fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #2557 ]

[ SECRET POST #2557 ]

⌈ Secret Post #2557 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 01 pages, 013 secrets from Secret Submission Post #364.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

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ooh, that's Ringworld, isn't it?

I kind of agree with you - to a certain extent I grew up on hard sci-fi, and I miss the really creative worldbuilding. But in a way, modern sci-fi is really different from what it used to be. It's a lot grimmer these days, for one.
For another, when the older sci-fi was being written, it was before computers and internet filled such a huge place in our lives, and more about space exploration. Then computers came in, and now a lot of it is cyberpunk, because people realized that computers doing fancy things is part of the future.

I will admit that I like sci-fi that's not just "ooo technology" and also has things like social/cultural effects and good characterization.

(I think it's Ringworld too, though THE RING IS NOT BIG ENOUGH. :p)

It's a ringworld, I don't think it's THE Ringworld; just an image I picked up from Image Search. Fanart, I think (I don't recognize the name.)

Fucking hell, I'm old.

No, this is not fanart. It's an artist's conception from the 70s or 80s (I first saw it in MULTIPLE books in the early 80s) of a space habitat, which is NOT a ringwold - it's a ring that spins around an artificial hub to create false gravity, and meant to be in orbit around the earth.

DA

Yes. I remember seeing it in some textbook or something when I was a kid. I remember being fascinated by the idea.

Yeah, me, too. And the similar conceptualizations of undersea habitats.

Huh. I'd forgotten that until now, but yes, same here.

I remember this too... I kept looking at the pic and going WHERE THE FUCK DO I KNOW THAT FROM.

I'm just glad to know I wasn't imagining it.

Yeah, not nearly big enough, and also doesn't seem to have the right shape for The Ringworld. That was open inwards towards the sun, didn't have any spokes, and used those floating panels to make night/day.

I do think the grimmer / not so science-y trend started earlier, imo, perhaps even before "SF" started to mean "speculative fiction" as often as "science fiction"? The New Wave" of the 1970s had a great deal of grim, as I recall -- Ellison's Dangerous Visions anthologies are a great sampler of that. And writers like Ballard never were that science-y

It's true, though I think I've just been feeling it more overwhelmingly, lately. I used to really love science fiction, but I liked the interesting exploratory aspect. Now a lot of stuff seems to have "people suck" as the punchline, and I honestly don't care to read that so much, so I've fallen out of the genre a little. I am definitely open to recs, though!

The only sci-fi I've really enjoyed recently is Bujold's Vorkosigan Saga, and that's not really hard sci-fi, though it's quite excellent.

Have you tried C.J. Cherryh? Her sci-fi is all about the clash of peoples and cultures--I've seen it labeled as "anthropological sci-fi", which I think is an excellent term. Her Foreigner and Alliance/Union series are justly lauded--though she, like Bujold, doesn't get as much attention as she should.

Hmm. I remember trying to read something of hers like... 10 years ago? and wasn't awed by it, so I haven't picked up any of her stuff since. But tastes change, and so do writers, so I'll look into her more recent stuff :)
And "anthropological sci-fi" sounds pretty awesome, I could get behind that :)
It always bothered me some of the separation between "hard" and "soft" sciences in sci-fi, because I think that interrogating the humanities from a sci-fi perspective is fascinating.

And hey, I rec Bujold to everyone I know. I've gotten my entire family hooked on Vorkosigan.

Another Cherryh fan. I know some of her stuff is hard to get into, but if you really like 'anthro sci fi' try her the Mri books, or the Foreigner series, or Forty Thousand in Gehenna, or the Cyteen books. Or the Chanur series, which is from the alien's pov. She has written *so many* things, i'm sure you can find something you'll like.

I will definitely revisit her stuff :)

Jo Walton on Tor.com has done a truly excellent series of Cherryh rereads: not many spoilers, will probably give you an idea of which books you'd like. http://www.tor.com/features/series/c-j-cherryh-reread

"People suck" is hardly new. The 1950 and 1960s invented dyslit.

The last I can recall ... well, it's not so much SF as just epic story telling, is Dan Simmons' Hyperion Cantos (especially the first two books, before things got all Keats-y). But that was quite a while ago: I've read more biographies of scientists and mathemeticians in the past 10 years than SF. (I used to read a lot more when I lived in the Midwest (or maybe the local libraries in that time/place were just superior to where I am now.)

All this talk makes me want to drag out a few boxes of the old SFBC editions, though. I still have very fond memories of Hal Clement's Mission of Gravity.

I love Ringi/Webers March Upcountry series (space marines and spoiled prince crash on primitive planet and have to travel across the whole brutal planet. Destroying the Prime Directive willynilly as they go) for the alien pkanet details. Also so much battle scenes yes i like

That sounds like fun! I'll check this out. Thanks, anon!

No, it isn't. It's a space habitat.

"I will admit that I like sci-fi that's not just "ooo technology" and also has things like social/cultural effects and good characterization."

Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan series. Start with Cordelia's Honor, the omnibus of the first two books. They're amazing, and they go into so much political/cultural/social details and effects. And the characters are freaking amazing.

I own every single one :)

*pokes head in two weeks late*

It's a Stanford torus, specifically! The idea behind it is basically a huge ring that spins, simulating Earth-like gravity on the surface. The closer you go to the centre of the ring, the less gravity there is, until you reach zero-G at the central hub. That would allow ships to dock, et cetera. They're meant to be in orbit, so they're a fair bit smaller than Ringworld.

Just. If you were curious, heh.

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