SF Fandom Blog

Video for Craig Horner's Birthday Tweetathon

2012-01-23T20:27:00.000-08:00

Here is a video I found on YouTube that promotes the January 24, 2012 Birthday Tweetathon fans of Legend of the Seeker are scheduling for Craig Horner. Craig of course played Richard Cypher/Rahl on the show. He moved to Los Angeles after Legend of the Seeker ceased production. I know he spent some time online but then withdrew. Here's hoping he is keeping busy. You may want to check out

Middle-earth Comes to Life on Xenite.org

2012-01-10T12:00:00.000-08:00

As part of the campaign to recondition and revive Xenite.Org I have been writing a lot of new research articles for the Middle-earth sub-domain on Xenite.Org. Since July (and up to the time of this writing) I have been able to publish over 350 articles, including many old essays from my Suite101 collection (which is no longer available on Suite101). Here is a breakdown of what you can find on

Have you checked out this fantasy movie princess gallery?

2012-01-06T12:00:00.000-08:00

It is no secret that Xenite.Org fell on hard times in mid-2011 when the Google Panda algorithm downgraded the site for having too many broken scripts and empty stub pages. The only solution to the Google problem seemed to be to clear the site completely of all content and start over. Unfortunately, deleting 20,000+ pages of content seems to have hurt Xenite's backlink relationships with other

Legend of the Seeker fans celebrating Craig Horner birthday

2012-01-05T12:00:00.000-08:00

Just when you thought the Legend of the Seeker fan community had given up, they have come back in the past few months with new campaigns to raise awareness of their interest in the formerly syndicated TV show. You may recall that Legend of the Seeker was cancelled a few months after it lost 1/3 of its US market distribution channel due to the Tribune Company's filing for bankruptcy in March 2010

Look into independent film "Third Contact" and others

2012-01-04T23:09:00.000-08:00

SF-Fandom recently published a series of blog articles and forum posts to help promote an independent film called "Third Contact". Film producer Simon Horrocks reached out to SF-Fandom for help in promoting his film, which looks pretty interesting. A therapist stumbles across a mysterious pattern of suicides that all resemble each other. What's going on? Simon shared his press kit with

Middle-earth Talk Radio Takes on Tolkien and Racism

2011-11-19T18:46:00.001-08:00

Not to repeat everything I said in the article on the Tolkien Studies on the Web blog, but Hawke Robinson released three episodes of Middle-earth Talk Radio today. Episode 39 (the latest episode, recorded on November 13) includes a discussion where we take on the question of Tolkien and racism, which was recently revived by Salon. Two of the last three episodes of the talk show were recorded

On Pictures of Emma Watson from the Web

2011-11-15T08:44:00.001-08:00

There are plenty of random images of the lovely Emma Watson (of "Harry Potter" fame) scattered across the Web and a few large fan galleries but you don't often see a complete thematic presentation. I suppose fans are concerned about what may happen to their sites if they use too many images of the endearing Emma. For example, in 2010 Emma spent two days at the Glastonbury Music Festival and

Legend of the Seeker fans launch 24-hour Tweetathon

2011-10-31T13:40:00.000-07:00

Fans of the cancelled TV show Legend of the Seeker have been hard at work organizing a 24-hour Tweetathon in honor of the show's November 1, 2008 premier. They are calling on all Legend of the Seeker fans to turn out in force for a show of strength on Twitter. You can find details about what to do at the LOTS.org forum post I linked to above. The Seekerfans, Xenite.Org, and SF Fandom Twitter

Xenite.Org Begins Publishing Interviews with Tolkien Scholars

2011-10-13T22:50:00.000-07:00

Ever since the new Middle-earth Website launched in July of this year I have been planning to add a section or series of articles unlike any other such series you'll find on the Tolkien fan Web. Although there are scattered interviews with Tolkien scholars around the globe, there has been no organized, systematic attempt to talk with them all (of which I am aware). Will I be able to interview

A Little Touch of Tolkien on the Web

2011-09-21T01:25:00.000-07:00

Tolkien Studies on the Web has a new blog post, The Much Bemusing Bloggery of Online Tolkien Scholarli, which lists a couple dozen Websites either published by various Tolkien scholars or which publish the works of various Tolkien scholars. You may be surprised by some of the names that were included on the list. You may also want to read another recent article, Tolkien Geek: A Reader's Journey

Xenite.Org Launches Middle-earth Unplugged Essay Series

2011-08-31T12:00:00.000-07:00

Through the years many people have asked me when I write more essays about Middle-earth. I have to admit that it has not been easy to think of interesting topics. But a few weeks ago I concluded that my problem wasn't so much lack of topics as lack of perspective. That is, I felt only so much could be said about Middle-earth from the viewpoint of the average essayist. I've written over 200

Interwebometry Blog Looks at How We See the Web

2011-08-31T11:29:00.000-07:00

Technically I'm barred from writing detailed search engine optimization articles by my current employment contract. I can republish old articles (which I do on The SEO Theorist and I can still write about pure SEO Theory but beyond that I'm limited in what I can say about what I am most passionate about professionally. On the other hand, it occurred to me recently that I could write about

SF-Fandom Interviews Independent Film-maker Shawna Baca

2011-04-19T09:57:00.000-07:00

SF-Fandom has published its first feature-length interview, talking with independent Latina film-maker Shawna Baca about her science fiction project, "Ascended Masters". Baca is looking to raise $20,000 in donations through Kickstarters by April 21. Unfortunately, due to server issues, SF-Fandom was unable to publish the interview prior to now. Here is an excerpt: SF-Fandom: Looking at your

