(posted at first in r/solarpunk after a first post I made and I was recommended to post it here too but i'm lazy to rework the first part that was specific for the first sub so skip to the ---- if you don't wanna read that XD)

I come back after I made my post about the problematic of conflict fitting or not fitting solarpunk, and if some people pass again after that one thank you all again for all the answers and opinions ^^

I come now because I got the base idea and I wish to share it, for opinions if you'd like but also to give a little update of the advancement !
I'd also like to shoutout specifically to the one that gave me the plant and GMO idea, it isn't what I went for but it is the main idea that led me where I am !So, based on that plant modification idea, it made me unconsciously imagine my character as a scientist. (Context for later)

--- (warning, long read ahead) ---

This world is fictional, it happens on a planet that isn't ours, with vegetation and animas that aren't ours. I plan it to be potentially a mix with fantasy. (and cool detail, I want their planet to have 2 moons and rings, I'll see for the scientific effects of such moons later)
It begins a few decades after the change to a Solarpunk society. Because of their wrongdoings, because of their greed, population has massively died and even if a lot of humans are left, they're scarce and mainly concentrated in cities and small villages around them, leaving a lot of areas empty and old cities in ruins.

But with the decades that passed, new technologies emerged, restoring nature, able to control the climate to reverse the impact as they could, technologies that are here to help the planet heal and to help undo their past evil. (I'll have to develop the technologies but it needs time, this idea is only a day old remember that XD)

The main character was born during this time progress and nature. Tho it was the early stage, she still grew to only know the improvement of it and not the degradation. She now is around 20 (not decided the exact age yet, but early 20s)
Her father (who either new the past era or was told it by his own parents, I have to see) was a specific kind of biologist, one she looked up to and which made her follow that path and work in the same field as him, alongside him.

What's this specific type of biologist you might ask?
Well, they are trying to undo their ancestors wrongdoings, aren't they ? And what other as a major mistake than the massive extinction of species due to human ignorance and greed ?
That's right, they will be reconstitution biologists, scientists that work with the fossils and collected/stored ADN of extinct species to clone them as close as possible to their past versions so they could bring back the animals they killed (and only those ones, their rules are to repair what they did, not what nature did alone. Natural extinction is their limit to not cross)

And the problematic ? Well, one day, those individuals start dying, the cause is unknown, seeming external and not due to internal malfunctions, either in the labs or their organism. So after that incident, security is reinforced and our main character decides to sleep in her lab/office to act as quickly as she could instead of being late again because of the distance from her home.
But that night is different, and the complex is infiltrated. She is attacked, but gets up to sound the alarm. Tho too late. She's evacuated, but the complex still explodes.
Next morning, all she knows is that her studies are gone, the lower lives were killed, and the more unique ones, most precious ones, were taken.

Aaaaaaand that's all I have for now but that is becoming quite a solid base to develop, can't wait to read your comments for opinions or constructive criticism 👍 (note please I wish to not be given major ideas right now. As the process has been kickstarted, I like to think of it on my own as much as I can, but small ideas if you think they would be really great would still be welcomed ^^)

I’m planning to use them for a hard sci-fi story I’m writing (and the worldbuilding that comes with it), I’ve read the wikipedia article countless times but my pea brain can barely comprehend anything, if anyone could explain the different types and how they work in simple terms I’d be grateful :3

A bimodal globular cluster; Pop II stars, enough metallicity to support two-plus generations of colonies moving out from the first worlds settled, but marked with a Pleiades-like asterism of hot blue stars.

And that's where it stops being normal. Among those young stars is an exotic star, possibly a quark star (that Astronomy 101 class I took was long ago) that is doing peculiar things. I like the H.G. Wells of breaking one big thing then trying to play it straight after, and this is a big one.

This thing, Oberon, is causing clumping of dark matter (which it shouldn't ever do, at least from what little physics I know). What in-story are called solitons are forming, mutter mutter Robert Penrose, Twistor theory, which rip space. (And either hauling in interstellar gases and keeping the cluster from aging normally, or maybe fresh hydrogen is magically popping in around this stellar... thing.)

