I'm gonna be straight with you guys, this might be a mistake. The Furlites of Aroriel series (beginning with On Matissia Wings is one of the most bizarre things I've ever read, sci-fi as filtered through a drunken James Joyce. I'll let the synopsis of the first book speak for itself: quote:On the cold distant world Aroriel -- where primate species never developed -- evolution spawned a furry saurian race that now reaches for the stars. Commander Geupetus of Clan Darius, offered command of the first near-lightspeed starship, hesitates to take the job, as Furlitian Law forbids his pre-adolescent twins Murkuria and Thorius from accompanying their Clan on this historic mission into interstellar space. Clan Darius, after careful deliberation as a family, driven by their sense of responsibility, discipline, and duty, decide they must squelch their emotions and accept the commission - leaving the twins on Aroriel. But the paradox caused by the Clan's traveling near the speed of light means that IF the twins ever see their family again, they will be older than their parents! Distraught, Thorius conceives an outrageous plan to stow aboard the great starship, and Murkuria agrees after a rare nightmare tells her they must do this. He and Murkuria borrow a family shuttle, and whiz off, determined to reach the Space Center before dawn launch. With the help of Iggie, Murkuria's pet Matissia, they sneak aboard the starship, inadvertently causing the Sunpyne to crash land on an alien world, where dinosaurian life like their own is long extinct, and strange primate beings that call themselves Human populate the planet. Following a violent first confrontation with two natives, they race to repair the ship. A second meeting, with a family camping out in the wilderness around the ship, results in friendship, and information exchange. However, after their Human friends leave to return to a distant home, the Human military locates the downed starship, just after the crew completes full repairs. Geupetus powers up the ship, but suddenly realizes his twins and one Cadet are not aboard. With enemy warcraft peppering the area with arms fire, and unable to lower shields to recover his children and crewmate, Geupetus refuses to leave without them. Will the furlites ever see their beloved home again? Wow, I don't even know why we need to read half the book when it's all covered on the b-- quote:Some sexual content .....oh. Well, let's see what the author might be able to tell us about her mindset in her autobiography? quote:Marie J. Spinella-Phillips Born in 1957, in Huntington, on Long Island, I've been driven by an insatiable love of writing, art, and the sciences since very early childhood. My love of animal tales fueled my desire to write, always manifesting in stories from the non-human point of view. I invented my very first character at six years old, creating picture books with a tree as the main protagonist. I included, on the inside covers, my very own publishing logo, complete with rainbow and shining sun! In my senior year of High School, one of my teachers, Mr. O'Connor, lent me a copy of The Fellowship of the Ring, which changed my reading and writing life forever, driving me into the unique and futuristic world of Fantasy/Science Fiction. In college, I majored in Art and Earth Sciences, where inspiration fired my vivid and eccentric imagination, planting the seeds for my Furlites of Aroriel novels, Over the years, I honed the complex world of this alien family saga. My husband's love and support over the decades proved invaluable, since his scientific knowledge and expertise quickly surpassed my own, once we graduated high school, went off to college, and entered the working world. With his help, and that of my mentor, David Ayscue, who passed away in 2010, I completed the first two of these books, On Matissia Wings, and, Earth-bred Matissia-born,which are now available. Other tales are in the works! I dabbled with another tale many years ago, using my Khan as a character, when my big Maine Coon became seriously ill. While battling Khan's insidious disease, I completed the story, which took on deeper impact far beyond my intended feline fantasy yarn. KHAN: A Maine Coon is the result, a biography of his life, with fictional elements, written from his point of view. Owned by three cats, two of which are Maine Coon cats, I live with my husband in the rolling hills of northwestern Connecticut. Ah. A crazy cat lady writing about Maine Coon aliens loving each other on their way to Earth. Beautiful. I don't think I need to explain more. Let's get started. chitoryu12 fucked around with this message at 19:05 on Sep 21, 2017 |
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# ? Sep 21, 2017 18:54 |
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# ? May 15, 2024 04:11 |
Cats? I thought they were lizards? With... fur? What the hell is a Mattisia, since the name and blurb clearly assumes we should already know that? Why does the cover look like it's photoshopped into a stock picture of mountains? Maine Coons are awesome animals, they do not deserve this poo poo.
