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Archive-name: sf/groups-intro
Changes this version:
Jan 07, 2000: Removed alt.music.filk; rec.music.filk has replaced it.
Jul 19, 1999: Changed Science Fiction Resource Guide URL.
Jan 13, 1999: Changed mailing list information for [EMAIL PROTECTED];
new address to subscribe and for list email.
Jan 7, 1999: Added alt.books.terry-goodkind and alt.books.terry-brooks,
and the Research Triangle Park SF Society mailing list.
Send questions and updates or comments to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
1. What does the 'sf' in 'rec.arts.sf.*' mean?
2. What rec.arts.sf.* groups are available?
3. What other 'sf' groups are available?
4. What mailing lists are there for similar topics?
5. What other resources are available on the net (WWW, gopher, etc)?
6. What are the current charters for the groups under rec.arts.sf.*?
1. What does the 'sf' in 'rec.arts.sf.*' mean?
The 'sf' means 'Speculative Fiction'. According to the call for votes
that created the original hierarchy, this was defined as: Both science
fiction and fantasy, as well as that vast blurred mass of material in
between.
2. What rec.arts.sf.* groups are available?
Here's a short, one-line-per-group listing of the groups:
rec.arts.sf.misc Replaces rec.arts.sf-lovers as the catch-all
rec.arts.sf.announce Announcements (moderated: [EMAIL PROTECTED])
rec.arts.sf.composition Discussion about writing speculative fiction
rec.arts.sf.fandom Fannish activities, cons, etc.
rec.arts.sf.marketplace Personal for-sale notices
rec.arts.sf.movies SF movies that don't have their own groups
rec.arts.sf.reviews Reviews of sf/fantasy/horror works (Moderated)
rec.arts.sf.science Science and theory related to sf
rec.arts.sf.starwars.collecting Topics relating to Star Wars collecting
rec.arts.sf.starwars.games SW games: RPG, computer, card, etc.
rec.arts.sf.starwars.info General information about SW (Moderated)
rec.arts.sf.starwars.misc Miscellaneous topics about SW
rec.arts.sf.superman Discussion of Superman
rec.arts.sf.tv SF tv shows that don't have their own groups
rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5 Discussion about the Babylon 5 TV show
rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.info Info about Babylon 5 (Moderated)
rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated Moderated
rec.arts.sf.tv.quantum-leap Quantum Leap TV, comics, cons, etc.
rec.arts.sf.written Novels, stories, etc.
rec.arts.sf.written.robert-jordan Books by Robert Jordan
3. What other 'sf' groups are available?
rec.arts.books.tolkien
rec.arts.drwho
Discussions about the movies, the show, and anything and everything
related to Dr. Who.
rec.arts.startrek.info.
A distillation of news and information about Star Trek, including
synopses of new episodes, convention reports, station airing times
around the US and the world, and other tidbits of factual information
about Trek.
Moderated: send submissions to [EMAIL PROTECTED]; questions
or comments should be sent to
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
rec.arts.startrek.current
rec.arts.startrek.fandom
rec.arts.startrek.misc
rec.arts.startrek.tech
Star Trek, all shows, movies, books, etc, related to the original
show. There's a monthly informational posting in those groups and
news.answers and rec.answers which describes the groups in detail.
rec.music.filk Similar to alt.music.filk
alt.binaries.multimedia.xena-herc
alt.books.arthur-clarke
alt.books.david-weber
alt.books.deryni
alt.books.isaac-asimov
alt.books.larry-niven
alt.books.m-lackey
alt.books.moorcock
alt.books.phil-k-dick
alt.books.terry-goodkind The works of Terry Goodkind.
alt.books.terry-brooks Discussion of Terry Brooks Works
alt.cyberpunk
alt.cyberpunk.chatsubo
Virtual reality via prose interaction.
alt.fan.created-worlds Discussion of published/televised worlds.
alt.fan.douglas-adams
alt.fan.eddings
alt.fan.heinlein
alt.fan.nathan-brazil
Jack Chalker discussion, especially of the Well World series.
