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Wayne MacLaurin

It's been over two years since the SF Site was officially launched in July of 1996, and eighteen months since we switched to our regular bi-weekly format in June, 1997. Speaking for myself, it's been a heck of a ride. According to our server logs, we now average more readers in a single day than we did in an entire month back then -- and I was thrilled to break the 3,000 visit barrier that June, I can tell you. We've had to update our server (more than once), survived numerous technical glitches -- including having our entire file structure accidentally deleted twice -- and read and responded to literally thousands of e-mail. It's been quite an adventure.

Todd Ruthman

But through it all, the thing I've been most proud of is the staff that we've built. When Wayne MacLaurin, Todd Ruthman and I launched the SF Site, it was with the hope that our bumbling efforts would attract contributors with more talent than ourselves. We'd probably still be bumbling if Rodger Turner hadn't shown up a few months later to take the reins as webmaster, completely re-designing the site into something worth looking at. Over the next few months we were joined by Marc Goldstein, who launched our first Games page, Tom Myer, who brought real professionalism to our reviews, Lucy Snyder, who brought our first hosted site with Dark Planet, and the tireless Neil Walsh, whose keen and cynical eye made him the perfect choice for Reviews Editor. It was that small group who single-handedly created the first issue in our magazine format in June of 1997 -- and who for the most part have been with us since.

Alice Dechene

Over the next few months we were joined by such folks as Thomas Julian, Steven H Silver, Margo MacDonald, Stephen M. Davis, and Alice Dechene -- the staff and freelance reviewers in large part responsible for the explosion of content that allowed us to go bi-weekly a month later. We've never looked back.

SF Site offices, circa 1996

It hasn't all been reviews, book columns, and link lists. From the day we started with our new format, we wanted to introduce an editorial column that gave our senior contributors a chance to share their thoughts on topics of real importance to the genre. Alice Dechene contributed the name, Rodger Turner produced the format and spot art, and we were off. The SF Insite column debuted with our first issue in June '97, and it's been a regular feature ever since. In the past 18 months we've seen articles on redeeming SF Cinema, promoting your book on the Web, NESFA Press, the return of Perry Rhodan, SF's numerous sub-genres, and many more. In large part the duties have been split between myself and the ever-articulate Tom Myer, but we've also seen pieces from such notables as Dave Truesdale, publisher of Tangent, Amy Goldschlager of Avon/Eos, Wayne MacLaurin, Neil Walsh, Rich Horton, and others.

For our first issue of 1999, we're offering a look back at 18 months of SF Insite, sorted by author. We hope you'll find these articles insightful, relevant, and informative -- and that you'll let us know one way or the other.

Remember to drop by in two weeks for our big mid-January issue, our traditional Best Of The Year celebration, to see our editors' and readers' selections for the best books of 1998 (it's not too late to vote if you haven't already). You know where to find us.