We were following up idly on a reference in the galleys of Christopher Kremmer’s forthcoming The Carpet Wars and wound up Googling the name of an ancient city. Most of the results are illustrative of the continuing deep connection between the ‘net and sci-fi fanculture. But one of the links proved considerably more diverting. A curious blend of heavyweight scholarship and excursions into fairyland make this a lovely example of the unexpected cross-pollinations the Web enables. Interdisciplinary fun, praise Enki!

Weirdest and most satisfying is the extent to which academic-style argument finds a home among the servants of the gods and goddesses of a pre-scientific culture: We wait eagerly for the second installment of this righteously footnoted denunciation of spurious "wizards" who have been duped by the belief in that urban legend of the Satanist set, the Necronomicon.