(Nathan Brazil is the primary character in the Well World stories.)
alt.fan.pern
McCaffrey's Pern; also some discussions of her other books.
alt.fan.piers-anthony
alt.fan.pratchett
alt.fan.tolkien
alt.fandom.cons
alt.fandom.misc
alt.fantasy.conan Robert E. Howard's characters, principally Conan.
alt.fantasy.er-burroughs Edgar Rice Burroughs' works.
alt.galactic-guide
An attempt to write a Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, inspired by
Douglas Adams. Ongoing for several years.
alt.sf4m
A Science Fiction Forum.
alt.tv.hercules Discussion of HERCULES: THE LEGENDARY JOURNEYS.
alt.tv.red-dwarf
alt.tv.xena Discussion of XENA: WARRIOR PRINCESS.
alt.tv.xena-subtext Discusion of the subtext in X:WP.
4. What mailing lists are there for similar topics?
Good question; I don't know, for the most part. But I'll be adding them
as people tell me about them, and I believe there's a posting that lists
them, that I'll try to get permission to use.
[EMAIL PROTECTED] (SF-Lovers Digest)
Moderated, medium-to-high traffic. This is gatewayed to/from
some of the newsgroups: .written, .tv, .babylon5(.info), .movies,
.reviews, .announce, .fandom, and .misc all feed into the Digest,
while .written, .tv, .babylon5, .movies, and .misc are gatewayed.
(There are actually a collection of lists.)
For subscriptions or questions, send mail to:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
SMOFS deals with convention-running. A low-traffic list.
To get on smofs, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] However,
you should not join this list unless you have some experience with
con-running. It's not a general purpose mailing list.
========
[EMAIL PROTECTED] - Filk music in the UK
To subscribe, send an Email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with
SUBSCRIBE FILK_UK
in the text body, or go to http://www.filklore.com/filk_uk.html
The mail-lists are hosted by a BBS, which serves as a Fidonet/Internet
gateway for UK SF fans, and are themselves gated to related Fidonet echoes.
========
Lois Bujold Discussion List
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Lois McMaster Bujold Mailing List exists to allow discussion of the
works of Lois Bujold. If you wish to join the list send an email to
[EMAIL PROTECTED] with subject blank and message body of
SUBSCRIBE LOIS-BUJOLD Miles Vorkosigan
(assuming your name is Miles Vorkosigan if it isn't, substitute your own name
instead, not your email address).
Mercedes Lackey Discussion List
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Mercedes Lackey Mailing List exists to allow discussion of the
works of Mercedes Lackey. If you wish to join the list send an email to
[EMAIL PROTECTED] with subject blank and message body of
SUBSCRIBE MERCEDES-LACKEY Vanyel Ashkevron
(assuming your name is Vanyel Ashkevron if it isn't, substitute your own name
instead, not your email address).
========
tolkien-events
and
tolkien-sales,
to subscribe to either, send an email message of the usual form
to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
or for help with subscribing write to
Pat Reynolds - [EMAIL PROTECTED]
========
There is an SF-list run at :
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
subscribe sf-list yourname
The list owner (Morgan Bottrell) must add you manually to the list.
There is a 'fantasy' list run by the same person, with the same directions
(use 'fantasy' instead of 'sf-list') - or so I presume; I wasn't given more
exact instructions.
========
The Liaden Unverse interest list can be written to at [EMAIL PROTECTED]
to subscribe; this is concerned with the works of Sharon Lee and Steve
Miller.
========
There's a mailing list for writers, SFnF-Writers. To subscribe, send
subscribe sfnf-writers
to
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
========
[EMAIL PROTECTED] (SF News)
Moderated, low traffic. Compiles news on all manner of speculative
fiction, in all media, from various USENET, mail, and WWW sources and
reader contributions. Archives available at
http://www.technopagan.org/sf-news/
To subscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with "subscribe
sf-news" in the message body.
========
SciFi_Discussion
The description of this mailing list is:
This List is intended for the discussion of Science Fiction (speculative
fiction). Whether you just like to read it or write it, feel free to
join in. The only proviso is that all discussions be kept mature and polite.
