Just a Sci-Fi Kid Like Me

The official press release.

Amazing Stories, the world’s first science fiction magazine, opens for Beta Testing of Phase 1 on Wednesday, January 2nd, 2013.

Fifty+ Writers Sign On to provide genre-related content!

AMAZING STORIES are just one click away!TM

The Experimenter Publishing Company is pleased to announce the reintroduction of the world’s most recognizable science fiction magazine – AMAZING STORIES!

Set to relaunch with a Beta Test of its new Social Magazine Platform, Amazing Stories will feature content from 50+ bloggers, covering an enormous array of subjects of interest to genre fans.

“We’ve got authors and agents, bloggers and editors, pod casters and broadcasters; we’ve got gamers and game designers; artists and art collectors; pulpsters and indie authors; we’ve got Hugo winners, John W. Campbell Memorial Award winners, John W. Campbell Best New Writer winners, Nebula and Hugo Award winners and nominees and winners and nominees of many other awards; people who review films, people who make films; we’ve got fanboys and fangirls; we’ve got former editors of Amazing Stories, writers who’ve become synonymous with the field and writers who are just getting started; comic artists, book reviewers; traditionally published authors, self-pubbed authors and authors who’ve done it all. The response to my request for participation was phenomenal – it couldn’t be more perfect if I had set out with a list of must-haves!” said Steve Davidson, publisher.

Amazing Stories’ Social Magazine platform is designed to create an interactive environment that will be familiar to fans with blog content designed to encourage discussion and take things beyond the usual user-generated content model for social networks.

The Amazing Stories Blog Team will cover (for now – more coming!) fourteen popular topics – Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror, (lit), Film, Television, Gaming, Comics and Graphic Works, the Visual Arts, the Pulps, Audio Works, Anime, the Business of Publishing, Science and Fandom itself.

At this year’s Worldcon (Chicon 7 the 70th Worldcon, Chicago), Toastmaster John Scalzi talked about what it was to be a fan and concluded by saying

“We are diverse – and we are all in this together.”

We are diverse – and we are all in this together, a sentiment that captures the very heart and soul of what it means to be a fan. Amazing Stories aims to be a vehicle through which the diversity of fandom can come together.

Amazing Stories’ relaunch will take place in two phases. Those interested in participating in the Beta Test of Phase 1 should contact the publisher at steve.davidson33@comcast.net. Participants will receive full access to the site with Member status and will receive on-site benefits as the project moves forward.

Phase 2 will introduce additional interactivity and user-customization to the site. Following the completion and testing of Phase 2, the magazine, featuring both new and reprint fiction, essays, photo galleries, reviews and more will begin publication. Readers who are interested in what the magazine will look like can read two Relaunch Prelaunch issues on line, or download them from the Amazing Stories store. (Additional Amazing Stories themed product is also available here.)

Experimenter Publishing is pleased to introduce the Amazing Stories Blog Team:

Cenobyte, Mike Brotherton, Ricky L. Brown, Michael A Burstein, Catherine Coker, Johne Cook, Paul Cook, Gary Dalkin, Jane Frank,

Jim Freund, Adam Gaffen, Chris Garcia, Chris Gerwel, Tommy Hancock, Liz Henderson, Samantha Henry, M. D. Jackson, Monique Jacob,

Geoffrey James, J. J. Jones, Peggy Kolm, Justin Landon, Andrew Liptak, Melissa Lowery, Barry Malzberg, C. E. Martin, Farrell J. McGovern,

Steve Miller, Matt Mitrovich, Aidan Moher, Kevin Murray, Ken Neth, Astrid Nielsch, D. Nicklin-Dunbar, John Purcell, James Rogers,

Diane Severson, Douglas Smith, Lesley Smith, Bill Spangler, Duane Spurlock, Michael J. Sullivan, G. W. Thomas, Erin Underwood,

Stephan Van Velzen, Cynthia Ward, Michael Webb, Keith West, John M. Whalen, Ann Wilkes, Karlo Yeager, Leah Zeldez

BACKGROUND:

Originally published in 1926 by the father of science fiction, Hugo Gernsback, Amazing Stories helped to launch both the science fiction genre and its most enduring feature, science fiction fandom. The magazine is well known for its Frank R. Paul covers and for publishing the first stories by many iconic authors such as Isaac Asimov, Jack Williamson and Ursula Le Guin. Published continuously from 1926 until 1995, followed by two brief resurrections from 1998 till 2000 and again from 2004 thru 2005. In 2008 Hasbro, the then current owner, allowed the trademarks to lapse and publisher Steve Davidson applied for and eventually received them in 2011.

Additional history and background on Amazing Stories can be found at the Science Fiction Encyclopedia and Wikipedia. A complete gallery of all 609 previous issues with publication history is also available.

The Experimenter Publishing Company was created in 2012 for the purpose of returning Amazing Stories magazine to regular publication. The company shares the name of the original magazine’s publisher as homage. The trademarks for Amazing Stories were acquired by Steve Davidson in 2011, the previous owners having allowed the marks to lapse in 2008, at which time application was made for a new incarnation of the same title.

CONTACT:

For more information regarding Amazing Stories, the Blog Team and the Beta Test of the new site, please contact Steve Davidson via email at steve.davidson33@comcast.net.

