Thursday, April 22, 2010

Keeping on top of Genre, The Monthlies

Keeping on top of genre news once a month comes down to reading some magazines and visiting some web sites. Basically I like to think of it as genre maintenance.

First off the magazines - I collect Realms of Fantasy and Cemetery Dance - this keeps me up-to-date with most Fantasy and Horror news out there, but for SF I haven't actually found a magazine that works for me yet (any suggestions would be welcome). Both of these magazines have sections that update new movies, books, games, and even comics that relate to their fields, so by taking a quick look once a month, I can see some of the newer stuff out there that I might otherwise miss.

The first website I check out on a monthly basis is Previews, which is basically a catalogue of upcoming comic book releases. You can search for monthly releases via publisher (for comics), sections (like toys, calendars, or RPGs), or even a helpful Staff Picks section. My local comic book store takes orders from Previews by the 23rd of each month, so I have a good excuse to check out what's new - This month I ordered the newest Walking Dead trade paperback and a comic called Mouse Guard: Fall 1152.

The other website I check out each month is TV Shows on DVD which is basically exactly as advertised; they have a release schedule for soon to be released shows (it tends to run about 5 months ahead) which allows me to plan out which series I plan on getting for the next couple months - as I don't have cash for everything I have to keep it down to one every other month - the next one I'm looking forward to is True Blood, season 2 which gets released in late May.

So there you have it, my monthly schedule for keeping on track.

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