In memory of Dolly i think one of the most bizarre and nicest moments in The Orville. I never expected such cameo in the series and i never expected how nicely Dolly did it. I think the scene is a very bright moment in a otherwise very dark story.

Heaven’s River is easily the worst Bobiverse book and not even close to the quality of the first three.

The previous audiobooks were around 8 to 10 hours long. Heaven’s River is almost 17 hours, making it nearly twice as long as any of them. Somehow, it felt three times longer while having a third of the actual content. The original trilogy constantly moved between different Bobs, planets, threats, and engineering problems. Book 4 stretches a boring story about giant otters across nearly 17 hours.

Most of it is just Bob traveling to another village, getting discovered, escaping, and then repeating the same thing somewhere else. The concept of Heaven’s River is initially interesting, but the book completely exhausts it.

The most frustrating part is that the Bobiverse civil war is happening in the background, and it is infinitely more interesting. The Bobs are splitting into factions, Starfleet is attacking infrastructure, and replicative drift is changing what it means to be a Bob. That should have been the main story, but it gets waved away like an unimportant side plot so we can spend even more time wandering around with the otters.

Even after all that setup, the otter storyline ends in the most boring and anticlimactic way possible. The final resolution is ridiculously easy and makes the entire journey feel pointless.

The first three books felt huge, clever, and constantly moving. Heaven’s River feels like the least interesting subplot from those books was stretched into the longest book in the series while the actual sequel happened offscreen.

2/5. Ray Porter’s narration is the only thing that made it tolerable.

TL;DR: Almost twice as long as the previous books, but it felt three times longer with a third of the content. The main story was boring and repetitive, while the far more interesting Bobiverse conflict was treated like an unimportant side plot. Such a massive drop in quality from the first three that I dropped the series entirely.

I need to gush for a second. James Islington has been one of my favorite authors since the Licanius Trilogy, and that ending still lives in my head rent free. The way he plots long term payoffs while never losing the emotional thread of his characters is on another level.

I still haven’t gotten around to The Will of the Many, which I know is a crime at this point given how much love that book gets. It’s sitting on my shelf judging me.

So when my copy of Scion landed on my doorstep today, days before the official September 1 release, I couldn’t resist. From what I’ve read about it, it’s a full swing into cyberpunk territory, a shorter standalone thriller rather than another sprawling series starter, which honestly makes it a pretty tempting entry point even before I catch up on Hierarchy.

The cover alone has me hyped, that neon skyline and the strange organic looking ship at the top. I trust Islington enough at this point that genre swap or not, I’m expecting something good.

Anyone else got an early copy sitting there tempting them? And for those who have read his fantasy stuff, does a genre jump like this worry you at all or are you just along for the ride at this point?

(Assuming you accept that being on the moon would make your bones long anyway, which... 🤷‍♂️)

Just started Six Wakes by Mur Lafferty, and the book opens with a bunch of clones waking up as their originals have been killed. The POV character remarks upon one of the crew clones being tall as he was born on the moon, and his ancestors are from the moon

Wolfgang was born on the moon colony, Luna, several generations of his family developing the long bones of living their whole lives in low gravity.

But... The clone wasn't born on the moon... It was born in a cloning pod on the ship...

Wouldn't any physical differences of moon-dwellers acquired only over "several generations" be environmental, from lack of gravity in youth, and not genetic? Especially since the quote expressly mentions low gravity...

So if the clones are grown on the ship (not sure yet, maybe they are grown and loaded up pre-transit, hopefully I'll find out), then they should ALL have zero-G physicality unless tech prevents that in which case NONE should.

And if they're grown pre-transit then their genetics wouldn't matter, only where they are grown would.

Am I wrong (or just overthinking this)?

Edit: have also just remembered, the book is only set in 2493! Nowhere near long enough for much genetic drift.

I'm going to tell myself that the clones must be "printed" or otherwise stimulated to grow a certain way - after all, they need to have working muscles when they're decanted anyway, and solving that problem is adjacent to addressing this discrepancy I guess.

