Fanzine Spotlight: Warp Speed Odyssey

It’s time for the next entry in my Fanzine Spotlight project. For more about the Fanzine Spotlight project, go here. You can also check out the other great fanzines featured by clicking here.

Today’s featured fanzine is Warp Speed Odyssey, a science fiction review and interview blog.

And now I’d like to welcome Steven Morrissette of Warp Speed Odyssey.

Tell us about your site or zine.

Warp Speed Odyssey is a sci-fi blog that I have started about a year ago to write some book and movie reviews. Soon enough I started meeting some authors that wanted to get involved and some also sent me their books to be reviewed. Rapidly the blog took off and now we have conducted some interviews with authors, reviewed books, and featured many guests that presented their novels.

Who are the people behind your site or zine?

I started by myself slowly but then I met Jean-Paul Garnier from Space Cowboy Books who was of tremendous help and also became the first contributing author, reviewing some books and conducting some interviews for Warp Speed Odyssey. Furthermore, Robin Rose Graves who is a friend of Jean-Paul became the second contributing author submitting book reviews and interviews as well. And Finally, there is my sister Jessica who started translating some of the articles into french.

Why did you decide to start your site or zine?

Initially, I started Warp Speed Odyssey to practice my writing skills by writing about different sci-fi themes and reviews. But soon enough the orientation of the website shifted to become a place where authors could promote their work and get interviewed about their writing journey.

What format do you use for your site or zine (blog, e-mail newsletter, PDF zine, paper zine) and why did you choose this format?

Warp Speed Odyssey is in a blog format. I chose the blog format because it is similar to a magazine but it is online and the cost is relatively low, permitting me to offer free services to authors.

The fanzine category at the Hugos is one of the oldest, but also the category which consistently gets the lowest number of votes and nominations. So why do you think fanzines and sites are important?

I think that fanzines are important because they are a good place for indie authors to promote their books and get them reviewed as well.

In the past twenty years, fanzines have increasingly moved online. What do you think the future of fanzines looks like?

The future of fanzine will probably focus on online platforms because it’s less expansive and easier to reach the audience via social media. But there will always remain those true paper lover readers like me that will buy their physical copy.

The four fan categories of the Hugos (best fanzine, fan writer, fan artist, and fancast) tend to get less attention than the fiction and dramatic presentation categories. Are there any awesome fanzines, fancasts, fan writers, and fan artists you’d like to recommend?

I would like to recommend Nathan Warner a Star Trek fan artist and writer.

http://www.blabberdock.com/home.html

Where can people find you?

You can contact me on the contact page of warpspeedodyssey.com or @OdysseyWarp on Twitter.

Thanks, Steven, for stopping by and answering my questions.

Do check out Warp Speed Odyssey, cause it’s a great blog.

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Do you have a Hugo eligible fanzine or site and want it featured? Contact me or leave a comment.