uthor George R.R. Martin is something of a literary chameleon. Horror devotees know him best for his classic novel Fevre Dream. TV fans may be better acquainted with his work on the 1988 series Beauty and the Beast, while still others remember his stint as editor of the long-running superhero anthology series Wild Cards. All of that is old news, however—in the present, his epic fantasy cycle A Song of Ice and Fire is about to see publication of a widely anticipated fourth installment.
It has the usual author site staples, including a biography and bibliography, and also offers a comprehensive gallery of cover art from Martin's books and a sample chapter from A Feast for Crows, which will be hitting bookstores in just a few weeks.
Martin posts short reviews of books—fiction and nonfiction—he is currently reading. He discusses recent movies and displays pictures from his collection of medieval miniatures. Though one section of his site is labeled "Not a Blog" and links to a (mostly inactive) LiveJournal, the site as a whole has a bloggish feel, delving into his personal interests, research projects and interactions with fans, who provide photos of babies and household pets named for Martin's characters, as well as cartoons related to his books.
With an index of upcoming public appearances, links to online stores that stock his harder-to-get books and even an outlet for A Song of Ice and Fire T-shirts, Martin's page has an informal and welcoming—if occasionally cluttered—atmosphere, keeping readers up to date on his writing and activities without ever seeming dry or distanced.
—A.M. Dellamonica
Site of the Week—October 10, 2005
hen it comes to pondering four decades of Star Trek, an auxiliary brain could be helpful. The official continuity, combined with the myriad divergences introduced by everyone from writers to modelers to customers, is staggeringly large, but Memory Alpha manages to keep it all straight, thanks to an armada of helpful fans.
The site is a wiki, an encyclopedia-like online construct that allows anyone—administrators, regular readers, casual visitors—to add, update and correct articles. And add they have—the site is composed of just over 14,000 pages, seemingly covering every Star Trek facet imaginable. Episodes and movies from all the series get the royal treatment, with extensive summaries peppered with hyperlinks to related topics. The entry for the classic time-looping Next Generation episode "Cause and Effect" includes links to all the main characters, the role of the senior staff on a starship, the temporally unstable Typhon Expanse, subatomic dekyon particles and the U.S.S Bozeman, among dozens of others.
The amount of detail in each entry can be impressive. For example, the writeup on the aforementioned U.S.S. Bozeman references the origin of its name (Bozeman, Mont.) and its contradictory registry numbers and explains its appearance in the Trek universe several times after "Cause and Effect," including the TNG episode "All Good Things", Star Trek: Generations and Start Trek: First Contact.
As with most wikis, the site's home page has a weekly featured article as well as a "did you know" list displaying an assortment of facts from deep with in the site's core. These make for excellent jumping-off points, but visitors can also make use of its established categories for episodes and movies, society and culture, science and technology, other media, people, space travel and hardware and fandom.
—Ken Newquist
Site of the Week—October 3, 2005
n
online fan club for devotees of Frank Herbert's classic Dune novels, Dreamers of Dune is a cozy online gathering place for discussion of the planet Arrakis, its tangled history and all the Imperium's
diverse and memorable characters. Covering everything from video games to recent TV adaptations of Dune, this site studies and celebrates one of the most complex SF universes ever created.
The enthusiasm at Dreamers of Dune is infectious: Its discussion forums are busy, and site features include whimsical quizzes, fan fiction, a long links page, cartoons, news, interviews and even a gift store. Dreamers also has an ultra-useful glossary of key words from the Dune universe's rich pool of languages and cultural constructs—planet names, religious terms, technological devices and creature names. Paired with this glossary is a handy "Who's Who"
section, with biographies of the important characters in the series.
In its "Miniseries" area, the Web page features an interesting breakdown of fan reaction to 2000's Dune and the 2003 Children of Dune miniseries, noting differences among viewers who read the books, those who saw the 1984 film adaptation directed by David Lynch
and others who came to the miniseries wholly unspoiled.
Dune has never lacked for fans, but as Brian Herbert continues to expand the universe with new novels, interest—in the series and in this excellent fan site—can only continue to rise.
—A.M. Dellamonica
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