The Blair Hippo Project: Linkage

Where Pete Pays Homage To Other Nifty Web Sites

Everybody does links pages. On this one, I hope to highlight the pages I find truly useful or interesting and toss in a few words about why I like them so much.

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Atomic Rockets

Wow. Just . . . wow.

Winchell Chung has created an extraordinary meta-science-fiction resource. When designing a starship, what do you have to keep in mind so that you don't just wave your hands and base it around half-baked pseudo-science? What kinds of propulsion systems are actually scientifically plausible? What are your options for artificial gravity? Do you need artificial gravity to begin with? What would ship-to-ship combat in space be like?

Chung doesn't provide answers -- instead, he provides a gorgeous array of possibilities, all of them having at least a toe-hold on real world science and avoiding the pompous technobabble gibberish of Star Trek.

Anybody who writes hard science fiction -- or even slightly-crunchy science fiction -- needs to know the information Winchell has put on these pages. Fantastic stuff.

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Something Positive

Some webcomics need a while to find their voice, their sense of humor; to figure out which gags, what tone works for them. Something Positive creator Randy Milholland hit the ground at a dead sprint.

Like any comic, the quality varies. And would-be fans need to get used to the fights Randy occasionally picks with the English language, along with his "Real soon now! I promise!" update schedule.

Get used to them. This strip is rarely less than amusing, and when Randy brings his "A" game, (Footnote -- A Game) it is gasp-for-breath hysterical. Toss in some rock-solid characterization and artwork that ranges from good to downright impressive, and you wind up with some damn fine reading.

Of course, it isn't for everybody; there's a fair amount of explicit content. While Randy will refrain from showing his characters' actual naughty bits, he doesn't shy away from details of their sex lives, and the language is no-holds-barred. It's mildly work-safe, assuming your boss doesn't pause to actually read the dialog; it definitely isn't kid-safe.

But if quips like "I bukkake for justice!" (Footnote -- Bukkake) or "These are not free-range boobies!" don't freak you out, this is well worth your while.

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Ralan.com

God, what a fabulous site. As a web professional, I do have one or two quibbles with his design choices; but as a writer, I find Ralan's market listings to be utterly indispensable. In fact, I probably wouldn't have found half the markets I submit to were it not for Mr. Conley's pack-rat-like collection of the places that pay well, the ones that barely pay, and the ones that are strictly "for the love." He's got some other handy information too, but it's those market reports that keep my coming back over and over. Every time I get a fresh rejection note, I head here to try and find the story a new home.

Ralan's little corner of the web transcends mere self-promotion; in terms of pure usefulness, this is the author homepage against which all other author homepages should be measured. The man is doing the genre writing community a tremendous service; the good karma he's generating from this site will, if there's any justice in the world, somehow earn him riches. Riches, I say. Riches.