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# ? Sep 21, 2017 19:26 |
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Please tell me one of these books explains what the hell shartball is.
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# ? Sep 21, 2017 19:29 |
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Oh no.
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# ? Sep 21, 2017 19:38 |
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Someone contact the ASPCA.
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# ? Sep 21, 2017 19:43 |
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anilEhilated posted:Cats? I thought they were lizards? With... fur? What the hell is a Mattisia, since the name and blurb clearly assumes we should already know that? Edit: Actually, I don't think that the Felakoons show up until the second book. I hope that this thread covers both. Sham bam bamina! fucked around with this message at 19:54 on Sep 25, 2017 |
# ? Sep 21, 2017 19:51 |
Since these chapters run as much as 50 pages, I'm likely going to divide them in half rather than try to fit a whole chapter per update. The book begins with a map, hence the "illustrated" on the front cover. Since it's sideways in the book, I took the liberty of turning it for you. quote:“Get off of her, you fat vachok!” Murkuria shouted, her entire red-gold coat bristling with anger. The object of her wrath lifted his head, his pale, white-blue eyes gleaming his scorn. You see that little [1] right there? This book actually comes with footnotes! Because Marie Spinella-Phillips wanted to create a truly immersive alien world, she also created her own vocabulary to go along with it. To keep anyone from being too confused (and boy howdy you're going to remain confused for a long time after reading this), she put in definitions for everything. Conveniently, almost every unit she describes is approximately identical to an Earth unit so it's just a weird name for real units. quote:[1] Octa is approximately half an inch or one centimeter in length. Kutius slashes Murkuria, tearing a gash in her furry chest. quote:“Vachok!” She shrieked the vile oath. “I’ll rip your face off!” quote:[2] Octlo is approximately 2.2 pounds or a kilo quote:[3] Octafet is approximately three feet or a meter These might be some of my favorite new insults. Also please note how the book and its synopsis (preteen aliens stow away on their dad's spaceship with their wacky pet and meet humans) seems like a novel for kids, and it's even included on the Family Saga list on Amazon, the text is full of profanity and violence from the second page and later devolves into horrifyingly gratuitous sex scenes. Murkuria restrains herself from tearing his throat out and instead just punches him in the face over and over. The rest of the schoolyard begins chanting her name in praise for her incredible display of violence! Suddenly, a hand clamps down on her shoulder and the cheering abruptly stops. quote:“Murkuria, of Clan Darius.” The commanding tone doused the rest of her ire. “Please, stand up.” The Officer declares that Murkuria acted rightfully in defense of another and herself, and hauls Kutius to his feet to announce that he's being "suspended for good" (most of us would call that expelled); he doesn't really give a poo poo since he hates school anyway. The girls are sent off to the infirmary without punishment, though their parents will need to be informed and Murkuria is worried about how her father will react. Some of the other kids, Getria and Selarus, compliment Murkuria for thrashing the bully so badly. Tria sings as she runs, and Murkuria compliments her voice. quote:“Do you think it will be a long time before they tell your parents?” Tria asked. Shartball cometh, baby. Shartball loving cometh. Meanwhile, dad is having some issues. quote:“Blast it all!” Ship Commander Geupetus curled his lips back, his temper at full throttle. “My twins are not foolish little idiots! They are spacefarers, born and bred to this work, like most of our Clan!” I'm imagining that Geupetus is pronounced "Jupitus", because pretty much anything else would be absolutely ridiculous. Siritus insists that there's no way to get around the law: his children can't come on the mission and they won't start the Space Flight Educational Program in school for another two years. There's a mention that they won't emotionally understand the ramifications of the 25-year mission, which you can read the synopsis in the OP to see what they're talking about : relativity means the kids will be older than their parents by the time they return from a near-lightspeed interstellar