Feed Control: seven highly recommended genre aggregator blogs

Filed by: Darren on July 10, 2007 at 11:53
Filed In: Blogging, Life, Work

The Silence of the Feeds I was forced to take drastic action a couple of weeks ago: having realised that there was just no way I was ever going to be able to keep up with the vast output from the 150+ RSS feeds that I'd merrily subscribed to over the past year or so, I took a deep breath, reached for the 'unsubscribe' check-box, and instigated a full-scale cull.

It was tough, but in the end I managed to unsubscribe from over a hundred. I started with anything just too prolific for me to have a hope in hell of keeping up with (Boing! Boing! was the first to go) and then moved onto the bulk of the expendables: Marketing / Web 2.0 themed blogs that I'd read one or two interesting posts on a while back and had subscribed to out of habit, before I knew any better...

Then there were a few that I was genuinely reluctant to let go: really interesting blogs written by authors, editors and publishers whose work I've read and enjoyed, or whose blogs I know of by their deservedly high repute: Neil Gaiman, Lou Anders, Ken MacLeod, Charlie Stross, John Scalzi, Jeff Vandermeer, Tobias Buckell, to name but a few...

Why did I drop their feeds? Simple time-availability issues: these guys all tend to post regularly on a wide range of topics; too regularly and too widely for me to keep proper tabs on it all. Don't get me wrong, it's the sort of material that's great to sit and read and ponder if you have the time; the sort of material I'd love to be able to keep up with, if I could.

Besides which, it actually occurred to me, about half-way through the process, that if I really wanted to keep a weather-eye on the most pertinent debates of the day, or to be alerted whenever the aforementioned authors, editors and publishers post something particularly fascinating, then it's actually quite easy to arrange. All I really need to do is make sure I was subscribed to the best aggregator sites that I could find; the ones that regularly pull together and present all the best material from around the genre-flavoured bits of the web.

And so here - in no particular order and for the benefit of several readers - is my personal selection of seven highly-recommended genre aggregator blogs; the pick of the crop that I've found to-date. Some of these guys write opinion pieces as well (which is great) but in general, I keep them in a Google Reader tag-group called 'Genre - Essential' because they can be relied upon to aggregate regularly and aggregate well...

Joe Gordon - The Forbidden Planet Blog Log. Joe is a pro-blogger in the truest sense of the phrase; he actually gets paid by his employer, UK genre-specialist retailer Forbidden Planet International, to write entries for the FP Blog. As a result, you can expect several entries per day from Joe, mainly with a general books and comics them, but encompassing a wide range of diverse sf-ish or graphic art -esque sub-topics: everything from previews of the latest Doctor Who merchandise to reports on Iranian political cartooning. He's also usually first out of the traps with the latest press releases from UK publishers, and isn't afraid to speak his mind when the occasion warrants, either.
Niall Harrison - Torque Control. Niall is the current editor of the British Science Fiction Association's Vector magazine. He's often outspoken (he isn't afraid to chuck stones around his own glass house either), always eloquent, and produces regular Links round-ups (complete with pun-based titles).
Iain Emsley - Yatterings. Iain used to run the online bookstore The Aust Gate until he decided to focus his energies on blogging instead. The results are great: Yatterings is regularly updated with interesting news snippets and he regularly takes the time to conduct in-depth author interviews.
Paul Raven - Velcro-City Tourist Board. Velcro-City is definitely one of the most rich and diverse sf / culture / science / tech blogs around. Paul brings all his interests to the table, so there's always a great mix of content, and his 'Fresh from teh intarwebs' round-ups are a great way of catching up.
James Bloomer - Big Dumb Object. James is another regular, nay prolific, poster; he usually manages several updates a day on a wide variety of topics, with plenty of Doctor Who content to explore, if you're a fellow fan. Again, another great site for keeping up to date with the most important news and current events.
JP Frantz and John DeNardo - SF Signal. Online since July 2003, SF Signal is a team-produced blog/zine with regularly updated content that ranges from news snippets and round-ups to book reviews, competitions, readers polls and more. (It's pretty much the sort of thing I always aspired to with The Alien Online, but had to give up on when it all got to be too much on the admin side of things.)
Andrew Wheeler - The Antick Musings of GBH Hornswoggler, Gent. Andrew Wheeler used to blog professionally for The SF Bookclub of America, before they decided (for reasons best known only to themselves) to let him go. At that point he started using Antick Musings as a Blog in Exile, putting out the same extremely regular round-ups of interviews, reviews, podcasts, news and links, until recently when he was taken on by the far more far-sighted ComicMix, so check out his posts there as well. This guy is the uber-blogger's uber-blogger. Seriously, I have no idea where he finds the time...

So, there you have it. My current list of the seven best genre fiction-themed aggregator blogs. Not that these are the only feeds I read, of course. There are several other close-call candidates in the 'Genre - Important' tag folder, including British Fantasy Society News, the aforementioned ComicMix, Irish Sci-Fi News, SFScope, Neth Space and, of course, Locus Online. Then there are a bunch of genre publisher blogs: Orbit, Solaris, Pyr, Subterranean, TTA and some general publisher / book news / bookish blogs as well.

