The online book community is a wonderful thing. It brings together people from across the world in ways you wouldn’t expect. I can read a book published by an American author, chat about it from here in the UK, and discuss it with someone living in China. It’s a truly global community, all thanks to social media. Be it Facebook, Twitter, Discord, or the comments section right here, I’ve got to know a lot of great people through online communities. But they do have their drawbacks.
Twitter is largely comprised of people complaining about Twitter. Discord Servers are hard to find. Facebook is full of some of the worst people you’ll ever have the misfortune to meet. And even when you find your way into a community, there are problems. As a science fiction reader, I am constantly irritated by the fact that fantasy muscles in on sci-fi spaces. If both are included, then fantasy outweighs sci-fi by a considerable margin. And then there’s the self-publishing phenomenon. I have more thoughts on that coming in another article quite soon, but I have seen multiple communities fall down the self-publishing rabbit hole to the point that I no longer feel I have anything in common with that community.
Where, I asked myself, is the best place to talk about traditionally published science fiction? The closest I could find is the Media Death Cult server, but even that is far from perfect. So I got to thinking, why not make my own? How hard could it possibly be?
Well, I’ve been pecking away at that thought for eight months now. Sometimes seriously, sometimes not. But I think enough is enough. I’m going to go for it. Worst case scenario, no one turns up and I can delete the thing and move on. No harm no foul.
So, with that thought, I’m throwing open the doors to the Boundary’s Edge Social Club. This will be a small little corner of the internet where sci-fi nerds can talk about traditionally published books, television, and authors. A place free from the troubles of the real world. A place where we can just sit down and have a chat about the nerdy things we love. A place for readers, whether they review or not. A place where you can talk about books that you didn’t like, as well as those you did. A place where we can all just get along.
If this gets any traction, maybe there’ll be blog-alongs, buddy reads, and who knows what else. But even if it ends up just being a few people, you’re more than welcome to join in the fun. So if that sounds like your kind of thing, pop in and say hello.
At Boundary's Edge 