Republibot's Greatest Hits (2009 to slightly later in 2009)

Thanks to getting written up on Wired last week, and Threedonia today, our site has had a pretty massive upswing in traffic lately. To all the new people checking us out for the first time: Welcome! We do hope you’ll stick around.

If you'll forgive me for being self-referential, there’s a lot of stuff to be proud of here on the site (And a bit here and there that we’d probably take back if we could), but it’s the nature of bloggery that the medium simply devours content. Any mention of a brilliant new book, or dissertation on some new philosophical outlook invariably gets buried and lost among the TV reviews and discussions about whether or not the butt-shots in Japanese cartoons are gratuitous nor necessary for the advancement of the plot. (Hint: They’re always gratuitous)

It’s easy to get lost or frustrated if you’re a new visitor on an established site, to, to help orient you new folks, is a list of our “Greatest Hits” - the things on the site that we’re proudest of. *Most* of these are editorials or observations of trends, or interviews. I’m not bothering to single out episode and movie reviews because you can find that kind of thing on pretty much any SF site, whereas this stuff is our own unique voice:

Here’s our first original SF story http://www.republibot.com/content/original-fiction-dog-days-part-1

Republibot 2.0’s assessment of how real-world politics affects superhero comics http://www.republibot.com/content/opinionbatman-dies-obama-shakes-spider...

Here’s a roundtable discussion on whether or not “Christian Science Fiction” is possible, or even desirable. It’s more fascinating than it sounds, really:
http://www.republibot.com/content/roundtable-discussion-6-christian-scie...

Here’s an editorial explaining how the push for biofuels is killing people in Africa so that guilty white liberals can feel better about themselves while lining the pockets of the rich. Again.
http://www.republibot.com/content/selfrighteous-hippies-helping-rich-get...

Our interview with John Varley, who’s not-at-all conservative http://www.republibot.com/content/interview-john-varley

Here’s a really good editorial about the sad decline of the space program in America
http://www.republibot.com/content/editorial-why-are-we-turning-our-backs...

Our interview with legendary SF artist and author, Ron Miller
http://www.republibot.com/content/interview-ron-miller-artist

Here's a really good piece on the gradual re-emergence of Nuclear Weapons in SF, and the postapocalyptic trend of the 80s http://www.republibot.com/content/return-nuclear-weapons

Our take on SF Author Stanislaw Lem’s opinions of SF as a genre, its limitations and it’s unique advantages
http://www.republibot.com/content/legendary-science-fiction-author-stani... I followed up on this and expanded it here http://www.republibot.com/content/arogantly-lowbrow-sf-fan-advocates-nee... which prompted a rebuttal from one of our contributors here http://www.republibot.com/content/alternate-view-sci-fi-criticism-best-v...

Here’s an editorial about how pretentious people refuse to admit they like SF, and if they like something that has aliens and ray guns, it must ipso facto not be Science Fiction http://www.republibot.com/content/pretentious-people-refuse-admit-things...

The first installment in our “Science Fiction Music” series
http://www.republibot.com/content/science-fiction-music-review-1-lost-ho...

Our interview with Comics artist/writer Sean Wang
http://www.republibot.com/content/science-fiction-music-review-1-lost-ho...

Some observations on Gaius Baltar's ultimately pointless religious cult in Battlestar Galactica
http://www.republibot.com/content/baltars-religious-cult-full-crap-studi...

Here’s an early assessment of the overabundance of clichés in SF http://www.republibot.com/content/science-fiction-cliches

So that should be enough to get everyone who’s a bit bewildered going and up to speed. And who knows - I might do a ‘greatest misses’ list of the things on the site I’m least proud of in the not-too-distant future because getting stuff horribly, horribly wrong can be kind of interesting too. And funny...