A little gratuitous linkage

Back in my early college years, I got my first introduction to what eventually became the Internet. In my freshman year, I got an account on BITNET -- a network linking mainframe computers on college and university campuses around the country. Among the many time-killers I discovered online, my favorite was SFSTORY.

SFSTORY was a collaborative, science-fiction parody -- much in the style of "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy," only written by college students. The original idea was that one author would post a chapter introducing a plot and a set of characters, and other authors would post additional chapters to move the plot forward. By the time I became involved (around 1988), there were multiple authors, each pursuing separate plotlines, set in a common universe (or "multiverse," as they were called for some reason I've long since forgotten.) I became an Authors, posting at irregular intervals, until SFSTORY folded some time around 1990. It was reborn later, and incorporated into another collaborative writing project called Superguy. But that's a much longer story.

In any event, the other day I was Googling "SFSTORY," to see if there were still any traces of it lingering on the web. In the process, I turned up a couple of my old colleagues. Troy Cheek, who wrote under the name "The Cowboy," now has a web site at cheek.org. He seems to be working on a new SFSTORY plot, and he posts other things he's written. Also, Eric Burns -- known in his SFSTORY days as "Eric, Lord Sabre" -- is still writing, too. He has a blog here, and he also operates Websnark, a site devoted to web comics.

Consider this an unsolicited plug. You should check out their sites. Yes, they're old friends of mine. But, more importantly, they're great writers, and they deserve the attention.