Forest Fire Gelfa.

I know that later this year in school we are create both a Utopia and a Distopia for class. For the most part I dislike this idea because I am sure everyone will have extremely similar concepts for both. The Utopias will be a flurry of chrome buildings with convenient technology, slide walks, advanced computer technology and luxary. Boring. As for the Distopias they will be about class systems and dark gray sky towers which loom above us all. It would be alot of Bladerunner copies.

Never have I thought that either concept was interesting but I realized I could expand upon several other ideas to make something fairly interesting. They will all take place in the Flesh Frozen universe (Yeah the one with the Lepers).

It all starts out where mankind has let go of budgetary restrictions and has finally begun travelling through space. As for Earth no class systems are to be heard of and information storage has been better then ever before. That is until Starship Gelfa (named after a first contact race) is veered off course and falls to Earth starting the largest Forest Fire in history. This fire spreads throughout and destroys the main information date along with many a person.

Many, many years later the only information available about the past comes from the Nazi revival movement library where many alter their appearence and frame of mind and become Arians. As a retaliation many become opposite Arians giving themselves an entirely black appearence. This does not last long when frozen comvicts are risen and tell the tales of the past and mass reconstruction begins. Then begins the whole leper problem.... And you know all about that. Additional info was taken from the human colony Culinaria in the Alpha Centauri system.

It is not the greatest idea but it is better then what my idiotic classmates will ever achieve.

http://writersofhardsfandinterestingfantasy.blogspot.com/

http://writersofhardsfandinterestingfantasy.blogspot.com/

Go to that Blog and you will see why I have wasted valuable BLOG SPACE!

Get Impressed.

You may have been wondering why for some time now why I have only been writing about Greg Bear and Doctor Who and my hate of Harry Harrison and not the TSC/Impressive Infrastructure. I mean it is the whole point of this little writing site. Well it may suprise you but I have sprucing up the storyline, the scientific content, the aliens and the technology.

First off I finally have a ship design I like and will be comfotable using in stories. They will be of a cylindrical nature with a large ring surrounding the structure as to create gravity (well you knew that). Since these will be ships which travel close to light speed they need protection from very small minor bodies and dust. I took a concept used by Alastair Reynolds and put on the ships a tick caul of ice to protect the outer layer of the ship. The bit that is still unclear is the process which allows the ships to go at that speed. I liked what Alastair Reynolds has done by having each ship have a small wormhole connection to the big bang and collecting Quarck Gluon Plasma from the first 20-30 Nanoseconds of the big bang. But that would be stealing big time and I do not want to do that. And like I have said I do not want RAMJETS!!!!

Secondly I have now 5 short story ideas which follow what Hard SF should be.

The titles include.

1) Falidon's Whistle.
2) Nasal Passages.
3) A History of Glass.
4) Small but something to fear.
5) The Dentist.

Each story combines science into the plot with everything from Astronomy, Relativity, Extremophiles, Plastic Surgery, In-vitro fertilization, Microbial ice moon inhabiting extremophilic bacteria, Body conditioning, Thermodynamics and element consumption.

Of the now 11 races (there were once 12) all have been fully conceptualized and fit into their surroundings. All that is left to do is finish the research and start writing them. You may recall I hoped to have Falidon's Whistle by the end of the month but hat plan has been pushed way, way, way back into the relativily near to not so distant future. But be ready. Hopefully they will be written and formated in such a way it will compare to no other Hard SF or any for that matter.

My fear of Greg Bear.

I have always been afraid of the writing of Greg Bear.
It all started one day when I was talking to my friends dad Neil. We were evaluating his book collection and I noticed he had a lone novel by Greg Bear the title of which I cannot remember. I made mention to him that a few months prior that I had seen Bear at the Seattle Downtown Library where he was talking about the works of Mary Shelley with several other writers of the genre. He informed me that the one Bear book he owned was his only one worth reading for everything else written by him was schlock. Neil had many a bad thing to say about Bear's Foundation novel.

