New websites of interest

If, like me, you spent the last couple of weeks on vacation, your mind bent on sightseeing, catching the right train at the right time, with 90% of your brain's capabilities rerouted to think about Polish and Latvian girls, or if you were caught up in more worthwhile pursuits, you might not be aware that Tor Books' website has re-launched yet again.

Here's what the new http://tor.com now stands for:

Tor.com, a site for news and discussion of science fiction, fantasy, and all the things that interest SF and fantasy readers, is an initiative of Tor Books and of the Macmillan group of publishers. It presents original short fiction, new sequential art, extensive art galleries, and commentary on science fiction and related subjects by a wide range of writers from all corners of the science fiction and fantasy field. Its aim is to provoke, encourage, and enable interesting and rewarding conversations with and between its readers.

Random House has done the same with www.suvudu.com:

Suvudu is a new website catering to news from all sci-fi and fantasy creative media—books, audiobooks, gaming, manga, comic books and movies! Content will include podcasts, videos, reviews, interviews and original blog posts, all brought to you by some of the best talents in the sci-fi, fantasy, graphic novel and gaming industries.

Imagine the San Diego Comic Con—but on a website all year round!

Sounds great, right?

That’s just the beginning. Sci-fi and fantasy fans will also play a role in Suvudu. Visitors are encouraged to comment on the posted content, contribute information they deem pertinent, and send in suggestions to make Suvudu the best it can be. Links to offsite blog and website content will be highlighted. As a community sharing and growing with one another, every relevant bit of news will have benefit—given voice on Suvudu for those who would hear it.

Suvudu will grow over time. In the coming months Suvudu will not only be a news blog but will evolve to include a library of free science fiction and fantasy books, advanced reads of forthcoming projects, exclusive looks inside the creative process of the publishing world, and incorporate a forum for like-minded fans to converse with one another.

These could become great SFF resources, so I encourage you to check them out. Which reminds me that I should register. . .:-)