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> > It's amusing to note that this section of the website started out just as a few links to fill up space on the otherwise distressingly short home page when the Icshi site was first launch in September 2001. Since then it has become my own personal guide to the areas of the internet that I find most useful and enjoyable. I hope each of you will find at least one website here that you can add to your own list of favorites.

> A.E. VAN VOGT

> One Against Eternity | by Juha Lindroos Finland
> These elegantly simple pages are a great introduction for those unfamiliar with van Vogt and his works. (These pages have been permanently removed from its host, but this is such a valuable site that the link now points to a cache stored by the Internet Archive Wayback Machine.)

> The Weird Worlds of A.E. van Vogt | by Magnus Axelsson Iceland
> This was the internet's first website dealing with van Vogt, though sadly it will no longer be updated since Magnus has moved on to other pursuits. Its main feature is a massive archive of cover art from a dozen countries, spanning over a period of six decades. Also includes numerous articles, interviews, and a brief easy-to-use bibliography.

> Alfred Elton van Vogt | by Philippe Raimond France
> Although van Vogt may sadly be forgotten in the US and Canada nowadays, his works are still alive and well in Europe, France in particular. This site is packed with information and nicely organized, with many high-quality cover-scans of J'ai Lu editions. It's in French, so at least a working familiarity with the language would be, needless to say, helpful.

> A.E. van Vogt Cover Art Gallery | by Yutaka Morita Japan
> A high-quality selection of Japanese, American, and British book and magazine covers. Includes numerous editions that are quite rare and almost impossible to find.

> Alfred E. van Vogt — deutsche Cover | by Olaf R. Spittel Germany
> Dozens of small-sized coverscans from German editions of Van's books, with both the English and German titles given. There are books here you won't see anywhere else! It's also interesting to look at the Google-translated version of the page to see what the German titles translate literally as. Many of these translated titles suit the book in question far better than its English title, while others only raise eyebrows, and some are so amusing simply because Google does a literal translation and we're not getting the correct nuance of the words.

> A. E. van Vogt — Russian Bibliography — Russian Cover Gallery | by Konstantin Kalmyk Russia
> Notable in particular for detailing his works translated into Russian. Sadly, I can't read a word of it, but based on even a cursory examination it looks like the best (maybe the only?) site of its kind.

> The Weapon Shops of Isher: Classic SF Book | book review by Aaron Hughes
> This is an exceptionally thorough and well-done review of one of Van's best-known books. Hughes gives a balanced mix of solid background information, details on the plot, personal comments, and objectively presents the critical comments of mainstream critics. And not only that, but there are two nice coverscans as well. This is another good introductory site for those new to van Vogt's fiction.

> SF RESOURCES

> > As most of you could probably guess, I'm a firmly committed hopping-and-raving sci-fi lunatic. Here are some of the great sites I've enjoyed and consulted over the years.

> NooSFere — American SF Pulp Magazines |
> In early 2007 I began collecting old issue of Astounding Science Fiction (among a few other pulps) in earnest, mainly as preparation for a "big" project I was working on (but ultimately abandoned), an extensive guide to van Vogt's fiction. However, as is typical for me, this quickly grew into a mania for old SF magazines in general. This French website has been incredibly helpful in choosing how to best squander my life savings. All joking aside, this is certainly the finest repository of reliable and clearly presented information on every great American science fiction magazine. The variety and quality of cover scans alone is simply amazing, but it also gives full details on every single story printed in every issue of these magazines. These two factors makes this the most useful online resource I've seen in years.

> Astounding Science Fiction | by Andrew May
> For obvious reasons, my SF magazine collection features mainly this, the most famous of them all. Andrew May's website, which focuses on the period from 1939 to 1960, has been a gold mine of interesting and valuable information, about ASF itself as well as topics relating to it.

> Science Fiction Citations for the OED | by Malcolm Farmer & Jeff Prucher
> A dictionary of science fiction terms, including citations of source material and earliest known occurrences. A useful research tool as well as a lot of fun to just browse.