Ever since that day I have been fearful of the work of Greg Bear. I would have gone out to find his "good" book but could not recall the title. However slowly I have found a desire to read his works but have still found it difficult to pick which one to read. Blood Music, The Forge of God, Quantico there were to many to choose from. So it was today that I decided to purchase a used copy of Queen of Angels which is the first of a series dealing with Nanotechnology and a future L.A.

I am hoping it is better then Neil may think. If there is any other Greg Bear work I should read please do tell because I am more than willing to read it.

The Guild.

You may recall I had written about a Hard SF/Interesting Fantasy Writers and Readers Guild in a previous post. Currently I am still trying to essemble a group of both readers and writers. As of right now I believe I could persued at least one individual my friend Anthony who has written a novella/novel (I'm not sure which)called the Andronian Project also known as The Rise of Xxyzen (I believe that is how it may be spelled)which is supposedly much like the work of Arthur C Clark and Greg Benford in the sense that it only takes place in our Solar System. I once also knew a kid who wrote stories about telekenesis (which may not really be SF but cetainly fantasy)in a non fiction voice. At the moment I am plotting a way to get my friend Aidan to start writing his own fantsy because he knows more about the genre then anyone I know and he has some good Ideas if I recall. So if you know any writers of either genre who would like to join please do tell. And make sure to read my new blog which will go into further detail on the project.... A post will be there later tonight.

Star Gazer notices a celestial freak of nature.

As you very well know the hardest part for me about developing the TSC was the atmospheres each of the twenty or so planets would have. I delved deep into research about habitable zones for G2 stars finding them to be about 200 AU, escape velocity, AU's from the star and still I was at a loss. I then stumbled upon a great book called a guide to extraterrestrials which had full detailed information and pictures of ET's used in previous science fiction. What I read was useful but not at first. Each habitat seemed to be earth like only with unpredicatble seasons such as in Poul Andersons FIRE TIME! I was still not feeling well and then made an epiphany. Many a hard SF writer has used an enabling device going as far to use FTL travel and things such as that. But the idea that came to me would both be an enabling device and a plot device. The TSC itself was a celestial freak of neature to start with being that it is three G2 stars lined up in relative close proximity to one another, all support life and now seemingly all of the living planets are slightly if not very O2 based. It may sound fishy but it actually plays into the story as to why Astronomy is so heavily restricted. If O2 atmospheres seem to be the most common and they support life then the univerese is teeming with threatning creatures every which way. Of course this is the view of politicians who are just afraid of what maybe will be out "there". But don't worry not all of the planets are like our own. Three are but that is meant partially as a joke to humans seeing as how we so desperatly are looking for at least one and here they are scattered everywhere. Some of the planets have things like chlorine and all sorts of things. I also made sure to have Gas Giants and dwarf planets and habitable moons (for some anyway).

In other news last night I was waiting on PBS for them to show my favorite episode of Doctor Who The Deadly Assassin but sadly they decided to switch up the line upand insteaqd showed one of my least favorite stories The Brian of Morbius which is just plain embarrasing. But while waiting I came upon the little show Star Gazer which is the one in which an older gentleman sits on the rings of Saturn and tells you what Astronomical events will be occuring soon. What I noticed about him is that he no doubt has a hair piece on. The other thing that was strange was that he was speaking about an ancient roman who was roasted alive and the guy had an enormous smile on his face. But it is cool that on monday from 3 am to dawn Earth will be going through the remnants of a coment and Meteores galore supposedly.


http://youtube.com/watch?v=f_aGl0WOOZc

So you know.

A new blog has been created for the previous post. You can find it by checking my user link and it will be easily found. Or you can just go to:

http://writersofhardsfandinterestingfantasy.blogspot.com/

But before you go why not enjoy some relaxing television?

http://youtube.com/watch?v=-t1HMZ3LxoY

Don't you just love 'em?

Bookclubs I mean...
Yes I don't care for them much myself but I feel there comes a time when they serve some sort of purpose. For some time now I have been thinking of a way to get SF ideas across with others who wish to write and read SF aswell.

This is why I have proposed the idea of the:
Young to Older Writers and Readers of Both Science Fiction (certain varieties atleast) and Fantasy (certain varieties at least)!