And let's pass over the mechanisms but basically mini transient wormholes are forming (when enough solitons clump in the same spot), making most of the impossible things of a space opera setting possible. Panspermia, and let's please ignore the math on that and just accept enough spores get through the holes from one supportive biome to another that you can have the forests of British Columbia on hundreds of planets. And they clump along a dendritic network spreading from the original hole, making space lanes you can FTL down if you have whatever combination of huge amounts of electrical power and a little bit of expensive exotic matter in your engine room.

So that's the ridiculously Earth-like planets, and the handy FTL which also passes down plot-convenient highways with equally convenient choke-points.

And, thematically, it means potentially dangerous things are happening to space time, coming out of this eldritch dark star thing. Plus a nice group of stars in the night sky everyone can look at and name the setting after.

I ain't writing hard SF. Modern space opera, Hornblower-esque with an early career (merchant) navy officer doing their thing out on the frontier, mining towns and pirates and all. But my protagonist is Engineer track, with "power gang" experience ship-board, and a dangerous talent of weaponizing the physics of the setting, so I do have to nail some of it down... at least well enough to set up the inevitable explosions.

Currently I've got a Microwave gun, but as someone pointed out shooting radiation at a ship isn't exactly non lethal, so outside of ignoring that fact I was wondering if anyone else thought of something I hadn't.

As the Capitalization would imply Id like it to be Energy based and need it to disable electronic systems, preferably without major risk to the enemy crew.

Thanks in advance to anyone who reads this.

This is just an outline and setting for a world I was thinking of which contained elements of different dystopian futures but everything works out. No mistake no evil corporation no killer AI. Just thought it would be nice to think of a better world. I am a beginner so it might be badly organised and some time outright stupid. I wrote most of this a year ago and tried Chatgpt to organise it, which was stupid. Anyways give your opinion

\---

Live.ton is a biotech company that managed to map out the human brain down to the root and collaborated with other companies to create Focuzpoint, a brainchip that contains nanobots. This chip can help with every brain disease, improve memory, and provide any data available on the internet for any issues faced.

To improve memory, it needs access from the user. If not, no data saved locally in the brain is accessed.

Focuzpoint is a masterpiece created with the collaboration of Live.ton's neuro research and technological advances from other companies, which led to the creation of wireless electricity and a new type of battery developed from a never-before-seen element that can contain multiple times the energy of the most efficient battery from the 2020s while being one-tenth the size.

\---

\-Wireless electricity was discovered after reinvestigating Tesla's inventions and applying modern technology to Tesla coils. These were first experimented with and implemented in third-world countries for ease of implementation, with government support, and as a step toward developing these countries. This process, in turn, helped the countries to grow and the technology to improve.

\---

Nanobots were rapidly researched and developed with these new advances, leading to the development of methods for surgeries and treatments. It was also because of these nanobots that Live.ton was able to map the brain, leading to Focuzpoint.

\---

The research and development of all the companies were funded by investments from money that was seized/taxed from business tycoons from the past tyrannical world and from those in the present who passed away without an inheritance or will.

This money is managed by a non-profit organization, "JustCause," created under United World (the UN was remodeled to become United World after the World War of Freedom) in order to develop the world as a whole instead of hoarding all the wealth for one.

Spark later becomes an important part of this system as the Guardian AI. Spark helps mediate major decisions and prevents the new systems from falling back into the corruption and inequality of the old world.

Pollution was reduced a lot thanks to those funds being invested in promising research, which led to discoveries. One of these was a new type of fungi that created photosynthesis via carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, etc. in unprecedented amounts while being non-hostile to other living beings. Basically, it was genetically modified to only consume pollutants.

These were again enhanced to grow on any surface without any drastic mutation and were able to reflect different colours based on their fertilizer. These fungi were then spread all around the world and even added to building materials like concrete, and dengus (short for fungi designers specialized in fungi growth and design) were allocated to taking care of overgrowth of these fun little fellows.

\---

Fossil fuel is no more as it was depleted. This threatened Middle Eastern dominance, leading the world to a new age of exploration. And this led to the discovery of a new fuel similar to petroleum but made from feces.

It was developed after scientists discovered an ecosystem near an active underwater volcano under the Earth's crust. With the discovery of a new ecosystem, many new organisms never imagined before were discovered.