> The Internet Speculative Fiction Database |
> A Wiki-like bibliographic site dealing with science fiction, fantasy, and horror. Although a bit patchy at the moment (as it is an ongoing work in progress) it is nevertheless very detailed and accurate. It does an especially nice job of untangling alternate titles and revisions.

> SF Timeline | by Magic Dragon Multimedia
> This is a very impressive timeline of the history of science fiction, put in its historical context. This domain also hosts innumerable sites on an astonishing variety of topics.

> FAVORITE AUTHORS

> The Astounding Worlds of Barrington Bayley! | by Juha Lindroos Finland
> The only Bayley website I know of, it includes a few of his stories that have never been published, nice cover scans, and plenty of bibliographic and biographical material.

> Usul's Homepage |
> Frank Herbert is one of the best SF authors, and this is the best all-around Dune site I've been able to find. Provides good information on the books, film, and miniseries.

> Dune: Behind the Scenes |
> This excellent website focuses on the David Lynch film, which I hold in very high esteem. Features scripts, photos, artwork, and loads of interesting information. Noteworthy for having rare details about the thankfully abandoned Alejandro Jodorowsky version planned in the late '70s.

> The Works of H. P. Lovecraft |
> All of Lovecraft's works in HTML and TXT format... even his abysmal poetry! (This site is much nicer than the one I had previously linked to. Thanks to Alorael for sharing this link.)

> The Unofficial Raymond F. Jones Website | by Richard Simms England
> Jones is another one of my favorite authors — similar in many ways to van Vogt — whom I feared had been all but forgotten. Not so — Mr. Simms has created a wonderfully informative site, showing that Jones' fans are still alive and well. Even Jones' son has praise for this site.

> The Jack Vance Archive | by Remy Wetzels The Netherlands
> Vance and van Vogt are both top-notch SF authors, both of whose surnames begin with V interestingly enough. His works are highly inventive, always interesting, and well written. This site provides a good bibliography, displays many book covers, and has plenty of solid information.

> Philip K. Dick: The Official Site |
> Dick is an author I've enjoyed for years, and just recently discovered how much better his stories are compared to his novels. His short stories are succinct encapsulations of razor-sharp ideas that latch onto your mind and won't let go, while his novels seem to suffer from too much padding and an uneven scattershot of too many ideas that don't fit together. This website is run by two of his children, and includes hundreds of coverscans, exhaustive bibliographic information, and is updated regularly to include news and fresh material. Highly recommended.

> Z9M9Z: A Lensman Website | by Ethan Fleischer
> E.E. "Doc" Smith is one of the old great of science fiction, whose work I've begun to appreciate only recently. This website is a great resource for old fans and new fans alike.

> Professor Jameson Space Adventures | by Trevor Stewart U.K.
> When I began collecting magazines from the 1930s, I was astonished at the number of excellent authors who were once popular and have since been nearly forgotten. One of these is Neil R. Jones, best known (when he's known at all) for writing the lengthy series of Professor Jameson stories, most of which appeared in Amazing. I just recently was able to read the first collection of these stories, The Planet of the Double Sun, and was completely amazed by how intriguing and fun it was. Trevor Stewart's website is a good introduction to this series, and even features a few rare photos of the elusive Jones himself. Incidentally, the first Jameson story is available for free at The Nostalgia League's website, and the first book can be purchased as a PDF here.

> BOOK SHOPPING

> > I read a lot. A lot. I have more books than you could shake a stick at. I have more books than I could possibly ever read in my lifetime. And yet, like any other bibliophile on the planet, I still buy yet more of them. And there's nothing more frustrating than not being able to find that one book that will finally make your library complete forever. All right, those ten books. Okay, fine, it'll never be complete, but here are some fine places online that can save you a lot of aggravation and money as you work hard to make your library just a tiny bit less incomplete.