But hey, this is by no means intended to be an exhaustive list and I'm always open to new sources of news and hard fact, so please feel free to add your own suggestions in the comments. If anyone suggests anything I find particularly fascinating, I'll run an update in a week or three.

Print this Item

Send by Email

Comments

20 Responses to 'Feed Control: seven highly recommended genre aggregator blogs'

John on July 10th, 2007 12:11 pm

Thanks, Ariel! We're in fine company -- and that includes yourself.
Paul Raven on July 10th, 2007 12:44 pm

...there was just no way I was ever going to be able to keep up with the vast output from the 150+ RSS feeds that I'd merrily subscribed to over the past year or so...

That's the thing - I read 320 feeds daily so you don't have to! ;)

Seriously, though, thanks - that's the most flattering description of VCTB I've ever read. Some days I wonder why I'm bothering, but to read something like that makes it all worthwhile.
Ariel on July 10th, 2007 12:47 pm

I read 320 feeds daily so you don't have to! ;)

My point exactly, mate. :D

And hey, I just call 'em as I find 'em. You keep churning out the top-notch content and I'll remain a big fan.
Niall on July 10th, 2007 4:02 pm

Thanks, Ariel -- it's good to know the link roundups are useful to someone other than me.
Ed on July 10th, 2007 7:45 pm

Irish Sci-Fi News can't take up too much of your time, not exactly prolific. But then they keep to their remit and things happen so much less frequently over here.
Neth on July 10th, 2007 11:03 pm

Thanks for the shoutout and I'm glad I make the cut. I try to keep my feeds to under30 - anymore than that and it gets scary if I skip a day. Of course you are included.
Ariel on July 11th, 2007 7:08 am

Niall, Neth, you're most welcome. Same applies to you guys: keep churning out the good stuff and I'll keep reading.

And hey, Niall, I was very tempted to weigh in to your online reviewing thread this morning. Maybe if I get time later on today...
James on July 11th, 2007 7:10 am

No pressure then...
Niall on July 11th, 2007 8:51 am

Please do! I feel like I have to watch my words somewhat when it comes to this topic, since I have such an obvious vested interest, so I'm all for others chiming in.
Ariel on July 11th, 2007 11:25 am

No pressure then...

None whatsoever. Unless you let your impeccably high standards slip for so much as a second, of course... ;)
tobias on July 11th, 2007 1:19 pm

*tear* I've been dropped :-)

I recommend people keep their feeds slimmed down as well, however I do track 700+ feeds for work and pleasure :-) I occasionally think about slimming down, but there's so much interesting stuff to find!
Ariel on July 11th, 2007 1:30 pm

Um... well, not so much 'dropped' as... look, you know how in football (the proper, UK, Europe and the Rest of the World version, not the armoured rugby they play over in the US) when the star striker plays so many games that he needs a rest and takes an honourable place on the subs' bench for a while? It's more like that, really... honest...

And you track 700 feeds? Jeez, how do find time to write novels for crying out loud..?
Paul Raven on July 11th, 2007 1:59 pm

And you track 700 feeds? Jeez, how do find time to write novels for crying out loud..?

Tobias is actually a 5th generation cyborg, but his publicist has told him to keep a lid on that. ;)
tobias on July 11th, 2007 2:09 pm

Heh. I'm a speedreader, it's only a small commitment for the non-work feeds. I work as a blogger, so the 300 finance/stock related news feeds qualify as research.
Ariel on July 11th, 2007 2:14 pm

Ah... work feeds. I have about a dozen of those myself :)

Actually, Tobias, I've been reading reams of positive buzz for Crystal Rain for ages - any sign of a UK release?
Niall on July 11th, 2007 3:59 pm

I knew I forget to mention something: the other big linker I follow is Shaken & Stirred.
Ariel on July 11th, 2007 4:12 pm

Cheers Niall, that looks like a damn good site. +1 Feed, and counting...
tobias on July 12th, 2007 6:20 pm

Ariel, no UK release yet, though I've been getting great reviews from people over there. Kind of frustrating, but out of my control.

If you'd like a review copy, email me at Tobias@tobiasbuckell.com, I have some paperbacks lying around.

best
Ariel on July 13th, 2007 5:21 pm

Tobias, that's very kind of you indeed, but I actually have some Amazon vouchers to spend, so I'll use those and save you the trans-Atlantic postage... :)

Who's your agent, by the way? There's a chap over here in the UK by the name of John Jarrold who knows the genre field like the back of his hand, if you wanted to talk to someone about possible UK representation...
tobias on July 14th, 2007 1:38 pm

Thanks for the pointer Ariel! My agent in the UK is Mr. John Richard Parker, who works to represent me via Joshua Bilmes, my US agent.