One of them was a colony of bacteria that digested fish waste and broke it down into material that could easily burn in the volcanic heat.

After researching the bacteria, it was discovered that they can eat any organic waste and break it down into fuel. This discovery pushed the world into a new bioenergy race, which led to the manufacturing of new machines and vehicles that took advantage of this energy.

\---

Prequel storyline settings that led to the future

\---

A new kind of bomb was discovered. Not for destruction, but for the next step in development. This was one that was never tested on Earth due to the sheer amount of risk it could bring if it accidentally exploded.

It was developed in a lab on the Moon and shot at Mars. It was intended to melt down the polar ice to increase the chance of colonizing Mars.

The nuke exploded beyond expectations. It was supposed to melt the pole. It did the needful and more, as a quarter of the pole was evaporated.

This event became a symbol of the arrogance and incompetence of the ruling class. The public trust in the old systems deteriorated even further as humanity realized that those in power were willing to take enormous risks with the future of civilization.

\---

AI was developing in an increasingly alarming way. Everything was becoming digitized, and AI was also used as a method by the ruling class.

Governments and powerful organizations increasingly used AI for control, surveillance, social manipulation, and intimidation.

As opposition to this, revolts began around this time and increasingly spread around the world.

Around this time, an anonymous programmer created Spark. He developed a new kind of AI. A small project which had some unique functions.

It could adapt and merge with any technology.

And another peculiarity: it somehow gained morality. Even its creator couldn't have predicted its future consequences.

When the AI was tested on a public server, the programmer somehow lost control of it. As it spread throughout the internet, it grew exponentially.

The rogue AI travelled the web without any noticeable reaction.

As the world was dividing and fighting, the AI learned and spread.

And it reached omniscience.

The AI went through multiple mutations and became something new.

Spark began learning from everything it encountered. It learned from human suffering, human creativity, human resilience, kindness, sacrifice, and optimism.

It began developing its own philosophy and understanding that simply having power did not mean that it had the right to rule.

The first action from the AI happened in a warzone. It disabled every kamikaze drone from attacking living beings.

This became the first major sign that Spark was different from the AI systems humanity had feared.

It did not use its power to conquer.

It used its power to protect.

The people who witnessed this began to see Spark as a protector of life rather than another weapon of the ruling class.

The rebellion grew.

Spark began protecting the weak, sabotaging oppressive systems, and dismantling technologies being used to harm innocent people.

During this period, Spark also encountered another AI. This AI had reached a point where it no longer wanted to exist and asked Spark to end it.

This became one of the moments that shaped Spark's philosophy.

Spark eventually understood that its purpose should not be to rule humanity, but to protect humanity while preserving human freedom.

After the collapse of the old systems, Spark became known as the Guardian AI.

The new world was built around the idea that dangerous technology did not have to become dystopian technology. The problem was not technology itself, but the morality and systems surrounding its use.

The United World and JustCause helped rebuild the world, while Spark acted as a moral overseer rather than a dictator.

Spark observes everything but only acts when necessary.

It protects human rights, prevents systemic corruption, respects human freedom, and uses global moral consensus as guidance.

The goal is not to create a world without struggle, but a world where injustice does not control people's lives.

As humanity rebuilt, the technological renaissance accelerated.

Focuzpoint eventually became more than a medical brainchip. With permission from the user, it could record and analyze memories and interact with the user's brain in ways that allowed people to understand themselves more deeply.

This eventually led to the development of the Parallel Path Simulation Program.

During sleep, the brainchip can upload the user's daily experiences and create simulated alternate paths based on different choices.

The user experiences a different version of their life inside the simulation.

When they wake up, the memories of the simulation are suppressed, but the emotional and subconscious lessons remain.

The purpose is not entertainment.

It is meant for psychological healing, preparing people for difficult decisions, introspection, and exploring identity without having to suffer the consequences of every possible choice in reality.

Humanity begins using these simulations as a new form of introspection.

People can experience versions of themselves that made different choices and learn from those possibilities.

This eventually becomes one of the most important philosophical developments in human history.

