he guiding principles of Nuketown are emblazoned across its banner. "Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Geekdom" are the heart of this speculative fiction 'zine, which made its first appearance on the Web in 1996.
Nuketown's articles offer readers thoughtful analysis on role-playing games, movies and technology. There are reviews of SF novels (most recently Cory Doctorow's Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town), coverage of SF-themed musical releases, a hoax watch that tracks whatever urban myths are currently making the Internet rounds, articles on Web development, DVD releases and entertaining features like the 2004 Geek Gift Guide.
This site makes it easy for fans who can't get enough of its particular brand of SF coverage—Nuketown aficionados can sign up for a newsletter, subscribe to a syndicated news feed, or join the Nuketown discussion listserv on Yahoogroups. Others may prefer to listen to its weekly podcast, Radio Active. Guests are encouraged to check out Nuketown's writer guidelines, too, with an eye toward submitting articles and reviews of their own.
Older articles on this web page are stored in archives that go back to 2001, while the site's Links section contains almost four hundred sites—all indexed into helpful categories such as blogs, Webzines, philosophy, comics and SF. Nuketown is a site that is determined to leave every visitor with something—a thought-provoking read, an interesting web link or new sources of gaming fun.
—A.M. Dellamonica
Site of the Week—August 1, 2005
eading the pulse of science fiction is what this news-based 'zine is all about—and at Sci Fi Pulse, the focus is completely on televised SF. Covering shows from Battlestar Galactica to Star Trek: Enterprise, the site is a clearinghouse of news and links about programs, actors and production gossip. With editorials, interviews and loads of links to other TV fan pages, it is a place where visitors can get up-to-speed on small-screen SF productions around the world.
In terms of its design, Sci Fi Pulse is something of a hybrid—a 'zine whose various sections break into a series of blogs about its creators' favorite shows. Areas dedicated to programs like Andromeda and Smallville spool out link after link to relevant articles and image galleries, making it easy to scroll chronologically through recent events, cast changes and crew interviews. (Doctor Who, oddly enough, does not have its own section, and news on that show is therefore dominating the site's general news area.)
Sci Fi Pulse is not the prettiest nor the most easily navigated site on the Internet, and its discussion forums are, unfortunately, infested with spam. What makes the site worth visiting despite these flaws is its tendency to turn up unusual and intriguing links—interviews about the shift to arc-based television writing from "reset button" stories, and juicy tidbits about upcoming guest stars on Smallville are current examples.
This site also invites fans to supply news links of their own, so dedicated and in-the-know Web surfers can join the fun by contributing stories themselves.
—A.M. Dellamonica
Site of the Week—July 25, 2005
ack Kirby and Stan Lee: Together they were responsible for creating such comic-book icons as the Fantastic Four, the Hulk, Thor ... and Bombu the Witch Man?!?
Yes, it's true. These revered master craftsmen of the Silver Age kept very busy prior to that legendary era, trying to earn a living in Marvel's monster books. Amazing Fantasy, Journey Into Mystery, Tales of Suspense, Tales to Astonish and other titles appeared every month in the late 1950s. And they were filled not with superheroes but with weird creatures that shambled in from jungles, forests, swamps, radioactive craters, other dimensions and interstellar space. Today, these rousing retro stories are relatively neglected. Except on Monster Blog.
Here you can get acquainted with such characters as "Diablo, the Demon From the Fifth Dimension," the "Stone Men From Saturn" or "Torr, the Beast Man From Beyond." These characters, plus more than 200 more, have pages chronicling their attributes and appearances, and cross-linking their continuity, where applicable. Of course, there's lots of high-quality reproductions of the artwork, including full scans of entire stories (very readable on the screen, even at reduced size).
Additionally, you can revel in the comments from knowledgable readers, who contribute their own insights and memories of these marvelous, nostalgia-producing tales. Collectors have a section devoted to their needs.
Many of these creations were resurrected to appear in Silver Age stories. For instance, readers might recall that Thor once fought the Stone Men From Saturn. If you didn't have that bit of trivia storied in memory, you will after visiting the jovial, unpretentious, fascinating Monster Blog!
—Paul Di Filippo
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