> The Advanced Book Exchange |
> This is the first place I go whenever I shop for books. It's probably the largest and most dependable place to buy used books online.

> Alibris |
> If you can't find what you're searching for on the Advanced Book Exchange, this is another good place to look.

> Pandora's Books Ltd |
> If you're looking for SF in particular from a store with accurate listings, friendly employees, and all-around high-quality service, I highly recommend Pandora's Books. They're a little pricey, but it's well worth the dependability. It's especially useful for finding specific hard-to-find editions.

> Sci Fi Buys |
> James Gardner's online bookshop is a wonderful place to buy SF books and magazines. With a gigantic inventory, meticulously-researched item descriptions, reasonable prices, friendly service, and sizable discounts for large orders, there's more than enough here for any SF enthusiast or pulp collector to keep coming back time and time again.

> DOCTOR WHO

> > I can remember watching this classic SF British television program (off PBS) since I was very young. Although it is not the most cerebral or original of SF shows, it is the least pretentious and most fun-loving one around. After its cancellation in 1989 it was continued in a series of books, of which I read far more than I should. A new television series began airing in early 2005, whose episodes range from mediocre to unbelievably bad. I half-heartedly watch it, but otherwise largely ignore it.

> Timelash | by Daniel O'Malley
> My favorite Doctor Who website, with all the latest information on all the episodes and books, old and new, along with very nice coverscans.

> The Doctor Who Reference Guide | by Dominique Boies & Cameron Dixon
> Gives detailed plot summaries of all episodes and books, along with the short stories and audios. Apart from being a superb encyclopedic resource, it's also interesting to read someone else's summary of a book to see what details I may have missed.

> Doctor Who: A Brief History of Time (Travel) | by Shannon Patrick Sullivan
> The most exhaustive resource for the history of the program, with background details on every episode ever made... as well as several that never were!

> Earthbound Timelords: Doctor Who Scripts Project | by J. Curtis
> Many of the earlier episodes of Doctor Who are lost, having been destroyed by the BBC due to union and storage issues. However, the scripts for these still do exist and are available here for free, along with a list of which episodes are extant, which have had overseas copies recently discovered, and which are still missing.

> On Target | by Tim Neal England
> Novelizations of almost every episode of the classic series were published, and this excellent website details every printing of every single novel, along with cover scans. Also contains a great deal of superb supplementary material, artist profiles, and more.

> Doctor Who Ratings Guide | by Robert Smith
> Literally thousands of fan-written reviews on all aspects of the TV and book series — most are surprisingly well written and minimize the inclusion of spoilers. Even though I disagree with most of them, these reviews make for an endless variety of interesting opinions and little-known facts.

> BBC — Cult Television |
> The BBC's own website, with sections devoted to Doctor Who, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy television series, Farscape, and many others.

> WARHAMMER 40,000

> > It would take a several-thousand word article on my part to fully explain why I love Warhammer 40,000 so much. Suffice to say it is one of the most detailed, fascinating, and creative science fiction settings ever created. It draws from just about every theme in the SF, fantasy, and horror genres, and mixes them all together in a unique and compelling way. While I don't play the tabletop miniatures game, I do read the novels and play the computer games, all of which I enjoy tremendously.

> Lexicanum: Warhammer 40,000 Wiki |
> Since the setting is so huge and complex, new-comers can be a little intimidated by the sheer amount of information they're confronted with. This online encyclopedia can not only help you get your bearings, but is also a fascinating place for old-timers to browse for fun.

> The Black Library |
> Unlike many tie-in franchises (such as Star Trek, Star Wars, etc.), the Black Library does not churn out hack drivel to make money, but rather maintains the integrity of the setting by holding to very high standards in their publications.

> Dawn of War Player's Guide |
> The Dawn of War series of computer games are by far the best real-time strategy games ever made. They are richly complex, beautifully detailed, and stay true to the Warhammer 40k setting. This wonderful website helps untangle the sometimes-confusing aspects of the games.

