|
StrixNebulosa posted:An Officer's Duty by Jean Johnson: apparently Einstein or the people that followed him made a mistake, and FTL travel is possible. Is the author going to explain this? hahahaha no Charles Stross has a series where FTL travel is possible and Einstein is correct and FTL travel is functionally time travel and therefore the universe is locked in recursive singularity wars and governed by a far-future AI which has reached back into the present to make sure that the future where it exists is preserved. It's pretty nifty but it ruins other space opera because once you've read it you can't easily forget how bullshit FTL is in other series.
|
#
?
Mar 19, 2019 16:31
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 27, 2024 07:39 |
|
|
Isn't that a common SF trope anyway? "Sure, Einstein originally proved FTL was impossible, but then in 2098 (or 2030, or 1986, depending on how old the book is) Sackett proved that Einstein was full of poo poo, so FTL."
|
|
#
?
Mar 19, 2019 16:34
|
|
|
I'm enjoying in Excession that how fast beyond the SoL a ship can go (measured in "kilolights" of course) is a plot point, which makes zero sense from a real physics perspective. Banks does not try to come up with any handwavey bs explanation for it and that's for the best. The ships just go real fast.
|
|
#
?
Mar 19, 2019 16:43
|
|
|
Hieronymous Alloy posted:Charles Stross has a series where FTL travel is possible and Einstein is correct and FTL travel is functionally time travel and therefore the universe is locked in recursive singularity wars and governed by a far-future AI which has reached back into the present to make sure that the future where it exists is preserved. I like "oh yeah einstein was technically wrong" with no further hand waves, and I also like "uh, algae." Pretty sure I've read "when we built a spaceship it turned out Newton was actually right for some reason" too, where you actually do just accelerate according to Newtonian physics forever if you bring the fuel. Or have a magic drive. But it's not the magic part that lets you go FTL. 90s Cringe Rock fucked around with this message at 17:11 on Mar 19, 2019 |
|
#
?
Mar 19, 2019 17:08
|
|
|
Selachian posted:Isn't that a common SF trope anyway? "Sure, Einstein originally proved FTL was impossible, but then in 2098 (or 2030, or 1986, depending on how old the book is) Sackett proved that Einstein was full of poo poo, so FTL." They don't always give dates, but yeah. And IMO it's a completely defensible approach, considering how often scientific advancement is not "the previous model was completely wrong" but "the previous model was like 98% right but breaks down dramatically when you hit certain edge cases and needs refinement". Newtonian physics -> Einsteinian physics being the classic one -- as long as you aren't dealing with things that are really tiny, really massive, or really fast, Newton's equations will give you answers that are functionally indistinguishable from the "right" ones. This does not prevent individual authors from completely loving up their approach to it, of course, especially if they then attempt to go into details on exactly how Einstein was wrong and/or how the FTL drive works under the hood. 90s Cringe Rock posted:I like "oh yeah einstein was technically wrong" with no further hand waves, and I also like "uh, algae." Pretty sure I've read "when we built a spaceship it turned out Newton was actually right for some reason" too, where you actually do just accelerate according to Newtonian physics forever if you bring the fuel. This is how the Lensman books worked, IIRC, although I can't think of any other examples. quote:Or have a magic drive. But it's not the magic part that lets you go FTL. What do you mean by "it's not the magic part that lets you go FTL"? I've definitely read a few settings where FTL is explicitly magic and is performed by wizards. (Otherwise science-fictional settings, I mean, not fantasy settings where wizards being able to teleport is considered completely unremarkable.)
|
|
#
?
Mar 19, 2019 17:56
|
|
|
What are some must-reads from Harlan Ellison? Alternatively, is there a good collection of his stuff that highlights his best work? I've only ever read I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream so I'd like to expand a little.
|
|
#
?
Mar 19, 2019 17:57
|
|
|
Selachian posted:Isn't that a common SF trope anyway? "Sure, Einstein originally proved FTL was impossible, but then in 2098 (or 2030, or 1986, depending on how old the book is) Sackett proved that Einstein was full of poo poo, so FTL." It's the speed of light in a vacuum. At some technology is able to flood the universe with luminiferous aether, nicely bypassing that whole "in a vacuum" thing.
|
|
#
?
Mar 19, 2019 18:01
|
|
|
Safety Biscuits posted:Delany's published a lot of different stuff; he has consistent themes and interests, though. What are you looking for? Oh also I missed you responding to me here. I think I'm going to go with Babel-17 because I have a huge soft spot for sci-fi where language plays a major part, but if there's a standout fantasy novel in his bibliography (or one that is kind of "iconic" of his style) I'd be interested to try that out too.
|
|
#
?
