[Waylander]

What other Fantasy sites do you frequent, how do you rate Them, and what makes you return?

I freely admit that this is is research towards improving my own site, but please dont let this stop you answering the question as i am genuinely Interested.

[Rob B]

www.locusmag.com (http://www.locusmag.com) WWW.SFFWORLD.COM (http://WWW.SFFWORLD.COM) www.sfsite.com (http://www.sfsite.com) WWW.SFFWORLD.COM (http://WWW.SFFWORLD.COM) www.fantasticmetropolis.com (http://www.fantasticmetropolis.com) WWW.SFFWORLD.COM (http://WWW.SFFWORLD.COM) www.ShadowMarch.com (http://www.ShadowMarch.com) WWW.SFFWORLD.com (http://WWW.SFFWORLD.com) www.emcit.com (http://www.emcit.com) www.silver-oak.com (http://www.silver-oak.com)

[Waylander]

Yep, but why them as opposed to any others? I mean I can see why SFFWORLD.COM features So heavily and the review sections on the others look good.
But is this the Only reasons?

[Rob B]

Locus Mag is the best site for SFF news

Fantastic Metropolis has good short fiction, interviews and occasional book reviews

SFSite: GREAT book reviews; GREAT interviews and often great articles

[Waylander]

So for you, It would be fair to say its down to the quality of reviews and Interviews they offer.

Thank you.

[Qin]

Each and every site listed by Fitz varies in quality. Sfsite will sometimes have well written reviews, and sometimes not. The review for Idoru, for example, was three paragraphs and had a word count of 369 [words]. With all due respect to the site, that is not something I consider to be a professional review - it needed to be much longer, and required more depth and analyzation. Having worked for various publications myself, I know first hand that had I submitted a review as short as that, I'd be told to rewrite it.

Sffworld, on the other hand, is filled with both professional and reader reviews, but unfortunately, the latter outnumber the former, which may not exactly be a blessing. At the very least, the professional reviews on the site have an appropriate length to them.

Fantastic Metropolis appears to be the antithesis of fat [high] fantasy, and makes no pretentions about being otherwise. While this may not necessarily be bad (despite the questionable nature of '50 Works Socialists Should Read') - they at least present some interesting ideas worth considering. I haven't perused the site enough to make a more thought out statement than this.

Locusmag seems to be the middle-ground between fantastic metropolis and sfsite. They like playing in the field of fantasy and don't seem very exclusionary. They're worth giving a try; since I never purchase magazines, I can't say that I've kept up with them enough to make any truly critical comments. It is worth pointing out that they don't seem to bother reviewing the books of Terry Goodkind. Your guesses are as good as my own as to why this is.

[jbcohen]

I have a ton of fatnasy web sites, but not on this computer. I will post another message when I get to work tommorrow and get time to pull off a listing.

[Rob B]

I think that SFSite would be considered semi-prozine. There is more on the site than just the reviews.

GEEKS with BOOks is usually an interesting column, the author works (or worked) in a fairly large bookstore--this offers a neat look at the business perspective of publishing.

The actual magazine Locus is for the most part, VERY respected. The magazine has a lot of reviews. The Web site offers some of the content that is in the magazine, but they are 2 different entities. Some of the most interesting (in voyueristic sort of way) content on www.locusmag.com (http://www.locusmag.com) are the letters to the editor and letters in response to the initial letters to the editors.
www.emcit.com (http://www.emcit.com) is run I think by Cheryl Morgan and she does a nice job of offering reviews, occaisional interviews and convention reports.

Qin, you kissing up to the mods with the professional review comment? http://www.sffworld.com/ubb/wink.gif j/k http://www.sffworld.com/ubb/smile.gif

To tell you the truth writing a good book review is quite a bit harder than many would think, and from what you say Qin, you can attest to this. You want to be informative about the book without giving too much away, you want to point out the shortcomings in a positive manner, but you also want to give compliments where deserved.

[Qin]

Damn, the mods at this forum write reviews for sffworld? In that case: In the spirit of Monkey Island - You write like a cow!

Heh. Sorry, I couldn't help myself.

You're correct Fitz, Sfsite is more than just reviews - although I primarily visit it for reviews. Although I've read several of the Geeks with Books editorials, I've never cared much for it, for no particular reason other than it simply didn't say anything I found particularly interesting.

As far as reviews are concerned, what I'd [ideally] like to see are reviews that don't simply channel a writer's tastes through the funnel of opinions, but ones that compare it to the forefathers, analyze the structure as a whole - the prose, the ideas, the character development, etc, and question the necessity for the book. In a genre that's overwhelmed with carbon copy novels, perhaps it's time for critics to begin analyzing the merit and worth of the novels released - taking into account (of course) whether or not the book is at least entertaining to read (i.e. Thus Spake Zarathustra, which I'm currently reading, although a philosophy book, is immensely entertaining to read - partly because of Nietzsche's quirky sense of humor).

And if you don't mind my asking: what exactly does 'semi-prozine' mean? That's a term I've never heard till now.

[Waylander]

I feel that the best people to give reviews are the readers.
Not that I dont appreciate a professional's opinion but They It would seem to come from quite a select grouping.
Thats why I feel that 10 or 20 reviews no matter how badly written or short, from people, from many walks of life, Cultures, age groups, etc, etc, must surely give a better overall picture of a book/film than the opinion of any one person.