SF Short Fiction Reading Club

After reading this post by Kate Elliot, I started thinking about my own relationship with the SF scene. I read a lot of good, current novels. I also keep up with the latest news and slapfights. There is one thing, though, that I’m completely crap at: reading short fiction.

I don’t have a good excuse. I like a well-crafted short story. There’s also something like a million free SF stories on the Internet. As much as that availability is a boon, it’s also major problem. There are days that I have every intention to read some of the great online magazines, and I just freeze. I don’t know where to begin. So instead, I look for the latest video of cat doing something cute. Probably on a piano.

I have a feeling that I’m not alone. This gave me an idea.

Let’s start an online SF Short Fiction Reading Club. I envision it as a LiveJournal Community. Two to three times a week, a community member would choose a great online short story to share with the rest of the community. It has to be SF, up on the Internet legally, and not written or edited by the person recommending it. Like a book club, people can read the story and discuss it in a polite and thoughtful manner.

So what do you all think?

American Doctor Who Fandom- The 1980s

i09 posted some KVIE PBS pledge breaks from 1987.

I wasn't a member of American fandom in the 1980s, so I'm not sure how representative these clips are of that era. They were an odd viewing experience for me. I kind of alternated between smiling at their obvious joy for the series and burying my head into the couch cushions every time an attempt at some Monty Pythonesque humor went horribly awry.

Enjoy! :-)

Doctor Who USA

I just found this when I was screwing around on YouTube. This is the traveling exhibition that started it all for me. I had watched a handful of Doctor Who episodes on PBS in the summer of 1986. Some friends of the family were Doctor Who fans, found out that I had liked the show, and took me to this traveling exhibition when it was at Navy Pier in Chicago. After that, I almost never missed a story.

What this video doesn't show is the inside of the trailer. It was filled with monster costumes and masks. I used to get extra excited when they were showing a story that involved one of the monsters from the exhibit.