Brainstorms Internet Marketing, Inc., through a strategic alliance with Marketing Services Group, Inc. announced October 26, the launch of what they call the world's first science fiction and fantasy "Master Portal" -- www.scifijumpgate.com.

SciFiJumpgate’s launch is appearantly scheduled to beat the October 29 launch of (www.fandom.com) -- created to serve the e-commerce, information and community needs of science fiction, horror and fantasy entertainment enthusiasts. See Former Morgan Stanley executive to lead Fandom.com web site.

The SciFiJumpgate site is designed to give fans access to the worlds of science fiction through a simple, easy to navigate source. Visitors can initially link to more than 1,000 pre-screened Web sites that range from mainstream topics such as Star Wars, Star Trek and the X-Files to more niche properties including Space 1999, Lexx and The Sentinel.

"We took a random universe of tens of thousands of sites, culled and categorized the best into a master directory and made travel between the selected sites light years faster,'' said David Blaise, President of Brainstorms and Founder of SciFiJumpgate.com. ``Unlike established portals that specialize in a targeted aspect of the genre, this site will serve as the major directory for fans around the globe... maybe beyond!"

Hype aside, there is relatively little content on this site at its launch. Independent fan produced web sites, such as http://sflovers.rutgers.edu/ offer many more portals to the world of online science fiction, and sites like Fan History Project offer much more content.

The new site will be launching with a series of interviews and online chats designed to attract fans from several worlds of science fiction and fantasy. In addition, Brainstorms has contracted with The New York Times Syndicate to carry "Inside Trek & SciFi", Ian Spelling's weekly syndicated column.

Brainstorms will launch a print advertising campaign in November with display ads in major science fiction magazines. In addition, the site will be promoted aggressively on the Web through opt-in e-mail, targeted affiliate programs and banner advertising.

Posted October-27-1999