I remember playing Mass Effect and being so awestruck I wondered why didn't we have a novel series like that.

I read "The Expanse" and loved it but what I really crave is something like that but with non generic aliens.

We need a 6-9 book long series that focuses on a lovable spaceship crew set in a setting with Star Trek like technology and various aliens but yet feels new and refreshing compared to Star Trek.

I read a post here in the past or possibly on Goodreads pointing out that Adrian Tchaikovsky takes great pains to point out the state of male character's hairlines or lack thereof. Afterwards, it put my radar up and I've been noticing it since in his writing. It's similar to how Philip K Dick would often take the time to describe female character's breasts. In the case of PKD it was generally in admiration of size, heft, and shape, as well as the overall booby-ness of various young female assistants or secretarial types, iirc. He was a man of his time who liked him some titties, tho it comes off today as a total record-scratch moment in his stories.

Regarding Adrian Tchaikovsky, when he describes a balding or *gasp* a totally bald man it generally contains a note of mockery or derision, like in Shadows of the Apt how General Tynan is "bald like a stone" and needs "a big hat to protect his bald head from the blazing sun" or when Weaponsmaster Tisamon sees War Master Stenwold Maker after many years, he observes that he is even fatter and balder, "and you were never well-haired".

This came to mind when seeing recent photos of Adrian Tchaikovsky and his new, wild mane. He looks kinda cool, like a Renaissance Fair type who can speak some Klingon. Nonetheless, speaking as a baldhead myself, I decry this blatant hair-ism from a man so "well-haired" himself!

Honestly, dude, if you're gonna fixate on a character's physical attributes, consider the Dick-man. For example, I know nothing at all about Spider-hottie Tynisa Maker's tits, tho from all the descriptions of her as a tall, lean, fair-haired heartbreaker I imagine she tended towards the petite and perky.

- Stray Observation: for lack of better, I used that topic title; I was aware that it's a sample in a song, I could hear it my head. I suspected Beastie Boys but after a quick googling I had to smile. It's from a pale-er, grim British cousin of the Beasties, the great Meat Beat Manifesto. Always thought of MBM as the UK's answer to Public Enemy.

Jolly good, carry on and always wear sunscreen, fellow baldheads.

If you could pick one fictional food from any science fiction media to try what would it be and why, what do you think it'd taste like, and if you were to try and make a version of it using real world ingredients what would the recipe be?

Saw this work at an exhibition nearby a painting of all Star Trek ships, but I can’t recognize where do these come from. Any ideas?

In the mid to late 80’s I had a thick anthology of short stories, possibly compiled by Asimov but I’m not sure. I would like to revisit one of the stories but I don’t remember its title or author.

It is about a scientist who is researching forcefields, he has a keen taste for alcohol. Whenever he gets close to a breakthrough, he either passes out, feels ill, or cannot continue for whatever reason. He begins to realize that he is in a Petrie dish controlled by a higher intelligence and that his research, which would prevent humanity from destroying itself, is counter to what this intelligence hopes to achieve in its experiment.

If I remember correctly, he solves the problem by getting shitfaced drunk, thereby bypassing the control mechanism.

Does this ring a bell for anyone?

So ten years ago the first season premiered. I showed interesed for the series after Star Trek Picard Season 3, also created by Terry Matalas. I binge watched it in 2 months and now after two months I am doing a rewatch. By far the best time travel series and time travel concepts ever on tv.

Dark City came out in several replies about it being one of the best and adequately placed in the list. So I decided to watch it last night and found the director's cut. Honestly I was only able to get half way through (Jennifer Connelly's singing bit) and was done; right now it's coffee time and will attempt to push through. But it got me thinking if you all were just fucking with me and there is some meme I'm unaware-of of how awful this movie really is.

Aliens that look (and often act) like ants are pretty common in fiction. However, I would like to know how such aliens could evolve. Conditions would have to be somewhat similar to Earth's (because they have similar biology) but also be diffrent enought to favor the development of social insects. How do you think this would go?

In the movie, the humans live on another planet with much more oxygen and their bodies have adapted and giving them superhuman stamina and strenght.

They then proceed to crash on an alien planet with less oxygen, and they have to take medicine in order to breathe properly there.

I think the enemy is also an invisible alien.

Does this ring any Bells? It was on cinema sometime between 2010-2015. I think.

Watched the movie yesterday (trailer). I really liked the concepts Michael Felker came up with. I also appreciate some of the directing and cinematography. Acting is stellar. But there's this thing with this movie:

There are a lot of unresolved things. This is not an issue per se if it leaves us with some brain fodder to consider. What bugs me is that some things cannot make sense. There are some -long- shots of things that should have some significance for example, but don't. Distraction technique? I want to believe (gigiddy) that the director has the perfect story without any mistakes and that he just left us this amazing puzzle to rack our brains off of, but I can't avoid thinking that no, there are just a lot of things that don't make sense.

Also, I know Felker did an AMA a while back, but he consistently avoided any question that wasn't about his debut experience, influences, and the likes.

If you guys want to go into spoiler territory, be my guest, i'll engage with it. a

I'd love to read your thoughts.

