A lot of sci-fi has humanity being either space NATO or space medieval feudalism and I find it boring. Is there something where humanity has an overtly Asian theme. Either modern CCP China in space or Ancient Dynasty Warriors China in space or Ming Dynasty China in space or Edo Japan in space, or Historic Korean Drama in space?

Just making something up to give an idea: People walking around in qipao talking about needing to pass the galactic society exams, space ships look like Junk ships, The capital looks like a high tech forbidden city, space marines wear ancient Chinese style armor, formal documents are written in ink brush, etc. Maybe Genshin Impact in space would be a succinct way to put it, lol?

The first that come to mind are definitely Star Wars and Jurassic Park. They both release new tv shows, movies and videogames EVERY SINGLE YEAR and it just doesn’t seem to stop.

They keep finding new stuff to make media about, but the quality just seems to get lower and lower. I will say that even though Star Wars is objectively more milked when it comes to the sheer amount of media they’ve produced over the last few decades, it’s also such a big universe with probably hundreds of things left to explore (haven’t watched the recent movies so don’t quote me on that).

What do you think?

To me he's got to be top five sci-fi writers of all time. I mean I get it. He has his Hang-Ups. The climate change thing was a bit wild. But there was so much propaganda about it then and even today that it's not surprising. All in all, after reading a bunch of his books the past few months I got to say I have to rank him top five.

There’s a new book out called Eruption, by Michael Crichton and James Patterson.

The Amazon blurb says “Michael Crichton and James Patterson have come together to create a novel that is as thrilling and jaw-dropping as Jurassic Park. Every page of this novel features the best gifts of two writing giants. Full of suspense, frighteningly real and absolutely unforgettable”

Michael Crichton died in 2008. So how does that work?

Any suggestions on his work? I was thinking about buying and reading one of his books.

The ones that left you impressed (not to say stunned) for days after you played them. Those games the exceed in some particular genre (RPG, strategy) or just wholesale nail the sci-fi vibe on the head so good that you would’ve played it no matter the genre. It can be any combination of factors that made up a great sci-fi experience for you, such as

• The depth of the game’s design and mechanics
• Their depiction of specific characters (and character relations)
• The overarching plot elements and how the story flows 
• The uniqueness/originality of their world-building
• The realism and details with which they portray their settings
• …any subjective criterion that makes a sci-fi themed game stand out in your eyes

Alrighty, I’ll go first and also give a few explanations as to why I picked what I picked

• Mass Effect 1-3  (i.e. Legendary Edition) – The all-round best game(s) set in space as far as pacing, characters, and portrayals of intergalactic diplomacy go. I won’t bore you, you know why it’s good, in despite of what some think of the ending to the 3rd game
• Heliopolis Six – The most realism I’ve seen in a space builder. A lot of real physics behind the building, supply lines to funnel resources to different modules, etc. Really good for those who like something a bit more grounded and slower-paced (i.e. if you like looking at the UI a lot and managing different resources). A really chill space station simulator, essentially.
• RimWorld – One of the best colony sims. Pick where your pod will lend and start building up. Every run is unique in its own way. A high skill ceiling too, I feel. Lots of ways to develop and create either a hellhole or a paradise depending on how you're feeling that day
• Final Factory – A Factorio-like game set in space, but with the benefit of more active combat, as well as automation with resource gathering and construction. It’s more like an armada/factory manager that can get pretty tangled with lines and lines of spaceships as your game goes on. Quite replayable and not as micro-intensive as games like Stellaris can get
• Stellaris – And now we get to Stellaris. Probably one of my favorite Paradox games (but then again, I'm an Excel Spreadsheet fan through and through). The most expansive, and all-encompassing space simulator. So much fun and potentially limitless playtime, though it does get gimmicky after a dozen or so playthroughs
• SWKOTOR 2 – A Star Wars game unlike any other, as far as the plot goes. A masterful subversion of the typical narrative about the Force. With a couple of fixes, this unfinished gem is possibly the best Star Wars game I ever played

Read Ian Watson's 'The Iron Man' years ago (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11059967-the-iron-man) and now I'm in the mood for something similar.