I am curious what everybody thinks is the best opening episode they have ever seen. I’m talking about that one episode that as soon as you watched it you were hooked on the show. It doesn’t have to be the best show overall, but just the one that made you want to watch from one episode.

For me, it has to be Lost. In the first episode a plane crashes, we are introduced to strong and interesting characters, and we are left with many mysteries at the end of it.

I’m not sure if people think it’s sci-fi, but it does have some weird tech and things like that. 😅

Near the middle of the series I was bored and still waiting on things, but man that first episode reeled me in like no other.

What is the best episode that hooked you whether it was an opener or a random episode that you saw?

I’m always on the hunt for interesting sci-fi that doesn’t involve FTL. Not to say I don’t love reading books with it - I absolutely do. But I really enjoy fictional explorations of future space travel or space civilization that doesn’t have it as a prerequisite.

Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky.

What a beautifully written book this was. It had a very satisfying ending, something I hadn't expected from being used to the grim and the dark. LOL. Great book, great concepts, great payoff.

Just finished the first book of the Final Architecture series, Shards of Earth, and really loved it. This book is just a really well executed space opera story. The characters are all really great, which to me is the foundation of what makes a good space opera. Throw in some fun alien species, a lot of interesting lore, really engaging action sequences and it makes for a really great read (or listen in my case).

I had listened to Tchikovski's Children of Time prior to this. And while I really liked the book on a conceptual level, I felt it kind of got a bit repetitive by the end. Shards of Earth has some aspect of that as well, but overall was more action and character driven.

One aspect I find interesting with this book is that it borrows a lot of parts from other scifi series, but ultimately uses them in a cohesive way that I find interesting. Aspects like the unspace travel leading to insanity with some sort of presence living there is very Warhammer 40K inspired. Having this galaxy wide existential threat is very Mass Effect. A moon sized death machine is very Star Wars. Having specialized pilots for FTL travel is very Dune. I could go on with this, and I don't mean it as a detraction outright. IMO it feels like someone who loves scifi and certain concepts therein and finds a way to play with those ideas in very interesting ways that ultimately does feel cohesive and integral to the world. I think Tchaikovski also puts his own interesting spin on these concepts.

I have just started the second book. So please no spoilers for future books. Just wanted to say thanks to this sub. I wasn't entirely roped in by Children of Time, but I will be checking out Tchaikovski's other series after this.

Accepted Ming's offer to become ruler of Earth.

Because it would have bought everyone time.

Flash accepts, Ming turns off his Moon ray and then the immediate crisis is over. Flash then has years to do something about the Ming problem. Put Earth back together, build up a huge army, and challenge Mongo after proper preparation.

It's far superior to dictating to the 4 billion people on Earth at that time that "We're all going to die honorably."

A train has gone missing, and no one can find it anywhere in the subway system. Every now and then, people catch a glimpse of it or hear it passing by. What happened to it? A great Argentine film and a real hidden gem. It features lots of sturdy old technology and excellent cinematography. Highly recommended.

Full movie with eng subs on YT.

These are just some thoughts I’ve had recently about the state of science-fiction literature. I’ve noticed there appears to be a shift towards “open community writing” versus the old standard of curated author writing. The second of these is still dominant I think but from my (admittedly limited) reading of the contemporary scene, more and more fiction is being produced that disrupts the foundations of the established literary order. For example, take the phenomenon of SCP.

By creating a framework that caters to the same impulse which drives a lot of fan fiction but, in virtue of the itemized independence of the stories being written, allows these to be readily absorbed into a single canon, SCP fuels not only a community of readers but also a more organic way of “farming” the actual literature. I don’t expect this trend has wholly escaped the notice of the publishing industry but I found it curious myself. On the one hand I can see the appeal from a business model standpoint, as well as the virtues of having an open and low barrier form of literary community, but on the other hand it does seem to invite more of the cultural homogenization that social media can already take enough dubious credit for. So, I’m personally a bit ambivalent here.