It would no doubt be fun, interesting and intellectually enlightening. Not only that but if involved in this sort of EC activity college admition executives will swoon.
If you could say Ae or Nae it would be appreciated and detailsof its whereabouts will come soon and how it may operate... Ae or Nae I did say.

The length of which will just never end.

My last post was in regards to the well known "science" fiction author Harry Harrison. You may also have noticed the describtion underneath the top of my page now mentions the author in high esteem. Perhaps I should elaborate on my dislike of this man. First off Harry Harrison did do one thing good for the world. He inspired the young minds of Rob Grant and Doug Naylor who as adults wrote the famous Britcom Red Dwarf so he cannot be all bad can he? WRONG!!!

Despite this fact the work of Harry Harrison is complete trash. I don't mean this to be mean but just to inform you the reading public. Here let me indulge you with several plot synopsis' of his "work".

The Stainless Steel Rat (1961)
At the beginning of the first novel, the Stainless Steel Rat believes he has pulled off a successful bank job, but is out-conned into working for the government. In the Special Corps, the elite law-enforcement and spy agency led by the former greatest crook in the Galaxy, Harold P. Inskipp, he joins the ranks of an organization that is entirely constituted of ex-criminals like himself. In the novel, he has several adventures during which he believes he has escaped from the Corps, and meets his love interest, Angelina, who is even more sociopathic than he is - she too is a criminal genius but lacks Jim's moral strictures against killing. She is attempting to have an illegal space battleship built on a backwoods planet. It transpires that Angelina was born unattractive and committed crimes to pay for her transformation into a beautiful woman; her psychological traumas are cured when Jim captures her, but she retains her allure and her criminal tendencies and joins Jim in the Special Corps.

The Stainless Steel Rat's Revenge (1970)
The Stainless Steel Rat gets married, but rapidly gets involved in something that so far has proven impossible in the galaxy - the planet Cliaand has successfully been invading other worlds. Jim is sent to investigate (in scenes very reminiscent of Eric Frank Russell's 'Wasp'), discovers the mysterious Grey Men behind Cliaand's success, encounters a world of feisty warrior women, and becomes father of twins (James and Bolivar).

In total there are about 10 of those books all focusing on The Stainless Steel Rat. Another interesting note is that the books are the only books I believe in existence in which you really can judge them by their horribly cartoonish and disgusting colorful cover art. I kid you not.

But why spend this entire entry rambling on about bad writing when I could put it to better use.

Currently as I have mentioned in a previous post I am enjoying the novel Far-Seer part one of The Quintaglio Acension by canadian Hard SF writer Robert J Sawyer also known for his books Calculating God, Hominids and the short story On The Shoulders Of Giants. The book deals with Dinosaurs on a new planet and how they have evolved and how culture for them works in additon to their reaction to their moon home soon to become a ring around its enormous gas giant mother.

As of right now my book shelf is teeming with unread books and I have made myself quite a substantial list of which one I plan to read in what order.

1)Diamond Dogs/Torquiose Days by Alastair Reynolds (two novellas dealing with sentient machinery and alien marine life)
2)Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card (The sequel to Enders Game is something I have to read due to my enjoyment of the first book)
3)Startide Rising by David Brin (part two of the Uplift series, it is one I have written about previously and soon I will have answered many a question)
4)Timelike Infinity/Ringby Stephen Baxter (These two books have been known as "very,very hard science fiction" and that is right up my alley with its involment in superstrings and wormholes)
5)Cyteen by CJ Cherryh (a large, and I mean very large book dealing with the political and scientific problems of cloning from a space station known as Cyteen)
6)The Revelation Space Series by Alastair Reynolds (AR's claim to fame, this new age space opera series deals with deadly alien machinery left to kill any sentientbeing)
ETC.... Expect reviews of these and many, many more.


http://members.fortunecity.com/tirpetz/authorpages/harrison/stainlesshellharrison.gif



http://youtube.com/watch?v=MVVIk_6Js3A

This will be short and to the point.

Never and I mean never read anything by the author HARRY HARRISON. Avoid the titles Stainless Steel Rat and Deathworld at all costs!!!! Be warned of your wandering eye you little periferins.

