Risingshadow.net 

Risingshadow.net concentrates on science fiction and fantasy books of good quality. The aim of the site is to inform of good speculative fiction books and to maintain a book database. The site has also a discussion forum.

The site is maintained in voluntary work done by the site's host, Mika Salovaara, and other administrators and moderators. The administrators take care of running the page in general, and the moderators watch over conversations and update the author database and other contents.

The registered users can make their own virtual bookshelf where you they list the science fiction and fantasy books they have read and name their favourite books and authors. Users can also set the book they're currently reading and see who else is reading that book.

Two sites with English and Finnish language

Risingshadow.net was brought into Finnish users in 2001 when domain was registered, but original pages (with different name) had been established already in 1996. At summer 2007 we decided to make pages in English version. Our goal is not to translate our Finnish site, but use our skills to make good and original English site to all fiction fans. So content at our Finnish and English sites are different.

English site at http://en.risingshadow.net and
Finnish site at http://fi.risingshadow.net

More about Risingshadow's history

In Finnish, Risingshadow.net is the largest site that concentrates on science fiction and fantasy in Finland. Risingshadow informs people of new science fiction and fantasy books published in Finnish and maintains a database about all science fiction and fantasy books published in Finnish. The most popular section of the site is an active discussion forum where people can discuss about literature, writing, movies, and almost anything between heaven and earth.

In 2006, almost 580 000 visits (unique users) were registered. The users of the Risingshadow.net are Finnish science fiction and fantasy fans. Their ages vary from six to sixty years, an average user being over 20 years old. Notable size and good atmosphere have made professionals as well into Risingshadow.net users – there are authors, reviewers and journalists using the site.

The Risingshadow.net was established in 1996 when Mika ”Darkki” Salovaara searched the net for information on science fiction literature in Finnish. There didn’t seem to be any such sites existing so he decided to create one himself. When a discussion forum was added to the site, more and more users appeared. The current address, www.risingshadow.net, was brought into use in 2001.

Information on all science fiction and fantasy books published in Finnish is in the author database. At the moment, there are details about 1700 authors and over 4200 books (in English version about 4000 authors and 27 000 books). Maintenance crew updates and fills up the database whenever new books are published or shortcomings are noted in the old material.

The users of the Risingshadow.net have also arranged common activities, such as a meeting every summer in the fort of Suomenlinna in Helsinki.

The Risingshadow site has tried to keep in touch and co-operate with other Finnish fandom, as one of its goals is to increase awareness of different magazines, sites and events. For example, the site was represented in the Finncon of 2004 and in the co-operational meeting of the Finnish science fiction societies. The site is an optimal channel for informing people on events and news of the field.