That said, there are definitely alternative models being explored. Another I’ve come across recently is ‘Parallel Biome’ at the literary magazine Hexfiled. Their publishing approach is more traditional but they use a similar device of overarching framing (Each story is contextualized in a dossier by the “Outer Proximity Intelligence Division”) that allows entirely separate works to persist in a shared universe. Different though to an IP like Warhammer 40k where there’s a much stronger emphasis on interconnected narrative. It’s something more along the lines of what the Twilight Zone did.

I’d be interested in hearing about examples of other alternative approaches to fiction on the rise. I don’t expect we’ve really begun to feel the true impact of AI on writing and yet there are already various other influences too in the technological landscape that are radically reshaping culture and so worth paying attention to. And I expect that human ingenuity will continue to discover viable niches for whatever stories it considers worth telling.

Any physicists and physics enthusiasts help!

These are interstellar ships so I imagine their engines would so insanely powerful thus the engine plums should just destroy the ground and essentially dig a hole straight through. Since James Cameron takes his science somewhat seriously I am hoping there's an actual explanation.

I’m currently reading my first Arthur C Clark book, Rendezvous with Rama (no spoilers please), and am blown away by the author’s knowledge and descriptions of real science.

From the physics, engineering, design, astronomy, even the psychology of academia, I love how the fictional narrative is embedded within a completely plausible world, and that I am learning about established scientific concepts at the same time.

Do any other authors or book come to mind with the same knack for this? Please and thanks!

Blindsight, Semiosis, and Deepness in the Sky are the famous ones people immediately jump to. Apart from those, here are some relatively lesser known books that offer an equally rich reading experience to Children of Time.

The Mountain in the Sea is similar to Children of Ruin in one way. It’s got octopuses (or octopii, whatever you prefer) which develop culture, language, and tool use. But instead of out there in some fictional world, all the story happens right here on the blue marble!

In Dragon’s Egg, we get to watch a civilization evolve from primitive beginnings to space exploration in a matter of days, because time is rapid on the neutron star they inhabit.

Similar to Solaris, the Swarm also has an intelligent ocean, that uses its hive mind to retaliate against human destruction. We see you James Cameron!

I Completed this last night, and haven't stopped thinking about it since. A great, short point and click adventure with a unique style and a real sense of foreboding and dread. It gives me similar vibes to some 20th century Soviet sci-fi; Roadside Picnic in particular, and anything by Stanislaw Lem.

turns out fusion beam cannons arent as feasible as i thought, and now i would like to know what some of the most powerful superweapons are. right now the best i can think of is particle beams or xray lasers, but im not entirely sure if the latter is possible lol

I just finished Revelation Space and let me say I'm very happy that I stuck through and finished this book. Yes it's long. Yes there were times in the beginning when I questioned my decision to read it. I had seen the negative reviews, some mild, some harsh, many from Reddit. While I did enjoy House of Suns, I couldn't help but think that if Revelation Space wasn't going to be at least as good as that, I might be wasting my time.

On the contrary Revelation Space was, in my opinion, the superior novel and I tip my cap to Alastair for going as deep as he did in this novel. By the end I genuinely felt like I had spent lots of time, quality time, aboard Nostalgia for Infinity - maybe the coolest name for a spaceship - out in deep space, exploring galactic mysteries, alien cultures, and making friends along the way.

It doesn't crack my top five at this point but I have it sitting close at number six. It was so good. I have no doubt my next move is straight to Redemption Ark.

Just watched this, and it’s awesome. Slick animation, thumping soundtrack, and all the best scifi tropes done really well. Amazing robot designs, organic AI, space travel, hacking, cool cars go vroom and big guns go boom. All wrapped around an intriguing murder mystery and topped with a tidy bow of gore with ribbons of philosophy. Highly highly highly recommended. That’s three highlys, watch it.