> Dawn of War Files |
> The Dawn of War games have a very active and creative modding community. This is the best place for finding maps, mods, add-ons, and replays.

> SF ARTWORK

> The Powers Compendium | by Sean Rohde
> This is an ongoing project to exhaustively catalog all of the cover art Powers did during his lifetime, with plenty of information and full of surprises — Powers not only did SF art, but illustrated many works of juvenile fiction and the classics. A very impressive endeavor by Mr. Rohde, who has a deep appreciation for Powers' work, and recently contributed to the Book Checklist of Jane Frank's new book The Art of Richard Powers.

> Wayne D. Barlowe — Extraterrestrials |
> This page has several paintings that Barlowe did for his 1979 book Barlowe's Guide to Extraterrestrials.

> Bruce Pennington Galleries |
> Bruce Pennington is a favorite of mine, mainly because of the surrealist imagery in many of his paintings. His work quickly generates a mood like few others' can. This website contains many high-quality images of book covers he did, but shows the original paintings rather than the covers themselves so you can enjoy them without the intrusion of text.

> LITERATURE & LANGUAGE

> Project Gutenberg |
> A site devoted to providing downloadable versions of hundreds of great classic books. A wonderful undertaking of text-preservation. Especially handy for doing keyword searches of books you've read, but can't find the quote you're looking for merely by flipping through your copy of it.

> Bolchazy-Carducci: Artes Latinae |
> If you ever want to learn Latin — which I cannot recommend too highly — these people are the place to get a course. You can do it on your own at your own pace, and by the middle of your second year you'll be reading Caesar's De Bello Gallico. There are also lots of wise and terribly amusing quotes from the likes of Martial and Phaedrus along the way.

> Church Latin: Maximus Scriptorius Publications |
> This is another superb resource for Latin materials. I can especially recommend the Vulgate Concordance (invaluable as a Vulgate study companion) and Smith's Latin-English Dictionary (perhaps the best all-round Latin dictionary there is).

> The Voynich Manuscript | by René Zandbergen
> As an enthusiast of linguistics, cryptanalysis, and history, it was perhaps inevitable that I would develop an interest in this, one of the most mysterious and widely studied mediaeval manuscripts of all time. Written in an unknown script and apparently in an unknown language, experts for centuries have tried to unlock its meaning but with no results. This website does a very good job of laying out both the basic and in-depth information about it, as well as the various people involved in trying to decipher it, and the various theories they have put forth. It also has an extensive bibliography of publications on the subject, as well as links to numerous other websites. A website featuring large, high-quality images of the manuscript itself used to be here but seems to no longer be around, and I've been unable to find a relocated version of the site via Google.

> MUSIC

> The Domain of Terry Riley |
> Riley is something of a bold experimenter when it comes to music. He started out in the 1960s, inspiring the movement now called "Minimalism," though his particular brand of music I would not classify with the likes of Steve Reich or Philip Glass — they bombard you with endless loops of music over and over again, whereas Riley generates what I call "metapatterns" by layering improvised variations on top of each other and going off on tangents and out-of-the-blue changes that somehow still blend with the rest of the piece. With Reich or Glass, everything in the piece is there in the first casual listening — with Riley, the vast intricacies of his compositions can only be heard with attentive listening, and every time you hear a piece again you hear something new and surprising. But regardless of how he's classified, he creates incredibly beautiful and relaxing music which I listen to quite a lot. Recommended albums include Shri Camel, In C: 25th Anniversary Concert, and A Rainbow in Curved Air (which includes the short version of the wonderfully bizarre "Poppy Nogood and the Phantom Band").

