Friday Links Invented Lurkers and Flaming

This article looks at where Babylon 5 stands in the history of modern genre television with particular focus on its central role in developing an internet fandom. Remember what it was like to watch TV without the internet? In Australia, episodes of Bab5 screened late at night on Nine, randomly up to two hours after their scheduled time because of sports shows. Getting to watch an episode was a special kind of treasure hunt, and if you missed half an episode, it was GONE FOREVER (until the VHS release).

Meanwhile, iView has taught my daughter to believe all good TV shows are constantly and permanently available at the flick of a button. She regards our actual television with deep suspicion and resentment because SOMETIMES PLAYSCHOOL IS NOT ON, THAT’S SO WRONG.

The Mary Sue reveals a special bit of programming which means that if you ask Siri to describe the plot of particular movies, she has a certain computercentric view on the storylines. My favourite bit is how Star Trek is about a spaceship and it’s assistant, named Computer.

Tor.com on Mini Free Libraries. I want one. I want six!

Seanan McGuire follows up on her previous post, talking about why she doesn’t think being raped should be compulsory for her heroines, with some expansion on what she said before but also talking about the result/fallout of the discussion.

Mindy Klasky/Morgan Keyes on how to run a blog tour for your book – some great advice here!

DC Women Kicking Ass talk about the history of Joker and the Batgirl, in the lead up to the new Batman crossover event.

A gorgeous review of Galactic Suburbia – and yes, the new episode will be up soon!

Malindo Lo brings the stats, this time looking at the interesting fact that there is a clear majority of male protagonists in award-winning YA fiction. Yep, YA is totally a “female-dominated” genre.

If you have any kind of SF convention going experiences, this vid should entertain you muchly! No knowledge of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic required.