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SciFiArchive.Com, Sci-Fi Books-by-Author Database.
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Review of SciFiArchive

(Note from the Site's creator and author, Lee Skidmore: This site is designed to feel like a print book. I have tried to make it completely browsible(is this a word?) as are print texts of any kind. I feel that search boxes are handy and fast and can cover literally terabytes of information in a flash, but if you aren't sure what you are looking for or don't know what you are really looking for or are simply on a random search for knowledge you won't know what to put into the search engine box to make the search. What I'm trying to say is that it seems you could miss a lot of information using search boxes instead of simply flipping through the pages to see what is there. So, this is an attempt to create book-browse-ability while using the other great things about the internet and html and scripts that can really add to the book experience without relying on search engine boxes to access information hidden in non-browse-able databases. Begging your indulgence in this on-going quasi-experiment, I remain, very truly yours, Lee Skidmore 2007

P.S. You can 'cheat' somewhat to search any single page here using your browser's 'find text' functions. Eventually I'll get around to Whois'ing the site)

Dark Matter Chronicles

Issue 2.7 June 10, 2000

ISSN 1524-671X www.eggplant-productions.com/darkmatter

SciFi Archive

Reviewed by J.G. Stinson

This review © 2000, J. G. Stinson

Click here for PDF file of the original article in Dark Matter Chronicles

According to the site documentation, someone named Lee Skidmore first uploaded this site in 1996.

The site is basic in design and easy to navigate. It appears to have been constructed as a personal website, with a few additions to give it a connection to SF in general.

The site index lists the Contents as: Future Novel, Books, Magazines, Artists, InStar Info, Storm Board, Airlok19, Awards, and Latest New Author.

Future Novel contains what appears to be a complete electronic novel called Lev.UP. Page one of this book comes with musical accompaniment. Skidmore also includes hyperlinks to terms in the text! What a concept!

Obviously, a lot of time and effort went into this book and this site. The novel starts off quite well, in a Gibsonian fashion, with a lot of interesting terms and a man on the run.

Some writing errors are evident, but they’re the kind that are easily fixed by a competent copy editor.

Books and Magazines are Skidmore’s for-sale list, which hasn’t been completely updated in about a year, according to a random sampling of the listings. But it looks like an extensive collection. Magazines has more in the way of older pubs like Astounding, and will probably interest collectors more than the general reader. Artists contains Skidmore’s index of books, magazines and artworks searchable by artist name.

InStar Info, StormBoard and Airlok19 all appear connected to Skidmore’s novel.

InStar Info concerns a planetoid made of garbage, around which Skidmore builds a tale of space-opera daring and bold adventure. The scientifically adept might find flaws here, but it sure sounded good to me.

A StormBoard is a form of transportation specifically used to participate in riding tornados as a sport. The science, again, might not be built on a solid foundation, but then again, this is science fiction. It reads well, and Skidmore has a confident writing style.

Airlok19 is a sort of revolving-door game, where pressing the indicated red button takes the visitor nowhere until around the fifth try, when another frame is engaged that leads to other pages with even more information. Maze lovers will have fun here. There’s a lot of detail here, impressive for its mere existence, not to mention its logicality.

Awards is a compilation of all the awards handed out for SF works and who won which one in any given year. Again, it’s not entirely up to date.

Latest New Author concerns Michael Allen Kent, and this is basically an ad for Kent’s book, The Great Earth Experiment, which appears to be about LGMs and their alien conquest plans. That’s Little Gray Men, by the way . . . you know, the ones with the big black eyes?

Skidmore claims there are over 600 pages at this site. Considering the wealth of detail evident in the first chapter of his novel, I’d say that’s no lie. If you’ve got an afternoon to goof off, this looks like a good place to spend it and actually feel like you’ve accomplished something.

For over 30 years, J.G. Stinson has been reading science fiction, fantasy and horror, and lays the blame for it on Andre Norton and Alfred Bester. Her other recent reviews can be found in Electric Wine and The Market List. Don’t say we didn’t warn you.


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Copyright (c) 2002 Lee Skidmore