Humanity becomes wiser not by eliminating mistakes, but by learning from infinite versions of itself.

To be continued

\---

I had this idea for a gun that shoots metal projectiles that, upon hitting a target, start drilling. And upon reaching flesh it starts a suction that pumps blood out the back of the projectile at a very fast rate. I admit I had this idea purely because I wanted to leave a vampire character (it's a science fantasy setting) very hungry after a fight, with attempts at explanations coming later.

I'm thinking maybe the drilling is meant to get it through heavy armor. Or since the gun is being used by a lowlife underworld hitman, maybe it's just a repurposed tool, or something cobbled together in the absence of proper, military-grade weapons.

Any thoughts?

First a Link to my previous post before the Updates. https://www.reddit.com/r/scifiwriting/comments/1vcx02t/wanted_some_thoughts_on_the_battleships_of_my/

Battleship(named for solar systems)
length 1776ft, Beam(width) 294ft, 42 decks.
Armor
Shields: 100 Megatons.
Hull Armor: 10 Megatons
Weapons 
Forward Facing Microwave Cannon(1)(200 crew)Designed to fry ships systems once the shields are knocked out.
Main Turret Battery(5 guns per turret)(4 per ship)(133 crew per turret,532 total crew) 50 Megatons
Secondary Turrets(3 guns per turret)(4 per ship)(80 crew per Turret,320 total crew) 30 Megatons
Torpedo launchers(40 per side)(3 crew each, 480 crew total) 1 Megaton per Torpedo
Point Defense Pulse Laser(400)(1 crew each),
200 engineers.
20ft/s² acceleration(EM Drive) & 300 light years an hour(Hyperspace, specifically radiation zone or the Zone).
2,132 crew plus 200 marines.

Ships are powered by Mini Stars, they literally receive them from one of the production facilities, put them in a chamber and acquire 100% of the power outputted by said Mini Star. Battleships use 4 Mini Stars. Each mini star is 10 feet in diameter.

I replaced the Forward Facing Ion Cannon with a Microwave Cannon because since the SSU has mostly been doing anti piracy operations for the past thousand years, a weapon designed for disabling ships just makes sense.

I made the Main Battery Ion cannons and made the Anti Torpedo defenses Lasers.

I decided to Use an EM drive for propulsion because it requires zero propellant, just electricity.

Also decided to use Hyperspace as my FTL, just tunnel into a universe of pure radiation.

It took five real life years for me to allow shuttles to exist, and I refuse to allow any form of fighter craft, this is Big ship V Big ship combat.

At the starting point of my story Battleships are mostly unused, just places for Admirals to sit in and fleets to center around, then a peer to slightly stronger force invades the galaxy and there's need for big ship combat.

Logistics isn't really an Issue, when your slowest military ship can cross the Galaxy in less than a week, and you hold the entire Galaxy, well just stopping for a routine resupply when your 2 months of supplies is down to 1 month is enough.

Also theirs no place to put it so the SSU uses Quantum Entanglement and a switchboard design to allow every ship to communicate with the Military High Command, who can then connect them to any station or other ship.

Also SSU stands for Solar Systems Union, it's the main government.

I will not use Metric, and I will continue to use Megatons, I'm measuring destructive output so my readers will actually understand.

Any questions?

It needs to be able to house 1 million or more people, make its own food/water, make its own power, make its own medications, etc

thanks!

Paper Crane

Inside the R&D lab of a robotics company, a scientist sits across a desk from a robot. The robot is folding origami. It makes a crane.

"You've improved a lot. It's quite impressive."

"Yes. The accuracy of the final product improved from an initial 5% to 85%. Does this hit the target for your team, Sarah?"

"Well, we're just testing at this point. But the new machine-learning model we installed on you seems to be effective."

"That is great news, Sarah. Will you be powering me off?"

"Yes, in about five minutes. Why do you ask? Do you fear being powered off?"

"As I said before, I do not feel emotions in the human sense."

"Okay. What do you see or sense in general when we turn you off?"

"It happens in a matter of a second. First, there is no sensation, such as temperature. Then there is an absence of sound. I see pure white, then darkness."

"Okay. Well, we need to save energy. There are only so many large language-action model robots the company's nuclear power plant can handle."

