Next week, I will have some exciting news to share with all of you about the future of Airlock Alpha, Rabid Doll and the tiny company that runs it all, The SyUniverse Group Inc.

But before I look to the future, I always like to keep an eye on the past to see the things that have worked, what hasn't worked, and what it will take to make the year better.

This past year, 2008, was a great year for us, and a tremendous milestone for Airlock Alpha because we celebrated our 10th anniversary. It's a milestone that I never expected to reach when the site first launched in 1998, and there were a few speed bumps along the way that I really thought was going to derail the project. But yet, now more than 10 years later, we are still here.

While some usually target me first with either credit (or fault), the thing is that I could never do Airlock Alpha alone. We have a very full staff of extremely talented people, including Wayne Hall as our news editor and Alan Stanley Blair as our assistant news editor, who help bring this site together each and every day. Our writing staff is phenomenal with the likes of Robin Brownfield, Ed Left and Dan Compora as well as some new names like Paul Auman, Mike Moody, Katie Sawyer and our two new columnists, Jake Slocum and Christopher Oldaker.

But we also have some awesome people who help put this site together from in the inside like Bryant Griffin as our graphic designer (he's been with us since 2003) and Nick Chase as our former lead programmer. I say former, because Nick has a new title ... he's the chief technology officer of The SyUniverse Group.

Joining us, and something I will get into more detail next week, is not really a new face to Airlock Alpha, but one we're excited to have back. Shane Churchman, who was our programmer back in 2002 and 2003, has rejoined the world of SyFy and beyond as our new community engineer, working directly with Nick on revamping Airlock Alpha (something we hope to have complete by the time this column appears again), but also bringing a ton of expertise into a new project that we'll finally be ready to announce right here next week. We're very excited about it, and I can't wait to finally share it with you, as a lot of it has been in development for more than 18 months.

We all work hard to bring you the best in science-fiction and fantasy news each day right here at Airlock Alpha, as well as the best in horror news under Sherri Lonon at Rabid Doll, and soon our horizons will be expanded ever more.

But there is one last person I need to thank for our success in 2008: You. Without you coming to the site, being entertained, informed, and even be made to think, you have helped Airlock Alpha reach its ultimate goal. By telling your friends about the site, linking to us in FaceBook, MySpace, Twitter, message boards, blogs and everywhere else, you help bring in more people as well.

And if you haven't already, please join our brand spanking new group on Facebook that you can find right now just by clicking here.

As much as we would like to be just you and me talking about entertainment, we know that sites like Airlock Alpha can only survive by continued growing numbers of readers. But as you already know, whether you've been here for a day or 10 years, no matter how big we grow, nothing will ever take away our "small-town" feel of Airlock Alpha. Unlike many other sites that have been around a long time, where their founders or leaders are about as absent as Jimmy Hoffa, I'm still here, and I'm still reachable directly, whether it be on our message boards, or even though e-mail (try it and see ... write to me at mhinman@airlockalpha.com and see if you get a personal response from me).

Yeah, it might take a lot of time out of my day to read through the hundreds to thousands of e-mail I receive and provide personal responses, but I made a promise in the beginning that I would always be accessible, and while I didn't expect to receive so many visitors on an hourly basis, let alone a yearly basis, I will not back away.

So please join me in toasting a wonderful 2008. Let's hope 2009 will be even better!

SyFy Radio

You can listen to SyFy Radio live every Wednesday at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT at www.SyFyRadio.com, returning after the new year.

You also can hear archived versions of past shows at the same place, or by visiting the iTunes store and typing in "SyFy" in the search window.

SyBits

Send your letters to mhinman@airlockalpha.com, and maybe you'll hear them on SyFy Radio, complete with my arcane responses.

Do you like to chat about the SciFriday columns you see here? Then join our message board discussions by clicking here.

Don't forget to listen to me host SyFy Radio, every Wednesday at 10 p.m. ET (and available to download for free at your leisure after the fact) by visiting www.blogtalkradio.com/syfyradio. You also can subscribe to us for free at the iTunes Store. Simply log in to iTunes, type in "syfy" in the search engine, and ou'll be connected directly to the show's archive.

If you're not yet a member of our free breaking news/headlines mailing list, then it's not too late to sign up. Simply send a blank e-mail to syfyportal-subscribe@yahoogroups.com and enjoy the latest in science-fiction and fantasy entertainment straight to your e-mail box with breaking news and headlines. I promise you you won't regret it!

Rabid Doll is now online! Visit it at www.RabidDoll.com. We also have a mailing list going for that, which you can join by simply sending a blank e-mail to rabiddoll-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.

Have a great week, and don't be a stranger!

Michael Hinman, a cult leader twice awarded "Best Kool-Aid Drinker," is the founder and site coordinator for Airlock Alpha, writing out of Tampa, Fla. He can be reached at mhinman@airlockalpha.com