journey. Geupetus hasn't yet accepted the commission and can't be forced to, but Siritus insists that he's his first choice. With their conversation going nowhere, Geupetus promises to have an answer tomorrow and leaves Siritus to ponder: quote:The ancient Furlite stood up to stare out the window. He focused his attention on the herd of russet-striped white herbivorous Sorsas just outside the Complex fence. The lead male lifted his magnificently-horned head to gaze warily over the darkening prairie. Strong wind blew his thick mane straight out. As Siritus gazed at the animal in admiration, his own muscles relaxed. Light from the Complex lamps sparkled the twin horns sweeping from the creature’s brow, and the smaller horn jutting from the Sorsa’s nose glittered with a coating of snow. The stallion pawed snow away from the fence, revealing dried grass. A couple of slender-horned females jostled him aside to feed on the thick grasses. The stallion glanced over the prairie again before snatching a quick bite for himself. Siritus sighed again, intrigued by one of Aroriel’s few quadrupedal creatures, but watching did not decrease his concerns. Suria checked up on her ship, and is deeply disturbed by something: Siritus asked his her to take Kintus as her Ship Second, when tradition dictates that Ship Commanders pick their own Second. Siritus apologizes and explains that he did it as a favor for a Council member, and admits that Kintus is so incompetent that Siritus would only trust him with an old sled. quote:“And even that is too good for him,” Suria growled, her eyes dark with anger. “Thinking he could race my vessel of science through those blasted rings and twenty moons of Rotachi against a streamlined freighter ship? My Sauri is NOT built for high-speed maneuvering. Why did Commander Dugis agree to it? He should have known not to do this.” quote:[4] An octury is 64 Aroriellian years = 108.8 Earth years. Quite convenient that an Aroriellian year is 1.7 Earth years, so their equivalent of a century is only 108.8 Earth years as well! There's some more conversation which is really hard for me to parse, as they keep dropping unusual names and relations we've never heard of before in big paragraphs. Long story short, Siritus apologizes and lets Suria pick any new Ship Second she wants. She notices that Siritus seems annoyed by something, and he explains to her his hesitance to take command of the Sunpyne. Suria tries to suggest letting Geupetus' twins aboard the ship, and Siritus continues to find the idea absurd and dangerous despite both of them being geniuses (Murkuria is even taking university-level genetics courses). Even if he wanted to let them on, the law is the law and the law says they can't. quote:“I know that.” Suria lashed her tail. “You can only wait, and hope he agrees. If not, it is not the end of the program.” ....is it bad that I find this better written than Handbook for Mortals?
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# ? Sep 21, 2017 20:43 |
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chitoryu12 posted:Shartball cometh, baby. Shartball loving cometh. SHARTBALL!!! WrenP-Complete posted:Oh no. Oh, yes!
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# ? Sep 21, 2017 20:51 |
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This is the worst writing I have ever seen
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# ? Sep 21, 2017 22:01 |
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Beautiful thread so far. I was a little surprised by that first scene, because I recognize it word-for-word from Curse of Koris. I wonder how much else ended up in there - it's awful enough as it is, but to be that friggin' lazy on top of everything else is really special. Count me among those who can't learn about Shartball soon enough. One quibble: chitoryu12 posted:Also please note how the book and its synopsis (preteen aliens stow away on their dad's spaceship with their wacky pet and meet humans) seems like a novel for kids, and it's even included on the Family Saga list on Amazon Sham bam bamina! fucked around with this message at 22:30 on Sep 21, 2017 |
# ? Sep 21, 2017 22:25 |
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Bless you for creating this thread.Marie J. Spinella-Phillips posted:butt Whoa whoa whoa, you're telling me she didn't come up with an alien replacement for this? Immersion... ruined.
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# ? Sep 22, 2017 00:01 |
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Fuckin' SHARTBALL Opal posted:This is the worst writing I have ever seen Might I direct you to the Handbook for Mortals thread?