Mar 19, 2019 18:01
|
|
|
MockingQuantum posted:What are some must-reads from Harlan Ellison? Alternatively, is there a good collection of his stuff that highlights his best work? I've only ever read I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream so I'd like to expand a little. There is a collection of the same name as that story that I recall being a good survey of his short stories.
|
|
#
?
Mar 19, 2019 18:03
|
|
|
ToxicFrog posted:What do you mean by "it's not the magic part that lets you go FTL"? I've definitely read a few settings where FTL is explicitly magic and is performed by wizards. (Otherwise science-fictional settings, I mean, not fantasy settings where wizards being able to teleport is considered completely unremarkable.) I'm sure there's one setting where FTL is sex magic. Ben Nevis posted:It's the speed of light in a vacuum. At some technology is able to flood the universe with luminiferous aether, nicely bypassing that whole "in a vacuum" thing.
|
|
#
?
Mar 19, 2019 18:20
|
|
|
MockingQuantum posted:What are some must-reads from Harlan Ellison? Alternatively, is there a good collection of his stuff that highlights his best work? I've only ever read I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream so I'd like to expand a little. Ellison was a short-story writer, so all of his work is found in collections. At the same time, the original collections were heavily themed, organized, and curated by Ellison himself, and so have come to be viewed as books standing on their own. I think the most respected of these is probably Deathbird Stories. The Essential Ellison is the only big "master" collection drawing from all of those. It was expensive before he died and has only spiked since his death. However, there's two editions: the 35-year and the 50-year retrospective versions. Paperback copies of the 35 are affordable still. You might want to just assemble a list of those stories people consider his best and grab cheap copies of the collections they originally appeared in; they're widely available second-hand. Many of those are also still in-print today, but since his work is so scattered, even buying up Kindle copies would soon take you over the cost of the Essentials collection. His biggest stories (besides what you've mentioned) are probably: "The Whimper of Whipped Dogs" "Adrift Just Off the Islets of Langerhans: Latitude 38° 54' N, Longitude 77° 00' 13" W" "The Deathbird" ""Repent, Harlequin!" Said the Ticktockman" "The Beast that Shouted Love at the Heart of the World" "Jeffty Is Five" "Paladin of the Lost Hour" "The Man who Rowed Christopher Columbus Ashore" Xotl fucked around with this message at 19:03 on Mar 19, 2019 |
|
#
?
Mar 19, 2019 18:46
|
|
|
Said this before, but in old scifi, especially old pulp-scifi, FTL travel was omnipresent while conversely mentioning/incorporating newtonian physics into stories were a authors-no-mans land of being tied down to details. So if a author bothered to put newtonian physics/gravity effects into a book, they were seen as deeper than Stephen Hawking at his prime. Hal Clement built his career as a scifi writer doing that. Larrry Niven tried to have it both ways, in that many of his short stories revolved around observed scientific facts in space while featuring both FTL + STL (slower-than-light) travel (hyperspace 1/2 engines + hydrogen powered ramjets, respectively). MockingQuantum posted:What are some must-reads from Harlan Ellison? Alternatively, is there a good collection of his stuff that highlights his best work? I've only ever read I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream so I'd like to expand a little. Hit up your local library system, multiple Harlan Ellison collections or books are very likely to be in there. quantumfoam fucked around with this message at 18:55 on Mar 19, 2019 |
|
#
?
Mar 19, 2019 18:52
|
|
|
90s Cringe Rock posted:I'm sure there's one setting where FTL is sex magic. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Void_Captain%27s_Tale
|
|
#
?
Mar 19, 2019 19:55
|
|
|
Hieronymous Alloy posted:Charles Stross has a series where FTL travel is possible and Einstein is correct and FTL travel is functionally time travel and therefore the universe is locked in recursive singularity wars and governed by a far-future AI which has reached back into the present to make sure that the future where it exists is preserved. My favorite FTL-as-time-travel bit is actually the one in one of Baxter's books where they use FTL closed timelike loops to create a computer that, when it actually works, appears to do nothing except give you the right answer the moment after you ask it a question.
|
|
#
?
Mar 19, 2019 22:00
|
|
|
I like Alastair Reynolds' Revelation Space inertia-suppressing 'FTL' where if you try to do it it inevitably not only fails but has a good chance of retroactively erasing you (and possibly your entire species) from existence. Good and spooky. IIRC that setting's slower-than-light engines were powered by wormholes connected back to the moment of the Big Bang, which always seemed like a bit of overkill... I finished* the third Baru book today  It will still need loads of editing but it's a nice milestone, especially after that stupid lovely second one took so many years.
|
|
#
?
Mar 19, 2019 22:03
|
|
|
I finished The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O. today, and it's not very good. I'll have a more detailed rundown up later, but I think it's worse than Seveneves.
|
|
#
?
