Reference webpages for fanfic writers
Posted: 2008-11-06 01:04pm
*REFERENCE SITES*
-GENERAL/ORIGINAL-
10,000-year Calender! Never again have some little dick point out that the 18 of January, 4326 is a Monday, not a Thuesday like you claimed in your story. Only really useful to those of us who demand a truly anally retentive attention to detail. Recommended by Starbug.
Aliens Species Wiki. An online encyclopedia with profiles for non-human species from a large number of franchises. Recommended by rogrd.
Archive.org. Perhaps best known as the Wayback Machine, the people behind these page have devoted substantial amounts of effort and money to store abandoned webpages. If one of the links in this list doesn't work, try to find it in their archives.
Digital Dutch Unit Converter. Need to know how many meters there are in a light year? This site is for you. R. judgeking.
Edgar Governo, Historian of Things That Never Were. A website linking a large number of SF timelines. However, some links don't work anymore, or are totally speculative. R. Tai Falkenburg.
Lelola.net. An old favorite before the advent of Wikis, it covered a variety of Anime series, including Digimon < Sailor Moon, as well as a few obscure ones (Anyone remember Mon Cole Knights or Flint The Time Detective?). R. Tai Falkenburg. [NOTE: The old Lelola archive seems to have been quietly removed by the author from the live web, but backups still exist, thanks to the Wayback Machine.]
Mecha Anime Headquarters. A site providing details on a number of Mecha used in Gundam, as well as a number of other series. Also episode guides for the every Gundam series. Recommended by Tai Falkenburg and Samas.
No Nonsense Self-Defense. Might be more geared towards Modern Day concerns on Self Defense, but from what I've read so far... It has quite a few articles which can help with learning about how combat can really work out, instead of shonen techniques. R. Master Basher.
The English To Geordie Translator. Useful for when you need a thick, northern-English/Scottish style of speech, but don't know how to write it naturally. Would recommend editing what it gives you, as it can be hard to understand a Geordie at the best of times... Recommended by Starbug.
The Grand List of Overused Science Fiction Cliches. Like TV Tropes, only in a list format that makes it easier and quicker to read. Still funny to read. R. Tai Falkenburg.
The (Hopefully) Official Canon Thread. Hosted in these very forums and started by thtadthtshldntb. This page contains notes about the canon policies of a number of fictional universes. Recommended by Steven Kodaly.
TV Tropes. An encyclopedia of narrative cliches. Very funny and very useful to avoid certain traps. Recommended by Tai Falkenburg.
Fantasy Name Generators. Exactly what it says. Also provides randomized names for characters of different geographical backgrounds, locations, pieces of enchanted gear and so on. Recommended by Luke Danger.
ColorQ World. Authors who dare to touch the ever touchy subject of different racial perspectives might find some things of interest in this page. Recommended by Manthor.
-Comics-
Comicvine. A portal about all things comics that contains, among other sections, an extensive encyclopedia about comic related matters. It covers fringe characters and titles not covered by any other online resource, but its articles can sometimes be less than perfectly comprehensive. Recommended by Manthor.
KMC Forums and Comic Book Resources. Forums with a focus in comics and comic related matters. KMC hosts a large number of respect threads that in some cases allow would be writers to see characters they might want to use at their craziest. Recommended by Manthor.
-Literature & History-
Alternate History. A board which claims to be the largest gathering of alternate history fans in the web, a claim that is probably true. Contains a lot of alternate history timelines, generic discussion and resources. Also, it has a fairly useful associated wiki, in case anyone finds the size of the board daunting.
Ancient History Sourcebook / Medieval Sourcebook / Modern History Sourcebook. Contains a lot of original texts from the time periods and later works concerning the same timeframes, ranging from the private letters of Admiral Nelson to the Communist Manifesto or Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. R. Average Bob.
Baka Tsuki. A community devoted to translating from Japanese light novels associated with certain manga/anime franchises (such as Fate/Zero, Slayers, Familiar of Zero...).
Corpus Scriptorum Latinorum. Is a link list that aims to act as the reference index for all literature written in latin that can be found online. R. Average Bob.
Internet Sacred Text Library. Contains tons of sacred texts and articles about them from different world religions, past and present, so it also includes lots of stuff about the Norse sagas and such. R. Average Bob.
ORBIS. I would like to recommend ORBIS, a very detailed mapping program by two Stanford professors about travel times and costs in Ancient Rome, allowing various options like prioritizing costs and speed, methods of transportation available, and so on and so forth. Very useful for people who are writing fiction in this time period, or calculating rough travel times for fantasy fiction set in a similar age. ^_^ R. Kei.
Perseus Digital Library. Contains classic (Greek/Roman) literature both in the original languages and translated to English. R. Average Bob.
Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Whole text of the classical Chinese historic novel, translated to English. R. Average Bob.
Roman History. By Publius Cornelius Tacitus. Exactly what it sounds like. R. Average Bob.
Association For Renaissance Martial Arts. Heard about this site from some arcane Berserk crossover fic, but if you're wanting a reference for Medieval Warfare, then it's probably a good place to start. R. Master Basher.
The Internet Classics Archive. Contains ancient literature (mostly Greek/Roman, but with some Chinese and Persian authors too) translated to English. R. Average Bob.
The Online Medieval & Classical Library. More of the same, but redundancy never hurt anyone. R. Average Bob.
Bhagavad Gita. Part of the Mahabharata Hindu epic cycle, translated into English. Recommended by A Little World.
-Science & Technology-
Airfighters.com. Photography of military aircraft. Also contains some articles about specific types of airplane. R. judgeking.
Arrow Digital Archives. A site with information about the Avro Arrow, an advanced jet fighter designed and then dismantled by Canada in the fifties. R. judgeking.
Atomic Rockets. Excellent page, full of extremely valuable information for those who dare to use hard sci-fi in their writing. Atomic Rocket Equations is a site that takes the equations presented in Atomic Rockets and offers them as an easy to use calculator tool. Recommended by Warringer and Tai Falkenburg.
Future Timeline. A speculative future history of humanity. Recommended by Manthor.
Internet Movie Firearms Database. Want to know what gun Spike Spiegel carries? (it's a Jericho 941, FYI). Then this is the place for you. Recommended by Starbug.
Jeff Russell's STARSHIP DIMENSIONS. A page with a large collection of starship models done at different scales, very useful when you want to make comparisons between different universes. [NOTE: As of 11-05-12, website is gone. Fortunately, the Wayback Machine has a stored copy of the page.] [NOTE 2: As of 24-06-13, site is back online.]
Kinetic Energy Calculator. I recommend the Kinetic Energy Calculator, an invaluable resource when trying to find out just how much damage a ballistic round of a given mass and speed would do. Recommended by Full-Paragon.
Modern Firearms & Ammunition. An extremely detailed online encyclopedia dedicated to listing and describing seemingly every military and police gun since 1900, civilian guns are also listed. The site is run by a Russian named Maxim Popenker, who has written several books about firearms, and is a fantastic resource for anyone that wants to use guns in their writing. Recommended by Cody Fett.
Nate Meier's Jet-Engine.Net. A page with a database containing the technical specifications of a vast number of jet engine models. R. judgeking.
Science Fiction\Space Technology:Tools for Learning. A basic education site that deals with providing beginners an idea of spacecraft systems. R. Tai Falkenburg.
ScienceWorld. Claims to be the best resource for math and science in the Internet. Potentially useful for authors who want to make sure that the numbers they throw around in their stories are correct. Recommended by Manthor.
Sci-Fi Airshow. A page that shows artwork of a number of old school aircraft/spacecraft (such as Space: 1999's Eagle) as if they were restored museum pieces.
Scifi Meshes. Perhaps another for beautiful artwork and some good fan made ships. Recommended by rogdr.
Starship Schematics Database. A website of canon and fanmade starship schematics for Star Trek, B5, Battlestar Galactica and Space Cruiser Yamato. For those who love making fanmade schematics. R. Tai Falkenburg.
Technovelgy.com. A glossary of many science fiction inventions. Recommended by Tai Falkenburg.
Wolf's Shipyard. A page that is somewhat similar to Jeff Russell's site, but also includes a large proportion of fan-designed ships for different universes that go from the downright silly to the awesome. Recommended by kingdragon. [NOTE: As of 24-06-13, site has moved to a new address.]
Global Security. A page that offers overviews about various military related topics across the world. Recommended by Manthor.
The Box o' Truth. A site with plenty of penetration and terminal ballistics information for those writers who are a bit unsure of such things. R. MrCIA.
Federation of American Scientists. Contains a bunch of resources about various scientific fields. Recommended by Manthor.