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# ? Sep 22, 2017 01:45 |
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Moving on to this is gonna be interesting, because the author is bugfuck insane in an entirely different way than Lani.Labes for days posted:Bless you for creating this thread.
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# ? Sep 22, 2017 01:50 |
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chitoryu why?
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# ? Sep 22, 2017 02:38 |
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Malachite_Dragon posted:chitoryu Listen you. Don't you rain on my Shartball parade.
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# ? Sep 22, 2017 02:39 |
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chitoryu12 posted:....is it bad that I find this better written than Handbook for Mortals? No, not really. She really seems to be making an effort to worldbuild and establish a coherent, consistent universe. (Assuming the aliens have 4 digits on each "hand", right?)
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# ? Sep 22, 2017 04:24 |
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# ? Sep 22, 2017 04:57 |
Samizdata posted:No, not really. She really seems to be making an effort to worldbuild and establish a coherent, consistent universe. Like the dialogue is somehow more believable and the characters and their conflicts more realistic. Which should really underscore how bad of a writer Lani Sarem is if this crazy poo poo is a better book.
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# ? Sep 22, 2017 05:44 |
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Wait, if these Maine Coone T. rex chybutt-sack-bearing things use the octal system, how do their measurement units map perfectly onto the decimal based metric system?
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# ? Sep 22, 2017 05:53 |
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At least so far, it really is more "insane" than "incompetent", while Handbook for Mortals was both in equal measure. Not counting the art. Good lord, those things are hideous. At least HoM has a nice cover, even if it's the result of tricking an artist into ripping off another. TenCentFang fucked around with this message at 07:40 on Sep 22, 2017 |
# ? Sep 22, 2017 07:35 |
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chitoryu12 posted:Like the dialogue is somehow more believable and the characters and their conflicts more realistic. Gonna say, when it comes to the dialogue, characters and conflicts, I cut a fair bit of slack, since, you know "Aliens are alien." (The question about the fingers is about the prevalence of octo- in all the units of measure.)
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# ? Sep 22, 2017 08:20 |
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Tagra posted:Might I direct you to the Handbook for Mortals thread? I did and I don't know, really. Thing is, while Lani's world-building and plotting is non-existent her writing is merely pedestrian. It's like a high school assignment, the language itself isn't offensively bad. This though.. quote:“I will,” Kutius drawled his correction of her speech. “Big baby freak who cannot talk right.” I assume her aversion to word contractions will become a thing later, considering Kutiu's "correcting" her use of I'll and there's also lines like this: quote:She held out her damaged notebook. “Look what he did. He hurt me, too.” Tria’s voice trembled in a sob. “It is broken. What will I do?” But it makes it really hard to read.
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# ? Sep 22, 2017 11:37 |
Pointing you folks to Twissted might be a better suggestion for the depths fanfic-quality writing can sink to. I think that was self-published though?
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# ? Sep 22, 2017 12:00 |
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anilEhilated posted:Pointing you folks to Twissted might be a better suggestion for the depths fanfic-quality writing can sink to. Is that the roller-coaster dragons?
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# ? Sep 22, 2017 12:01 |
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Labes for days posted:Whoa whoa whoa, you're telling me she didn't come up with an alien replacement for this? Immersion... ruined. Hahaha glad I'm not the only one who picked up on that.
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# ? Sep 22, 2017 12:01 |
Proteus Jones posted:Is that the roller-coaster dragons?
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# ? Sep 22, 2017 12:08 |
SerialKilldeer posted:Wait, if these Maine Coone T. rex chybutt-sack-bearing things use the octal system, how do their measurement units map perfectly onto the decimal based metric system? Because it's hard to actually do math to figure out how real alien units would match up.