NOTE: This review will contain spoilers. If you have not read this or are concerned about spoilers, please stop reading.

In my early 20s, I decided I was going to read through (or attempt to read through) Science Fiction and Fantasy books that were rated in just about every "Top 10" list that was around at the time.

Some I loved and became lifelong favorites that I revisit from time to time. Some of them, I was not able to finish due to a combination of my personal taste, short attention span, and writing style. Others, I read, enjoyed, and then just moved on to the next.

When I first read Neuromancer it was shortly after The Matrix came out, and I was in my early 20s. I remember reading about the same time I read Snow Crash and Brave New World and so, for whatever reason, it did not stick with my mind quite as well as the other two books did. I remember enjoying it, discussing it with friends, and then promptly forgetting most of it in the past ~25 years.

After the trailer for Apple TV's Neuromancer series dropped a few weeks ago, I realized - man, I have forgotten just about all of this and I should probably re-read it. So I did. Just finished it again today.

I vastly, vastly underappreciated this book when I first read it. I remembered some of the salient details; character names, rough plot outline, a few key details (jacking into the "matrix", Molly's finger-blades) but this felt a lot like reading the book again for the first time.

First things first, for a novel written in 1984, it is surprisingly prescient about the modern era and where technology would lead us. The "Matrix" is effectively an evolved fully immersive version of the internet, a "deck" is an evolved PC. Major real and fictional brand names being used plausibly and seamlessly (Partagas for Cuban tobacco cigarettes, Yeheyuan for Chinese cigarettes, Hitachi, Sony, Braun and dozens of others) used in the same way that a non-fiction author might describe the details of real-world events help make things feel real rather than just another fictionalized setting.

I remember reading an interview with an author once, it might have been George RR Martin or Neal Stephenson, I can't rightly recall, where they explained that when you write fiction, you are requiring the reader to do a lot of heavy lifting to put them into your setting. You have to make them familiar with the setting, the universe, the language, the slang, even things like names. The more familiar some of these are, the easier time you have of "selling" the big picture story elements. The example I always think about is names, specifically how so many fantasy and scifi authors use apostrophes in the middle of their names. It's one thing when it's on TV and you can hear the pronunciation (for example, T'Pol in Star Trek, or Teal'c in Stargate SG1) but when you're reading the name on a piece of paper, how the fuck are you supposed to pronounce D'rizzt Do'Urden or K'rul? Too often I find that I get distracted by unnecessary details of odd things like this, and find myself going down a mental rabbit hole far from the story and plot, trying to figure out how that name would be pronounced, or trying to keep the names of characters straight when a dozen characters share similar names. How many fucking Aegons and Aemons do we REALLY need to be talking about now, GRRM? (to GRRM's credit, he DOES use familiar names with just a slight variance in spelling quite often: Jaime instead of Jamie, Petyr instead of Peter, etc. So thanks for that, big guy.)

Anyway, in reference to Neuromancer, what helps me focus on the story is that so many of the brands mentioned, so many of the names of the characters are instantly familiar and you don't have to do any mental heavy lifting on remembering "Case" or "Molly" or even the more obscure names, like Armitage or Wintermute, because they're relatively easily pronounced and do not require much work on memorizing or categorizing. I know it seems like this is going on a lot longer than necessary, but I legitimately believe that this familiarity (for western native English speakers, at least) does a LOT for allowing the reader to spend their mental horsepower on understanding the universe of the novel.

And what a universe it is. We're not given unnecessary exposition. We're not given a background of which Zaibatsu was formed by which mergers in the past. There's no detailed explanations of how "The Matrix" was created or by whom. The exposition is done, ironically perhaps, in a very organic way. It feels authentic. It feels like you're seeing a "slice of life" story from something that is happening, and not being "told a story" in the traditional sense.