-Writing & World-building-
A Fanfic Writer's Guide To Writing, Or, How To Be In The Ten Percent. Robert M. Schroek's guide to fanfic writing. Handy enough thing. Recommended by Dartz.
FARP - Fantasy Art Resource Project. A section of the Elfwood site containing many materials and tutorials designed to help budding creators. Of particular interest is the section devoted to writing. Recommended by Tai Falkenburg.
On Writing Erotica by Morgan Hawke. The advice there is surprisingly universal despite its specific dedication to the gothic/romance/erotica genres. It also has a very useful article on writing characters of a gender other than your own without making male characters sound effeminate or female characters seem butch. Reader caution STRONGLY advised. Recommended by Akraa. [NOTE: As of 04-07-11, website is gone. Fortunately, the Wayback Machine has a stored copy of the page.] [NOTE 2: As of 11-05-12, the page is back online.]
Planet Designer. In case you really want to be detailed, give this planet design simulator a try. Recommended by Tai Falkenburg. [NOTE: As of 16-6-09, this link no longer works, although this utility seems to offer the same kind of information.] [NOTE 2: As of 22-09-10, the page is back online.]
Rocketpunk Manifesto. By the author of the Tough Guide to the Known Galaxy. Contains musings and reflexions about a wide variety of sci-fi related topics. Recommended by Tai Falkenburg.
SFWA's Tips on Writing. Tips of the writing trade. Recommended by Tai Falkenburg.
The Mythopoet's Manual. Notes and observations about fantasy worldbuilding, although much of what is commented in this page could also be applied to sci-fi settings. Recommended by Tai Falkenburg. [NOTE: As of 30-08-15, the site that hosted this resource appears gone. However, there are for the time being online copies still available and the Wayback Machine has a seemingly comprehensive backup available, plus a Dropbox download link, courtesy of Fellow Sufferer.]
The Tough Guide to the Known Galaxy. A tongue-in-cheek dictionary of certain tropes in scifi. R. Tai Falkenburg.
World Builder Projects. A list of sites that may be helpful in developing worlds. Recommended by Tai Falkenburg. [NOTE: As of 31-08-15, the site is gone, but the Wayback Machine saves the day, as usual.]
World Building Resources. A list of general websites to build up the setting. R. Tai Falkenburg. [NOTE: As of 04-07-11, website is gone. Fortunately, the Wayback Machine has a stored copy of the page.]
Writers Resources. Described as the alpha and the omega of all things writing. Contains thousands of links to web based resources of interest for potential writers. Recommended by Akraa.
Writing Excuses. Tips and tricks of the writing trade in the form of a podcast made by three published authors. Recommended by LionElJohnson.
Writing Military Science Fiction. The information in this page can bring a great deal of military common sense into your works, so if you are trying to portray a semi-competent military and have doubts, check this out. Recommended by Tai Falkenburg. [NOTE: As of 22-09-10, website is gone. Fortunately, the Wayback Machine has a stored copy of the page.] [NOTE 2: As of 11-05-12, site is back online.]
Writing Science Fiction and Fantasy. Another website on sf/f writing, was recommended by SciFi Weekly. A quick, easy to read course on writing scifi. R. Tai Falkenburg.
10 Tips To Improve Your Fiction Writing Skills. Self-explanatory. Recommended by Manthor.
5' Tools That Can Increase Your Writing Skills. A listing of some fifty articles that deal with different topics that can be used to improve writing quality. Recommended by Manthor.
BBC - Skillswise - English. "Practical literacy skills for adults". Looks a tad basic, but there is probably some use to be hand in referencing this. Recommended by Manthor.
English The Easy Way - Writing Tips. Though apparently aimed at non native speakers, some of the content here seems potentially useful. Recommended by Manthor.
Writing Craft & Technique. General writing advice. Recommended by Manthor.
Fiction Factor. Articles about honing one's writing skills. Recommended by Manthor.
How To Grow Your Fiction Writing Skills. Article with content that is perfectly described by its title. Recommended by Manthor.
Writing Skills - Getting Your Written Message Across Clearly. Article that offers some tips for improving clarity in writing. Recommended by Manthor.
Writing Fight Scenes - What An Editor Wants To See. Exactly what it sounds like. Fairly insightful nevertheless. Recommended by tortiecat.
Some Writing Advice That's Mostly Useless (And Why). Thoughts of an author about why some of the most commons forms of advice for novice and would be writers are not always useful or relevant. Recommended by tortiecat.
Hemingway Editor. Basically an automated beta reader to help you with phrasing things and making it more direct/bold. Don't use it if your style is intentionally meandering, but otherwise, it helps you see and visualize what parts make up your writing and where you can change things to be more direct and efficient. Recommended by Felix3D.
Writing & Worldbuilding - General Storytelling & Other Tips. Is about "writing tips, roleplaying and more". It has some interesting hindsight into creating characters, genres, and unoriginal plots to avoid. I notably liked the article regarding romance and healthy/unhealthy relationships. The one about creating a proper creeper (horror monster) for a story was spot-on too. Probably not the most advanced writing guide around, but an interesting one nonetheless that should be useful for new writers and those seeking to refresh their memories. Also uses examples. Recommended by ArnaudB.
Writing Meta. synecdochic's Writing Meta Table of Contents is a good general reference for the structure, mechanics, characterization, managing reader expectations, writing, editing, and providing helpful links to other sorts of related essays. I've carried the bookmark for it across two laptops, and it's always the first one on that list. In particular, her article about the beta reading process has heavily influenced how I beta for other writers. Recommended by Lavanya Six.
How I Write and Nine Stages to a Novel. Some articles about writing by author Garth Nix, apparently no longer available in the live web. Recommended by Manthor.
-A-
ALIEN VS PREDATOR
The Anchorpoint Essays. Pretty interesting speculation about the biology and social habits of the Xenomorph written from an in-universe perspective. [NOTE: As of 30-08-15, the website has been shut down by its creator. Fortunately, the Wayback Machine has a stored copy of the page.]
Predator: The Hunted. A pretty decent fansite that appears to contain most of the known information about the Predators and their civilization. The parts that are speculation based in known information are pointed to be such. [NOTE: As of 11-05-12, website is gone. Fortunately, the Wayback Machine has a stored copy of the page.]
Alien Experience. A fan community that contains some amount of interesting information about the AvP franchise, as well as a decent sized forum.
ANDROMEDA
All Systems University Library. The best webpage that offers information about the Andromedaverse in the net.
AndroWiki. It is a very small wiki (~200 articles after two years of existence), but contains just about enough information to justify the removal of some claims about Allsystems.org being the "one and only" Andromeda resource in the net. [NOTE: As of 16-6-09, the website is still there, but seems to be having some trouble and won't let me access the Wiki entries.]
ASTERIX
Asterix NZ. Great New Zealand based website that is quite simply the best source of information for Asterix related issues in English you can find in Internet. [NOTE: As of 04-07-11, website is gone. Fortunately, the Wayback Machine has a stored copy of the page.]
AVATAR
James Cameron's Avatar Wiki. The wiki about the tall, blue cat aliens. If you are looking for mystic elemental kung-fu fighting, that's in the next section. Recommended by Manthor.
AVATAR THE LAST AIRBENDER
Avatar Spirit.net. In case the encyclopedic tone of the Avatar wikia doesn't suit your needs, try this fansite. Contains screenshots and transcripts from the episodes, several useful guides and articles exploring different aspects of the world of the Avatar world, such as its freaky fauna.
Avatar Wiki. Although this wiki is not particularly difficult to find, it is still worth the mention, as the removal of most of the Avatar related articles from Wikipedia proper has resulted in this becoming the best Avatar resource in the net.
-B-
BABYLON 5
The Lurker's Guide To Babylon 5. An excellent introductory page for those who haven't had the opportunity to see the series. There is also some interesting in-depth analysis of individual episodes.
B5 Spoiler Junkies Archive. Has an excellent collection of synopses that are almost transcripts of each episode of the series and movies. [NOTE: As of 22-09-10, site seems to be gone entirely and there seems to be no stored copy in archive.org. I hope that I'm wrong, but I think that this one might be lost for good.] [NOTE 2: As of 24-06-13, although navigation is extremely complicated, some of the lost content can be accessed through Wayback Machine backups of two of the previous addresses here and here.]
Voltayre's Encyclopedia Xenobiologica. Once again, a great reference page, although this one offers a much more indepth analysis of alien races and technologies in the Babverse.
The Babylon Project. The B5 wiki. Useful mostly for those who want to find out a detail ASAP and don't want to navigate through the long articles of the other pages.
