This portion of hourwolf.com is so dated that my previous note about forthcoming revisions (to happen 'Real Soon Now') was dated 8/15/4. Maintaining this listing is a huge task for one person, and maintaining it takes away from income-generating time -- no good for a freelancer and unpaid radio producer. But it's still a popular segment, and I'd rather not let it lie fallow.
But the scene has changed so much that it's not just time for a makeover, but a rethink. More on that as ideas begin to flow. In the meantime, the priority is to restore the site to what it was, then to update, and then.... Well, stay tuned.
The Periodicals section needs severe updating, and I'm going to lose the Revisions page. Those notes will be found here, instead.
There are some ethical issues I'm pondering. Every so often, Web sites disappear or authors lose links to stories they've published online. Using the wonders of the Wayback Machine at the Internet Archive, I can still post valid links to many works that have been taken offline for one reason or another. (Remember, the Internet is forever!) In most cases it's obviously to everybody's benefit to keep the links alive. In others it might be that a writer has revoked a story for either legal or legitimate commercial reasons. I have no way of knowing which is which. Therefore as I revise this site, please let me know if you are the legitimate copyright holder of a work I am linking to and wish the link changed or removed, send me an e-mail. The only links I want to provide are to legally available works.
The legend of buttons on the left, where green indicates an FTP or Gopher site, blue is HTML text, and red is an illustrated page is passé. Most browsers will call up the appropriate way of obtaining the text whatever the URL. Therefore, I'm considering keeping the color code, but having it indicate the form; novels, short story, poetry, etc. In addition, I'd like to more directly credit the sites that have posted the material, particularly when they're paying for the original content, such as SciFiction edited by Ellen Datlow. And also perhaps an indication of awards or recommendations for some of the works.
More importantly, I'd like to make the listings more index-like. Ideally, I'd like to have an expandable listing -- for example, clicking on B will show those authors; click on the author and see the links to their works, etc. I'd like to stick to basic HTML, and perhaps XML, but I'd rather not use a server-side tool. The problem is how to get all this info in and keep the navigation simple and streamlined -- without benefit of an expensive database or anything that would put our wonderful host (sff.net) out.
For right now, the revisions will be simply bring what I have up-to-date. Dead links will be replaced, and then I'll start adding new works. I'm hoping this process will suggest the interface for the rest of the issues.
Any ideas? Comments? Let me know...
For the most part, these are links to full text, completely free science fiction and fantasy stories to be found on the Internet. As always, I am using the broadest possible definition of fantasy & sf, so there need be no debate whether something strictly belongs. I have included fairy tales, myth, and horror, but have omitted what most would consider to be religious text.
In several cases, these are Gopher servers, but your Web browser should handle them just fine. Quite a few novels are illustrated, or make good use of the hypertext aspects of the Web. The bullet points are color-coded to indicate their type. Let your mouse hover over a bullet point to read what type of site it is, or else place your mouse over the legend link above for a pop-up explanation.
In this framed version, clicking on the link to a text will launch a new session with your browser, so that you will maintain your presence at the index itself when you're done perusing that particular text. The buttons in the top frame function as follows:
9/25/3 NOTE: The above sections are becoming moot, and are subject to a makeover The only two tabs that I'm currently maintaining are Complete and Notes (this page). I am no longer placing new entries under Revisions -- just deletions. I know that's not as useful if you're regularly looking for what's new here, but I have a good reason for this. If you really care, send me mail, and I may explain.
These pages are periodically updated--to add new entries, improve the interface, and to delete links that no longer work. Should you have any addenda or corrections, please send e-mail to Jim Freund.
You can purchase hard copies of some of the books on this site. I have joined Amazon.com as an associate. What this means is that I supply links to various places in their catalog. Should you follow those links and purchase that specific book from them, I get a commission. I believe they provide a good, honest (and discounted) service, and I pledge to keep these links as unobtrusive as possible. This site will never become "commercial", nor is it intended to provide e-commerce.
Here's how it works: To the right of titles I have selected, you will see one of three icons:
