http://http://worldswithoutend.com WWEnd Forum - New Features & News http://http://worldswithoutend.com/mbbs22/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=1414 Well, as all things WWEnd do, it took us longer to get this feature out to you guys but it's finally here. At least the first piece...
You can now start building your personal Award Worthy Books List in My World! For any book first published in 2015 you'll find a check box to add the book to your list. The check box matches the genre for the book so an SF book will only have the option to add that book to your SF list. Some books that straddle the line between genres like fantasy/horror will give you 2 choices and you can pick the one that you think it fits best.

So for example, you really loved Aurora by Kim Stanley Robinson:


You go to the Aurora page
tag the book as read
check the box that says "Add to My Science Fiction List" in the Award Worthy Books section
click Submit
You're done.

You can see your recent activity on the profile page in My World where we show your latest 5 picks regardless of genre. Click the section header to get the main page that shows all your picks and available slots for each of the 3 genres. Click the genre headers on the My Award Worthy Books List page to get to the Books Published by Year list so you can find eligible new books to add to your list.
As always, if we're missing a book you want to add to your list you can make your requests in the forum and one of our Ubers will take care of you.
The second part of the Award Worthy Books project is the main list. We're going to let some data build and test for the rest of this week then make that list available to everyone.
Some tips to keep in mind:
you must tag the book as read to activate the check box that lets you add the book to your list
only 5 pics per genre - the check box will be disabled when you reach the max
you can change your picks anytime you want so you don't have to horde those precious slots - just put on the best books you're read so far - they can always be replaced if you read a better book later
Give it a go and let us know here what you think or if you run into any problems or have any questions. Your feedback is valuable so we can't wait to hear your thoughts.
Read on!
]]> http://http://worldswithoutend.com/mbbs22/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=5142 It is with a heavy heart that I announce the passing of two members from the WWEnd Community: Rich "Rico" Simpkins (icowrich) and Charles Dee Mitchell (CharlesDee).


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Rich was an original founder of WWEnd with me over 20 years ago. What began as a little website to satisfy our desire to track and read all the Hugo Award books quickly blossomed into a much bigger endeavor that we decided needed to be shared with the world. He was instrumental in coming up with ideas and solving problems that helped us build the site into the extensive resource that it is today.


Rich was one of the smartest people I've ever known. He had an encyclopedic understanding of his favorite topics -- religion, politics, history, philosophy -- and you would be hard pressed to catch him out on any other topic you care to name. He had a voracious hunger for knowledge and was a truly deep thinker. He could help even those of us with the meanest understanding connect the dots. He was the person you went to with the hard questions when you knew the answers could change your life. Infinitely patient and kind, he was a natural born teacher, loving family man, and a fierce friend who cared deeply about the people in his life.


Rich passed suddenly, last week, from a heart attack at the age of 58. Any age would have been "too soon" for a man like Rich, but all who knew him feel particularly cheated right now, especially his students and the young people in his life who no doubt looked forward to many more years of his mentorship. He was one of my best friends for the last 42 years and I miss him dearly.


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Dee was the first friend I ever made online. He stumbled upon WWEnd in 2011 and came to my attention when he started dropping reviews left and right -- he posted more than 400 over the years. Dee became friends with Rich and Chis too and even joined us on a road trip to World Con in San Antonio. He was a WWEnd supporter and contributor and, as an Uber User, he added many new books to the site, most of them of the horror and weird type. He also hosted a handful of reading challenges every year.


When I discovered he was a local here in Dallas I suggested we meet up at Half Price Books for a browse and a coffee -- not knowing that he was the original book buyer for the whole chain of stores! We hit it off immediately. He was a tremendous book nerd — no topic was out of bounds for him — and a huge movie fan — especially horror films. When we got together it was always great conversation over great food. In his typically humble way he did not tell me that he was a big damn deal in the Dallas art scene. Dee had many interests and moved comfortably in many different circles. In all of them he was generous and kind, open and genuine.


Dee passed away, last week, from complications related to Parkinson’s. His last few years were not what anyone who loved him would have wanted. He suffered much pain and was housebound requiring 'round the clock caretakers. Dee bore it all with stoicism and grace and would tell you other people had it worse. In talking about one of his art shows he quoted P. T. Barnum saying “Always leave them wanting more.” Well, Dee has left us and he has left us wanting more.


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Rich and Dee touched many lives and will not soon be forgotten. To lose them both, only days apart, has been devastating but my hope is that they will find each other in Heaven and pick up on the last conversation they had. This site and this world are all the poorer for loosing two such great men. I love you both.



]]> http://http://worldswithoutend.com/mbbs22/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=5136 Chris and I were looking at some stats and thought you might be interested in them too. The new site will have a permanent stats page that will include these -- amongst a host of other stats -- all tricked-out in pie charts and graphs and images, etc. so everyone can see where we're at and how much our community is growing.

BOOKS
=========================
Total: 43,509
SF: 21,579
Fantasy: 19,223
Horror: 5,293
Book Awards: 29
Book Lists: 51

AUTHORS
=========================
Total: 8,208
Male: 4,907
Female: 3,219
Non-binary: 78

PUBLISHERS
=========================
Total: 1,716

MEMBERS
=========================
Total: 7,696
Member Reads: 478,135
Male Authored: 373,483
Female Authored: 121,502
Non-binary Authored: 1,690
Member Reads by Book Type:

Novel: 413,853
Collection: 18,662
Novella: 15,295
Omnibus: 8,024
Short Story: 7,702
Novelette: 5,866
Anthology: 4,136
Graphic Novel: 3,089
Non-Fiction: 987
Light Novel: 280
Miscellaneous: 194
Poem: 39
Play Script: 8
Reviews: 13,799]]> http://http://worldswithoutend.com/mbbs22/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=3154 I'm sure you have questions from time to time about WWEnd and our site features etc. or maybe you have an idea for an improvement you'd like to see. Or, maybe you just want to chat about books with someone. Whatever you want to talk about we're making ourselves available via our new
Ten Forward Channel on the WWEnd Discord server:

https://discord.gg/4dXpT9vZCh
This is totally new for us so there may be a learning curve involved with the software. If you already use Discord it should be easy enough for you to join us in the audio voice channel we set up. If you're new to Discord, like I am, you should be able to use a temporary membership to enter the room. We'll be using Discord more in the near future so if you want to keep up with our goings-on you might consider setting up an account.
This is possible because I work from home so I am on my computer all day and I have lots of free time throughout the day for a quick Q&A or even an extensive conversation depending on the day and my work load. Chris (whargoul) will be online as well though he does not have as much flexibility in he work day as I do. I'm going to log into Ten Forward when I get on in the morning around 9AM CT. If I'm in a meeting or otherwise busy we might have to delay our chat but it should not be a long wait most of the time.
After hours we're usually on and off late into the evening working on the site or on updates to WWEnd 3.Oh! We'll make ourselves available during those times as well. Hopefully that spread of hours will help with timezone differences so you can reach out any time that works for you. With scheduling I can arrange to meet you online late as well.
That's it. Got something you want to talk about? Pop in and have a go. We'll be around.]]> http://http://worldswithoutend.com/mbbs22/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=4642 http://http://worldswithoutend.com/mbbs22/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=3170 Hello everyone! Just wanted to let you all know we have just posted a giveaway contest in the blog and on Twitter to win one of 5 copies of L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future: Volume 39. Click the image below to go to the blog and enter!

]]> http://http://worldswithoutend.com/mbbs22/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=3157 I'm not sure I'm doing this correctly so I apologize in advance.

I am 75 and have been reading SciFi for 60+ years. There is a book that I read around 20 years ago I believe and I can't remember its title. If any of you happen to know the title; after I give a brief description of the story I would very much like to know what it is.

The story takes place on earth and there is a rouge planet heading toward our planet. One of the main characters tells his wife that the planet will be very close in its passing and he thinks that he will be able to fly their airplane from earth to the atmosphere of the other planet. His scheme works but soon he sees that the planet is populated by creatures who are about 7 feet tall with human like bodies but heads that resemble apes.

As the two planets start to move away from each other, he sees that now he can't fly back to earth. He and his wife try exploring the planet and soon he is killed by the creatures and his wife is made the property of one of these creatures. From there the story continues about her existence as a slave.

Thank you in advance if you, or someone remembers the title of this book.

Ken]]> http://http://worldswithoutend.com/mbbs22/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=2056 It's been a minute since we last added a new award to the site so i thought it would be fun to give you all something new to check out. Introducing the Nommo Award for African Speculative Fiction!

The award has only been around a few years but it's getting lots of buzz every year. The 2021 winner will be announced in August I believe. What do you think of this addition to the site?
]]> http://http://worldswithoutend.com/mbbs22/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=2038 Check out our newest giveaway going on now in the blog and on Twitter. I've got a copy of this book and it's impressive. When I finish murder-bot'n I'm going to get into it -- can't wait!
https://blog.worldswithoutend.com/2021/05/book-giveaway-the-best-of-world-sf-volume-1-edited-by-lavie-tidhar/#.YJ6ac6FOm70]]> http://http://worldswithoutend.com/mbbs22/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=1819

Hello WWEnders,

We're very excited to announce the start of the Worlds Without End Patreon Campaign (https://www.patreon.com/wwend ). You may have seen the banners sprinkled around the site already but this email is our first push to jump-start the campaign.

Worlds Without End is now, and should always be, a free resource to the genre fiction community but real life circumstances have changed and we are looking for a little help from our members and fans. We recently lost our free web hosting arrangement with our former employer so we are now having topay out of pocket for hosting, domain names, and all those other bits of software etc. that go along with running a website. In addition, we have spent many hundreds of hours developing the site and, with the new WWEnd 3.0 in the pipeline, we are spending more and more of our free time on upgradesand new features. All that time comes at a personal cost that is getting harder and harder to justify to ourselves and our families.

To rectify the situation we have embarked upon a plan to monetize the site in a number of ways that won't negatively impact user experience. Advertising, swag, a tip jar, and Patreon are some of the things that you'll see rolling out over the next several months on the current site. If you like what we're doing here and want to further our efforts you'll have plenty of opportunities to do so.

With your support we'll be able to keep the lights on and put a little incentive money in our pockets to keep us pushing forward on the new site. We'll be posting updates on our Patreon site and in the forums about our progress along with some sneak peeks of coming features for our patrons to go with the incentives we've already built into the campaign. Those incentives will grow with the launch of the new site too so what you see now is not the end of the goodies.

Please take a look at our Patreon campaign (https://www.patreon.com/wwend ) and if you are ready to take our relationship to the next level pick a patron tier and click the button.

We thank you for your support!

Dave, Chris, and Rico]]> http://http://worldswithoutend.com/mbbs22/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=2036 We just launched a book giveaway in the blog:

Click through and get your entries in! This is a USA only contest so my apologies to our international WWEnders. Its a shipping restriction placed by the publicist who will be mailing out the books.
]]> http://http://worldswithoutend.com/mbbs22/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=1980
Hello everyone! Super excited to announce this new addition to WWEnd. It's probably a bit overdue but it's better to be late to the party than to never show up. You can read the into from our blog here. This list will be a great resource for our community and specifically for those participating in the Speculative Fiction by Authors of Colour reading challenge.
We invite you to explore the list and the articles written by Nisi Shawl about the books (links are on the book pages) and let us know what you think of this addition to the site.
]]> http://http://worldswithoutend.com/mbbs22/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=1756
I have a large library of Sci-fy books ( All the Hugos and Nebulas) plus many many more. I am finding the scrolling through the lists of books and updating them one by one quite tedious?]]> http://http://worldswithoutend.com/mbbs22/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=1388 We've just added a new list to the site: Books Published by Year. With this list you can search the DB by year, genre, and book type. You can even get just the award nominated books for the year.
This list will address several requests over the years to make searching the site easier and was a necessary step for the next project the Award-Worthy Books list.

Check it out and let us know if you encounter any problems. Thanks.
]]> http://http://worldswithoutend.com/mbbs22/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=1757 Ancillary Justice is a Scio-Political Galactic Empire novel with Collective and Artificial Intelligence.]]>