To contact one of the Blog Team:

Cenobyte http://www.cenobyte.ca

Mike Brotherton http://www.mikebrotherton.com

Ricky L Brown http://doctorfantastiques.com/author/rickbrown

Michael A Burstein – http://www.mabfan.com , http://www.bursteinbooks.com

Cait Coker http://www.aggiescifi.wordpress.com

Johne Cook https://twitter.com/theskypirate

Paul Cook http://www.paulcook-sci-fi.com

Gary Dalkin http://www.tothelastword.com

Jane Frank http://www.wow-art.com

Jim Freund http://www.hourwolf.com

Adam Gaffen http://www.thekildaran.blogspot.com

Chris Garcia http://efanzines.com/DrinkTank

Chris Gerwel http://elflands2ndcousin.com

Tommy Hancock http://www.allpulp.blogspot.com , http://www.prosepulp.com

Liz Henderson http://www.true-blood.net , http://www.onceuponafansite.com , http://www.nicegirlstv.com

Samantha Henry http://www.scifidramaqueen.com

M. D. Jackson http://www.michaeldeanjackson.blogspot.com

Monique Jacob http://www.moniquejacob.com

Geoffrey James http://www.geoffreyjames.com , http://www.sorcerer.net

J. Jay Jones

Peggy Kolm http://blog.sciencefictionbiology.com

Justin Landon http://www.staffersbookreview.com

Andrew Liptak http://www.andrewliptak.wordpress.com

Meilissa Lowery http://www.true-blood.net , http://www.sidcity.net , http://www.chucktv.net

Barry Malzberg

C. E. Martin http://www.troglodad.blogspot.com , http://www.mythicaltheseries.blogspot.com

Farrell J. McGovern http://www.can-con.org

Steve Miller http://stevemillerreviews.blogspot.com , http://nuelow.blogspot.com/

Matt Mitrovich http://alternatehistoryweeklyupdate.blogspot.com

Aidan Moher http://aidanmoher.com/blog

Kevin Murray www.kevinmurray.ca , http://www.falloutfiles.com

Ken Neth http://nethspace.blogspot.com

Astrid Nielsch http://webdesign.asni.net/ , http://www.asni.net , http://www.asni.net/newsletter.php , http://music.asni.net/ , http://conceptart.asni.net/

D. Nicklin-Dunbar http://mouldysquid.wordpress.com/book-reviews

John Purcell http://efanzines.com/Prior/index.htm

James Rogers http://scienceismagic.com/

Diane Severson www.divadianes.blogspot.com , http://www.starshipsofa.com/category/podcast/fact-articles/poetry-planet/ , http://www.sfpoetry.com

Douglas Smith http://www.smithwriter.com

Lesley Smith

Bill Spangler

Duane Spurlock http://pulprack.blogspot.com , http://spurandlock.blogspot.com , http://duanespurlock.blogspot.com

Michael J. Sullivan http://www.riyria.com

G. W. Thomas http://www.gwthomas.org

Erin Underwood http://www.underwords.com

Stephan Van Velzen http://www.rantingdragon.com

Cynthia Ward – http://www.cynthiaward.com , http://www.writingtheother.com

Michael Webb http://www.martianexpatriate.com/

Keith West http://www.adventuresfantastic.blogspot.com , http://futurespastandpresent.blogspot.com

John M Whalen http://johnmwhalen.wordpress.com

Ann Wilkes http://sciencefictionmusings.blogspot.com

Karlo Yeager

Leah Zeldes http://www.zeldes.com , http://www.thewaythefutureblogs.com , http://www.diningchicago.com/blog

-Ends-

~

ME: I might have a ...problem. Saying yes to things. Doing things.... >_>
HAL: Yeah, I know what your problem is. You're INSANE.
ME: <_<

So I've been revamping Hal's scifi blog for work, and now present to you Just a Sci-Fi Kid Like Me: Notes from the Science Fiction and Fantasy Research Collection at Texas A&M. I'm going to aim to do two posts there a week. I'm planning on showing off items from the collection, discussing the history of the genre, doing some book and movie reviews, and hopefully talking people into aiding and abetting for content. :D

The first post reblogs links to blog posts about a tour I did last Monday. Links to same are here:

Sci-Fi Excursion to College Station.

Space Squid Travels to College Station.

A Three-Hour Tour, A Three-Hour Tour.

~

In other news I've had a cold this weekend. I think it's stress just trying to make me shut down and sleep for a while. I have a bunch of work deadlines and things have just been generally stressful, so I've spent most of the past twenty-four hours making tea and cuddling with the animals on the couch. My ADD has been extra-problematic so I've been sitting there with like four books I'm in the midst of reading and thus not getting very far in any of them. (In case you're wondering: Margaret Wander Bonanno's most recent Star Trek novel, Unspoken Truth, Meg Cabot's vampire novel, Insatiable, Cassandra Clare's Clockwork Angel, and Ken Follet's The Pillars of the Earth.)

Because random thoughts are random, I'm really looking forward to this when it comes out next month:



The only description listed thus far is: A new Starfleet Academy series for teens--filled with romance and adventure! This is both vague and amusing, particularly the teen part, because if it's AOS they *have* to touch on the Spock/Uhura romance, which is a teacher/student relationship, which just--yeah. Wow. Unless they make the Kirk/McCoy even MORE canonical, which unlikely, BUT. :D That is all.

Okay I'm going to go back to the couch now. There's a couple of chick-flicks that I think will be more entertaining if viewed through Tylenol and honey darjeeling.