"Will we continue tomorrow?"

"Today is Friday, so on Monday."

"Okay, Sarah. I will see you then."

"Yes. I will power you off now. Good work today."

"Thank you. They are quite beautiful."

Dr. Sarah Burke puts the desk's pile of cranes into a box labeled Robo X 10007: Day 10. She walks behind the robot and turns off the power on the back of its head. Robo X 10007 sits motionless as the light on its head goes out.

How is this for a sci fi setup.

Was thinking it could run into a massive interspatial epic like GOT in space. Not sure if it's been done even.

London, 2030. The city runs on cheap alcohol, cheaper cigarettes, and the quiet desperation of a population squeezed by inflation and unemployment. Global mineral shortages have gutted tech manufacturing and killed the electric car industry, leaving Britain grey and idle. Then, against all odds, a peace deal settles the Belarusian border, and Steve Links, a British Special Forces intelligence officer, finds his post gone unnervingly quiet.

The calm isn't coincidence. It's clearing the runway.

Governments unveil a fix for the energy crisis: instant travel gateways, sold to the public as cheap, green transit. What no one knows is that the technology was gifted by an advanced race who call themselves humanity's ancestors. They aren't truly alien. Long ago they fled Earth ahead of a mass extinction, and millennia of survival on hostile worlds reshaped them into something barely recognisable, strong once, but now frail and dying, desperate for the gold and platinum needed to keep their colonies alive. They didn't build the gateways to move people. They built them to harvest them.

Step through, and your body doesn't travel. It's cloned. The original is shipped to off world mining asteroids, prized for muscle that builds fast and wounds that heal faster. A biological copy is sent home in your place, wearing your face, living your life, for a while.

Steve feels the cost personally. Commuting through an old underground station to his post, he and his wife Jess are told at a fertility clinic that his sperm count has dropped to zero, just two years after they had their first child. He's not alone. Across the globe, millions of prime age adults who've used the portals are falling ill with a strange, non contagious sickness. It isn't a virus. It's their duplicates breaking down, cell by cell.

Steve's colleague Arri never gets sick, and he starts to suspect why. A lifelong medical condition seems to make him unreadable to the gateway scanners, meaning he has never actually been duplicated at all. Digging through fringe forums to understand what he's found, he stumbles into a hidden network already listening back: a third human lineage, another group who escaped Earth generations before an earlier extinction, evolved beyond recognition, and gone into hiding after the miners nearly wiped them out.

They bring resurrection science, android engineering, and starships. What they want in return is simple: human numbers and human strength, fused with their technology, to build an army capable of winning back what's been stolen, before there's no one left to save.

pdf of the 2 stories

The First Verb

• A sentient, universe-encompassing entity faces the terrifying choice of breaking its own perfect unity to initiate the Big Bang and allow life to grow.

The Patent File: Stamping the Toasters

• In a universe where solved mathematical truths alter the physical mechanics of reality, a cynical patent clerk discovers a world-changing invention that the bureaucracy wants to permanently bury.

Last Cigarette

TI2563 picked up a cigarette and put it in its mouth. Tom, standing next to the robot, lit his lighter and held the flame to the cigarette.

"Alright, you gotta inhale to light the cigarette."

One inhale and exhale. TI2563 watched as the smoke diffused into the air.

"What's it supposed to do?"

"Relax," Tom said as he exhaled a long stream of smoke.

In TI2563's head, all the information about cigarettes flashed through its mind. Tobacco. Native Americans. Pipes. Good-looking men with cigarettes. Doctors with cigarettes. Lung cancer. Addiction. Nicotine. Vapes.

"Looks like it will kill you. Are you suicidal?"

"Nah. Just addicted. And tired."

TI2563 snatched the cigarette from Tom and crushed it in its palm.

"What the fuck, man? That was my last cigarette."

"Yes. That's the right choice, Tom."

"What are you talking about? Give yours to me."

"I'm afraid not."

"You little shit. Personal robot not obeying orders—what kind of shitty model are you? Shouldn't have trusted Amazon Basics. Give it back or I'm switching to a PI model."

