"From William Morris to Ursula K. Le Guin and Iain M. Banks, science fiction has provided an outlet for socialist thinkers – offering a break from a bleak political reality and allowing them to imagine a vastly different world."
True. What they don't usually tell you is that her husband Percy Shelley, was an established poet and novelist but without much success early on. He was not too happy when his young wife, got acclaim and fame - more than his - on her first novel.
10 authors, of whose books I've read at least five:
Ursula Le Guin
Kim Stanley Robinson
Octavia Butler
N. K. Jemisin
Becky Chambers
Iain M. Banks
Martha Wells
M. R. Carey
Lois McMaster Bujold
Vonda McIntyre
10 authors, of whose books I've read at least five:
Terry Pratchett
Brandon Sanderson
Neil Gaiman
Piers Anthony
Brian K. Vaughan
Warren Ellis
Garth Ennis
Kieron Gillen
Bryan Lee O'Malley
Matt Fraction
Gosh that was harder than I thought it would be. I felt like using #GraphicNovels might be cheating but I guess I don't read a ton of longer series otherwise.
Goddammit season 2 of Foundations is great. I'm annoyed at the end of every episode because it's the end of the episode. Only one more to go, and the suspense is killing me. Please don't let it be another two years until the continuation!
I'm currently rewatching Fringe, which is a great show. I believe it's also the first SciFi show my sister is actually willing to watch.
Now, the science of it is obviously bonkers, but it still bothers me when they use terms completely wrong. Like when they cite the Pauli Exclusion Principle as to why two objects from different universes cannot exist in the same place. The principle is about the quantum state of fermions, like an electron, not whole macroscopic objects.
@Pat it's an early episode of season 2 I think, but yes, it's about skipping between multiverses.
The scene would have worked just fine without mentioning the principle at all. I guess the writers just looked up something that sounded relevant. The principle is not straightforward to understand if you don't know quantum mechanics, and is clearer when formulated mathematically.
@Pat For all its other flaws at least Big Bang Theory did this bit well. Even as someone in a similar field to Sheldon, the stuff they talked about made sense. Sure, they made up a bunch of stuff too. Even the equations on the white boards were at least relevant, if not exactly describing the problems they were discussing. But that's really a level of detail I don't expect. Most shows use middle/high school algebra style math and pretend it's advanced physics. Fringe has done it several times 😁
@mpax@lougrims Welcome! There’s a lot of folks here (including many authors, such as @scalzi , @marthawells, @cstross), and other great folks such as the creator/maintainer of the venerable Atomic Rockets site, @nyrath.
Why do sci-fi artists design aerodynamic spaceships like mother ships that are never going to land? Aerodynamics really doesn't matter a whole lot in space.
Also, why would these ships need a discernable top and bottom? There is no real up or down for most of your interstellar travel.
@JeremyMallin@nyrath one of the things I hope The Expanse inspires is more ships that use thrust as the direction of "down" and more consideration of where plating is actually needed.
Theory: aerodynamic-appearing is strongly correlated with "visually attractive".
It's visual language for "we can spend money on excitingly curved hull plates and unnecessary fairings, etc., just so we don't have to look at a starship that looks like a boiler factory had a terrible accident when attempting to mate with a steamroller".
(Which in turn is symbolic language for "we are rich and have a high culture, unlike you primitive savages from beyond the Marches".)
@godlessmom The series that most surprised me was Lilith's Brood by Octavia Butler. In my opinion, she writes at the level of LeGuin and her talent far exceeds authors with greater name recognition. The series blows through a number of taboos around sexuality and genetics, and was exceptionally ground-breaking considering it was written in the late 80s.
@godlessmom I recommend "Eifelheim" by Michael F. Flynn. It is primarily a story of alien first contact during the Black Plague in medieval Germany. It is fascinating and tragic and a great read. Religion is involved, due to the time period, but I didn't mind because it makes sense in the story. In some parts of the book you identify with (and understand) the aliens than with the humans! There is a small framing around the story, though, that takes place in the modern day which isn't as good.
@whknott
Arnold was very intelligent, but his life was pain. He was bullied from the age of ten by boys who were bigger than himself. He didn't understand how those stupid boys always got management jobs. At thirty Arnold broke. He built his own gun, walked into his high school reunion, and opened fire. No blood, the gun shot ink, very permanent ink. Arnold hit the forehead every time, and tattoos appeared saying: Kick me, I’m Stupid, Loser, Dunce, Brain Damaged, and A.S.S. The event made the national news and Arnold felt better than he ever had.
I don’t wear garish capes like my brother Stephen. And I definitely don’t do “magic tricks”. But I can pick a flea off a running bunny at 20 yards without singing a hair.
Ha! Hare.
My jokes are way funnier than his too.
Now where is the good Doctor? He summoned me. Probably to save his ass. Again.
TIL that it wasn’t Star Trek TNG that came up with the idea for a positronic brain for androids. Isaac Asimov used that terminology in I, Robot in the 1950s. I’m not sure if he was the first but that’s still decades before Commander Data was imagined into existence. #scifi#StarTrek#IsaacAsimov
@avencolonial
LOL! I read your statements, you made yourself clear. Your attitude is also noted. Please do yourself a favor and read the rest of the thread, and then try to engage in a polite discussion, if you can. Take that as a warning. There will be no other.
"I don't have any rebutal so I'll just say do your research even though I have done none and run off."
Like every conspiracy theorist and/or myth spreader, you get spooked when your little myths/lies get debunked, and try to play the "Im more mature" card.
You clearly couldn't debunk anything I said, so you have to run now.
So, see ya. Not like giving you data has ever made people like you go out and do actual research lol.
Yes. Heinlein's novel Sixth Column aka The Day After Tomorrow is a drastically re-written version of John Campbell's All. Done with Campbell's permission.
For instance: in Sixth Column the freedom fighters invent a crazy religion as a cover story. They pretend to believe the religion in order to fool the invaders.
In All, the freedom fighters actually believe the ridiculous religion they invented.
@SFRuminations My first real introduction to literary scifi was A Canticle for Leibowitz, as it was on the list of books we could read in 9th grade English (I'm not sure why I ignored the more famous sci-fi books on the list like A Brave New World, 1984, and Fahrenheit 451 in favor of this one and the much worse Anthem by Ayn Rand).
Okay, #Bookstodon, I am going to shout this into the void and see if my next read might manifest itself.
These are four series that I’ve read in the last decade or so that have really blown my mind:
The Broken Earth, by the incomparable NK Jemisin.
The Machineries of Empire, by Yoon Ha Lee.
Teixcaalan, by Arkady Martine.
Imperial Raadch, by Ann Leckie.
Reading that list, is there a series of books that I absolutely have to read? Any recs spring to mind? #BookRecommendations#SciFi