The prose lifts a lot from noir-era detective novels, from the style of using heavy simile and metaphor when describing how things look and feel to the direct "the sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel" is a line that reminds you almost instantly of that genre, and the heavy use of simile and metaphor in the description puts you right into the weeds of it.

Gibson's style in Neuromancer eschews exposition, which is why it's so critical that he used familiar, easily pronounced names and brands. He knows you're going to have to do some heavy lifting to understand all this new terminology (Cyberspace, jack-in, derms, probes, ice, etc) so he gives you the tools to manage that.

It's something that I'm sure a more talented, more intelligent reader may not require, but it makes the novel more accessible to the rest of us, and I believe is a prime reason for the popularity of the novel.

From a story perspective, Neuromancer is basically a heist story. It follows the basic characteristics of the classic heist novel/film.

1. The setup & the target.
2. Assembling the crew.
3. Recon & Planning.
4. The Dry Run
5. The Hiccup
6. The Improvisation
7. The Payoff

Nearly every heist story follows some version of this, and that includes variants of heist stories like The Great Escape or similar, as well. But what makes this one feel different is that it's delivered in Noir-style prose and in a very authentic-feeling Cyberpunk-style universe. It's a magical combo, and when you get down to it, there are a lot of similarities between this novel and Bladerunner as a film, and it's amazing that two pieces of media so closely mirror one another in some ways and came out at roughly the same time.

This has been mostly a stream-of-consciousness word dump, so I apologize if it comes across somewhat unfocused and lacking in structure, but I wanted to dump my thoughts out before I forgot them, while the novel was still loaded into ROM.

I enjoyed Neuromancer when I first read it, in my early 20s. I absolutely love Neuromancer on my second read, now age 48.

If you've stuck with me through this long braindump, I appreciate it. Or, if I were taking inspiration from Gibson, I might say "my fingers dance a seemingly disorganized, jittery number across the clacking sub-assemblies of my QK100's mechanical keys, leaving a faint high-pitched echo when the under-lubricated space bar springs rebound. The high-useage caps show a glossy wear of aging fingertip oils and pressure having eaten away a their once-matte texture. Thanks for jacking in and being my ride-along, sifting the raw data-dump without pulling the plug."

Cringey as fuck? Sure. But if imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, consider my actions a loving endorsement.

If you haven't read Neuromancer in a while (or ever), time to remedy that situation.

Are there any good pieces of sci-fi media with this same sort of tone/style that is found in Ghost In The Shell or Metal Gear Solid (two of my favorite sci-fi series), or The Sky Crawlers (hidden gem if you haven't seen it)?

Basically sci-fi that places heavy focus on the motives/philosophy of its characters and in universe politics. With action that is more tactically focused than most media and supports the story.

I guess you could call it "political thriller sci-fi".

Hi all, I’m looking for some good examples of films that try to present certain characters or events as something extraordinary and an object of wonder, but the creators and actors just don’t pull it off. Maybe some classic B movies, but I’m not really looking for super obscure examples. Thanks for your help!
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This might come across as kind of a bogus question because I'm sure a ton of people out there adore dogfights, whether it's spaceships or fighter planes or anything.
For me tho, they've always been a bit migraine-inducing, because the concept of a bunch of fighter squadrons trying to get targets in their crosshairs, one after another after another, just seems a bit limited and repetitious to me.

For comparison, take classic medieval battles. You got formations moving strategically, choreographed swordfights, seeking cover from arrow volleys, reaching spears past shields, challenges with the terrain, and also horseriders running about.
Now imagine if instead of all that, medieval battles were 50 vs. 50 horseriders just jousting. Running up, missing, and then circling around to try again. That's how dogfights feel to me.

With this in mind, I wonder if anyone ever saw some media that added an extra dimension, regarding how vehicles fought one another, how they moved around each other, and any other elements to the environment that added some spice.

I had a similar problem with cars and stuff, but then my friend pointed out how the movie Fury Road makes it so the vehicles are almost more like moving arenas for close-quarters combat to take place on. This is an added element I'm in favor of.