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# ? Sep 22, 2017 14:12 |
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Samizdata posted:No, not really. She really seems to be making an effort to worldbuild and establish a coherent, consistent universe. For poo poo like that, it would be way more tolerable if the third-person narration used actual, normal units. Imperial or metric, I don't care, but when you're supposed to be able to picture this in your head, sticking with the familiar is better. Go apeshit in your dialogue, that's fine, but unless your omniscient narrator is a character in the book, or there's some kind of well-executed gimmick, it's so much smoother and less ridiculous sounding to write what your readers know.
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# ? Sep 22, 2017 14:19 |
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It was probably a deliberate attempt to preemptively cut off the inevitable "oh so the aliens from another planet just happen to call their measurements feet/meters/whatever too" ery that always follows attempts at sci-fi. Damned if she did and damned if she didn't. I hope my faith isn't misplaced. She's not as terrible as the Handbook For Mortals lady so I want to believe
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# ? Sep 22, 2017 14:43 |
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Malachite_Dragon posted:It was probably a deliberate attempt to preemptively cut off the inevitable "oh so the aliens from another planet just happen to call their measurements feet/meters/whatever too" ery that always follows attempts at sci-fi. Damned if she did and damned if she didn't.
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# ? Sep 22, 2017 14:58 |
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Malachite_Dragon posted:It was probably a deliberate attempt to preemptively cut off the inevitable "oh so the aliens from another planet just happen to call their measurements feet/meters/whatever too" ery that always follows attempts at sci-fi. Damned if she did and damned if she didn't. You know they do this ALL the time in well-regarded fantasy books, where the characters might be "3 days ride" or "a 5 day march" from a given location, and no one really complains we aren't being told it is 90 miles or more than 200 miles.
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# ? Sep 22, 2017 15:07 |
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I don't see why measurements and things like that get picked out when they apparently have English words like "is" or "yes" or "most". It's just random TV Nihon-esque bullshit but with dumb made up furry alien poo poo.
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# ? Sep 22, 2017 15:08 |
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Ugly In The Morning posted:That's why I was saying I don't have a problem with people going while hog with it in dialogue, but when you're trying to vividly describe something, sticking to a bunch of made up gibberish is like trying to run a marathon on crutches/play shartball with your octapants on See, there's your problem. You need to wear shartpants to play octaball. Check the footnotes, buddy.
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# ? Sep 22, 2017 15:08 |
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anilEhilated posted:Pointing you folks to Twissted might be a better suggestion for the depths fanfic-quality writing can sink to. I think that was self-published though? Edit: Might as well link the thread for that one; it's required reading. Sham bam bamina! fucked around with this message at 15:20 on Sep 22, 2017 |
# ? Sep 22, 2017 15:13 |
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Ugly In The Morning posted:For poo poo like that, it would be way more tolerable if the third-person narration used actual, normal units. Imperial or metric, I don't care, but when you're supposed to be able to picture this in your head, sticking with the familiar is better. Go apeshit in your dialogue, that's fine, but unless your omniscient narrator is a character in the book, or there's some kind of well-executed gimmick, it's so much smoother and less ridiculous sounding to write what your readers know. Ugly In The Morning posted:That's why I was saying I don't have a problem with people going while hog with it in dialogue, but when you're trying to vividly describe something, sticking to a bunch of made up gibberish is like trying to run a marathon on crutches/play shartball with your octapants on This right here is why I hope I can stick it out for the rest of this Let's Read. Between all the made-up creatures, bizarre alternate units of measurement and ridiculous chracter names, I'm finding the my eyes just sort of glaze over the text excerpts. This is not to say that I don't enjoy SF/F. I do, when it's well-written. This... this is not well-written. There's more to world-building than just giving idiotic names to mundane things. She's so in love with creating her own language that she's made everything needlessly complicated. Zamboni Rodeo fucked around with this message at 16:02 on Sep 22, 2017 |