> Domenico Scarlatti |
> This brief biographical sketch is a good introduction to the brilliant but sadly obscure baroque composer, a contemporary of Bach and Handel. He wrote 555 sonatas for the harpsichord which have given me great joy to listen to for many years. The Spanish flavor of his works is a stark contrast to other composers of the period, and his sonatas can be meditative, festive, and even menacing at times. His music is endlessly fascinating, though usually not played as it should be. Fernando Valenti made almost 30 LP recordings of the sonatas in the '50s and '60s which I've been collecting in earnest since getting a new record player a few years ago. Scott Ross made recordings of the complete sonatas on CD in the late '80s, and although he does a technical good job he lacks the zest and soul of Valenti. Fortunately, a company called Pristine Audio began releasing digitized and restored versions of the first 11 volumes in this series of sonatas as performed by Fernando Valenti. These are by far the best recordings of Scarlatti's sonatas you will ever hear, and I urge you all to buy at least the superb first volume, either on CD or in their inexpensive downloadable-MP3 format.

> Laurie Riley |
> The pure simplicity of the Celtic harp is best exemplified by the work of Laurie Riley (no relation to Terry Riley). My admiration for her music goes back even further than Scarlatti — indeed, it would be fair to say that this was the first music that made a real impression on me, and has stayed with me since. My top recommendations (done in collaboration with others) are her albums The Flowers of Edinburgh, Castle Kelly, and Glenlevit. All three contain a wonderful selection of traditional Celtic melodies as well as captivating compositions by Laurie herself.

> Gilbert and Sullivan Archive | by Jim Farron & Alex Feldman
> I've been enjoying Gilbert and Sullivan since I was knee-high to a grasshopper. During the last couple decades of the 1800s, they created works of unparalleled wit and charm. This site is an excellent place to go for obtaining information about them and their works, and even text files of the librettos.

> Enya — Out of the Blue | by Lucia Maleckova Slovakia
> Enya is one of the few contemporary musical artists that I listen to. Her unique Celtic-influenced ethereal style delights the ears and soothes the soul, and this fan website offers a wealth of information, including album and song lists, photos, audio samples, and lyrics as well as translations of non-English songs.

> Wendy Carlos HomePage |
> Interestingly enough, the early work of Wendy Carlos (released under the name Walter Carlos) is single-handedly responsible for my passion for both baroque and electronic music. The innovative idea of playing classical pieces on the Moog synthesizer has deservedly made Carlos famous world-wide. Some of my earliest memories are of my father listening to the LP records on his stereo, while I sat next to him, entranced by the amazing sounds I was hearing. The Well-Tempered Synthesizer in particular introduced me to the work of Bach and Scarlatti, and is perhaps Carlos' finest and most varied album.

> eMusic.com |
> Just a few months ago I first heard about this excellent music subscription service, and after the free trial I decided to stay on as a member. Their selection is as large as it is inexpensive, with the 30-download per month plan costing only $10. People like myself who listen to a lot of music can get an even better plan, with 50 downloads per month (or even more) for just $15 on up. Considering many albums on iTunes cost $15, you can get almost five times as much music for the same price from eMusic. And since the length of the track is immaterial, you can stock up on lengthy works for mere tuppence. Interestingly enough, Amazon.com's new MP3 store has almost the exact same catalog as eMusic, with eMusic being by far the better per-track deal. Artists that I've first learned about and enjoyed since joining eMusic include Patricia Spero (harp), Klaus Schulze (synthesizer), Kitaro (synthesizer), Jamie Janover (hammered dulcimer), and Jean-Baptiste Lully (baroque).

> The Hymns and Carols of Christmas | by Douglas D. Anderson
> Every time December comes around, I listen to Christmas carols almost constantly the whole month, most of them medieval English or Latin. Anderson's site contains the text of hundreds of old carols in over a dozen languages, with translations provided so you can enjoy the original while knowing what it means. I'm especially fond of the non-English carols which are listed here.

> MONGOLIA

> > Mongolia has fascinated me for years, and the history of the Mongol Empire and Mongol culture has long been one of my favorite studies.

> The Mongol Empire: A Historical Website |
> A great site on the Mongol Empire, especially accessible for those unfamiliar with this area of history. The study of the Mongol Empire is one of my great interests, and perhaps the most undeservedly overlooked topic in world history.