I finished the Killing Star a 1995 book which The Three Body Problem mirrors a lot. I wondered, all these books are super fatalistic - are there equivalents where humans thread a path; maybe even get revenge on their attackers.

I don't mean a book like say Enders Game, but more a book where the humans have to adapt to the laws of the Dark Forest.
Sorry if that's super specific, but it feels like great content for a book.

Hello Reddit, I’m trying to track down a sci-fi short story read about 20 years ago (give or take). It was written quite a while back, but I can't remember the author or the title.

The story was about a futuristic reality show set in the Wild West (possibly filmed in the USA). The main character was the most popular "actor" in the show—a legendary gunslinger. I don’t recall all the details, but I vividly remember the ending: the protagonist gets shot and killed by a kid who just wanted to interact with his hero.

If this rings a bell for anyone, I'd really appreciate any leads!

The sequel to my humorous LitRPG isekai is now available for those who want to pick up a copy! On Kindle, Kindle Unlimited, and in paperback!

https://preview.redd.it/bcu7by16yoge1.jpg?width=1800&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b9fe936ee186e32213c2aa516f4afc4c4d036340

Link: https://www.amazon.com/Guardians-Dragon-Keep-Dark-Undermaster-ebook/dp/B0DSDW43YH/

"So, what you're saying is the Dragon Queen is dead." "No, what I'm saying is the Dragon Queen is dead and there's an imposter carrying on in her place. Possibly someone you know. Your girlfriend's ex is back from the dead. Your brother is evil. A dead god is trying to take over your body. We're running out of time until it becomes impossible to save the world. Also, I'm pretty sure the giant blind redheaded swordswoman chick wants to bang you to death." "So, normal Tuesday."

Aragorn "Aaron" Bartkowski and his merry band of miscreants are back! Having successfully slain the demon god Chernabog, they've managed to buy a little more time for the planet Mokosh. However, a hero's work is never done, especially when a hero is underleveled and with low WIS. From a mission to a haunted vampire-filled castle to rescue the little girl Pope to the deeps of elven territory to the heart of Ledziana's civil war, Aaron must now engage with the complicated politic underlying the dark fantasy setting he's found himself in. It's win or die when playing the games of kings and queens, though, and our hero is absolutely terrible at them.

GUARDIANS OF DRAGON KEEP is the second volume of the Dark Undermaster Saga, a humorous send up of dark fantasy like Game of Thrones, The Witcher, and Dark Souls. It is a progression fantasy LitRPG that follows the adventures of video game computer programmer, Aaron Bartkowski as he is hurled bodily into the world of his favorite author, Larry C.C. Weis. Unfortunately, Weis turns out to have been much better at stealing from other, better, authors than he was in giving his heroes a break.

I believe it was a short story in a sci-fi or horror anthology where a guy and his dog get into some extreme situation and the dog starts talking to him. This is a problem because all the other dogs now want to kill them because their secret has been revealed. Anyone know what this story is called and who wrote it?

https://preview.redd.it/l4hycy296nge1.png?width=859&format=png&auto=webp&s=05243e1eac812d9e618f24d06c1590a65d3cff35

Humans are Weird – In a Tangle

Original Post: http://www.authorbettyadams.com/bettys-blog/humans-are-weird-in-a-tangle

Brilliant sunlight filtered down through the skylights as Private Cutdepth sorted through the box in front of him. He couldn’t help glancing up longingly at the glowing patch of heat on the wall. The cold time the humans called ‘winter’ was finally receding as the revolutions of the titled planet brought the blessed light of the local star to bear on their joint base. However the long cold seemed to have driven the spirit of crystal water into every crack and crevice of the base, even into his own joints, he thought as he flexed his tail ruefully. Again he felt the loose flap of skin rub against the storeroom floor sending a twinge of discomfort into his spine. He thought longingly of the nice thick layer of fat he had displayed on the sides of his tail when he had arrived in the warm time. Growing up in his father’s colony he had never thought about those precious reserves of energy and insulation. Now he couldn’t wait to feel them expand once more as the humans promised they would with the return of the blossoms and fresh growth.

“Grind that toothful when the gears get there,” Private Cutdepth said with a sigh as he pulled his attention from the attractive patch of warmth on the wall and recommenced rummaging through the box in front of him.

He reached over and once more ran a sensitive palm over the odd, human datapad he had been issued that morning. There was no handy texture differential to indicate where the charging surface was though Private O’Brien insisted that a unique texture would soon develop from repeated use of the chargers. There was a slight, a very, very slight color differential. Something vaguely between gray and black. Private Cutdepth was able to see it, in direct sunlight in noonday, but that did him little good here. He sighed and tried to recall the distance from the edge of the charging surface to the edge of the device as a whole. Once the device was charged of course he would be able to feel the electrostatic differential easily on his palms despite the numbness around his two primary fingers.

“But if it had a charge I wouldn’t need to be here digging for a charger,” Private Cutdepth muttered to himself, before licking his eyes in frustration and shoving his hands into the box.

