SciFiEmpire celebrates its 9th anniversary!

It has been 9 years since I started SciFiEmpire.net. I posted twice on July 3rd 2011. The first time to announce a blog had been born and the second time a mini review of Deus Ex Human Revolution. I started SciFiEmpire.net because I thought it would be the easiest medium to express myself. I am not somebody who can sit in front of a camera and start a YouTube channel – or even a podcast for that matter. Back then I had just ended my second year in college and I had become settled in. Starting this blog was something I had wanted to do before, but then I found I had the time. It also felt like a good project to do for the summer. Whatever my reason, now I am able to celebrate its 9th anniversary.

Nine years is a long time. I have been going through some of the earliest articles. Back then Eureka was still on the air, and Person of Interest would start that September. Even then it was clear Science Fiction was slowly dying on TV. A situation that has only been reversed with series such as The Expanse, Westworld and Altered Carbon. I managed a steady output of reviews of my favorite shows for a number of years. However, maintaining a blog is not always easy. There have been plenty of times when I thought of stopping. In two instance I actually had and this blog remained vacant for several months. I had decided I did not want to just write reviews of series. so I decided to mix things up.

New types of content

It is a process that is still ongoing. Since last year I have added two additional sections to this blog: comics and magazines. Previously I had never been a big fan of comic books, but Blade Runner 2019 and the various Star Wars titles changed my mind. Since then I also cover graphic novels. Most notably The Incal and The Sandman, both of which are an ongoing series of review. The magazine section is still a trial. I hope to cover both science fiction and tech, but there is not much of either available. Since the outbreak of the Corona virus magazine releases have started slipping. I don’t expect that to change before the fall.

That leads me to the current Coronavirus pandemic. So far 2020 has been a weird year. On the one hand I have had plenty of time to post new articles, on the other hand there is little to post about. Most major movies have been delayed to the fall and same is true for series, games and comics. The Coronavirus epidemic was initially great for the viewership which started reaching 300 per day on a regular basis. Now, this blog is back to 200 view per day.

What to expect from 2020?

So where do we go from here? In the last few years the fall has always been the best time for Science Fiction lovers. Games and movie schedules are certainly stacked this year. Cyberpunk 2077 is probably the biggest game release since GTA 5, matched at the cinema only by Denis Villeneuve’s Dune. Long before that we will see Christopher Nolan’s Tenet later in July and Wasteland 3 in August. When it comes to series things are less clear. Right now there is the third and final season of Dark and the second season of Hanna. Meanwhile I am also watching the second season of Condor. However, when it comes to pure Sci-Fi there is The Falcon and the Winter Soldier sometime later this year, as well as season 3 of Star Trek Discovery.

There is plenty to write about in the second half of the year. Enough not to become stir crazy. However, there is more. Astute readers will have noticed I have continued adding material to the Dune dedicated pages. I have done this for the run-up to the release of Dune in December. I have think there is has never been a better time than to write a deep dive on my favorite novel series. Similar dedicated pages also exist for Star Wars, Blade Runner and The Fifth Element. I will add to those when I can. Readers who are excited by all of this and want to help should contact me. I will then make you an associate contributor. Meanwhile I also finished the discussion forum. Another way you can help is to become a subscriber to SciFiEmpire.net. Just fill out the widget on the right and you will never miss a new article.

That was it for the 9th anniversary celebration. I thank every reader who regularly visit this blog and I hope together we can celebrate the 10th anniversary next year!