> The Realm of the Mongols | by Per Inge Oestmoen Norway
> Another good site on the Mongol Empire, relating more to its cultural aspects.

> Lingua Mongolia | by Emyr R. E. Pugh
> Teaches the basics of Classical Mongolian, including the complex yet quite beautiful writing system.

> AMUSEMENTS

> Netflix |
> I watch a lot of movies and television series but don't want to buy a $20 DVD or $70 box set for something I've never seen and will probably only ever see once. Netflix offers no-hassle DVD rentals delivered right to your mailbox. They have a massive selection, containing just about any rare item you can imagine, as well as no due dates, no late fees, easily returnable packages, and amazingly low monthly rates.

> Spiderweb Software | games by Jeff Vogel
> If you like epics and computer games — or better yet, epic computer games — and have a few weeks to spare playing them, there's no better place to get some excellent and imaginative ones than from Jeff Vogel's shareware firm. I highly recommend Nethergate and the Avernum trilogy... Oh, and the Geneforge games. Well, okay, they're all quite good. When I think back on them, it's more like I'm remembering a book I read rather than a game I played — very literary and quite memorable.

> Crazy Aaron's Puttyworld |
> Crazy Aaron creates putty with a wide variant of vibrant, amazing colors in nice big handfuls, stored in nifty little re-usable tins. I bought my whole family some for Christmas and they love it. It's clean, non-sticky, and leaves no messy residue on the hands, just a mild, inoffensive scent. It's also non-toxic so if you have pets or young children around the house, you needn't fear that it'll poison them.

> REFERENCE

> Encyclopaedia Britannica |
> My junior year in high school, I spent two to three hours each day in the tiny school library for "study hall." In truth, I was the only one there for most of that time, and after finishing up my homework I would take down a random volume from the old set of Encyclopaedia Britannica on a nearby shelf and just read whatever caught my attention. Some articles I enjoyed so much that I got permission from the school secretary to use their photocopier. I remember being particularly fascinated by their article on cryptography, learning all about Vigenère ciphers, scytales, and suchlike. Britannica is easily the best source of information I've ever come across. Every other brand of encyclopedia in my experience has had superficial summaries and glossy pictures instead of the comprehensive yet easy to read information provided by Britannica. I've never had the money to buy myself a set or subscribe to their online service, but with the status awarded by being selected as a Britannica iGuide site I am able to link to full articles that are usually only available to subscribers. I've therefore taken the liberty to link to several articles of interest to myself, so that visitors to my site may enjoy and learn from them: Science Fiction A.E. van Vogt (& here) Scientology (includes Dianetics) Domenico Scarlatti Cryptology Genghis Khan History of Computing

> Wikipedia |
> This website is to Encyclopedia Britannica what the Hitchhiker's Guide is to Encyclopedia Galactica, but one step worse — anyone can alter its content, so often the more controversial articles look like a full-page ad for your local vandalism-for-hire service. It epitomizes the dangers of total democracy. Nonetheless it has its uses. I think the main strength of Wikipedia is not its coverage of academic subjects, but rather its popular culture topics, such as Donald Sinclair, the inspiration for Basil Fawlty; or an Inspector Gadget episode guide; or whether the lobster bites at Long John Silver's are actually lobster; or a list of the changes George Lucas made in his Special Edition Star Wars films. Yet even the coverage of these seemingly innocuous topics can become nothing more than the battleground for hard-core weirdos who have nothing better to do than trying to out-idiot each other.

> Intute |
> I must admit that I had never heard of Intute before they listed my website in their directory in early February 2008, but after exploring it a bit I've already found several sites that I can't believe I was unaware of. The internet has become so huge and unwieldy that a Google search has become insufficient for finding quality material. It's good to know there are organizations like Intute selecting excellent resources from the overwhelming mountains of chaff out there! I'm sure there are many like myself who will profit greatly from this resource.