Babtech On The Net. SD.net-style analysis of the technology, firepower and such of B5 starships. Rather versus minded, but useful for those who want to get an idea of the overall firepower avalaible to the younger races. [NOTE: As of 04-07-11, website is gone. Fortunately, the Wayback Machine has a stored copy of the page.]
B5Tech. Another tech-minded webpage, particularly interesting for the excellent computer models of the B5 warships of all races. Extremely cool-looking page and decent articles, too.
Babylon 5 Timeline. The timeline of the Babylon5 series, with discussion on astronomy, planets and prophecies However, I have no idea when it was last updated. R. Tai Falkenburg.
Earth Force Naval Intelligence. Recommended by kingdragon.
BATTLESTAR GALACTICA
Battlestar Wiki. A high-quality wiki that contains all you ever wanted to know about Battlestar Galactica, both the old and the reimagined series.
Battlestar Galactica Tech Manual. A neat page that does a fairly interesting analysis of the technology seen in the OBSG.
BATTLETECH
Patrick's Battletech Archive. Recommended by Tai Falkenburg. [NOTE: As of 22-09-10, website is gone. Fortunately, the Wayback Machine has what seems to be a complete saved copy of the page, including most of the graphics.]
Classic Battletech. Probably the first Battletech websites I found that had alot of the setting readily available for a first timer. However, the focus is on the classic battletech. Recommended by Tai Falkenburg.
BattleTech Wiki. A large Battletech wiki (6,000+ articles), although much of the material appears to be customized models of mechs (although these are clearly identified as such). Recommended by kingdragon.
BELGARIAD/MALLOREON
A Timeline For The Belgariad/Malloreon. Self-explanatory name. A nice, complete timeline for the events in both pentalogies. Site also includes a glossary of characters.
BLEACH
Bleach Wiki. A pretty complete wiki, but it has an annoying trend to describe the characters in bombastic and not-particularly-informative ways. Recommended by Manthor.
BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER
Stakes and Salvation. An extremely detailed encyclopedia of the Buffyverse (only television series, not the season 8 comics) that can be downloaded in a PDF file. [NOTE: As of 16-6-09, website is gone. Fortunately, the Wayback Machine has a stored copy of the page, including the downloadable encyclopedia.]
Buffyverse Wiki. I suppose that the name is pretty self-explanatory. This one is not quite as insanely detailed as the encyclopedia above, but it does include the canon comics and seems to be one of the best online resources for Buffy lore.
-C-
CODE GEASS
Code Geass Wiki. Modest sized Wiki devoted to the anime series Code Geass and its related spin-offs. Recommended by judgeking.
CODOMINIUM
CoDominium Timeline. Includes and extensive time line with historical notes. Recommended by Tai Falkenburg.
Old Gringo's Page: The Codminium. A site that provides a quick reference for the CoDominium series including worlds, society, and technology, with one fanfic. R. Tai Falkenburg.
COMMAND & CONQUER
EVA Central. Command and Conquer Wikia, done as an in-universe POV. Take note, its really three wikias in one, each covering seperately the Tiberium, Red Alert, and Generals timelines seperately. The Tiberium universe is the most comprehenisve, while work is beining done on the Red Alert one. Recommended by Tai Falkenburg.
The Command and Conquer Encyclopedia. Includes the Cannon of CNC, which was probably the source used before CNC3 came out. Recommended by Tai Falkenburg.
Renegade Community.
A fan-recreation of Westwood's Renegade site. Its backstory section provides info on the Renegade game. R. Tai Falkenburg.
Command and Conquer Movies. From the offical website, an archive of all the CNC FMV cutscenes up to Red Alert 2. R. Tai Falkenburg. [NOTE: As of 24-06-13, the official site seems to have been redesigned and the aforementioned movie archive seems to be MIA.]
CREST/BANNER OF THE STARS
The Abh Nation/Seikai no Monshou. Both sites provide information into the culture, technology, politics and history of the series. Recommended by Tai Falkenburg.
CTHULHU MYTHOS
Cthulhu Lexicon. Basically a listing of characters and beings of the Mythos. Recommended by Tai Falkenburg. [NOTE: Site seems gone. Wayback Machine backup available.]
Russell's Guide To Interdimensional Entities. Depiction, profiles and size comparisons for the various horrid critters featured in the works of Lovecraft and other authors of the broader Cthulhu Mythos.
-D-
DARIA
Outpost Daria. More than just a fanfiction repository, this page was also a comprehensive source of information for this famous cartoon series. Though it has recently gone offline, the Wayback Machine seems to have an unusually complete backup.
DC
-Green Lantern
Green Lantern Corps Web Page. Contains quite a bit of information about the different members of the Green Lantern Corps, their enemies and other aspects of the Green Lantern comics.
-Superman
The Big Apricot. A fansite that explores the Superman movieverse with emphasis in the city of Metropolis. Contains indepth analysis, but also some original creations of the authors. The site also hosts a small archive for fanfiction set in the Superman Movieverse.
-Teen Titans
Titans Tower. This fansite is supposed to be the ultimate guide to all things concerning this superhero team.
DEAD SPACE
The Dead Space Wiki. The thing is, there's already a Dead Space wiki with quite a good amount of info in there and with new material coming in, this wiki would undoubtedly expand. Recommended by volrath77.
DIGIMON
The Digimon Encyclopedia. Probably the best source on the Anime canon out there on the net, with full entires for seasons 1-3, as well as neat trivia and episode guides. Recommended by Tai Falkenburg.
Digimon Wiki Second best site, covers all seasons. Recommended by Tai Falkenburg.
Crest of Hope. Another site that provides easier to access information regarding the series. R. Tai Falkenburg.
DISCWORLD
L-Space. Discworld & Terry Pratchett Wiki. Recommended by Starbug.
DOCTOR WHO
TARDIS Index File. The Doctor Who wiki. Although I'm not familiar with either this series or its spin-off Torchwood, the articles seem to be of above average quality and with over eight thousand entries, it is already a fairly large encyclopedia.
Doctor Who Chronology. Condensed timeline of the Dr. Who series. Recommended by Tai Falkenburg.
THE UNIVERSAL DATABANK. Not so universal, as the site hasn't been updated for years. Still, it does provide a neat glossary that describes people, places, events and even governments seen in the series before the 8th doctor. Recommended by Tai Falkenburg.
The Doctor Who Reference Guide. Includes probably every single Dr. Who work (canon and non-canon) with an enormous ammount of detail in the guides. Recommended by Tai Falkenburg.
DRAGON BALL
Dragon Ball Wiki. Self proclaimed definitive source of all things Dragon Ball. Seems to mostly live up to its claims. Recommended by Manthor.
DRAKA
The Draka Appendices. Appendices originally included in the Draka novels that contain plentiful information about the universe of this alternate history/sci-fi series.
DUNE
Dune Wikia Wiki. A smallish Dune Wiki that contains information from the godawful KJA prequels/sequels and that seems to be growing quite slowly. R. Tai Falkenburg.
DUNGEONS & DRAGONS
D&D Wiki. The focus of this wiki doesn't appear to be indexing characters and locations from official D&D settings, but rather the compilation of free to use materials released by WotC and user generated content that expands upon official mechanics. Nevertheless, it might be helpful to some. Recommended by Manthor.
The Hypertext d20 SRD. The page mostly contains the mechanics for the game system used in the various D&D settings, but also contains some amount of fluff information about magical creatures, magic spells and the like that might prove useful to some authors.
-E-
EARTH: FINAL CONFLICT
The Official Site. Makes for a decent starting point for Taelon/Jaridian information and has a good episode guide. Don't bother with the external links, because all the old companion pages (taelons.com, jaridians.com, augury.com...) are well and truly dead at this point. [NOTE: As of 16-6-09, the official site is gone. Wayback machine copy can be found here.]
The Taelon Synod. Not a bad fansite. Contains character profiles, a decent episode guide and a good collection of screencaps.
EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS (Tarzan, John Carter)
ERBzine: Edgar Rice Burroughs Web Museum. An "official" tribute site that has been on continued operation since 1996 with weekly updates. Difficult to navigate, but full of interesting information.
ELFQUEST
ElfQuest. The official site for this fantasy comic series contains indepth information about the characteres, as well as a free online archive containing each and every Elfquest comic published prior to 2014. Recommended by Manthor.
EVE ONLINE
Eve Fiction Portal. A webpage containing the official lore of the EVE Online multiplayer game, with updates after every expansion. Recommended by prometheus110.
EXOSQUAD
Resolute II. Another site for the early 90's scifi cartoon, with a wide range of info. R. Tai Falkenburg.