# ? Sep 22, 2017 15:57 |
quote:Geupetus strode down the corridor into the lobby, fuming with frustration, barely controlling the desire to lash his thick tail again. If he accepted this job, and, oh, did he want to, the twins would have to stay behind. Anger still burned through his body over Siritus’ refusal. quote:[5] An octennium is 512 Aroriellian years, written 1000 in their base eight. Close time-wise to an Earth millennium. This is a really clunky way of describing how long an octennium is. Doing the math with one Aroriellian year at 1.7 years, an octennium is 870.4 years on Earth. Also, I can't wrap my head around the idea of them writing 512 as "1000" just because they use a base eight math system. Geupetus angrily gets into his flying car, which uses fingerprint recognition (I guess their hands aren't that furry) and has a gap in the seat back for his tail. As he approaches the gates of the University of Cosmic Sciences, a green laser scans him and his car; he gives his name and rank to a speaker, and the gate opens. quote:Geupetus turned his craft onto the main thoroughfare, settling in for the long drive home. Accelerating the vehicle, he engaged the air power, and the commuter shuttle rose from the snow, joining the two-layer traffic lanes heading out of the city of Astrolis which lay just northeast of the Complex. He rose into the second level and accelerated, whizzing by the slower traffic beneath him. As the prairie opened up, the lanes diverged in various directions. Traffic cleared, and he dropped to ground level. He sped across the open grasslands, alone on the snowy highway. He took a moment to activate the vidphone, letting his twins know he just left work. He scowled at a winking inbox message light, before returning his attention to the road. He disliked talking while driving, so the message could wait. quote:[6] Quat is 1/4th of an Aroriellian hour (octien), and is equivilant to 1.05 earth hours. Once again, how convenient that every single unit almost perfectly matches an Earth unit! I'm still confused as to exactly what occurred here. It seems like the weather on Aroriel is so harsh that within a few feet you can end up crossing from clear skies to a massive blizzard that knocks your flying car out of the sky. Geupetus puts his shuttle back into gear and heads across an old bridge over an icy river. Suddenly, a pack of bipedal creatures appear in his headlights. quote:“Monii.” He slowed his vehicle, and the animals converged on it. Not much taller than a Furlite toddler, the creatures barely reached the hatch windows. The Monni leaped against the vehicle, peering in with intelligent eyes which looked down blunt muzzles. Their hand claws scrabbled on the hatches. Geupetus sighed. “Not tonight, silly creatures. No time for games.” quote:7] Octury, an Aroriellian century, comprised of 64 years or 8 octades which are 8 years each = 108.8 E.years So the first thing you'll notice is that Marie is clearly not using an editor because she misspells "Monii" immediately after introducing them. Second, you may be thinking to yourself "Wait, we already had octuries explained!". And you'd be absolutely right! Footnotes are sometimes included more than once, as if she thought nobody would be able to understand her complicated world enough to actually remember any of her renamed units of measurement. Geupetus drives past the Fundamental School his twins attend, noticing the Shartball field shrouded in shadows. He drives around the road looking for his kids and hoping they didn't take a shortcut through the forest that would cause them to miss their ride, but he spots them walking down the road and pulls up alongside them. quote:Murkuria met Thorius at the edge of the Shartball field. quote:[8] Furlitian clocks read minutes first, hour next. See glossary for more detail. Oh God there's a glossary. What we've managed to learn about Shartball: 1. It's capitalized. 2. There's tackling. 3. You throw a ball into a goal. Thorius and Murkuria talk about their Astronomy class assignment and what they want to pick as a topic. Thorius quickly changes the subject to the fight Murkuria had; she reacts with incredible aggression, yelling and snarling and kicking the snow just at the very thought of Kutius. Thorius is proud of her, even after she says she would have literally murdered another child if not for the school Disciplinary Officer. She just hopes her father ignores the shuttlephone call. More talking about class. Murkuria wants to do a report on winged mammalians (complete with anatomical drawings and paintings) for her free project this year. Thorius wants to do a working scale model of a starship, even though true interstellar spacecraft haven't even been invented yet. Thorius is enough