Science Fiction L.A. is a new electronic fan group. The site will be a source of “genre news, review, opinion, and discussion site for readers, consumers, and fans of science fiction, fantasy, slipstream, magic realism, specfic, or whatever you want to call non-reality-based (or perhaps alternate-reality-based) fiction,” according to founder George Van Wagner (aka GVDub), a musician and writer whose first sf books were collections of Jules Verne and H.G. Wells bought at a Scholastic Book Fair when he was in 2nd grade.
Van Wagner has been kicking around the idea of something like a web-based science fiction fan club for some time. “I wanted to have a place where people who love science fiction, but might not be inclined to participate in traditional fandom could come and discuss genre, whether it’s books, films, TV, or what-have-you, and that’s what we’re aiming for. It’s just starting, and still a bit primitive, but I want to grow it into a fairly open forum for people who love sf.”
Science Fiction L.A. went live on 23 March, and currently has a handful of articles. A number of local L.A. writers have committed to contributing, and they expect to grow quite a bit in the upcoming weeks. “Eventually,” says Van Wagner, “I want to extend authoring permissions to a wide assortment of writers and fans, so we can span the entire gamut of opinion about sf, but we’ll take this one step at a time.”