-F-
FARSCAPE
Official site. Has a decent character guide and a brief episode guide, but not much else. Can make for a decent introduction to the universe for those who are reading Farscape fanfics and don't know what the characters look like.
Farscape Encyclopedia Project. A not very big Farscape Wiki encyclopedia (slightly over 1000 definitions) with some rather unencyclopedic language in certain entries, but from what I've seen it seems to be the best Farscape resource out there at the moment.
Transcripts from the Terrace. This page apparently has transcripts for the complete series. The presentation hurts my eyes, but the content appears to be good. They don't have nothing about Peacekeeper Wars, unfortunately. [NOTE: As of 22-09-10, site seems to be gone and what's worse the saved versions in the Wayback Machine seem to have been retroactively erased by the hosting company.]
Farscape Transcripts. Exactly what it says on the tin. A complete trancript collection for the four seasons of Farscape and the miniseries 'The Peacekeeper Wars' put together by the people of Farcape fan-forum Terra Firma.
Farscape Fantasy. They have in their episode guides the best Farscape image galleries I've been able to find so far (at least, among the few still in working order). Worth looking through for those who aren't familiar with the series.
Snurcher's Guide. This site is little more than a big index with many links to the pages that contain the actual transcripts, images and such. For those who want to bookmark a single page.
A Taste for Blue. A shrine site about the character Zhaan. Although I usually wouldn't consider linking to one of these, the web has some articles that explore in some depth the character and her fictional religion, which might be helpful for characterization. Minors should avoid the fic section of this one like the plague. [NOTE: As of 11-05-12, website is gone. Fortunately, the Wayback Machine has a stored copy of the page.]
FOUNDATION
Encyclopedia Galactica. The best (and virtually the only) reference webpage for the science fiction universe created by Isaac Asimov. Some of the contents (particularly in the Space Travel and Chimerical sections) seem to be fan-created.
Who's Who in Asimov? A guide to much of the Foundation universe, with a listing of major characters and worlds from the series. Recommended by Tai Falkenburg.
FUTURAMA
The Infosphere. The Futurama Wiki. Recommended by Starbug.
-G-
GARGOYLES
GargWiki. A good, up-to-date Wiki that contains all known canon information about the Gargoyles universe.
Ask Greg Archives. This page contains literally thousands of questions that Gargoyles fans have asked the creator of the series for the last ten or so years. If you have some obscure doubt about Gargoyles, check here because there are good odds that it has already been answered. If you are out of luck, Mr. Weisman will eventually answer you, but it might take a couple of years...
The Gargoyles Fan Website. Contains an interesting primer to the Gargverse, an episode guide and some interesting essays.
GHOSTBUSTERS[/B]
[url=http://www.gbfans.com/]Ghostbusters Fans. Claims to be the largest Ghostbusters fan community and this might very well be true. In any case, it provides plenty of info about the whole franchise and has a large forum (with a tiny fanfiction section).
GI-JOE
Yo Joe! Although it is primarily a site for collectors of Gi-Joe stuff, Yo Joe! also contains quite a bit of interesting information about the classic GIJOE universe, including an archive of GIJOE comics with extensive plot summaries and another for the filecards that came with the toys.
GOLDEN SUN
Golden Sun Universe. A Wikia to the RPG universe, with a wide range of articles of the game, with in-depth articles. R. Tai Falkenburg.
Golden Sun Realm. Useful quick reference. R. Tai Falkenburg.
GUNDAM
Gundam Wiki. Recommended by drakensis.
Gundam Official. The official website for the English releases of the Gundam series (ie. Gundam, Gundam Zeta, Gundam Wing, Gundam Seed). Based off the old Gundam Project by Mark Simmons, provides a number off glossaries and maps. Also character lists, but not very detailed. Recommended by Tai Falkenburg. [NOTE: As of 24-06-13, site is gone. However, the Wayback Machine contains a comprehensive backup.]
Gundam SEED Net. A fansite with a large amount of screenshots. Mentions all the series, but depth is lacking. R. Tai Falkenburg.
Gundam: High Frontier. A website that deals with the real world science of the First Gundam series. No, not the mobile suits, but rather on the space colonies that remain a trademark of the series. R. Tai Falkenburg. [NOTE: As of 24-06-13, the site is using a new address as a result of a format change in the page.]
The Gundam Project. Wayback Machine archive copy of a page that once upon a time was the most comprehensive Gundam information resource in the Internet. Recommended by Hyakushiki.
Ultimate Mark: Gundam Unofficial. A Gundam Project lite maintained by the creator of the original page. Includes translated information that is reportedly hard to find outside of the Japanese websphere. Recommended by Hyakushiki.
-H-
HALO
Halopedia. Essentially, the Halo Wookieepedia, an indepth and well sourced encyclopedia that is very probably the best guide for this universe that you will ever find in Internet.
Halostory Page. A pretty neat site that contains a bunch of stuff about the characters and the games, including complete transcripts for Halo 1 & 2.
HARRY POTTER
In the Harry Potter Lexicon, you will find everything you ever wanted to know about the wizards of Hogwarts and probably a great many things that you didn't particularly want to know.
HYPERION CANTOS
Hyperion Kronológia. A timeline of the Hyperion universe, from the birth of the TechnoCore in Earth to the end of the post-Endymion short story "Orphans of the Helix". [NOTE: Page has gone offline as of 22-09-2010, but the Wayback Machine has a full copy of the timeline.]
The Hyperion Cantos. A small fansite that doesn't offer much information about the Hyperion universe itself, but gives interesting insights about the background information and real life influences present in Simmons' work.
L'Infosphère. A small French fansite with a Lexicon and some profiles about the characters. Still, it might be of some interest for French-speaking writers who would rather read the info in their mother language. [NOTE: Site offline as of 24-06-13, Wayback Machine has a backup in the unlikely case someone is interested.]
Scificincinnati Hyperion Page. Contains an extensive review/plot synopsis of Hyperion, Fall of Hyperion and Endymion. Useful for the possible newcomers to this fandom.
The Hyperionverse Technology Thread. What the name suggests. A thread in the Stardestroyer forums created in 2003 and that contains a virtually complete description of the technological aspects presented in the novel tetralogy. Very nice piece of work.
HOMEWORLD
Homeworld Shipyards. Contains much of the background information about the Homeworld universe and a complete image collection of the different ships used in the games. A must for those who want to write about the sons of Hiigara.
Encyclopedia Hiigara. The Homeworld wiki. Not quite as high quality as those that have been already mentioned for other fandoms and a bit in the small side for an encyclopedia, but still worth the mention.
-I-
INFINITE STRATOS
Infinite Stratos Wiki. A small wikia for this anime/manga/light novel series. R. judgeking.
-J-
JURASSIC PARK
Jurassic Park Legacy. A fansite about the series that seems to contain some interesting information about both the novel and movie continuities. It also contains a (minuscule) amount of fanfiction.
-K-
KINGDOM HEARTS
Kingdom Hearts Wiki. With thousands of articles, a large and apparently active wiki. Recommended by The Aeon Offspring.
KNOWN SPACE
Known Space Timeline. Basically the timeline of Known space, updated since Fleet of Worlds. R. Tai Falkenburg.
Encyclopedia of Known Space. A glossary of terms used in the Known Space series. However, it was only updated up to 2005. R. Tai Falkenburg.
-L-
LEGACY OF KAIN
Dark Chronicle. The LoK fandom is one of those not so rare cases that has a single wiki page that sucks more than a black hole. Fortunately, Dark Chronicle offers the "Encyclopedia Nosgothica", the most extensive and comprehensive storehouse of information about these games anywhere.
Nosgothic Realm. It has the game scripts of all the games in the saga and the few items of information that cannot be easily found in Dark Chronicle or Wikipedia.
LOKFanatic Plot Guide at Gamefaqs. Spoiler-heavy plot analysis of the entire saga in a single file. Very useful for those who might want to explore the devastated realms of Nosgoth in their fics.
LORD OF THE RINGS
One Wiki To Rule Them All. The LOTR fandom wiki is not quite complete yet, but it is still a decent resource.
Encyclopedia of Arda. Another of many encyclopedias that deal with the Tolkien legendarium, but one that is a personal favourite of mine.
Ardalambion. The definitive guide to Tolkien's imagined languages, with extensive essays and even courses to learn Elvish, supposing that anybody is willing to devote that much effort to it.
Essays of Michael Martinez. Sizeable and thought-provoking collection of essays by an author that seems to get a thrill out of pointing the gaps in our knowledge about Middle Earth. [NOTE: Since Merp.com has been a source of endless annoyance for the last year or so, try this archived version in the Wayback Machine if the original link fails you.]
