Sci-fi
Sci-fi can be pulpy or high-brow, deeply entrenched with philosophizing and morals or simply farcical. What makes it sci-fi depends on who's asked, but to me it's about some interesting facet of physics or chemistry (real or not), or how some cool new gadget affects sociodynamics, or some odd setting that explorers never expected (e.g.: Hollow Earth, galactic energy barrier, fuzzy sapiens). It just has a certain feeling to it; as the U.S. Supreme Court once said of art vs. porn: “I know it when I see it”.
N.B.: If you're looking at the sci-fi collection, then the chances are that you're a math and physics geek, or at least a fan thereof. If so, then you might want to also check the Worldbuilding Meta collection for some related math / physics / logic essays (meta to writing in general, hence fanfic in particular, but extremely meaty on the details).
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Random works
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Heart of the GNACHO by Charles_Rockafellor
Fandoms: humans are space orcs - Fandom, HFY - Fandom, Inspired by Heart of the comet (David Brin and Gregory Benford | 1986)
19 Oct 2020
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Summary
“Heart of the Comet” (Brin and Benford, 1986) looks at how different ecological systems could affect one another, long term, and some of the (good and bad) consequences and cautions. “Heart of the GNACHO” looks at the retrospective of trying to find alien life forms when artificial indicators look like natural background. This story isn't set in the fandom, instead only taking a page from its premise.
NB 27 Sep 2021: 4th [short] story in series, added yesterday! (Happy almost-anniversary [17 Oct] to the first 2 Space Orcs stories in the series!)
I read and appreciate (and try to reply to) all of your comments (they are always welcome)!
𝑫𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝑳𝒊𝒌𝒆, 𝑺𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒆, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑺𝒖𝒃𝒔𝒄𝒓𝒊𝒃𝒆! ❤️
Series
- Part 2 of Tell me more about this Earth-thing
- Part 1 of Out of time
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Summary
(Pun, not typo.)
Shit always rolls downhill, but that doesn't say anything about where it goes to.
(Written in homage of Mark Twain's style and fashion. [Looking back in 2022, it feels a little like the earlier non-Twain fic “If the creek don't rise”.])
I read and appreciate (and try to reply to) all of your comments (they are always welcome)!
𝑫𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝑳𝒊𝒌𝒆, 𝑺𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒆, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑺𝒖𝒃𝒔𝒄𝒓𝒊𝒃𝒆! ❤️
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Ultraviolet catastrophe by Charles_Rockafellor
Fandoms: Shrapnel (tank-based video game | Andy Geers | 2000)
12 Oct 2020
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Summary
Two forces face off in battle, neither given to failure. Time before time presses down heavily, but the war is unrelenting. Each side wearies, but cannot yield. To yield is to fail — until one side decides that if they can't win, then they can at least ensure that nobody will. After all: what's a little mutually assured destruction, between friends?
I read and appreciate (and try to reply to) all of your comments (they are always welcome)!
𝑫𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝑳𝒊𝒌𝒆, 𝑺𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒆, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑺𝒖𝒃𝒔𝒄𝒓𝒊𝒃𝒆! ❤️
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Summary
Social conventions differ over time and place, each culture giving rise to its own permutations and innovations. Here, we meet an attaché to a world where the sexes present with swapped cues, making for some “interesting” misunderstandings. It wasn't a romance / philosophy / social commentary, but my characters had other plans (self-examination, cultural contrasts / comparisons, nodding to Le Guin); initially a one-shot, it's now 6 chapters. Things develop past the flirtation of chapter 1, with a much larger issue uncovered toward the end (what the characters might be able to do about it is uncertain, begging a much larger story).
Trek-inspired (a universe of worlds within walking distance, though to attempt such might be a little impractical), but not Trek-based. More lurks than I can write (like Dune [Herbert] or Foundation [Asimov]).
N.B.: 11 months before writing this, I had a prequel (“The long way home ”) in the same world; you might want to hit that one first for the background material.
Comments are always welcome!
𝑫𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝑳𝒊𝒌𝒆, 𝑺𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒆, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑺𝒖𝒃𝒔𝒄𝒓𝒊𝒃𝒆! ❤️
Series
- Part 2 of Like grains of sand
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I morti non sono più soli by Charles_Rockafellor
Fandoms: Sonic the Hedgehog (Video Games), The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, Super Mario & Related Fandoms, Multi-Fandom
27 Jun 2021
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Summary
Sonic remembers another life, and unlike so many of his other lives, this was one in which he had known Zelda. Taking on Doctor Evil's phlogiston was only part of the problem. It hurts, and it keeps coming back to him. He doesn't want it, but he has to share this memory with the rest of the Scooby Gang.
NB 1: 6562 present Light World (2259 Earth date), 2048 past-Earth.
NB 2: There are some relationship “complications” that come up here, and I've chosen not to tag for them for spoiler reasons. They're not Archive Warning things, just in-fic relationships that have been established and see some backstory come up now. If you haven't read any of the earlier stories in this series, this might seem utterly discordant without sufficient context.
The [Italian] title is attributed to Ἐπίκουρος (Epicurus), apparently in his [translated] epistle to Μενοικεύς (Menoeceus). I haven't found similar enough [Greek] material to be convinced, but here's the possibly-original form: https://monadnock.net/epicurus/letter.html
I read and appreciate (and try to reply to) all of your comments (they are always welcome)!
𝑫𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝑳𝒊𝒌𝒆, 𝑺𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒆, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑺𝒖𝒃𝒔𝒄𝒓𝒊𝒃𝒆! ❤️
Series
- Part 9 of Love against the darkness
- Part 3 of TLA: the Three Letter Agency