Posting of story ideas is welcome. Criticism should be well thought out &
constructive! Tips on gaining publication are a plus! Feel free to discuss new
authors or old. If you know of SciFi authors with websites, feel free to post
them. Without readership, authors have no outlet for their ideas.
You can join this list by going to the following web page:
http://www.onelist.com/subscribe.cgi/SciFi_Discussion
========
Dedicated to Laurell K. Hamilton's works (dark fantasy) (name not given).
The details are at http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Lair/9071/welcome.html
========
The list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] Fantasy & Science Fiction discussion list,
has changed subscribtion and mailing addresses.
New details:
[EMAIL PROTECTED] Fantasy & Science Fiction discussion list
To subscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
FSF is a friendly spam and flame free mailing list for the discussion
of anything fantasy or SF related. New opinions are always welcome.
The emphasis is on friendly (dis)agreement. We have participents in
many different countries around the world.
The list has an archive of previous posts at
http://www.one.list.com/archives.cgi/fsf-list
To read the list FAQ go to
http://www.solarflare.freeseve.co.uk/fsf/index.html
========
The Research Triangle SF Society has an email list for discussion of
all things sf-related (although the topics do wander pretty far afield
sometimes!). It's primarily for folks in central North Carolina, but
others are always welcome.
To subscribe, send email with a blank subject line to:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
In the body of the message, type:
subscribe rtsfs yourname
-----
5. What other resources are available on the net (WWW, gopher, etc)?
Please feel free to send me any URLs you might have, and a description of
what's available at that URL.
SF-Lovers web pages: http://sflovers.rutgers.edu/
(Related to the SF-Lovers Digest list described above in 4; archives
are available through this. Also available are links to a lot of
other SF-related sites, including author home pages.)
-----
The SF archive at Lysator:
WWW: http://sf.www.lysator.liu.se/sf_archive/sf_main.html
gopher: gopher.lysator.liu.se
ftp: ftp.lysator.liu.se, /pub/sf-texts
-----
WWW sites related to Mercedes Lackey:
http://www.herald.co.uk/local_info/lackey_list.html
http://www.herald.co.uk/local_info/lackey_faq.html
http://www.dcs.ed.ac.uk/ism/lackey/lackey.html
WWW sites related to Lois McMasters Bujold:
The Bujold Nexus at http://www.herald.co.uk/~dendarii/
The Bujold Nexus contains information about and pointers to other sites with
info on Lois. It is the authorised Bujold Web site, and a earlier copy has
been seen by Lois.
It is mirrored at www.dendarii.demon.co.uk/Bujold/
-----
Hugo award winner Ansible is archived at
http://www.dcs.gla.ac.uk/SF-Archives/Ansible
Harper Collins has an excellent site at
http://www.harpercollins.co.uk/voyager/
-----
A Science Fiction Resource Guide. Covers almost everything there is in
the net on Science Fiction and Fantasy. Includes links to most author
and genre FAQs, movies, TV, creative writings...you name it, it's
probably there!
http://sflovers.rutgers.edu/Web/SFRG/
-----
sflovers.rutgers.edu is a ftp site with contains SF related stuff.
Includes archives of their SF-Digest, various genre FAQs and a
bibiography of authors' books.
ftp: anonymous ftp to sflovers.rutgers.edu
-----
WWW FAQ on Isaac Asimov. This is an extensive FAQ on Isaac Asimov. It
covers both his writing and his personal life. Contains pointers on
other stuff on Asimov on the net; bibliographies, some reviews and
miscellanous items. A ASCII-based FAQ is also posted monthly on the
newsgroup alt.books.isaac-asimov.
BTW, a pointer to this FAQ is included in the SF Resource Guide so you
need not include this in your intro. The reason I'm putting this here
is because I worked on the FAQ...};-)
www: http://www.lightside.com/SpecialInterest/asimov/asimov-faq.html
-----
Del Rey books have a gopher site. The DRIN (Del Rey Internet
Newsletter) is archived there, as well as FAQs related to Del Rey.