-GENERAL/ORIGINAL-
10,000-year Calender! Never again have some little dick point out that the 18 of January, 4326 is a Monday, not a Thuesday like you claimed in your story. Only really useful to those of us who demand a truly anally retentive attention to detail. Recommended by Starbug.
Aliens Species Wiki. An online encyclopedia with profiles for non-human species from a large number of franchises. Recommended by rogrd.
Archive.org. Perhaps best known as the Wayback Machine, the people behind these page have devoted substantial amounts of effort and money to store abandoned webpages. If one of the links in this list doesn't work, try to find it in their archives.
Digital Dutch Unit Converter. Need to know how many meters there are in a light year? This site is for you. R. judgeking.
Edgar Governo, Historian of Things That Never Were. A website linking a large number of SF timelines. However, some links don't work anymore, or are totally speculative. R. Tai Falkenburg.
Lelola.net. An old favorite before the advent of Wikis, it covered a variety of Anime series, including Digimon < Sailor Moon, as well as a few obscure ones (Anyone remember Mon Cole Knights or Flint The Time Detective?). R. Tai Falkenburg. [NOTE: The old Lelola archive seems to have been quietly removed by the author from the live web, but backups still exist, thanks to the Wayback Machine.]
Mecha Anime Headquarters. A site providing details on a number of Mecha used in Gundam, as well as a number of other series. Also episode guides for the every Gundam series. Recommended by Tai Falkenburg and Samas.
No Nonsense Self-Defense. Might be more geared towards Modern Day concerns on Self Defense, but from what I've read so far... It has quite a few articles which can help with learning about how combat can really work out, instead of shonen techniques. R. Master Basher.
The English To Geordie Translator. Useful for when you need a thick, northern-English/Scottish style of speech, but don't know how to write it naturally. Would recommend editing what it gives you, as it can be hard to understand a Geordie at the best of times... Recommended by Starbug.
The Grand List of Overused Science Fiction Cliches. Like TV Tropes, only in a list format that makes it easier and quicker to read. Still funny to read. R. Tai Falkenburg.
The (Hopefully) Official Canon Thread. Hosted in these very forums and started by thtadthtshldntb. This page contains notes about the canon policies of a number of fictional universes. Recommended by Steven Kodaly.
TV Tropes. An encyclopedia of narrative cliches. Very funny and very useful to avoid certain traps. Recommended by Tai Falkenburg.
Fantasy Name Generators. Exactly what it says. Also provides randomized names for characters of different geographical backgrounds, locations, pieces of enchanted gear and so on. Recommended by Luke Danger.
ColorQ World. Authors who dare to touch the ever touchy subject of different racial perspectives might find some things of interest in this page. Recommended by Manthor.
-Comics-
Comicvine. A portal about all things comics that contains, among other sections, an extensive encyclopedia about comic related matters. It covers fringe characters and titles not covered by any other online resource, but its articles can sometimes be less than perfectly comprehensive. Recommended by Manthor.
KMC Forums and Comic Book Resources. Forums with a focus in comics and comic related matters. KMC hosts a large number of respect threads that in some cases allow would be writers to see characters they might want to use at their craziest. Recommended by Manthor.
-Literature & History-
Alternate History. A board which claims to be the largest gathering of alternate history fans in the web, a claim that is probably true. Contains a lot of alternate history timelines, generic discussion and resources. Also, it has a fairly useful associated wiki, in case anyone finds the size of the board daunting.
Ancient History Sourcebook / Medieval Sourcebook / Modern History Sourcebook. Contains a lot of original texts from the time periods and later works concerning the same timeframes, ranging from the private letters of Admiral Nelson to the Communist Manifesto or Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. R. Average Bob.
Baka Tsuki. A community devoted to translating from Japanese light novels associated with certain manga/anime franchises (such as Fate/Zero, Slayers, Familiar of Zero...).
Corpus Scriptorum Latinorum. Is a link list that aims to act as the reference index for all literature written in latin that can be found online. R. Average Bob.
Internet Sacred Text Library. Contains tons of sacred texts and articles about them from different world religions, past and present, so it also includes lots of stuff about the Norse sagas and such. R. Average Bob.
ORBIS. I would like to recommend ORBIS, a very detailed mapping program by two Stanford professors about travel times and costs in Ancient Rome, allowing various options like prioritizing costs and speed, methods of transportation available, and so on and so forth. Very useful for people who are writing fiction in this time period, or calculating rough travel times for fantasy fiction set in a similar age. ^_^ R. Kei.
Perseus Digital Library. Contains classic (Greek/Roman) literature both in the original languages and translated to English. R. Average Bob.
Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Whole text of the classical Chinese historic novel, translated to English. R. Average Bob.
Roman History. By Publius Cornelius Tacitus. Exactly what it sounds like. R. Average Bob.
Association For Renaissance Martial Arts. Heard about this site from some arcane Berserk crossover fic, but if you're wanting a reference for Medieval Warfare, then it's probably a good place to start. R. Master Basher.
The Internet Classics Archive. Contains ancient literature (mostly Greek/Roman, but with some Chinese and Persian authors too) translated to English. R. Average Bob.
The Online Medieval & Classical Library. More of the same, but redundancy never hurt anyone. R. Average Bob.
Bhagavad Gita. Part of the Mahabharata Hindu epic cycle, translated into English. Recommended by A Little World.
-Science & Technology-
Airfighters.com. Photography of military aircraft. Also contains some articles about specific types of airplane. R. judgeking.
Arrow Digital Archives. A site with information about the Avro Arrow, an advanced jet fighter designed and then dismantled by Canada in the fifties. R. judgeking.
Atomic Rockets. Excellent page, full of extremely valuable information for those who dare to use hard sci-fi in their writing. Atomic Rocket Equations is a site that takes the equations presented in Atomic Rockets and offers them as an easy to use calculator tool. Recommended by Warringer and Tai Falkenburg.
Future Timeline. A speculative future history of humanity. Recommended by Manthor.
Internet Movie Firearms Database. Want to know what gun Spike Spiegel carries? (it's a Jericho 941, FYI). Then this is the place for you. Recommended by Starbug.
Jeff Russell's STARSHIP DIMENSIONS. A page with a large collection of starship models done at different scales, very useful when you want to make comparisons between different universes. [NOTE: As of 11-05-12, website is gone. Fortunately, the Wayback Machine has a stored copy of the page.] [NOTE 2: As of 24-06-13, site is back online.]
Kinetic Energy Calculator. I recommend the Kinetic Energy Calculator, an invaluable resource when trying to find out just how much damage a ballistic round of a given mass and speed would do. Recommended by Full-Paragon.
Modern Firearms & Ammunition. An extremely detailed online encyclopedia dedicated to listing and describing seemingly every military and police gun since 1900, civilian guns are also listed. The site is run by a Russian named Maxim Popenker, who has written several books about firearms, and is a fantastic resource for anyone that wants to use guns in their writing. Recommended by Cody Fett.
Nate Meier's Jet-Engine.Net. A page with a database containing the technical specifications of a vast number of jet engine models. R. judgeking.
Science Fiction\Space Technology:Tools for Learning. A basic education site that deals with providing beginners an idea of spacecraft systems. R. Tai Falkenburg.
ScienceWorld. Claims to be the best resource for math and science in the Internet. Potentially useful for authors who want to make sure that the numbers they throw around in their stories are correct. Recommended by Manthor.
Sci-Fi Airshow. A page that shows artwork of a number of old school aircraft/spacecraft (such as Space: 1999's Eagle) as if they were restored museum pieces.
Scifi Meshes. Perhaps another for beautiful artwork and some good fan made ships. Recommended by rogdr.
Starship Schematics Database. A website of canon and fanmade starship schematics for Star Trek, B5, Battlestar Galactica and Space Cruiser Yamato. For those who love making fanmade schematics. R. Tai Falkenburg.
Technovelgy.com. A glossary of many science fiction inventions. Recommended by Tai Falkenburg.
Wolf's Shipyard. A page that is somewhat similar to Jeff Russell's site, but also includes a large proportion of fan-designed ships for different universes that go from the downright silly to the awesome. Recommended by kingdragon. [NOTE: As of 24-06-13, site has moved to a new address.]
Global Security. A page that offers overviews about various military related topics across the world. Recommended by Manthor.
The Box o' Truth. A site with plenty of penetration and terminal ballistics information for those writers who are a bit unsure of such things. R. MrCIA.
Federation of American Scientists. Contains a bunch of resources about various scientific fields. Recommended by Manthor.