A solar system can seem so small yet so large.

If you have read my entry regarding Hard SF you know I have found it diffuclt finding a way to classify the story of Falidon's Whistle under that category, that was until recently. I found that since this was to be an introduction piece it needed to start on a wider scale in addition to everything else in the story. Then cameabout the idea of Alfigadan Smattents. What a Smattent is is nothing more then a brain dead (seemingly)Alfigadan chemists or pedestrians who believe in the consumption of smatter or as Carl Sagan would put it 'star stuff', essentially what the solar system and space is made up of. They catalouge what they eat and what everyone else consumes as to reach a plain of connection no one else has. Of course they are nuts and they want to eat a trambled and torn apart morphalm egg carrying infant for more young smatter. Why not have the opening talk about the formation of their solar system and the chemical elements that made their resting places on certain asteroids or planets or moons? Thid means a further delay in the writin process because due to the immense ammount of detail in my textbook I have just made it to the Jovian planets after having read about astrohistory,visual phenom,radiation, every type pof wavelength imaginable, etc... I am currently close to page three hundred and have about another 75 until the formation of our own solar system... Pattttttttttooooofffft!!!!

This justifies my obsession of Doctor Who.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Rh-TGAqDfgk


The best part of this is on the bit for vengeance on varos in which Sil makes his well known slither laugh.

I don't care if there is a dinosaur on the cover with a telescope! I like it!

That is right I am reading part one of the Quintaglio Ascension Far-Seer. They are about dinosaurs which have been taken from earth 65 million years ago and rellocated on the earthlike moon of a enormous gas giant. This series is by famed canadian hard SF writer Robert J Sawyer and goes into great detail about how these evolved carnivours and the others have evolved and taken on civilized life. It deals with religion, speculation and my favorite of moons becoming rings around a planet. Although it may have a cover which will have you bolting away I assure you it is a good book to read. Normally I don't care for hard sf takes on satirical/allegorical subjects but the whole thing is somewhere in the time of Kepler and Martin Luther for the Quintaglios so it doesn't really bother me. The writing has been compared to the likes of Hal Clement and Larry Niven. It is quite apparent that Clement was an influence just on a worldbuilding standpoint but I'm not sure if the writing of Niven really stands up to Sawyer.

I have also found myself reading snipits of writing by James White and his Sector General books which have the most detailed accounts of E.T perhaps ever written.

The facts about Hard Science Fiction can be tricky.

It is not the easiest thing to write Hard SF or even do the research for. Not because the information you need is hard to obtain or difficult to understand but because not everyone believes certain sciences apply to the subgenre. Many believe that Hard SF should have its name used only for stories entirely based on either Astronomy, Physics, Chemistry and Computer Science. Sure all of those are great things to have in stories, without them we wouldn't have Alastair Reynolds, Greg Egan or damn near anybody. But shouldn'tother sciences be in that list as well as long as they are the main theme or driving force of the story?

As it turns out biology is often debated for its "hard" factor but why should it? It is a natural science! You can create rich science based stories with biology as the major plot point. I have found myself in distress because I am worried Falidon's Whistle will not be seen as SF because it deals with such things as Ontogeny, Embryology and a form of Epidemiology with many detailed astronomical dscribtions. But will this be good enough for readers of SF? Does considerably detailed scientific writing count or does scientific activity have to occur?

I personally think Hard SF is the best you can find and want my work placed under that category but most of the stories deal with scientific restrictions so will detailed plentful accurate scienctific mention cut it for the genre?

Recently I stumbled upon a fantastic essay which asks many of these questions and questions many of the current beliefs about Hard SF.

But first here is my definition of Hard SF which I will place in introductions because I believe the work I have been writing and thinking of is Hard SF (when everything is finally written I mean... It will be). Hard SF is a subgenre of science fiction which has its plot and main narrative revolve extensivly around any of the natural sciences in a highly detailed and highly accurate manor.

Please read this page and you may see what I am talking about.

http://www.sff.net/people/moriarty/hard-sf.html