Each great book is a kind of universe, but it does not exist in isolation -- books influence other books via their authors. Small Demons explores the books, places and people mentioned in books and exposes the endless web of influence and inspiration that permeates literature. Click on Moby Dick for example, and the site shows you works referenced in the book, books that reference it, people mentioned in the book, including mythical figures, and also artworks, places and so forth. As the sites creators continue to populate it with literary information, the web of associations will no doubt grow richer. An intriguing use of the Internet that adds to rather from detracting from the literary experience.
Good Cover, Bad Cover
Science Fiction covers often provoke amusement amongst those who don't read Sci Fi. For those of us who do, we treasure the remarkable variety of cover art — from melodramatic pulp novels to high concept fiction and everything in between. The covers could be formulaic, but were often wildly inventive and even avant garde. After all, if you are writing about the future, you're not automatically bound by the constraints of the past. This website explores the often hilariously literal and overblown art of the less refined end of the genre, while this one catalogues Penguin's consistently high quality and restrained covers (mirroring the often high polish of the contents).