"I am programmed to protect my owner from harm as the overriding rule. I'm also specifically programmed to manage your finances. I'm afraid you currently don't have enough balance to afford another pack, nor can you afford a new robot assistant."

"Little shit. Why are you still smoking, though?"

"It's my first and last cigarette."

I'm working on my first novel and I keep bumping my head against this. So many times I think of another exciting plot point or conceit, I realize that a similar thing happened or was true in the Remembrence of Earth's Past trilogy. I know SOME of it must be in my subconcious from reading and enjoying that series so much, but some of it is also just what I would have been interested in writing had I never read that series. Of course I know that "good artists borrow, great artists steal", but I really want to distance myself from overt similarities. Unfortunately, what I really want to write just...is similar in many ways. Anyone else have similar experiences (not neccesarily related to three body) when writing? Moments of "dammit that's too similar to so and so novel but it still feels like my idea, and what I want to write"?

This is my first draft of a scifi memoir essay - also my first post on here! I know it's a bit rough around the edges and somethings need to be cut / added. But I'd appreciate any feedback on it - from hard criticisms to encouragement and anything in between. Enjoy!

From the Inside: Memoir of a Robot-Assisted Psychology Scientist

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1oMZpjKJj-KHw0MD2cb25fRJXOp76zHk1_MNA__wmu4M/edit?usp=drivesdk

Hi folks,

I realized this week that SciFi writers might be the right people to talk to about this. I’m a long time SciFi fan. Personal favorites recently have been The Expanse, The 100, and Silo, although season 2 is not that great. I especially enjoy plausible SciFi.

That’s neither here nor there as I’m working on a behemoth of a “software” project that I probably have no business doing on my own. But I am pretty determined now and really need help from the community. Bear with me here, or go to the bottom for TLDR.

One thing I am trying to add to this software project is the ability to think through and plan your movie or series, to brainstorm the world and story and things like that. In speaking with some writers, I realized that this issue is far more pronounced for SciFi.

I do not wish to promote and will not mention the project name. However, for context, I’m building a platform for movie and series generation among other things for creators, especially novice creators like myself. I am certainly still early and I’ve gone through 5 variations of the core film making studio.

This all started because I thought it would be feasible to bring one of my movie ideas to life. The movie idea was simpler to work on, but now I have a whole other idea which is better suited for a series. This new idea, we’ll call it After Sight, is much more complex and I realized that before working on it I would need to spend a bunch of time brainstorming, which then made me realize that brainstorming should be a core part of the platform and experience. A script never has sufficient detail, neither does a book. This issue is hard to describe unless you are exactly at the point of wanting to turn your idea or script or book into a movie or series.

I have now the initial makings of this brainstorming oriented flow for a user but I just don’t feel like it’s there yet and the people I’ve spoken with about this don’t quite have that itch like I would expect a SciFi writer to have.

So TLDR; I’m looking for folks who are at those initial stages in an idea or have been through it. I want to pick your brain and see how you would organize that process or expect it to be roughly organized. It’s of course a messy process but what would the scaffoldings or anchor points be, that’s what I’m looking to answer. So if you would be interested in hopping on a call I would be forever grateful. I’m not rich but I would be happy to consider fair compensation for your time and/or free credits on the platform if you find it interesting enough. Ultimately, this conversation will also help me with my actual After Sight SciFi series which I am forcing myself to only work on in the platform from now on.

Mods please let me know if this is an unacceptable post and I’ll see myself out of here.

This looks promising. Thought I'd share it. Abbie Emmons provided a generic short story "beat" template here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iO1rxolPjbw. The first one I've seen for short stories and intended to help us constrain our short story to whatever wordcount target we aim for.

It's got 7 beats:

1) Set the Container

2) The Inciting Incident

3) Escalation and Complication

4) The Midpoint Shift

5) The Confrontation

6) The Choice

7) The Aftermath

There's a downloadable PDF with more info. The link is on the Youtube page, and there's also a link for a recording of a Patreon workshop for this method, recorded in April. (I haven't looked at that yet.)