of an engineering genius at 12 that he can make flawless engineering drawings on a computer, though he's useless drawing freehand. When Murkuria questions his decision to make a scale model of something that doesn't exist, Thorius reveals that he once accidentally slipped one of their grandfather's disks into his computer the other day and it had the full blueprints for a starship. I guess the Aroriellians haven't ever developed passwords, since you'd think an interstellar ship with near-light speed travel would be a highly classified project! More talking about classwork and Murkuria wanting to join the SFEP, which is interrupted by two more Furlites appearing from the swirling snow. quote:Both youngsters recognized their older sister immediately by the dark russet patches that spotted her short white fur. They also recognized her friend, their next-door neighbor Kanus, by his long predominantly-russet fur, and the white spot over his right eye. They waited for the two to catch up. I think the only reason this book breaks 800 pages is because they spend so much time on exposition. Every character should know or remember these things, or at least not react by saying "Oh yes, I forgot this explanation for why this is how it is!" Also, they keep recognizing other Furlites by their fur color and pattern; do they all have the same face? I guess the cover art was incredibly accurate! There's a mention of how Kanus also got into a big brawl, and his attacker is being punished by banishment for a cinth (which I think is 19 days?) to the Sapphrus Mountains. There's explicit remarks that they can't punish children like Kutius in that way. Murkuria notices that Elara has shown up pretty late compared to when her Preparatory School gets out. quote:“Kanus and I went to the Gamehouse after school,” Elara answered. “How was practice?” Why do I get the feeling that Marie would be much happier writing something that just takes place on future Earth? So much of this is lifted directly from Earth customs and behavior, just with the names changed and numbers slightly transposed. Somehow despite being furry reptilian creatures with a completely inhuman body, they've advanced almost exactly like Earth has. Their conversation finally ends as a car pulls up next to them. quote:“Father!” Thorius cried, echoed by Murkuria. We're currently on page 30. The first chapter doesn't even end until page 50.
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# ? Sep 22, 2017 15:58 |
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chitoryu12 posted:Also, I can't wrap my head around the idea of them writing 512 as "1000" just because they use a base eight math system. Sham bam bamina! fucked around with this message at 16:22 on Sep 22, 2017 |
# ? Sep 22, 2017 16:20 |
Sham bam bamina! posted:It's 8 cubed. Just like 1,000 (decimal) is 10 cubed. Put 512 (decimal) into any octal converter and you'll get 1,000 (octal). In octal, 8 is 10, 64 is 100, 512 is 1,000, 4,096 is 10,000, and so on. Yeah but the text explicitly says that they write it as 1000 because they're base eight. It makes it sound like because it's their equivalent to a millennium, they actually write it in place of 1000, which you would think would make the math required to create an interstellar starship pretty hard.
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# ? Sep 22, 2017 16:26 |
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chitoryu12 posted:Yeah but the text explicitly says that they write it as 1000 because they're base eight. It makes it sound like because it's their equivalent to a millennium, they actually write it in place of 1000, which you would think would make the math required to create an interstellar starship pretty hard. Sham bam bamina! fucked around with this message at 23:53 on Sep 22, 2017 |
# ? Sep 22, 2017 16:32 |
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# ? May 15, 2024 04:11 |
Semi-related, I'm looking in the back of the book. There is: 1. An appendix of the solar system of Aroriel (including diagrams and pictures of the planet). 2. A national, elevation, and climate map for Aroriel. 3. The layout of the Sunpyne. 4. A diagram of clocks explaining Furlitian time measurement. 5. A full Aroriellian calendar and description of every single unit of measurement. 6. Facts on Furlitian biology and evolution. 7. Foods. 8. Explanations of the physiological and psychological bonds formed between Furlites (the chybut is a third testicle that descends during sex to produce sperm). 9. Direct translations of every single Furlitian insult. 10. A full description of the space fleet, including ranking systems and acronyms. 11. Aroriellian law and government, including the entire Aroriellian Charter. 12. Additional notes on animals and biological statistics of Furlites. 13. Family trees for all clans seen in the book. 14. The footnotes section.
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# ? Sep 22, 2017 17:39 |