Today SF-Fandom celebrates its 10th Anniversary

2011-03-06T10:42:00.000-08:00

The SF-Fandom Science Fiction Forums were launched 10 years ago today (March 6, 2001) with the goal of expanding the science fiction community that had grown up on Xenite.Org. We went from 8 simple HTML forums on Xenite to 24 forums on a UBB board hosted by eUniverse. And after we left eUniverse we decided that the forums should have their own domain. Hence, SF-Fandom was born. Our moderator

SF-Fandom transforms itself

2010-09-19T11:39:00.000-07:00

I have not been able to keep up with the SF-Fandom Wordpress and Blogger accounts over the past few weeks. In fact, I haven't been able to keep up with much of anything because I've been so busy. It recently became apparent to me that if I want to continue to be a science fiction blogger I'm going to have to go about it differently. So after years of delaying, stalling, hemming, and hawing, I

Download "Raw Hobbit" 2010 audio file

2010-08-20T08:49:00.000-07:00

The Tolkien Moot Website has now published the audio file for "Raw Hobbit 2010", which we broadcast live from Tolkien Moot 2010. Heather Downing was my guest. Heather gave three live performances as Elvish singer Rehtaeh. You can download "Raw Hobbit 2010" here (or just listen to the streaming broadcast). ____________________________________________ SF-Fandom is a moderated, fan-run

Middle-earth Talk Radio Show 29 August 8 2010

2010-08-14T14:17:00.000-07:00

Hawke has now uploaded Show 29 from Middle-earth Talk Radio, which we recorded on August 8, 2010. The topics we discussed include: Tolkien Moot is just a few days away! Rehtaeh - Heather Downing's Video Performances The Hunt for Gollum (correction) The Mystery of Gil-galad's car solved at last! Discussion of Metima Lenda and Quenya Tolkien's Elves and pointed ears Hobbits and pointy ears

Heather Downing videos for people who want to know what she sounds like

2010-08-07T21:34:00.000-07:00

You can actually listen to Heather's Elementaria CD (or samples) at Amazon but here are a couple of music videos featuring Heather. Heather Downing singing "I Can Feel Free" Andy Perkins and Heather Downing perform "Could We Start Again, Please?" from Jesus Christ: Superstar You can check out the schedule for Tolkien Moot here. ____________________________________________ SF-Fandom is a

More Promos for Tolkien Moot

2010-08-05T12:35:00.000-07:00

This is getting exciting. Tolkien Moot promises to be one of the best Spokane Tolkien conferences so far. I'm looking forward to doing Raw Hobbit again. Elvish Musician Rehtaeh to Perform Live at Tolkien Moot in Spokane Popular Tolkien Singer to Appear at Tolkien Moot in Spokane Aug 13-15 Tolkien Enthusiasts Gather for Moot in Spokane, WA August 13-15 Middle-earth Talk Radio to Broadcast Live

Can't attend Tolkien Moot 2010? Watch it live online August 13-15

2010-08-04T11:18:00.000-07:00

Tolkien Moot 2010 is scheduled for the weekend of August 13-15 in the city of Spokane, WA. However, people who cannot be at the event may watch the sessions live via the Internet. Tolkien Moot 2010 features three live performances (open to the public) from elvish music artist Rehtaeh (Heather Downing). A chat room will be available for fans to pass on questions and comments during the panels

SciFi Fans need to beware of new online copyright cop

2010-08-02T11:55:00.000-07:00

If you have been an online science fiction fan for more than a year the chances are pretty good you have either seen a news story reposted to an SF fan site or you may have reposted a story yourself. Until now science fiction fans have believed there are so many infringers in the SF fandom community that they are relatively safe from being sued. That is exactly the kind of attitude a new

Heather Downing on Middle-earth Talk Radio

2010-07-26T08:23:00.000-07:00

Hawke Robinson has now uploaded the fully edited version of the July 18 interview with Heather Downing (Elvish singer Rehtaeh) to the Middle-earth Talk Radio Website. You can listen to Heather's interview in Middle-earth Talk Radio Episode 28. I recommend downloading the MP3 file but you can try streaming it online. A partial list of the topics discussed includes: Tolkien Moot Live Broadcast

Listen to live Middle-earth Talk Radio on July 18 with Rehtaeh

2010-07-17T02:07:00.001-07:00

Hawke Robinson just sent out this announcement and I am passing it on. Please feel free to share this with other Tolkien fans. A message from Hawke Robinson: Greetings fellow Tolkien enthusiasts, The 28th episode of Middle-earth Talk Radio is going to have a special guest, Rehtaeh (Heather Downing), on the upcoming show, and we will attempt to broadcast it live so that listeners may may

Forum admins and bloggers: You need to delete user accounts linking to Backlinksforum.com

2010-07-14T22:22:00.000-07:00

Backlinksforum.com is an extremely disreputable Website that encourages Web spammers to use unethical "link building" methods to create links to their Websites. These unethical methods include creating fake user accounts on blogs and forums and dropping links to low-quality and/or malicious Websites in member profiles. The link dropping problem has become so bad that Google announced it may

Middle-earth Talk Radio Episode 26

2010-07-14T08:46:00.000-07:00

Due to a recent illness I have not been posting much online for the past several weeks. On June 8 Hawke Robinson and I recorded Episode 26 of Middle-earth Talk Radio, which has actually been available for download for several weeks. I'm only just getting around to announcing it now. Topics Discussed Additional message from Guillermo Del Torro regarding leaving "The Hobbit" movie project