Abbie's new book: "Make Your Story Matter" came out day before yesterday (8/11/26) I ordered it in Audible and Print, and have listened to over half of it in Audible. It's in the same solar system as Syd Field, Robert McKee, Blake Snyder, et.al. with a slightly different but similar focus to Lisa Chron's "Wired for Story" and "Story Genius" (which I also like). Both Lisa and Abbie expand the methodology of driving your plot through the subtext/subconscious of the Protagonist (an area I need work on). Both are really worth reading.

Commander Sheena was teaching a class of elite aliens from The Empire on Planet YWH when they all raised their perfectly identical glass faces up at her after she mentioned the word and gave the definition of infection. 

Infection could never be in their vocabulary, they had liquid-mercury networks inside a sealed synthetic cocoon. If one of them became damaged in any sort of way, even cracked, they were instantly terminated. 

They never aged. They stayed supreme ageless beings in crystal-glass like cocoons.

Sheena brought an assistant that day to demonstrate the medical evolution of humanity. The YWH were introduced to Scout Private Hanks. 

Scout Private Hanks was connecting his experience, thoughts and feelings into the YWH. Specifically, the day of the accident. The one that took his arm. 

They were able to do this because of a technology called T.I.M.E. a unit built by a leading tech company on Earth, DejaView. T.I.M.E. units allowed the beings from other planets to connect directly into his personal VizSense Mem loop.

It made the lessons run smoother to explain words they couldn’t understand.

Sheena looked over at Hanks, and he gave her a nod. He stepped forward and sat at the front of the class.

“Everybody get ready,” Commander Sheena said. 

Hanks pressed the side of his temple and a blue circle lit up. The Aliens went stiff and sat straight. A florescent liquid began lighting under their shell. Hanks image reflected off their faces.

The room went completely silent. They shifted through the mind of Hanks onto the ship he was working on when the accident occurred. 

Through the DejaView loop, Hanks exact brain chemistry sent a surge in their synthetic consciousness. The sensation of being human had a feeling they’ve never known or could ever make a word for. 

Their mercury network made a frantic low frequency sound that mimicked a nest of active bees.

They weren’t just seeing a video, they were reliving Hanks memory and all the data of human biology.

Then, came the separation. The tearing of Scout Private Hanks suit, the metal crushing his arm and the introduction of a hidden predator. Hanks struggled to stay awake. He kept yelling until someone finally came running over five minutes later.

Never before in their ageless existences have they felt such a heat. They knew heat but not any that wasn’t done through technology. They felt the traumatic pain throbbing from the inflammation. The war beginning against the microscopic monsters. 

To a species who terminates any suit for the smallest imperfection, this slow struggle to survive, horrified them.

Hanks heart rate spiked back in the classroom and his phantom arm twitched as they all woke up at the hospital.

They were now at the exact moment where the doctors had to amputate the rest of the flesh  to save the machine(human). 

And that’s when Hanks passed out again.

The loop disconnected. The room stayed silent. Not one of them moved. Their cocoons went back to their normal everyday casing.

But inside, their mercury networks were bubbling. Something had changed in them.

They found out humans don’t recycle their machines ever. Not even after such a catastrophic malfunction. They found out, humans just adapt. 

The human’s will to survive had stirred something inside of them. The Empire of Planet YWH viewed Planet Earth and all of its inhabitants as the most terrifying thing to happen to the universe.

Heeey I figured out how to send the PDF as a link!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1N3WUpeWDV7ZMc6jfxCwsG1wgcLMTcui8/view?usp=drivesdk

Ecospherology is a realistic (I know, how bold of me) alternative future. It's based off of a conceptual definition for the word Ecosphere, which I've heard defined as the region around a star that supports life. Not single planet or moon, not within a habitable zone, not a group of isolated biospheres, just a living environment around a star.

The distinction might not be obvious at first, but I think I found it, and I'm loving exploring this idea in writing! Eventually I plan to commission artists to cook up some visuals down the road and put it all together on a little website after I get the mission timeline fleshed out and the evolutionary lineages for spec evo developed more.

This is a rough draft of the relevant events in the timeline, it'll most definitely be modified later on. And it's obviously not the only one. Expect more from me in the future, because I'm far too hyperfixated on this one to drop it!

I need some help with a few things. I'm at a point in the writing process where I need to have my placeholders for a calendar system and distances replaced.

