Skimming through reader reviews can be a great way to decide if a book you’re considering is really right for you, but how do you find out what books to consider in the first place? Wouldn’t it be great if newspapers still had book reviewers, and they specialized in your favorite genre? Or better yet, what if you could have an entire newspaper, where the only news they printed was about the crazy stuff going on in the kinds of worlds you like to read about? Your top news stories tonight, “Wizard Falls In Old Dwarf Mines. Balrog Suspected.” “Boy Vanishes Into Wall At King’s Cross Station.” “Stark Heir Betrayed. Winter Coming Sooner Than Expected.”
These are the kinds of articles you can read on my new web site, called The Looking Glass. The idea is that lots of people read newspapers, so why not have a newspaper for people who read books, but with articles written in a way that gives readers a taste of what a particular novel feels like, but without having to read a boring blurb, or go off and find a sample chapter.
Articles on The Looking Glass can be written by the book’s author, or by a fan. Anyone can submit. And since TLG focuses on the imaginary worlds of fantasy, science fiction, and the paranormal, chances are good that if you read one or more of those genres, many of the stories will appeal to you. The paper has sections on society news, business, sports and battles, advances in science and wizardry, so there’s something there for every speculative fiction fan. Or if you prefer, you can sign up to receive the highlighted front-page stories each week as an email.
I hope you’ll check it out. And if you do, please find a way to tell others. Tweet an article you like, or even like this one on FB. Chances are, if you like the idea, some of your friends will, too.