Excerpts of upcoming books can be found here.
gopher: panix.com (under subdirectory Del Rey Books)
www : gopher://gopher.panix.com/11/DRB
There is also a Del Rey website:
http://www.randomhouse.com/delrey/
-----
Information about Tor Books can be found at www.tor.com -- this is a
huge installation featuring information about forthcoming books, sample
chapters from some of them, announcements of interest, and links to
bookstores, other sf publishers, sf online, and author home pages.
-----
Internet Book Information Centre (IBIC). A information center for
general books, but includes points to genre specific stuff.
www: http://sunsite.unc.edu/ibic/IBIC-homepage.html
-----
The Stilyagi Air Corps Calendar. It's a listing of SF/F Conventions, and
"Stilyagi Parties" (Gatherings of Michigan fandom at people's homes that
are open to the public.) The list is maintained by Chad Childers, and
is kept current. (*MUCH* more so than the convention listing at
Lysator!)
http://www.stilyagi.org/con.list.html
-----
Authors of the Liaden Universe homepage: http://www.korval.com/liad.htm
-----
A site dedicated to Marion Zimmer Bradley and to the Darkover series:
In English:
http://www.ceremade.dauphine.fr/~rossi/darkover/index.uk.html
In French:
http://www.ceremade.dauphine.fr/~rossi/darkover/index.html
-----
Science Fiction Weekly is the leading electronic publication covering
the world of science fiction. They cover news, reviews, original artwork
and celebrity interviews, and they are freely available on the World Wide
Web at:
http://www.scifiweekly.com
They are currently published in conjunction with the Sci-Fi Channel,
although the editorial content is produced independent of the
Sci-Fi Channel and its staff.
-----
There's an on-line writer's workshop/critique group:
http://www.critique.org/users/critters
-----
A world wide web page on Internet Info about the Hitchhiker's
Guide to the Galaxy: http://www.angelfire.com/md/yorkminor/
-----
URL http://www.smof.com
What's there: European SF Convention listing and various articles on
convention running which are being continually updated and new additions
are welcome. The Intersection post-con analysis "Another Fine Nessie"
should be there, as well.
contact: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
-----
Off of http://www.xenite.org/index.htm, there are:
alt.tv.hercules FAQ: http://www.xenite.org/faqs/hercfaq.htm
Soon-to-be if not already there: FAQ for alt.binaries.multimedia.xena-herc
XENA ONLINE RESOURCES: http://www.xenite.org/xenaonln.htm
with over 300 URLs for fans of HECRULES and XENA (and even fans of Bruce
Campbell/"Army of Darkness").
Witch World Page: http://www.xenite.org/witchwor.htm
Witch World Message Board: http://www.xenite.org/boards/witchwor.html
-----
New England Science Fiction Association
http://www.nesfa.org
Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society
http://www.lasfs.org
These are both fannish organizations (volunteer,
not-for-profit) each runs an annual regional convention.
LASFS runs the occasional World Con
-----
The SF-Lovers Convention List, containing listings of
conventions all over the world.
The URL is: http://sflovers.rutgers.edu/Web/cons.html
-----
The Fannish Email Directory:
http://www.osfci.org/fannish.net.txt
6. What are the current charters for the groups under rec.arts.sf.*?
Here's a list, in the same order as the groups appear in the list in question
2. I use the word 'current' because, while most of these haven't changed
since the dawn of creation, the rec.arts.sf.reviews one has changed to
include a new submission address.
rec.arts.sf.misc
Charter: Group rec.arts.sf.misc will be the general-purpose
and spillover group for science fiction and fantasy
discussions that do not find a more specific subgroup
under rec.arts.sf.*, or that would otherwise require
wide crossposting among the other subgroups.
rec.arts.sf.announce (moderated, <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>)
Charter: (moderated) Announcements of happenings in the
SF world, such as cons, including calls for con
participation, readings, deaths, honors, new SF
mailing lists, periodic postings of rec.arts.sf
subgroup charters and other administrivia,
signings, TV specials, meetings, shop openings and
closings, etc. Not for personal or commercial ads.