-Writing & World-building-
A Fanfic Writer's Guide To Writing, Or, How To Be In The Ten Percent. Robert M. Schroek's guide to fanfic writing. Handy enough thing. Recommended by Dartz.
FARP - Fantasy Art Resource Project. A section of the Elfwood site containing many materials and tutorials designed to help budding creators. Of particular interest is the section devoted to writing. Recommended by Tai Falkenburg.
On Writing Erotica by Morgan Hawke. The advice there is surprisingly universal despite its specific dedication to the gothic/romance/erotica genres. It also has a very useful article on writing characters of a gender other than your own without making male characters sound effeminate or female characters seem butch. Reader caution STRONGLY advised. Recommended by Akraa. [NOTE: As of 04-07-11, website is gone. Fortunately, the Wayback Machine has a stored copy of the page.] [NOTE 2: As of 11-05-12, the page is back online.]
Planet Designer. In case you really want to be detailed, give this planet design simulator a try. Recommended by Tai Falkenburg. [NOTE: As of 16-6-09, this link no longer works, although this utility seems to offer the same kind of information.] [NOTE 2: As of 22-09-10, the page is back online.]
Rocketpunk Manifesto. By the author of the Tough Guide to the Known Galaxy. Contains musings and reflexions about a wide variety of sci-fi related topics. Recommended by Tai Falkenburg.
SFWA's Tips on Writing. Tips of the writing trade. Recommended by Tai Falkenburg.
The Mythopoet's Manual. Notes and observations about fantasy worldbuilding, although much of what is commented in this page could also be applied to sci-fi settings. Recommended by Tai Falkenburg. [NOTE: As of 30-08-15, the site that hosted this resource appears gone. However, there are for the time being online copies still available and the Wayback Machine has a seemingly comprehensive backup available, plus a Dropbox download link, courtesy of Fellow Sufferer.]
The Tough Guide to the Known Galaxy. A tongue-in-cheek dictionary of certain tropes in scifi. R. Tai Falkenburg.
World Builder Projects. A list of sites that may be helpful in developing worlds. Recommended by Tai Falkenburg. [NOTE: As of 31-08-15, the site is gone, but the Wayback Machine saves the day, as usual.]
World Building Resources. A list of general websites to build up the setting. R. Tai Falkenburg. [NOTE: As of 04-07-11, website is gone. Fortunately, the Wayback Machine has a stored copy of the page.]
Writers Resources. Described as the alpha and the omega of all things writing. Contains thousands of links to web based resources of interest for potential writers. Recommended by Akraa.
Writing Excuses. Tips and tricks of the writing trade in the form of a podcast made by three published authors. Recommended by LionElJohnson.
Writing Military Science Fiction. The information in this page can bring a great deal of military common sense into your works, so if you are trying to portray a semi-competent military and have doubts, check this out. Recommended by Tai Falkenburg. [NOTE: As of 22-09-10, website is gone. Fortunately, the Wayback Machine has a stored copy of the page.] [NOTE 2: As of 11-05-12, site is back online.]
Writing Science Fiction and Fantasy. Another website on sf/f writing, was recommended by SciFi Weekly. A quick, easy to read course on writing scifi. R. Tai Falkenburg.
10 Tips To Improve Your Fiction Writing Skills. Self-explanatory. Recommended by Manthor.
5' Tools That Can Increase Your Writing Skills. A listing of some fifty articles that deal with different topics that can be used to improve writing quality. Recommended by Manthor.
BBC - Skillswise - English. "Practical literacy skills for adults". Looks a tad basic, but there is probably some use to be hand in referencing this. Recommended by Manthor.
English The Easy Way - Writing Tips. Though apparently aimed at non native speakers, some of the content here seems potentially useful. Recommended by Manthor.
Writing Craft & Technique. General writing advice. Recommended by Manthor.
Fiction Factor. Articles about honing one's writing skills. Recommended by Manthor.
How To Grow Your Fiction Writing Skills. Article with content that is perfectly described by its title. Recommended by Manthor.
Writing Skills - Getting Your Written Message Across Clearly. Article that offers some tips for improving clarity in writing. Recommended by Manthor.
Writing Fight Scenes - What An Editor Wants To See. Exactly what it sounds like. Fairly insightful nevertheless. Recommended by tortiecat.
Some Writing Advice That's Mostly Useless (And Why). Thoughts of an author about why some of the most commons forms of advice for novice and would be writers are not always useful or relevant. Recommended by tortiecat.
Hemingway Editor. Basically an automated beta reader to help you with phrasing things and making it more direct/bold. Don't use it if your style is intentionally meandering, but otherwise, it helps you see and visualize what parts make up your writing and where you can change things to be more direct and efficient. Recommended by Felix3D.
Writing & Worldbuilding - General Storytelling & Other Tips. Is about "writing tips, roleplaying and more". It has some interesting hindsight into creating characters, genres, and unoriginal plots to avoid. I notably liked the article regarding romance and healthy/unhealthy relationships. The one about creating a proper creeper (horror monster) for a story was spot-on too. Probably not the most advanced writing guide around, but an interesting one nonetheless that should be useful for new writers and those seeking to refresh their memories. Also uses examples. Recommended by ArnaudB.
Writing Meta. synecdochic's Writing Meta Table of Contents is a good general reference for the structure, mechanics, characterization, managing reader expectations, writing, editing, and providing helpful links to other sorts of related essays. I've carried the bookmark for it across two laptops, and it's always the first one on that list. In particular, her article about the beta reading process has heavily influenced how I beta for other writers. Recommended by Lavanya Six.
How I Write and Nine Stages to a Novel. Some articles about writing by author Garth Nix, apparently no longer available in the live web. Recommended by Manthor.
-A-
ALIEN VS PREDATOR
The Anchorpoint Essays. Pretty interesting speculation about the biology and social habits of the Xenomorph written from an in-universe perspective. [NOTE: As of 30-08-15, the website has been shut down by its creator. Fortunately, the Wayback Machine has a stored copy of the page.]
Predator: The Hunted. A pretty decent fansite that appears to contain most of the known information about the Predators and their civilization. The parts that are speculation based in known information are pointed to be such. [NOTE: As of 11-05-12, website is gone. Fortunately, the Wayback Machine has a stored copy of the page.]
Alien Experience. A fan community that contains some amount of interesting information about the AvP franchise, as well as a decent sized forum.
ANDROMEDA
All Systems University Library. The best webpage that offers information about the Andromedaverse in the net.
AndroWiki. It is a very small wiki (~200 articles after two years of existence), but contains just about enough information to justify the removal of some claims about Allsystems.org being the "one and only" Andromeda resource in the net. [NOTE: As of 16-6-09, the website is still there, but seems to be having some trouble and won't let me access the Wiki entries.]
ASTERIX
Asterix NZ. Great New Zealand based website that is quite simply the best source of information for Asterix related issues in English you can find in Internet. [NOTE: As of 04-07-11, website is gone. Fortunately, the Wayback Machine has a stored copy of the page.]
AVATAR
James Cameron's Avatar Wiki. The wiki about the tall, blue cat aliens. If you are looking for mystic elemental kung-fu fighting, that's in the next section. Recommended by Manthor.
AVATAR THE LAST AIRBENDER
Avatar Spirit.net. In case the encyclopedic tone of the Avatar wikia doesn't suit your needs, try this fansite. Contains screenshots and transcripts from the episodes, several useful guides and articles exploring different aspects of the world of the Avatar world, such as its freaky fauna.
Avatar Wiki. Although this wiki is not particularly difficult to find, it is still worth the mention, as the removal of most of the Avatar related articles from Wikipedia proper has resulted in this becoming the best Avatar resource in the net.
-B-
BABYLON 5
The Lurker's Guide To Babylon 5. An excellent introductory page for those who haven't had the opportunity to see the series. There is also some interesting in-depth analysis of individual episodes.
B5 Spoiler Junkies Archive. Has an excellent collection of synopses that are almost transcripts of each episode of the series and movies. [NOTE: As of 22-09-10, site seems to be gone entirely and there seems to be no stored copy in archive.org. I hope that I'm wrong, but I think that this one might be lost for good.] [NOTE 2: As of 24-06-13, although navigation is extremely complicated, some of the lost content can be accessed through Wayback Machine backups of two of the previous addresses here and here.]
Voltayre's Encyclopedia Xenobiologica. Once again, a great reference page, although this one offers a much more indepth analysis of alien races and technologies in the Babverse.
The Babylon Project. The B5 wiki. Useful mostly for those who want to find out a detail ASAP and don't want to navigate through the long articles of the other pages.
