Dave Tackett is the hard-surfing editor of the QUASAR DRAGON blog. Here's what we talked about:
DWC: Why and when did you create Quasar Dragon? How much time a week does it require?
DT: QD was created in Februray 2007 after I was inspired by the now unfortunately defunct Gwangi's Radio Review. When I realized that blogs could be something other than the online diaries that I had previously heard of, the idea of combining my love of the imaginative genres and my favorite word "free" was born. QD takes at least 15 hours a week, often much more.
DWC: QD covers a lot of different genres and medium (comics, etext, Video, etc.) Is there a central theme to all this Internet material?
DT: Imagination. I love storytelling that inspires the imagination. My favorite aspect of SF, Fantasy, and horror is that, at their best, they take us beyond the ordinary mundane world and show us more than any human being can ever see. And I think I'm like many people in that I enjoy entertainment in more than one medium. An entertaining story is an entertaining story.
DWC: What would you like to expand into with your blog? Reviews, interviews, fiction?
DT: Yes, all of them if I had the time. That's what I created the sporadically updated QD2 for, but have had little time for anything except for occasionally transcribing a sci-fi text story from the old comic books.
DWC: Do bloggers and websites approach you or the other way around? If someone wanted to advertise with QD is that possible?
DT: For the most part, I just find the sites and rarely have much contact. John DeNardo of SFSignal often sends me some links, and I'd be thrilled if anyone informed me of another free magazine, or blog. It would be possible to advertise on QD, but as a person who gets about a hundred Nigerian scam offers a day, I'd be very hesitant unless I knew the person.
DWC: You obviously know of a lot of blogs out there on the Web. Do you have a favorite?
DT: Yes, all the ones I link to, in the posts, in my links section, and in the new "blog list." I really like all the blogs I post about and read each day. Of course those that link to QD are my especial favorites :)
DWC: How long do you see yourself doing this for?
DT: That's a tough one. As long as I'm able to and still find it worth the effort. Hopefully for a very long time.
GW
G. W. Thomas has been published since 1987. He has appeared in over 400 publications including Writer's Digest, The Writer and Black October Magazine. His website is www.gwthomas.org
2 comments:
This was an excellent interview. For the past 6 months I have been reading QD on a daily basis, and I have been constantly pleased and amazed by Dave's work. 15 hours per week is quite a bit of time, especially considering that he doesn't get paid for it. Just think, if he was working at a fast food joint for that amount of time each week, he would have made $6,435 in the past year and a half!
On a personal note, I approached Dave last summer about writing a guest review for my blog and his response was nothing short of pleasing. I have a great amount of respect for the guy and the websites he maintains. Here's to a long life for QuasarDragon!
Thanks Rusty, though there is a huge difference between a fast-paced job and looking at cool websites at my own speed. (I love all the cool sites I link to - including yours and DWB.)
And I have, in theory, made $76 dollars from Google over that time. But that's the bonus, the reward is visiting all the sites and hopefully sending some well-deserved traffic their way.
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