Thanks to the numbness it took him several more seconds than it should have to realize that these were the charging units for the great mechanical devices, far overrated for his little datapad. They would work, but it would be a shameful misuse of equipment. With another sigh he turned to a stack of unlabeled boxes on a higher shelf. His tail twitched as he mentally calculated the vertical distance to the boxes. It was technically too high for him and protocol required that he either call a human for aid or get a ladder. With a huff of defiance in the general direction of the safety manual he grabbed the lowest shelf and pulled himself up.

His own data reading device, a gift from his mother before leaving home, had finally failed. The specially made device had lasted longer than the regulation issue items had, but even it had eventually succumbed to the wild fluctuations in temperature he had exposed it to in the course of nursing their water collectors along. The rupture of the power core that had damaged his palm and left him numb had been, according to the manufacturer, an unprecedented catastrophic failure, and from the way they had so eagerly demanded it back and unparalleled opportunity to gather data. The human datapad, made explicitly to take massive temperature changes would presumably last longer with its shielded layers.

He reached the boxed that he hoped contained the smaller chargers and reached out with his good forehand to grab it. However his numb fingers didn’t quite have the grip on the shelf that he thought and just as he secured his grasp on the top box he felt himself begin to slip backwards. He felt a moment of pure, hatchling panic before the fall was over and he was gasping on the ground, blinking and licking his eyes with a cable coiled around his snout.

Private Cutdepth took a moment to carefully flex, feeling for any injuries. He doubted the short fall would have done any damage but he had lost a lot of his protective fat to the cold. Pawing at that the false stone flooring the humans used was quickly beginning to leech the warmth out of his back scutes. Determining that his spine was still intact he flung himself over. Or rather he made an effort to fling himself over onto his paws. Something was wrapped tightly around one hind leg, something apparently wedge shaped was pressing into the side he had tried to roll preventing movement, and many small things were under his tail, preventing him from getting any leverage from the floor.

He gave a few experimental wriggles and produced a small avalanche behind his head. Feeling irritation building he gave a powerful sweep of his tail, only to hear something give an expensive sounding snap and drive one eyes into something pokey.

“What’s going on here?” Called out the rich warm voice of a human.

Private Cutdepth froze and let humiliation and relief grind out their respective rights while the human approached, the floor vibrating with the double beat of his footfalls.

“My dude!” Private O’Brien’s voice explained, vibrating with suppressed laughter, “my little dude! Are you okay?”

“I didn’t sprain my scutes,” Private Cutdepth replied.

“Do you need a hand up?” Private O’Brien asked, his massive upper body swaying into view.

“If it wouldn’t gum your gears,” Private Cutdepth said.

It was a booted foot that Private O’Brien extended to gently prod Private Cutdepth, tuck under his shoulder, and roll the other onto his belly. Private Cutdepth tried to get his footing on the smooth false stone and found himself scrambling in the cluster of cables and devices.

“Take it easy little dude,” Private O’Brien said with a chuckle.

The human folded himself down and began gathering up the various charging devices and other items that Private Cutdepth couldn’t identify and tossing them back into the boxes without order.

“What are those?” Private Cutdepth asked.

“Chargers, data transfer points,” Private O’Brien frowned down at an oblong in his hand, “don’t know what this is, that sort of stuff. It’s just an odds and ends box really. You know, stuff that is too good to toss or recycle. Here’s the one you need.”

The human tossed a coil of charge cable at Private Cutdepth with the same care that he was tossing the rest into the box. Private Cutdepth carefully disentangled it from around his eyes and tucked it against the data pad as the human swept the last of the assorted items into the box and replaced the box on the shelf. Now that he had a good look at the items he could see that many were damaged and most were worn. Even the one he held, though it would be functional, showed more than acceptable wear.

“Our storage space is limited isn’t it?” Private Cutdepth asked.

“A bit,” Private O’Brien said with a shrug of his massive shoulders.

“Shouldn’t most of those be sent to the mills for recycling?” he asked, indicating the boxes of assorted items that surely only a human would consider related.

“No!” the human exclaimed, shaking his head emphatically. “They are much to valuable for that, and besides, the moment we recycled them we’d need them! And the main supply ship takes months to get here!”

Private Cutdepth blinked slowly up at the grinning human. There was clearly some joke here. The human smelled of laughter even if he wasn’t vibrating with it. Private Cutdepth heaved a sigh and tucked his new datapad and charger under his foreleg.

“Let’s go out in the sun my spinning gear,” he said in a tired tone.

“Sure thing my little dude!” the human replied.

https://preview.redd.it/lt7qxmep8nge1.png?width=1000&format=png&auto=webp&s=559991a3b8915a0b14f3c37af721eb80a1f0c2c0

Science Fiction Books By Betty Adams

Amazon (Kindle, Paperback, Audiobook)

Barnes & Nobel (Nook, Paperback, Audiobook)

Powell's Books (Paperback)

Kobo by Rakuten (ebook and Audiobook)

Google Play Books (ebook and Audiobook)

Check out my books at any of these sites and leave a review!

Please go leave a review on Amazon! It really helps and keeps me writing because tea and taxes don't pay themselves sadly!