Mar 19, 2019 22:08
|
|
|
90s Cringe Rock posted:I'm sure there's one setting where FTL is sex magic. Norman Spinrad's The Void Captain's Tale, which features orgasm-powered spaceships. MockingQuantum posted:What are some must-reads from Harlan Ellison? Alternatively, is there a good collection of his stuff that highlights his best work? I've only ever read I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream so I'd like to expand a little. The Essential Ellison is your best bet if you can get a copy. Otherwise, I'd recommend Deathbird Stories, Shatterday, and/or Angry Candy among his short story collections.
|
|
#
?
Mar 19, 2019 22:15
|
|
|
Solitair posted:I finished The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O. today, and it's not very good. I'll have a more detailed rundown up later, but I think it's worse than Seveneves. My thought on D.O.D.O when I finished it were "This might be okay if there's going to be a rest of the story by the same team, worse if it's going to be different writers, pretty bad if that's supposed to be it, and horrible of this was the backstory for a video game " At least we've avoided the last option. (A lot of the setup did feel like justifying mmo mechanics.) And now he's writing a Reamde sequel of all things, instead of a post 9/11 post Bitcoin Cryptonomicon follow-up or the Civil War era story in the Cryptonomicon/Baroque universe...
|
|
#
?
Mar 19, 2019 23:15
|
|
|
Thranguy posted:And now he's writing a Reamde sequel of all things, instead of a post 9/11 post Bitcoin Cryptonomicon follow-up or the Civil War era story in the Cryptonomicon/Baroque universe... Real life conjured up something better than anything Stephenson could write. That is, have you all forgot the infinitely hilarious at every level Mt Gox 'hack" story? quantumfoam fucked around with this message at 23:34 on Mar 19, 2019 |
|
#
?
Mar 19, 2019 23:24
|
|
|
I really like how the end of Forever War used FTL 
|
|
#
?
Mar 19, 2019 23:30
|
|
|
NoNostalgia4Grover posted:Fair enough. That one nearly killed me. The only thing vaguely interesting was the guy converting the original Star Trek series into 3D.
|
|
#
?
Mar 19, 2019 23:51
|
|
|
The Sturgeon Award nominations for science fiction stories came out a few weeks ago, and I finally got around to checking them out. They usually do a great job of picking out some great stories, and it's usually a good preview for what will show up in the Hugos. Here are the ones I recommend: "Nine Last Days on Planet Earth," by Daryl Gregory: A coming of age story of a scientist. The science fictional aspects of the story cover some familiar territory (strange plants from outer space threaten life on Earth), but there's a creativity to how these plants are described that doesn't show up in its peers and allows you to connect with the actual scientific wonder that it's trying to convey. There's also a political relevance in how the plants are treated. They're objects of curiosity, but their threat to the environment slowly builds over the course of decades. Despite the title, the story is quite optimistic, but nails quite a few moods. Highly recommended, and very likely to win the Hugo for novellette. “When Robot and Crow Saved East St. Louis," by Annalee Newitz: A very cute story about a disease control robot. It takes a left turn that is very much in keeping with the robotic science fiction sub-genre, and there's a lot of good humor and some keen insights. “On the Day You Spend Forever with Your Dog," by Adam Shannon: A scientist discovers a very prosaic form of time travel and uses it to spend time with his dog. It reads like dog-lover bait, but it invites a subversive oppositional reading. It's part of a tradition of science fiction I love that explores an idea and the nuances of how it would affect human behavior in a way that goes beyond the superficial. My favorite story of the bunch. “Yard Dog," by Tade Thompson: This one you have to pay for, but the magazine is definitely worth the 4 bucks. Thompson is one of the best prose stylists in the genre today, and this story really shows off his skills. It's just so cool while still pulling off a sinister vibe. As for the others, the Gilman, Heller, and Lee stories are good if you like a lot of creative but clunky exposition (the Lee story features a faction of antagonists known as "the Fleet Lords", which I think sums it up), and the Clark piece is quite vivid and evocative, but is maybe a little too pointed. The Bolander and Robson are novellas that you need to buy. I read the Amazon previews and they seem fine, but they're not to my taste. The Beckett story is good, but you have to buy the issue of F&SF along with it, which is mostly mediocre.
|
|
#
?
Mar 20, 2019 00:00
|
|
|
Thranguy posted:My thought on D.O.D.O when I finished it were "This might be okay if there's going to be a rest of the story by the same team, worse if it's going to be different writers, pretty bad if that's supposed to be it, and horrible of this was the backstory for a video game " At least we've avoided the last option. (A lot of the setup did feel like justifying mmo mechanics.) Yeah, I came to roughly the same conclusion, except for the part about video games.
|
|
#
?
