September/October Award Recipients

Electric Sheep is a fascinating sf short story site from New Zealand that uses avant-garde, dynamic web designs to tie together the esoteric memory-bits of an interactive story involving space pirates solar-sailing around Jove, and a heroine in high heels. Worth a good look.

July/August Award Recipients

Alpha Ralpha Boulevard/The Gebiet
Espana N. Sheriff has done a wonderful job since 1995 of amassing a wealth of information about the speculative fiction world, and it's all to be found in her webplex which includes Alpha Ralpha Boulevard (an SF bibliography on hundreds of writers) and The Gebiet (portal on SF art), both tributes to the master of haunting far-future SF, Cordwainer Smith. Espana is one of the web originals -- one of those few that's been around longer than we have. Hilariously, on her awards page, she talks about her Top 5% of the Web award: "My first award :) Are these guys even around anymore? I couldn't reach their site." Man, that's longevity. Espana's website shows some of its age, but is still a treasure trove. Espana's motto is: "Making the world safe for Science Fiction since 1995." - John Cullen

Darktales Publications
The folks over at Darktales Publications have done a great job of pulling together a community of serious horror authors and sophisticated fans. They host bulletin boards for announcing new works, have published The Asylum (a critically-acclaimed anthology of "bedtime stories for the criminally insane"), and run a high-traffic e-mail list that discusses everything from movies (The Haunting vs. The Blair Witch Project) to books to popular culture and its popular mythology. The same e-list also disseminates the world's first pro horror e-mail serial, Doug Clegg's Naomi. If you're a fan of horror, or other darkly imaginative fiction, do yourself a favor and check out Darktales Publications. - Brian Callahan

June's Award Recipients

High Hallack Genre Writers' Research and Reference Library
This month we recognize the High Hallack Genre Writers' Research and Reference Library, sponsored by Andre Norton Ms. Norton is the only woman ever to have won the Grand Master Nebula Award, awarded for lifetime excellence and contributions to the field. The High Hallack R&RL is a wonderful new research center for genre writers. Located near Nashville, TN, the center includes a 10,000 volume (and growing) library, including many rare volumes. - John Cullen c.1999

The Cabinet of Dr. Casey
While perusing the many corners at The Cabinet of Dr. Casey, searching for a candidate for this month's Step Outside award, I suddenly realized that I was spending much of my time (between hitting the back button and clicking on other links) admiring how well crafted this site is. The Cabinet of Dr. Casey has earned my admiration many times over the last few years, and I doubt any horror enthusiast would hesitate to agree that this site is the definitive resource for all that is horrific. The Cabinet is among one of the first dozen Web sites I ever visited, and it is one that I still frequently reference to find information about movies, authors, and even horror-related Web sites. While you're in the Cabinet, don't forget to check out the excellent "Horror on Radio" section that contains streaming readings of some classic tales (this month's feature is Poe's "The Masque of the Red Death"). - Brian Callahan

May's Award Recipients

2019: Off-World
A great Blade Runner resource page maintained at Stanford University since 1992. There are a lot of BR pages out there, and a lot are fancier (though one crashed my system with the amount of graphics and clever tricks), but this is probably the oldest and one of the most comprehensive. It's a grab-bag of delights, info, raw discourse, and the occasional ripple up and down the spine, brought to you by the free-speech enthusiasts of the Web's Edge and Under World Industries. The site retains a charming touch of the early 'Net while being utterly out there and 2019. - John Cullen

The H.P. Lovecraft Archive
I've been a fan of the fiction of H.P. Lovecraft since I was too young to be exposed to such sanity-shattering tales. I even enjoy many of the unfaithful film adaptations out there. Having just reread the chilling "The Shadow Over Innsmouth", I went scouring for information on the Web and rediscovered this site, which I had originally found some time ago. In the time that this site has been around, it has proved itself as the definitive place for HPL fans to kick off their shoes and browse for hours on end. You can find a list of movies, games, and even bands that are inspired by Mr. Lovecraft. Don't fail to visit this site, if you enjoy the otherworldy fiction of the seafood-hating writer from Providence. - Brian Callahan