March 1999
Comments from the 1st Online Poll and Survey

§ I appreciate the news service that is published on Locus Online, and check it regularly. I'd appreciate seeing more news, and possibly some online reviews. I realise that it's probably not practical to reprint the reviews from the magazine [No... --Ed.], but reviews written especially for the website would be good. Still, it's a great resource. Thanks!

§ More articles on Golden Age SF. So much of new SF is no longer the fun, optimistic, and wonderful visions that were standard practices in the days of the real thing.

§ More surveys like this one. More coverage of comic books. Maybe a bulletin board/chat room.

(More surveys, maybe. Comic books, no. Chat room, probably not.)

§ Sorry for the sparseness of the answers. With two kids, a house, and a 60 hour a week job my reading time has shrunk tremendously. Maybe I'll have time to read all of the books I buy when I retire. And maybe I'll win the lottery tomorrow too!

§ More book reviews if possible... It’s really an excellent site; thanks!

§ Locus Online is an excellent resource on SF/F and publishing in general. I would like to see a separate ''page'' for awards, showing both current eligibility/nominees and the history of the various major awards (Hugo, Nebula, Stoker, WFA, Clarke, Dick) and the corresponding Locus Awards.

(Such a thing is in work. Look for the online ''Locus Index to Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Awards'' within the next couple months.)

§ I love sf but I guess I'm an old fuddy duddy. I like reading the writers from the 40's 50's and 60's.

§ I'd love for the forthcoming books section to include Canadian publishers.

§ More links to sites for writers. More links related to roleplaying--especially the unofficial sites. (They’re generally better made than the official ones!)

(Roleplaying games--no. There are lots more sites about games and media SF on the web than there are about books; we'll keep our focus on the latter.)

§ 1. A good site search tool. 2. Instant polls, like on CNN, that ask one question and in response generate an immediate graph of responses. Examples: ''Will you see the new Star Wars movie on opening day?'' ''Do you prefer Science Fiction, Fantasy, or Horror?''

§ I would like to see detailed contents of upcoming anthologies and mags., you know, who wrote what! I base purchasing on if stories are new and on who wrote them. Also more info and reviews on upcoming sf/f movies.

§ Comments: How about a voting category for short fiction and/or anthologies? (It’s embarassing to fill out this form and see how few novels I’ve read...) And how do you prevent multiple voting on this thing? Otherwise, a great idea. Keep up the great work.

(We thought we'd start the online poll off modestly. Maybe next time, more categories. And, we don't.)

§ I write science fiction. Beats me where people have time to work full time, write, research, AND read fiction for recreational purposes. All of my recreational reading is writing-related one way or the other. I think more market news would be interesting in Locus. For example, there was an article by Don Maass in the SFWA house organ the other day re: electronic books and their position vis-a-vis contractual reprint rights. That sort of thing might be interesting to the more general reader of Locus.

§ A regular column by Harlan Ellison.

(Mmm, don't hold your breath.)

§ My favorite part of Locus Magazine is always Ed Bryant's reviews. It's always the first thing that I read and they are always well done and useful. I'd like for Mr. Brown to either give us more of his recipes online (or in Editorial Matters in the magazine) or to perhaps publish a book of recipes. I have followed his cooking for years in the magazine and would like to try some of his recipes. Locus is a fine publication and does not need much improvement. It is the one magazine that i read every word of every single month. I could not be without it. I love the reviews, news, and forthcoming books, and I especially like it when you have a sale (like galleys, signed books, or the cache of Dark Forces books last month). Please continue to make these available online. Congratulations on a fine publication and an outstanding website. I enjoy both immensely.

§ Your site keeps getting better and better. You should get the Hugo for SF web sites (if they ever realize there is such a new category).

[This was part of a separate email, not a survey response, but we liked it anyway.]