Do any of the War of the Worlds tv shows have a real ending? Are any of them any good? Lastly, are any of them connected to one another?

Been sucked into Dune lore along with the rest of the world these past few weeks and have gone down some rabbit holes about the Bene Gesserit, along with their long machinations such as seeding planets with the Missionaria Protectiva or producing the KH.

Are there any non-dune science fiction or fantasy books or series (I’ve already got the first 6 dune books on my list) that also explore the idea of religion being used as a tool by a powerful group to shape culture and civilizations over time? I’m especially interested if it focuses on the… I guess strategic(?) aspects of religion being used on people or used against one another. Bonus if there’s a holy war involved that’s being fought over millennia.

Not really looking for alternative history about real world religions - purely interested in fictional ones. Though I guess I would count religions evolved from currently real world ones on a long enough time scale as fictional enough. (Yes yes, all religions are technically fiction and all that.)

As the title suggest I am looking for a epic sci-fi book or series that is similiar to the old republic era of Star Wars, Mainly the more grittier take were the Jedi were more battle weary and were engaging with different conflicts (such as the Issues with Revan, the Jedi/Sith war and the Mandalorian Wars), The more complex and diverse characters and the amazing worldbuilding as well.

I really loved the trailers for the Knights of the Fallen Empire and Knights of the Eternal Throne expansions for the Old Republic MMO game especially the family dynamic with Empereor Valkorian (the asshole dad in white armor who narrates the first trailer), Arcann (the son in white armor who has the prothestics), Thexan (the other son in black garb>!who was killed by Arcann in the first trailer!<), Vaylin (the daughter who was seen in the second trailer) and Senya (>!the mother of all three kids who tried and failed to save Vaylin!<). Their was just something shakesperian about the stories for trailers and I would love to read any sci-fi books similiar to that the feeling since i've mainly been a fantasy or history reader and this will be my first time really getting into the genre (not including Dune).

Thank you for anyone who helps out in advance and i look foward to seeing what the sci-fi genre has to offer.

That's really my only problem with 3 body problem.

This is a great interview with Adrian Tchaikovsky who has written a lot of Fantasy, then did SciFi with the Children of series, and then tried to merge them in Shadows of the Apt.

I think he has a unique and very clear distinction between Fantasy and SciFi that resonates a lot, and it helps show why a lot of usual distinctions are so controversial since they're often based on visual or set pieces than plot, and even why just tossing out "social commentary" is often a bit too vague.

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Basically "a lot of fantasy is quite circular in the way its plots work, so that you end everything kind of how you began it"

And "Whereas a lot of science fiction has more of a ‘time’s arrow’ kind of plot, where you’re going forward to discover a kind of a thing, or invent a thing, and the universe at the end is different to the way the universe is at the beginning."

There's also "one of the things that marks science fiction out against fantasy most is a certain analytical context, of things having an explanation which can actually be broken down and discovered by the characters in a way that, with fantasy, it’s not really the priority of the book to do that."

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The entire interview is great, but if you want to jump to his distinction look for "The first thing is: there is science in your fantasy novels"

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https://www.epicureancure.com/323/adrian-tchaikovsky-on-tropes-writing-children-of-time/

https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2024/03/vernor-vinge-father-of-the-tech-singularity-has-died-at-age-79/

Was watching a TikTok where Tessa Mcbessa said the sci-fi novel The Golden Basement had "the happiest bleakness I have ever experienced." I think "happy bleakness" is the thread that runs through all my favorite sci-fi. Philip K. Dick, Harlan Ellison and Robocop are packed with happy bleakness. Like how in the end of Robocop he is still a robot living in a dystopian hell, but he's okay with it. Or with Philip K. Dick, the back cover descriptions all sound like they'll be downers but they have that 1960s bubblegum quality. The Golden Basement is like a dark existentialist novel with an upbeat early '90s feel. What else has "happy bleakness"?

https://www.tiktok.com/@findingtessareading/video/7347832907660201262

I finished the book a couple of days ago, and the semaphore computer scene was 100% something I'm certain I've read before somewhere. However this is my first time reading the book! Was that particular scene used as a short story or excerpt anywhere?

Post your favorite 70s scifi movies/TV so I can watch ones I’ve missed. Here are some of mine:

Logan’s Run

Planet of the Apes (all films and TV series)

Colossus: The Forbin Project

Silent Running

Solaris (the original Soviet)

Andromeda Strain

Close Encounters

Soylent Green

Battlestar Galactica

Buck Rogers in the 25th century Westworld

Mad Max

THX 1138

Omega Man

Invasion of the Body Snatchers

Rollerball

Anything with Ray Harryhausen animated work (like r he Sinbad films although some were in the 60s)

I’m not even going to mention Star Wars.

https://ebay.us/XFK4TK

Insane lot from the 70s and up

liked it more than Afterlife, but I was hoping for more than just 2 hours of nostalgia bait. I posted my youtube review this morning.

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire Review - Nostalgia Served Cold https://youtu.be/crA_1a9sjrk

I'm sure I'm in the minority, and most people probably love it. Am I way off base?

There’s been a recent trend of studios licensing sci-fi books for big-budget shows and movies. These have become flagship sources of media for those companies (see Dune, Foundation, 3 Body Problem).

What’s next?

My first thoughts were the Ender’s Game series and other Asimov works, but Ender’a Game was made into a film a bit too recently, and Apple probably has the rights to a large amount of Asimov.

What do you all think about MOIST (youtube.com) ? I wish I could show it to my wife, but she would not get it.

My favorite sci-fi other than that is Blade Runner 2049

What are some easy to follow fantasy/ scifi audiobooks?

Guys, I love fantasy and have read a lot of both fantasy and fantasy romance (Lotr, HP, ACOIAF, Mistborn, etc…) I tried Kate Daniels graphic audiobooks and felt like I missed a lot of the names, context, magic system since I do chores while listening. However, I can easily listen to contemporary romance since they are so easy to follow.

What are some easy to follow fantasy audiobooks that I can listen to? I prob could not have listened to ACoIAF or even LOTR without reading them first for instance since there are so many characters and places and lots of different things going on.

I like hard science sci fi and loved the three body problem books. I have read pretty much all the good sci fi of that sort from before those books. What should I read now?

I read a book 20+ years ago. I do think, it was from an east-european author.

I remember some parts fo the story:

A android/robot awakens in a hideout on a faraway planet. He is missing time/memories, but he learned (it was instilled to him while he was offline) magic (?). He gets some rebels who fight against oppression and wins against the oppressors. Afterwards he and friends take a spaceship to return back to earth to help the last "free" cities behind their shields against the enemy.

I do thinkt both factions were human or of humand origin. This was a surreal mix of magic and sci-fi. Surely no master piece, but i want to try a reread.

If an alien civilisation attempted to communicate with us face-to-face, would a futuristic, super-advanced AI be able to bridge the language gap? Assuming the aliens spoke a different language, of course.

Just finished the first book in the Three Body Problem trilogy. I thought it was pretty decent, but I wasn’t blown away the way I’d hoped. Just curious if people here think the second and third book are better, so I should keep going even if I didn’t love the first one?