Well over two years ago Richard Simpkins and a few of his friends were hanging out lamenting the lack of good current science fiction. They missed having heated discussions surrounding the epic story of Asimov’s Foundations series, critiquing the film adaptation of 2001: A Space Odyssey, or getting lost in the fantastic worlds of Tolkien, Lewis and LeGuin. These fine connoisseur’s lives had been shaped by science fiction and fantasy since they were children, and it also guided them as adults.
As can happen to all of us when set loose in the world to make our fame and fortunes, being triumphant or beaten down by life’s gravitational weight, they had drifted into the complacent place of ho-hum. Finally, after backsliding for a few years, they tried to get back into the genre, but were stymied and somewhat taken back by their ignorance about the direction (or lack thereof) sci-fi had taken in their absence. Looking desperately for good stuff to gnash their teeth on, they soon grew tired of the science fiction that was out there.
When most people think of sci-fi, all they know is what has been shoveled into them via the mass media of movies and television, such as Star Trek and Star Wars, and as good as those can be, they are not the be all of science fiction. The very best of the genre had yet to be explored by the media giants and Richard and his friends were starting to wonder if the big media fat-cats would ever get it.
Slowly, but ever progressively they found themselves consuming every scrap of mediocre sci-fi they could get our hands on, simply because it was the only science fiction “out there.” After their excruciating exploration they became determined that this barrage of mediocrity must end.
They knew they couldn’t be alone in this great quest. There had to be other big fans of the “greats†like Asimov, Clarke, Bradbury, and like, but weren’t aware of anyone past, say 1980, who had written quality science fiction. They soon decided that they would start reading every Hugo award nominated book in a row to better educate themselves on the “state of the artâ€. That was when they realized that a list of Hugo nominees was difficult to find, even on the internet. Whenever they did find out who the top authors were, they hardly recognized the names on the list stretching back a decade.
This shocking discovery led to an epiphany: Why not create their own database of brilliant sci-fi authors? After undertaking such a monumental task, one designed for their own debating pleasure, they decided it would be a sin not to share this amassed information with the sci-fi loving community at large, and informally called it “The Hugo Page.”
They soon realized that other awards were even more valuable to have than the Hugos in terms of finding quality fiction. They began to incorporate the Nebula awards into the database, and then added the Locus Science Fiction awards. That was when they realized that Locus and Hugo were both giving awards to fantasy books. Consequently, they decided to incorporate fantasy into the site. This led to the addition of the World Fantasy Awards.
More recently, they discovered that the Clarke, P.K. Dick, and Campbell awards were also noted for focusing on varied aspects of science fiction. These last three awards have a tendency to lean towards more academically significant works, which they felt could enrich the growing database.
By September of this year, there are now over 1,000 award winning books and authors listed on the site, including every book that has been nominated for any of the above eight awards. The database is growing by leaps and bounds and will soon add the British Science Fiction Award, and the British Fantasy Award. The site is still open to further expansion in coverage and has also taken on a new name that reflects the all inclusiveness of the database. It is now known as “Worlds Without End”.
The site is expanding to also include reviews, white papers, original fiction, and a forum section dedicated to discussion of quality science fiction. More recently, “Worlds Without End” has listed public domain science fiction in the form of free e-books provided by Project Gutenberg. Some of these books have been nominated for listed awards, but many are simply the fathers of science fiction, such as Jules Verne and HG Wells.
About the Creators of Worlds Without End:
Richard Simpkins grew up reading the Narnia series, and soon graduated to books like the Earthsea Trilogy and Lord of the Rings. His first science fiction book was Asimov’s Caves of Steel. He now works for an outdoor co-op called REI for his day job. He has asked to be transferred to the Northeast United States, so he can have greater access to American publishers in New York City. Richard is the group’s first point of contact for American publishers and is working to gain their cooperation in providing book excerpts, synopsis’, and the latest news on their authors. . Richard will also cover conventions in the Northeast, starting with coverage of the World Fantasy Awards in November 2007.
David Post is a graphics designer by trade, and has created the look and feel for whole site. Despite being a high school football star in his youth, he was also a Tolkien freak. Yes, he knew Elvish. Like all of us, he was also a fan of Asimov and the Foundation series. Dave has really taken the lead on this project, and he is why “Worlds Without End” is a serious resource for the SF community. His enthusiasm is infectious, and has driven the rest of the group to put their data out in the public eye, instead of just hogging it all for themselves.
Chris Williams is the U.K. representative for “Worlds Without End.” He currently lives in London and will be the main point of contact for British publishing houses. Chris’ location is critical because much of the cutting edge science fiction these days is coming from the United Kingdom. Chris is himself a writer, and may try his hand at science fiction.
Chris Wilhite is the site’s resident computer nerd. He is lovingly called C3, because he is the third “Chris†in the group of friends. Until C3 joined, all the site had was a simple database, and a beautiful web page that couldn’t access the data in any meaningful way. C3 is an excellent programmer that works with advanced databases every day. He has been building the guts of “Worlds Without End.” This experience has also gotten C3 into reading science fiction for the first time. He started with one of this year’s Hugo nominees, Blindsight. Now, he is hooked.
About the Site:
“Worlds Without End” allows users to create and manage their own list of award winning books from a whole range of authors from old school to modern-day providers. You can browse through the Hugo, Nebula, Locus, WFA, Campbell, PK Dick, or Clarke awards and mark the ones you have read. Books that have been read are highlighted green.
To open an account at “Worlds Without End” visit the site HERE and click on Books in the top menu. Currently the site is not fully online, but you can access the Beta Site. Full site implementation is expected in October 2007.
This is a really cool idea.
sweetness