At the end of our full second year of operations, it is interesting to look back and take stock. Below you’ll find mention of our most popular topics, posts and our people. (Can’t do anything without them!)
Below are our Top 100 posts from 2014; they range the gamut (as one would expect AND hope, coming as they do from a legion of fans) from interviews to political screeds and, I’d venture to say, pretty much everything in between. Of note: interviews appear to be pretty popular, whether they’re with a highly regarded author or a new star of stage and screen; writing tips and market analysis, as well as “here’s a topic of interest to fans” round out the most popular topics.
Open Source Horror: The Slender Man
Pushing Fannish Buttons: Chi Fi vs The Westin River North Hotel of Chicago
A Publisher’s Perspective on Profits: ebooks vs print
Top 20 Vampires in Books & Literature
The Conjuring (2013)
Deconstructing Horror: Haunted Houses
Characters: Clare of Claymore
Are You Ready for Five Nights at Freddy’s?
Doctor-Who-Matt-Smith
Books That Never Were – Farewell Atlantis
Embracing Dragon Age’s Source Material
The Nine Billion Names of God by Arthur C. Clarke
Individualism, Atheism, and the Search for God in Cormac McCarthy’s The Road
It’s (Not) Rocket Science: John Aaron: “SCE to AUX”
Women in Armour vs. Chicks in Chain-mail
There’s Something About Night Vale
Interview with Hall of Fame Author Kate Wilhelm
What’s the Trouble With Selfies? Speculative Fiction and the Mirror Effect
Interview: David Langford and John Clute on The SF Encylopedia
Six Possible Changes to the World Map by 2020
Bloc Voting The Hugo Awards – Death Of A Thousand Cuts
Top Ten Best Science Fiction Movie Villains of All Time
An Introduction to the Empire’s Corps
The Golden Amazon, a Pulp Fiction Heroine Who Made Doc Savage Look Like a Wimp
The Amazing Virgil Finlay
Interview with Award-Winning Author Lois McMaster Bujold
The Islamic Moonbase Conspiracy by Tom Easton
The Art of the Shaver Mystery
19th Nervous Breakdown? 34th Kerfuffle? SFWA & The Petition
iHobby 2013
These Fractured States: An Overview of Balkanized Americas
An Interview with Bestselling Author Ty Franck (James S.A. Corey)
Recap: “Ko No Mono,” Hannibal, Season 2, Episode 11
Interview: Amal El-Mohtar
No. 16 – Alice Bradley Sheldon, The Screwfly Solution, and the Secret Life of a CIA Operative.
The Destroyer is Back!
THE GOOD OLD (GAME) DAYS…
Now with even MORE Pulp!
The Ten Greatest Wizards of All Time
Alternate Israels: Five Historical Proposals for a Jewish Homeland
Once Upon a Time in Wonder(ful)land
Yoshihiro Togashi and Growth As A Creator
Interview With World Fantasy Award Nominee Author Scott Lynch
Appropriating Heinlein
Interview with SFWA Grand Master Michael Moorcock
The Icon of Monsters and Monster Models
Witchfinder General Soundtrack
ASM Blog Horde Interview with Michael J. Sullivan
Interview: Trenna Keating (aka Doc Yewll) from Defiance
Michiko to Hatchin is the Best Anime You’ve Never Watched
The Metal Man by Jack Williamson
Dear Publishers, listen to authors and put reader’s first
Unearthing Forgotten Horrors: Hauntology, Psychogeography, and Folk Horror
Recap: “Naka-Choko,” Hannibal, Season 2, Episode 10
Happy New Year! My Top 25 Horror Moments Of 2013
ROBERT E. HOWARD and the Many Faces of CONAN
Marion Zimmer Bradley: When a Classic Gets Tainted
The Voyage That Lasted 600 Years by Don Wilcox
Interview with SFWA Grand Master Ursula K. Le Guin
REVISTAS VIRTUALES Y REALES DE CIENCIA FICCIÓN EN ESPAÑOL
Conan, by Crom!
Top Ten Greatest Swords of All Time
I, Rocket by Ray Bradbury with an Introduction by JM Stine
Review – Mr Nobody (the best film you’ve never heard of)
Author’s Earnings: Part 2
Interview with Award Winning Author Elizabeth Bear
Who Killed My Little Pony?
El Güije, el cagüeyro, la tatagua y otros seres de la mitología cubana
Editorial: The End of the Beginning
When Did Science Fiction Begin?
Warp-drive and Exoplanets
Damage Done: SF in the SF Age
AMAZING News 3-30-29
The Language of Scandal: Why Do Speculative Fiction Writers Love Disgusting Scatological Insults?
When Science Fiction is Not Science Fiction
The 10 Commandments of New Fantasy (Part 1)
Author’s Earnings
5 Reasons Why Tor’s ‘Imprint’ Will Sky Rocket!
Author’s Earnings: Part 3 Mid-list Print Sales
Spaceship Modeling Part 2
Interview with Chad Connell from The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones
The Art of the Game
Can Environmental SF Help Save Our Planet?
Girl, You’re In the Army Now
Review: Robert A. Heinlein Was A Dick…A Review of Patterson’s Bio, Volume 2
SW #23.4 – NYCC ’13 Interview With Rebecca Sugar & Ian Jones-Quartey
Zombies Is Stoopid. Characters Is Too.
Sexism and the SFWA
Ray Harryhausen: Concept Artist
Finnish Science Fiction: Two Perspectives, Two Authors.
A Review of Dangerous Women, an Anthology Edited by Gardner Dozois and George R.R. Martin
Interview with Award-Winning Author Michael Swanwick
Jodorowsky’s Dune
ROBERT A. HEINLEIN’S JUVENILES: Are they still good? (Part One)
Ten Things to Consider When Revising Your Novel
El Reino de AV-LES
Crossroads: Negotiating the Unreal in Magic Realism and Fantasy
Dress for the Occasion 2: The Decked-out Heroine
AMAZING NEWS! Gerrold’s A Doctor For the Enterprise Comic Completed!
That Fighting Spirit! Yankees, Bad Boys, and Yakuza
What the %&*# is Perry Rhodan?
When it comes to subjects, perhaps one of our best indicators are category tags. Here is a revview of some of them (numbers are number of posts in that category): Our high-level categories are, of course, Science Fiction (1,730), Fantasy (896) and Horror (538).
Other categories look something like this:
Anime (214), Art (289), Classics (235), Comics (236), Ebooks (243), Excerpts (63), Fiction (216), Film (423), Games (132), History (383), Interviews (178), Poetry (66), Publishing (314), Reviews (467), Science (247), Space (187), Television (417), Visual Arts (295), Writing (404).
There is overlap of course (a post may have more than one tag), but those numbers do give some idea of what we’ve been hitting on.
Finally, our people. Each and everyone of them deserves praise and thanks for helping out in big ways and in small. I’m happy to report that several of our contributors have mentioned that their efforts here have helped them out with their careers in some fashion or other; I’m also happy to report that most of our original contributors are still with us.
Amazing has received help, support and assistance from many over the past several years, among them: 117 contributors on “active duty” and another 46 currently in suspended animation, awaiting revival. That’s 163 dedicated, caring, wonderful and FANTASTIC individuals, all of whom have given selflessly of themselves to help start and keep this project going. And we’re not even mentioning those who contribute in ways other than writing or illustrating for the site.
When you ring in the new year, take a second to thank those folks for bringing you such wonderful content and for helping to keep the Amazing Stories name alive.
Have a Happy New Year’s folks. We’ll see you on the other side of the time portal!