Babtech On The Net. SD.net-style analysis of the technology, firepower and such of B5 starships. Rather versus minded, but useful for those who want to get an idea of the overall firepower avalaible to the younger races. [NOTE: As of 04-07-11, website is gone. Fortunately, the Wayback Machine has a stored copy of the page.]
B5Tech. Another tech-minded webpage, particularly interesting for the excellent computer models of the B5 warships of all races. Extremely cool-looking page and decent articles, too.
Babylon 5 Timeline. The timeline of the Babylon5 series, with discussion on astronomy, planets and prophecies However, I have no idea when it was last updated. R. Tai Falkenburg.
Earth Force Naval Intelligence. Recommended by kingdragon.
BATTLESTAR GALACTICA
Battlestar Wiki. A high-quality wiki that contains all you ever wanted to know about Battlestar Galactica, both the old and the reimagined series.
Battlestar Galactica Tech Manual. A neat page that does a fairly interesting analysis of the technology seen in the OBSG.
BATTLETECH
Patrick's Battletech Archive. Recommended by Tai Falkenburg. [NOTE: As of 22-09-10, website is gone. Fortunately, the Wayback Machine has what seems to be a complete saved copy of the page, including most of the graphics.]
Classic Battletech. Probably the first Battletech websites I found that had alot of the setting readily available for a first timer. However, the focus is on the classic battletech. Recommended by Tai Falkenburg.
BattleTech Wiki. A large Battletech wiki (6,000+ articles), although much of the material appears to be customized models of mechs (although these are clearly identified as such). Recommended by kingdragon.
BELGARIAD/MALLOREON
A Timeline For The Belgariad/Malloreon. Self-explanatory name. A nice, complete timeline for the events in both pentalogies. Site also includes a glossary of characters.
BLEACH
Bleach Wiki. A pretty complete wiki, but it has an annoying trend to describe the characters in bombastic and not-particularly-informative ways. Recommended by Manthor.
BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER
Stakes and Salvation. An extremely detailed encyclopedia of the Buffyverse (only television series, not the season 8 comics) that can be downloaded in a PDF file. [NOTE: As of 16-6-09, website is gone. Fortunately, the Wayback Machine has a stored copy of the page, including the downloadable encyclopedia.]
Buffyverse Wiki. I suppose that the name is pretty self-explanatory. This one is not quite as insanely detailed as the encyclopedia above, but it does include the canon comics and seems to be one of the best online resources for Buffy lore.
-C-
CODE GEASS
Code Geass Wiki. Modest sized Wiki devoted to the anime series Code Geass and its related spin-offs. Recommended by judgeking.
CODOMINIUM
CoDominium Timeline. Includes and extensive time line with historical notes. Recommended by Tai Falkenburg.
Old Gringo's Page: The Codminium. A site that provides a quick reference for the CoDominium series including worlds, society, and technology, with one fanfic. R. Tai Falkenburg.
COMMAND & CONQUER
EVA Central. Command and Conquer Wikia, done as an in-universe POV. Take note, its really three wikias in one, each covering seperately the Tiberium, Red Alert, and Generals timelines seperately. The Tiberium universe is the most comprehenisve, while work is beining done on the Red Alert one. Recommended by Tai Falkenburg.
The Command and Conquer Encyclopedia. Includes the Cannon of CNC, which was probably the source used before CNC3 came out. Recommended by Tai Falkenburg.
Renegade Community.
A fan-recreation of Westwood's Renegade site. Its backstory section provides info on the Renegade game. R. Tai Falkenburg.
Command and Conquer Movies. From the offical website, an archive of all the CNC FMV cutscenes up to Red Alert 2. R. Tai Falkenburg. [NOTE: As of 24-06-13, the official site seems to have been redesigned and the aforementioned movie archive seems to be MIA.]
CREST/BANNER OF THE STARS
The Abh Nation/Seikai no Monshou. Both sites provide information into the culture, technology, politics and history of the series. Recommended by Tai Falkenburg.
CTHULHU MYTHOS
Cthulhu Lexicon. Basically a listing of characters and beings of the Mythos. Recommended by Tai Falkenburg. [NOTE: Site seems gone. Wayback Machine backup available.]
Russell's Guide To Interdimensional Entities. Depiction, profiles and size comparisons for the various horrid critters featured in the works of Lovecraft and other authors of the broader Cthulhu Mythos.
-D-
DARIA
Outpost Daria. More than just a fanfiction repository, this page was also a comprehensive source of information for this famous cartoon series. Though it has recently gone offline, the Wayback Machine seems to have an unusually complete backup.
DC
-Green Lantern
Green Lantern Corps Web Page. Contains quite a bit of information about the different members of the Green Lantern Corps, their enemies and other aspects of the Green Lantern comics.
-Superman
The Big Apricot. A fansite that explores the Superman movieverse with emphasis in the city of Metropolis. Contains indepth analysis, but also some original creations of the authors. The site also hosts a small archive for fanfiction set in the Superman Movieverse.
-Teen Titans
Titans Tower. This fansite is supposed to be the ultimate guide to all things concerning this superhero team.
DEAD SPACE
The Dead Space Wiki. The thing is, there's already a Dead Space wiki with quite a good amount of info in there and with new material coming in, this wiki would undoubtedly expand. Recommended by volrath77.
DIGIMON
The Digimon Encyclopedia. Probably the best source on the Anime canon out there on the net, with full entires for seasons 1-3, as well as neat trivia and episode guides. Recommended by Tai Falkenburg.
Digimon Wiki Second best site, covers all seasons. Recommended by Tai Falkenburg.
Crest of Hope. Another site that provides easier to access information regarding the series. R. Tai Falkenburg.
DISCWORLD
L-Space. Discworld & Terry Pratchett Wiki. Recommended by Starbug.
DOCTOR WHO
TARDIS Index File. The Doctor Who wiki. Although I'm not familiar with either this series or its spin-off Torchwood, the articles seem to be of above average quality and with over eight thousand entries, it is already a fairly large encyclopedia.
Doctor Who Chronology. Condensed timeline of the Dr. Who series. Recommended by Tai Falkenburg.
THE UNIVERSAL DATABANK. Not so universal, as the site hasn't been updated for years. Still, it does provide a neat glossary that describes people, places, events and even governments seen in the series before the 8th doctor. Recommended by Tai Falkenburg.
The Doctor Who Reference Guide. Includes probably every single Dr. Who work (canon and non-canon) with an enormous ammount of detail in the guides. Recommended by Tai Falkenburg.
DRAGON BALL
Dragon Ball Wiki. Self proclaimed definitive source of all things Dragon Ball. Seems to mostly live up to its claims. Recommended by Manthor.
DRAKA
The Draka Appendices. Appendices originally included in the Draka novels that contain plentiful information about the universe of this alternate history/sci-fi series.
DUNE
Dune Wikia Wiki. A smallish Dune Wiki that contains information from the godawful KJA prequels/sequels and that seems to be growing quite slowly. R. Tai Falkenburg.
DUNGEONS & DRAGONS
D&D Wiki. The focus of this wiki doesn't appear to be indexing characters and locations from official D&D settings, but rather the compilation of free to use materials released by WotC and user generated content that expands upon official mechanics. Nevertheless, it might be helpful to some. Recommended by Manthor.
The Hypertext d20 SRD. The page mostly contains the mechanics for the game system used in the various D&D settings, but also contains some amount of fluff information about magical creatures, magic spells and the like that might prove useful to some authors.
-E-
EARTH: FINAL CONFLICT
The Official Site. Makes for a decent starting point for Taelon/Jaridian information and has a good episode guide. Don't bother with the external links, because all the old companion pages (taelons.com, jaridians.com, augury.com...) are well and truly dead at this point. [NOTE: As of 16-6-09, the official site is gone. Wayback machine copy can be found here.]
The Taelon Synod. Not a bad fansite. Contains character profiles, a decent episode guide and a good collection of screencaps.
EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS (Tarzan, John Carter)
ERBzine: Edgar Rice Burroughs Web Museum. An "official" tribute site that has been on continued operation since 1996 with weekly updates. Difficult to navigate, but full of interesting information.
ELFQUEST
ElfQuest. The official site for this fantasy comic series contains indepth information about the characteres, as well as a free online archive containing each and every Elfquest comic published prior to 2014. Recommended by Manthor.
EVE ONLINE
Eve Fiction Portal. A webpage containing the official lore of the EVE Online multiplayer game, with updates after every expansion. Recommended by prometheus110.
EXOSQUAD
Resolute II. Another site for the early 90's scifi cartoon, with a wide range of info. R. Tai Falkenburg.