Send submissions to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; questions to
the moderator address above.
rec.arts.sf.composition
Charter: Before discussing the newsgroup, one must define 'sf', for
which I refer to the original CFV for the group that created
the rec.arts.sf.* hierarchy: "Both science fiction and
fantasy, as well as that vast blurred mass of material in
between." This charter mirrors the position of the HWA:
Horror is an emotion, not a genre. If the Horror takes place
in a speculative fiction book, it can be discussed in an sf
newsgroup.
The rec.arts.sf.composition newsgroup would include, but not be
limited to the following types of discussion:
General writing questions, to be answered from the sf
perspective. This includes market research, submission
format and discussions on the process of writing itself,
as it connects with the writing of sf.
Discussion of the process of writing speculative fiction
between professionals, aspiring writers or the merely interested.
Discussion of the methods and processes of worldbuilding,
the creation of new, alternate or historically-based worlds
in which speculative fiction is often set.
This newsgroup is not meant to replace or significantly
overlap other groups. As such, topics that are on-topic
and useful in other groups should be kept to those groups.
That would include, but not be limited to the following
exclusions:
Discussion connected to writing, but not specifically
to sf, nor with an important sf slant should be posted
in misc.writing.
Discussion about the science used in speculative fiction
should be posted to rec.arts.sf.science.
Discussion of existing written work should be left to
rec.arts.sf.written.
As well, the charter specifically excludes the posting of work
unless that posting is specifically related to a topic that is
being discussed, and is used in that context, and quoted briefly.
Posting of work to be read and/or critiqued is excluded from the
charter of this newsgroup, for a number of reasons. For
those who wish to avail themselves of the group's resources, a
specially marked header, "CRIT: " will be used to post short
requests for critiquing or reading, with all followups directed
to email, the poster's web page, rec.arts.prose, or any other
valid forum, rather than the newsgroup.
As for advertising, overt advertising is excluded from the
group, particularly off-topic overt advertising (the kind that
doesn't care what this charter says anyway). Tactful, brief,
infrequently posted references to information that can be
found elsewhere will be tolerated, but advertisers must tread
that fine line carefully if they wish to avoid flamage from
ad-hating regulars.
rec.arts.sf.fandom
Charter: Discussions of fannish activities; meant to provide
a new home for the SF-related part of the traffic
currently posted to alt.fandom.* and similar
postings current in rec.arts.sf-lovers.
rec.arts.sf.marketplace
Charter: A place for personal wanted-to-buy and for-sale ads
for SF related materials. Personal ads only;
commercial ads belong in comp.newprod or commercial
advertising channels, not elsewhere on USENet. Do
NOT crosspost ads; those looking to buy or sell SF
stuff will be reading this group and just annoyed
by ads mixed in elsewhere.
rec.arts.sf.movies
Charter: Discussions of all aspects of SF related movies not
otherwise covered in more specific groups (such as
the Star Trek group). Specifically includes
screenplays looking for producers, and discussions
of novelizations as compared to the movie base;
discussion of novelizations independent of the
related movie belong in .written.
rec.arts.sf.reviews (moderated)
Charter: Reviews and critical discussion of SF/fantasy/horror
works. Works include novels, short fiction, movies,
music, periodicals, art, etc., that are of interest to
the SF community. Reviews are expected to conform to
the guidelines in the FAQ "Welcome to rec.arts.sf.reviews"
posted to the group periodically and available by
anonymous FTP on the host net.bio.net [134.172.2.69]
(file: sf-reviews/welcome). Archives of the group are also
available on net.bio.net in the directory misc/sf-reviews.
Submissions should be sent to [EMAIL PROTECTED];
comments to the moderators should be sent to
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
rec.arts.sf.science
Charter: A home for the spinoff discussion of real and
speculative science and sometimes about how the
laws of science could be used in creating new SF
universes.
rec.arts.sf.tv
Charter: A group for discussing general television SF, both
live acted and cartoons. Note that some tv shows,
(such as Dr. Who and Star Trek) have their own
specialized newsgroups as well.
rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5
Charter: rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5 is to be an unmoderated newgroup
dedicated to the following topics:
* The plots and characters of "Babylon 5" episodes.
