Richard Hatch. The show's guest listings are very much a who's who of SF, and the site provides photos, mini-biographies and a bit of information about each writer's body of work. Readers who may be curious about their favorite authors' lives or who are looking for new books to try out over the holidays will find that The Dragon Page's sincere affection for SF literature makes it a first-rate referral site.
—A.M. Dellamonica
Site of the Week—December 20, 2004
s its title may suggest, Sci-Fi Lists is a compilation of "best of" rosters for all types of SF media—books, television shows, movies—and authors, too. Mixing scientific analysis with a sincere fondness for the art form that is science fiction, this site provides a fantastic reading and viewing list for any SF fan ... especially one who is just becoming familiar with the canon and wants to sample the finest it has to offer.
Of the many lists on this site, one dominates its content—the Top 200 SF Books list. This opens with Frank Herbert's Dune enshrined comfortably in the number-one position, and closes with the excellent if somewhat less well known Mother of Storms, by John Barnes. The rankings, for this list and the lion's share of the rest, are determined statistically, using awards information, lists compiled by critics and data from Internet polls as sources. Additional rankings take the interesting step of separating critically acclaimed works from popular ones, as well as breaking choices down into subgenres: cyberpunk, robot stories, time travel and satires, to name just a few.
Sci-Fi Lists is the sort of site a dedicated fan can use as a springboard to new discoveries, when more tried and true sources of reading and viewing pleasure have dried up. It is a first stop on the Web for anyone wanting to pile up some reading material for a vacation or catch up on their cult movie viewing. The lists are content-rich, filled with solid recommendations, and the short reviews attached to each title—one-paragraph summaries that give a sense of what any given book, TV show or movie is all about—make it that much more probable that a visitor will hit upon an exciting new author or film.
—A.M. Dellamonica
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