Ancient Web: Altair Accretion Opened Four Fan Archives in 1998

Part of the Ancient Web Collection.

The Altair Accretion is not so much a website as a doorway into several other worlds. Its homepage offers pulp adventure, Canadian television criticism, a giant ape and the fiction of Robert E. Howard—with a greeting borrowed from Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Visit the Altair Accretion.

The front page identifies four projects. The Pulp and Dagger webzine promises old-fashioned swashbucklers, mysteries, fantasy and serialized adventure. The Great Canadian Guide to the Movies and TV promises reviews and reference material for Canadian productions. Kingdom Kong focuses on the famous fictional ape. The Cimmerian Collection offers opinions and information about the works of Conan creator Robert E. Howard.

All four fit the same sensibility: personal expertise turned into highly specific fan publishing. They are not a single commercial media portal with an editorial brand chosen by a committee.

A webzine, a guide and one very particular movie

The Kingdom Kong memorial page provides the clearest view of the people behind the links. It explains that Jeffrey Blair Latta, who created the tribute, died in January 2006 at age forty. The page says he had enjoyed correspondence with fellow fans and making the site, and that it would remain as a tribute.

That memorial distinguishes a continuing archive from an actively operated fan publication. Other sections remained linked, although some internal pages now present access screens or load unreliably. The homepage provides evidence of their identity and intent; it does not establish that every old story and image is still retrievable.

The site explicitly dates its own birth: the Accretion 'achieved consciousness' on November 20, 1998. It records revisions in 1999 and February 2006. The old email contact and joking instructions for which subject to mention in a message are part of its period voice, not a verified present-day inbox.

There was room on the early Web for fans to build collections that would never fit a publisher's broad target audience. A whole website could revolve around one movie, or collect obscure Canadian screen credits because someone cared enough to do it.

The Accretion's most memorable feature is that it refused to pick just one obsession.

Explore the four original projects and the Kingdom Kong memorial.

Part of the Ancient Web Collection.