* The possible ties between episodes in the 5-year story arc
* The special-effects techniques and technology
* Musings and speculations about where the show is going.
* AND NOT, NOT, NOT, NOT story ideas and/or fan-fiction.
J. Michael Straczynski, Babylon 5's creator, (hereafter: JMS)
has stated flatly that for legal reasons that if any story
ideas appear on a "B5" newsgroup he will be forced to leave the
electronic forum. This would be, to our reckoning, a
net.tragedy, and is to be avoided at all costs.
Solutions such as forfeiture of copyrights to JMS with all
postings, etc, have been considered, but ultimately rejected.
This forum can only survive through the good will of its users,
PLEASE do not destroy it for the rest of us.
In the event of legal action in the future resulting from
someone's disregard of this rule, I offer myself, Brian Badger,
to be subpoenaed to testify as to the nature of this charter,
and its prohibition. It's an ugly job...
rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.info
Charter: The purpose of this group is to provide an uncluttered
resource of information and news pertaining to the television
program _Babylon 5_. rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.info is a
moderated newsgroup, which means that all articles must be
submitted to the moderator for approval before they will be
posted. Articles appearing in this newsgroup should generally
fall into one of the following categories:
1) Official press releases and notices pointing to coverage
of _Babylon 5_ in the media (but copies of copyrighted
material *only* with expressed permission), and announcements
of B5-related events such as conventions and star appearances.
2) Episode schedules, guides and summaries, and announcements
of airing time changes.
3) Announcements, commentary and background material on
_Babylon 5_ from J. Michael Straczynski, the show's
executive producer. This will include compilations of
his writings from online services such as GEnie and
CompuServe and very selective repostings of substantial
commentary from rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5. The latter
category will specifically *not* include his short answers
about details of past episodes.
4) Other material believed by the moderators to be of interest
to a broad base of B5 fans.
Volume should not exceed a few messages a day.
Submit proposed articles to:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
rec.arts.sf.tv.quantum-leap
Charter: rec.arts.sf.tv.quantum-leap will be designed to create a specific
forum for discussing the many aspects of the Quantum Leap
television series, which is now in syndication on two cable
networks. The aspects that can be talked about are (but are
not limited to) the television program, the comic book, QL
conventions, the video releases, and whatever else can be found
to talk about between the "Leapers." Now, the group will be
unmoderated to allow more freedom on what can be talked about.
There has, as of late, been a considerable amount of QL traffic on
rec.arts.sf.tv. Perhaps the new newsgroup would allow more
space for other discussion on rec.arts.sf.tv, and
rec.arts.sf.tv.quantum-leap would be an exclusive place for
Leapers to talk. Also, many Usenet sites do not have Alt.ql
creative as a group choice and, therefore, do not know of the
existance of QL discussion.
rec.arts.sf.written
Charter: A group for discussing the general SF which is seen
by its audience in written form, whether printed or
online. Note that many more specific groups in
rec.arts.sf.* exist to pull some traffic from this
group, but in general, this is where new releases
are discussed, informal reviews given, continuity
topics discussed, authors compared, and is the
starting point for many threads which should
eventually be moved to more appropriate groups.
(Please cooperate when the call is put forward to
move a discussion to a more specific group.)
rec.arts.sf.written.robert-jordan
Charter: This newsgroup, rec.arts.sf.written.robert-jordan, was
created in July 1994 for the discussion of books written
by contemporary author Robert Jordan. In particular, this
newsgroup is concerned with his ongoing "Wheel of Time"
series, but also covers past and future works by him.
Fandom is specifically included within the purview of this
charter. The group is unmoderated.
Leanne Phillips
"Do not meddle with the affairs of wizards, for they are subtle and quick
to anger." (I don't want to hear other versions. I've heard them all before.)
Words to live by: "Violence is the refuge of the incompetent."
(Yes, I know it isn't right; it's deliberate.)
--
Leanne
We have tasted fear./We have breathed in grief.
We have swum in hate./We have witnessed strength.
- Last verse of my poem in memoriam of the September 11 tragedy.
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