21st Century Goth (Paperback)

Goth is a genre which flourishes on the internet, and 21st Century Goth proves that it has indeed reached more people and created a vast array of material, neatly brought together in this one book. Another reviewer commented that the book would quickly date, which I would disagree with – most of the URLs listed are top level domains, and are not likely to disappear overnight – indeed, out of all the pages I have visited, I have not found a broken URL. Plus, in the bands section for example, there are often lists of fan sites as well as the official site. The comments are honest and informative, and all presented in Mercer’s unique style. The book also contains news of Mercer’s other projects, such as his photo CDs on his new website. A valuable resource you’ll be flicking through for years.

If you plan a book to appeal to, and be useful to, people Internationally you have to maintain an even-handed approach to sites overall. What is seen as a big, important site in Europe or America may mean nothing to people in S E Asia, South America, Australia, etc. Darkwave.org, as an example, is the most important UK Goth site, which is why it's in Goth Sites, but it's 'resource' qualities are uneven, so I didn't put it in Resources, which tends to be for more clinically austere Link guides. Similarly, the difference between Goth People and Goth Sites may seem tenuous, but the idea is to select which site concentrates on the site owner, or which one has content which is of interest to people because of its more general Goth content.

I also intentionally chose to try and ignore boundaries, because I want people to dig deep, rather than the thing which often happens where people only concentrate on their own national scene. Also, in areas like the Clubs section, I do say where the club is based, and the Locations sections isn't Zines, it is regional guides. The zines are to be found in the Zines section.

With Hex Files, done pre-Net explosion, it was up to bands/businesses etc to inform me if they changed addresses, so I had the most up to date listings, and obviously people move, so once the book came out, there would always be changes which couldn't be helped. With this book if someone doesn't care enough not to leave a re-direct page when they change url that's pathetic behaviour on their part. Alternatively, if an isp goes down, you can usually still find the site by searching with its title.

I'm glad Gwilym enjoyed it, and got the main point. It is more Goth by being complex, as there is everything in there, plus surprises. You make more discoveries the more you delve. That was the whole point, and I have tried to make it enjoyable without being over the top. I had to actually cut down on personal comments because there was so much to get in.

Infuriating? I think that's slightly harsh. I just don't dumb anything down, and I expect people to find it useful. There is more updated info available through that one book than you will find on any site. Of course if it is slightly infuriating I don't mind that. I do tend to WANT to make people work at it.

This book is great. Sort of a Yellow Pages for the Goth community.

Mick has helped take the time wasting element of surfing out of the equation and brings sites that I would never of thought of searching for let alone actually finding!

Apart from it would be nice if the sites were geographically sorted the book is excellent.