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FARSCAPE
Official site. Has a decent character guide and a brief episode guide, but not much else. Can make for a decent introduction to the universe for those who are reading Farscape fanfics and don't know what the characters look like.
Farscape Encyclopedia Project. A not very big Farscape Wiki encyclopedia (slightly over 1000 definitions) with some rather unencyclopedic language in certain entries, but from what I've seen it seems to be the best Farscape resource out there at the moment.
Transcripts from the Terrace. This page apparently has transcripts for the complete series. The presentation hurts my eyes, but the content appears to be good. They don't have nothing about Peacekeeper Wars, unfortunately. [NOTE: As of 22-09-10, site seems to be gone and what's worse the saved versions in the Wayback Machine seem to have been retroactively erased by the hosting company.]
Farscape Transcripts. Exactly what it says on the tin. A complete trancript collection for the four seasons of Farscape and the miniseries 'The Peacekeeper Wars' put together by the people of Farcape fan-forum Terra Firma.
Farscape Fantasy. They have in their episode guides the best Farscape image galleries I've been able to find so far (at least, among the few still in working order). Worth looking through for those who aren't familiar with the series.
Snurcher's Guide. This site is little more than a big index with many links to the pages that contain the actual transcripts, images and such. For those who want to bookmark a single page.
A Taste for Blue. A shrine site about the character Zhaan. Although I usually wouldn't consider linking to one of these, the web has some articles that explore in some depth the character and her fictional religion, which might be helpful for characterization. Minors should avoid the fic section of this one like the plague. [NOTE: As of 11-05-12, website is gone. Fortunately, the Wayback Machine has a stored copy of the page.]
FOUNDATION
Encyclopedia Galactica. The best (and virtually the only) reference webpage for the science fiction universe created by Isaac Asimov. Some of the contents (particularly in the Space Travel and Chimerical sections) seem to be fan-created.
Who's Who in Asimov? A guide to much of the Foundation universe, with a listing of major characters and worlds from the series. Recommended by Tai Falkenburg.
FUTURAMA
The Infosphere. The Futurama Wiki. Recommended by Starbug.
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GARGOYLES
GargWiki. A good, up-to-date Wiki that contains all known canon information about the Gargoyles universe.
Ask Greg Archives. This page contains literally thousands of questions that Gargoyles fans have asked the creator of the series for the last ten or so years. If you have some obscure doubt about Gargoyles, check here because there are good odds that it has already been answered. If you are out of luck, Mr. Weisman will eventually answer you, but it might take a couple of years...
The Gargoyles Fan Website. Contains an interesting primer to the Gargverse, an episode guide and some interesting essays.
GHOSTBUSTERS[/B]
[url=http://www.gbfans.com/]Ghostbusters Fans. Claims to be the largest Ghostbusters fan community and this might very well be true. In any case, it provides plenty of info about the whole franchise and has a large forum (with a tiny fanfiction section).
GI-JOE
Yo Joe! Although it is primarily a site for collectors of Gi-Joe stuff, Yo Joe! also contains quite a bit of interesting information about the classic GIJOE universe, including an archive of GIJOE comics with extensive plot summaries and another for the filecards that came with the toys.
GOLDEN SUN
Golden Sun Universe. A Wikia to the RPG universe, with a wide range of articles of the game, with in-depth articles. R. Tai Falkenburg.
Golden Sun Realm. Useful quick reference. R. Tai Falkenburg.
GUNDAM
Gundam Wiki. Recommended by drakensis.
Gundam Official. The official website for the English releases of the Gundam series (ie. Gundam, Gundam Zeta, Gundam Wing, Gundam Seed). Based off the old Gundam Project by Mark Simmons, provides a number off glossaries and maps. Also character lists, but not very detailed. Recommended by Tai Falkenburg. [NOTE: As of 24-06-13, site is gone. However, the Wayback Machine contains a comprehensive backup.]
Gundam SEED Net. A fansite with a large amount of screenshots. Mentions all the series, but depth is lacking. R. Tai Falkenburg.
Gundam: High Frontier. A website that deals with the real world science of the First Gundam series. No, not the mobile suits, but rather on the space colonies that remain a trademark of the series. R. Tai Falkenburg. [NOTE: As of 24-06-13, the site is using a new address as a result of a format change in the page.]
The Gundam Project. Wayback Machine archive copy of a page that once upon a time was the most comprehensive Gundam information resource in the Internet. Recommended by Hyakushiki.
Ultimate Mark: Gundam Unofficial. A Gundam Project lite maintained by the creator of the original page. Includes translated information that is reportedly hard to find outside of the Japanese websphere. Recommended by Hyakushiki.
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HALO
Halopedia. Essentially, the Halo Wookieepedia, an indepth and well sourced encyclopedia that is very probably the best guide for this universe that you will ever find in Internet.
Halostory Page. A pretty neat site that contains a bunch of stuff about the characters and the games, including complete transcripts for Halo 1 & 2.
HARRY POTTER
In the Harry Potter Lexicon, you will find everything you ever wanted to know about the wizards of Hogwarts and probably a great many things that you didn't particularly want to know.
HYPERION CANTOS
Hyperion Kronológia. A timeline of the Hyperion universe, from the birth of the TechnoCore in Earth to the end of the post-Endymion short story "Orphans of the Helix". [NOTE: Page has gone offline as of 22-09-2010, but the Wayback Machine has a full copy of the timeline.]
The Hyperion Cantos. A small fansite that doesn't offer much information about the Hyperion universe itself, but gives interesting insights about the background information and real life influences present in Simmons' work.
L'Infosphère. A small French fansite with a Lexicon and some profiles about the characters. Still, it might be of some interest for French-speaking writers who would rather read the info in their mother language. [NOTE: Site offline as of 24-06-13, Wayback Machine has a backup in the unlikely case someone is interested.]
Scificincinnati Hyperion Page. Contains an extensive review/plot synopsis of Hyperion, Fall of Hyperion and Endymion. Useful for the possible newcomers to this fandom.
The Hyperionverse Technology Thread. What the name suggests. A thread in the Stardestroyer forums created in 2003 and that contains a virtually complete description of the technological aspects presented in the novel tetralogy. Very nice piece of work.
HOMEWORLD
Homeworld Shipyards. Contains much of the background information about the Homeworld universe and a complete image collection of the different ships used in the games. A must for those who want to write about the sons of Hiigara.
Encyclopedia Hiigara. The Homeworld wiki. Not quite as high quality as those that have been already mentioned for other fandoms and a bit in the small side for an encyclopedia, but still worth the mention.
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INFINITE STRATOS
Infinite Stratos Wiki. A small wikia for this anime/manga/light novel series. R. judgeking.
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JURASSIC PARK
Jurassic Park Legacy. A fansite about the series that seems to contain some interesting information about both the novel and movie continuities. It also contains a (minuscule) amount of fanfiction.
-K-
KINGDOM HEARTS
Kingdom Hearts Wiki. With thousands of articles, a large and apparently active wiki. Recommended by The Aeon Offspring.
KNOWN SPACE
Known Space Timeline. Basically the timeline of Known space, updated since Fleet of Worlds. R. Tai Falkenburg.
Encyclopedia of Known Space. A glossary of terms used in the Known Space series. However, it was only updated up to 2005. R. Tai Falkenburg.
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LEGACY OF KAIN
Dark Chronicle. The LoK fandom is one of those not so rare cases that has a single wiki page that sucks more than a black hole. Fortunately, Dark Chronicle offers the "Encyclopedia Nosgothica", the most extensive and comprehensive storehouse of information about these games anywhere.
Nosgothic Realm. It has the game scripts of all the games in the saga and the few items of information that cannot be easily found in Dark Chronicle or Wikipedia.
LOKFanatic Plot Guide at Gamefaqs. Spoiler-heavy plot analysis of the entire saga in a single file. Very useful for those who might want to explore the devastated realms of Nosgoth in their fics.
LORD OF THE RINGS
One Wiki To Rule Them All. The LOTR fandom wiki is not quite complete yet, but it is still a decent resource.
Encyclopedia of Arda. Another of many encyclopedias that deal with the Tolkien legendarium, but one that is a personal favourite of mine.
Ardalambion. The definitive guide to Tolkien's imagined languages, with extensive essays and even courses to learn Elvish, supposing that anybody is willing to devote that much effort to it.
Essays of Michael Martinez. Sizeable and thought-provoking collection of essays by an author that seems to get a thrill out of pointing the gaps in our knowledge about Middle Earth. [NOTE: Since Merp.com has been a source of endless annoyance for the last year or so, try this archived version in the Wayback Machine if the original link fails you.]
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