SF Site
Entry updated 20 May 2022. Tagged: Publication.
Web-based science fiction magazine launched by John O'Neill and Rodger Turner in June 1997, making it one of the oldest sf websites still operating regularly. O'Neill left to launch Black Gate, a site devoted primarily to fantasy and gaming (first issue, November 2000) but Turner continues as editor to this day, assisted by Wayne McLaurin and Neil Walsh. Originally published as a rolling series of updates to the home page, the Online Magazine eventually settled into a schedule of two issues per month, which it still operates.
Although the earliest extant version of SF Site is still recognizably the same publication available today, it took time for the structure of the site to cohere. It is now primarily a review site covering mostly new books, but with some attention devoted to Cinema, SF Magazines and Television. Over the years the site has accumulated a large body of reviewers, and additionally hosts an archive of reviews (not technically part of SF Site proper) originally posted by Steven H Silver, who continues to review and maintain the news blog for the site. Although quality inevitably varies, SF Site manages to maintain a broadly consistent voice that generally manages to be both serious and populist. Of late, the site has also added a regular column by Jeff VanderMeer, "Dispatches from Smaragdine", which brings a more idiosyncratic tone slightly at odds with the rest of the site. A news column and a continuing series of author interviews are also featured, though these take second place to the main emphasis on reviews.
The editors of this encyclopedia are grateful for permission to use cover images from SF Site in their Picture Gallery feature [see under links below]. [PKi]
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