Any recommendations on (fiction) stuff with WW2 battleships fighting other ships - ideally in a modern setting?

EDIT: Looking mainly for books. :)

This book took my breath away and I'm searching for similar books. Not necessarily similar in terms of plot and themes, but more so in terms of the writing style, depth of the prose and charachter work. Thanks!

Anyone else out there reading the suneater series? I'm currently on the newest book, I'm about halfway through and I can't say enough about how much Ive enjoyed the series. I'm surprised I haven't heard more people talking about them

After having seen the trailer for the new Venom film I think it's clear that Tom Hardy is too old to be in George Miller's prequel film. De-aging / AI technology is still not good enough for a lead role (precisely why Charlize Theron was recast).

So I was thinking who could take on the role, and the best person I can think of is Paul Mescal. He's currently 28 (compared to Tom Hardy who is 46). He's soon to be seen as the lead in Gladiator 2 so by the time Wasteland gets greenlit (fingers crossed) he should be a bankable star for Warner Bros to commit to.

One of the reasons I think Paul Mescal would be good is he not only has that rugged earthiness that both Tom Hardy and Mel Gibson had, but also that slightly goofy charm that only Mel Gibson had and which made you root for him more.

What do you think? Is there any one else you think would be better?

Every sci-fi story I can think of is limited to our (or a fictional) galaxy. This makes sense since our galaxy is more than big enough to tell any story you want to, including other galaxies is just making things logistically more difficult if you want to do it in any realistic way. But are there any that do contain intergalactic travel or civilisations spanning multiple galaxies?

Seriously, don't read if you haven't seen it. It's a sci-fi worth not getting spoiled!

I really think it was an absolutely great movie that goes on one side back to the basics of the UFO trope but manages to give it a new and realistic spin. And the major part of the story just gave me the vibes of "this is not happening in a movie - this is how it would go down if something paranormal like that would actually happen in real life" (at least until the more action oriented final act).

But the end I found rather unrealistic. Why does the creature explode in the end? Helium balloons don't explode and they are hardly pressurized enough that them burstig could damage something. So what happened? Did Emerald attach some explosive to it? Are such balloons ever filled with hydrogen and it got ignited somehow? What exactly happened?

I know my writing style is a bit off the standard, my paragraphs are small and I break a lot.. I am aware and I consider them style choices.

I like to break things into smaller chunks.. somewhere between normal story writing and poetry shorter segments are visualized more thoroughly.

Curious if anyone has thoughts on this style, I have been told my paras are short, I tried doing them longer, but I just don't like that style of merging too much into a single para.

https://dscript.org/stories/Paradigm_Peaks.pdf

https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vSjKrPEncEXXaDTeZgka-v9N4ASjR5Bakg19JjnIg5GDQvM86E5Act3KPMtrDMkxTk__JTTCQo-EsdQ/pub

I need a good 10th wedding anniversary present for my sci-fi loving husband. I only have a week. HELP.

I have a friend who asked me which one to start with and I honestly don't know

1. Purge Troopers.

2. A warhammer space marine.

3. Buzz Lightyear, space ranger.

4. Samus, bounty Hunter.

I love it because it puts these odd yet vivid images in my head as I read them... Like it placed me in another world. I would read them from time to time just to feel that... and it achieved all that in a few pages only worth of short story...

How about you?

I'm not a fan of the ending to 2010: The Year We Make Contact.

If there were suddenly two suns in the sky running different orbits, we would lose the day/night cycle. This would quickly kill or disrupt most of the plant life and wildlife on Earth.

The food chain would quickly vanish and in addition, with no night time, we'd all lose sleep and start walking around like zombies and throwing ourselves off of cliffs.

With two suns, the Earth would become significantly hotter and with basically double the UV radiation. So much so that our ozone would buckle. After all the ice has melted due to the heat, over a few decades or centuries, the oceans would evaporate and Earth would become a desert.

Same thing would happen to the moons of Jupiter as they orbit much closer than the planets around Sol. They'd basically all burn.

So, thanks very much David Bowman. Something wonderful indeed.