Yeah, I’ve fallen down on the weekly wrap-up thing. It’s tough, because I spend so much of my time doing research, reading, and writing at my day job, when I get home I’m pretty mentally wiped. I still find time to work on RPG stuff for my group, but really I am just looking forward to having dinner with the family, then playing some Borderlands 2.
Now, my lunches are almost always at my desk (for reasons), but since it’s lunch, I don’t feel guilty doing a little surfing. These are the three sites I try to visit every lunch during the week.
Blastr
. It takes a lot of flak from its readers for a lack of accuracy, but for media news in the speculative realm, I think it does a great job. Yes, it’s light and frothy and not too concerned with fact-checking, but that’s fine. I don’t read every article, but there’s plenty of interesting articles. This is not a news organization, think of it more as a fan rumour and geek interest site. It’s fun.
Tor. I will admit that I am buying fewer and fewer novels these days. I’m just not reading for pleasure as much as I used to. However, the Tor website has got lots of great articles about speculative fiction both in the literary realm and beyond. I love the “re-watch” series, and am really enjoying the DS9 re-watch. It’s also fun to read about books that are coming out, get ideas and inspiration, and bathe in the nostalgia of retrospectives.
Black Gate
. I am biased. When Black Gate was a heroic fantasy journal, it was my top target in which to get published. I achieved that, and it happened to be at the point when Black Gate was transitioning to a virtual-only presence. I will admit that I am saddened by the demise of the published work, but this was obviously a labour of love for editor and publisher John O’Neill, and if the money isn’t there to keep it publishing, saving it as a website/news blog works for me. Black Gate pretty much hits all my sweet spots, with lots of sword & sorcery articles, previews, and reviews. It does lots more, like a great series on the Godzilla movies just before the new one came out. There are a lot of very talented people writing for Black Gate, and I always find an article I read from top to bottom. That’s about the biggest compliment I can give.