Mar 20, 2019 00:16
|
|
|
Bhodi posted:
Goons mostly discuss xianxia over in the Web Novel thread, with it spilling over every once in a while into the web serial thread. The genre can pulpy serial fun, IMO, and I personally enjoy it as light-weight wish fulfillment and as a look into Chinese culture. If you want some recs, Cultivation Chat Group is probably the best written of the bunch, a very fun slice-of-life sitcom-y cultivation story set in modern China. Release That Witch is a rather captivating guy-ends-up-in-a-different-world-and-starts-industrializing-it tale, even if the translation, unfortunately, fluctuates from subpar to actively bad. Library of Heaven's Path is a somewhat one-note, but usually fairly amusing xianxia sitcom that consists entirely of the incredibly overpowered trickster protagonist bamboozling, conning and slapping face of rivals and foes (face being somewhat of an obsession for the Chinese) over and over again, for, like, five War and Peaces' worth of text. And A Will Eternal is a more traditional xianxia tale (still with a fair bit of comedy in it) the first four Books of which are rather good.
|
|
#
?
Mar 20, 2019 01:07
|
|
|
General Battuta posted:I finished* the third Baru book today 
|
|
#
?
Mar 20, 2019 01:33
|
|
|
General Battuta posted:
Post it.
|
|
#
?
Mar 20, 2019 01:37
|
|
|
pospysyl posted:The Sturgeon Award nominations for science fiction stories came out a few weeks ago, and I finally got around to checking them out. They usually do a great job of picking out some great stories, and it's usually a good preview for what will show up in the Hugos. Thanks, I always forget about the Sturgeons. So do a lot of people I guess. I already read the dog one and Robot and Crow and they are both quite good, in very different ways. The idea in Robot of cute little health-checker drones asking people how they're feeling is adorable and I'm glad the author largely went with the cuteness angle, because we already know what Amazon Health would do with that kind of data. Also I liked the characterization of the crows a lot, and the way they read very much as speakers in translation.
|
|
#
?
Mar 20, 2019 01:38
|
|
|
General Battuta posted:I finished* the third Baru book today You flirt.
|
|
#
?
Mar 20, 2019 03:00
|
|
|
General Battuta posted:I finished* the third Baru book today Yay! I'm sure it will be all sunshine and puppies and hugs.
|
|
#
?
Mar 20, 2019 09:27
|
|
|
General Battuta posted:I finished* the third Baru book today Got a title yet? It's not finished until you have a title. Re: FTL - my favourite quote on the subject is from Ray Bradbury, who simply said "There are rockets in my stories. You don't need to know how they work."
|
|
#
?
Mar 20, 2019 14:12
|
|
|
Got the new G Willow Wilson from the library and I'm hype.
|
|
#
?
Mar 20, 2019 14:45
|
|
|
General Battuta posted:I like Alastair Reynolds' Revelation Space inertia-suppressing 'FTL' where if you try to do it it inevitably not only fails but has a good chance of retroactively erasing you (and possibly your entire species) from existence. Good and spooky. IIRC that setting's slower-than-light engines were powered by wormholes connected back to the moment of the Big Bang, which always seemed like a bit of overkill... Congrats! I'm excited to see the finished product.
|
|
#
?
Mar 20, 2019 17:26
|
|
|
Ben Nevis posted:Got the new G Willow Wilson from the library and I'm hype. I loved it so much. I also saw her read from/talk about it last night with NK Jemisin, which made me love it even more. I suspect NYPL might post a recording of the talk here soonish.
|
|
#
?
Mar 20, 2019 20:26
|
|
|
Ben Nevis posted:Got the new G Willow Wilson from the library and I'm hype. I really liked Alif the Unseen. I hope this is comparable in quality.
|
|
#
?
Mar 20, 2019 21:15
|
|
|
https://twitter.com/jeffvandermeer/status/1108716824689078272
|
|
#
?
Mar 21, 2019 15:03
|
|
|
Ben Nevis posted:Got the new G Willow Wilson from the library and I'm hype. GWW launched a new indie comic series either this week or last, if you didn't already know.
|
|
#
?
Mar 21, 2019 17:42
|
|
|
The VanderMeers put together good anthologies, but man, that is an astoundingly unattractive book cover
|
|
#
?
Mar 21, 2019 17:57
|
|
|
graphic design is my passion
|
|
#
?
Mar 21, 2019 18:00
|
|
|
I was going to say that he really nailed the look of fantasy paperbacks of that era: the font, the art style: it's dead on. I instantly got what he was trying to signal, but it's not exactly eye-catching for today's audience.
|
|
#
?
Mar 21, 2019 18:16
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 27, 2024 07:39 |
|
|
Do I need the first culture book to read player of games?
|
|
#
?
Mar 21, 2019 18:40
|
|