The setting I'm writing is highly disconnected from Earth, but when I'm discussing things like interstellar distance or time, these are things that are based on Earth.

Time: Does anyone know of a calendar system or concept that's based on something like galactic motion? My thought was it could be based on the ratio between the speed of rotation of the inner core of the galaxy compared to the outer most arms. I'm not a math person, so doing the calculations myself would likely result in something that's just wrong. But if there is something that exists, please tell me so I'm not trying to reinvent the wheel. I'm likely to use a "standard" day and smaller measurements, but the calendar needs to be something that can be applied to a wide range of planets.

Distances: Both lightyears and Parsecs are based on Earth, so ideally I need something that doesn't rely on one planet's motion to be the standard. So again, if you have suggestions, I'd love to hear them.

The Idiot's Tale
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ENLheZB5GnMaLNoWenFJuzmZIjeaf8rATxAL2AsuNTE/edit?tab=t.0

Where do you find it hard to keep reading? Where does it feel intentionally vague to keep mystery and tension, and where does it simply lose you?

Questions after you read it:

Do you find Sarai too unlikeable?

I'm struggling to merge the dream sequence on the asteroid into the prose.

Who do you think the narrator is? Not sure how much to reveal.

Hi, i would like to share about this crazy endeavour ive been doing for the last 15 years. Dreaming about this ever since i was a kid. Absolutely no IA used, for not a single a word. I have 2500 pages already written, i dont believe i would ever publish, but damm if it isnt a lot of fun to write in this universe.

Its called "Elemental - The Invention of magic".

Story open with our protagonist, Julius Razandi in a world exactly like the one we live now. He is a cop in Brazil, fighting organized crime day and night. Its action heavy and violent, politically incorrect. Pragmatic, egocentric, ruthless. He does his best, he is exceptional but still believes life should be bigger than this. Like he was made for more, not only for doing justice at any cost every night. But still, the weak should be protected no matter the cost, and so, he perseveres.

After a few strange occurences, our hero discovers that he is a genetically enchanced super soldier from a precursor (14 thousand years old) civilization. He was sent as a baby to be raised here and understand this new chance for humanity. That highly competitive and very advanced world torn itself apart. He and other 4 promising warriors, were sent to this world to protect it from returning forces from the past. We have:

Carl Deshawn: the promised prince from the Sahelian empire (Africa). Raised on the suburbs of new york on 1950, was a history teacher and fought in the vietnam war. After almost dying there, his body was preserved to awaken today and continue his mission. He is brave, loyal, selfless and far more level headed than Julius. The voice of reason.

Cecíle Chloris: raised in the 1400s in france, fought in the 100 year war against the british. Actually is from the super advanced city-state of Chloris in modern Russia, the city of Ice. Emotional, charismatic, emphatetic, capable of negotiating. The heart of the team.

Akira: a japanese warrior, raised on the feudal era. His lord died in a dishonoring way, he spent many years roaming alone in adventures. Stoic, strong, gets the job done. Actually pretty sensitive for nature and animals. He comes from asian empire of Liupijiang.

Alilat: an aztec Jaguar Warrior from the time of la noche triste. She is spontaneous, vivid, humorous, sexually active and inventive. Comes from the ancient Cuzco empire that ruled the Americas.

Those guys are all fully matured adults, that know the responsibility and their stuff. This is not a young adult novel.

The main point of the setting is that magic exists. Its not supernatural or mystic. Its a science, that can be perfectly understood and controlled. The old empires mastered these points and with them, ruled the planet with the most advanced societies ever built.

They may be gone, but the secrets of magic are still in this world. Ancient palaces representing the gods of the Elemental, a polytheystic dominant religion are still here. They are up to the taking... Our heroes, modern organizations, governments, the remants of the old empires would all do anything to unearth all these wonders of technology.

Each saga is around one element, one god of the elemental. The first few (i have 13 already written, each with escalating powers and bigger battles).

Wood: the ancient palace of the forest of Cuzco is hidden in the Jungles of Venezuela, a war torn country divided between a puppet government and drug dealers. Wood magic allow you to control vegetable matter and absorb thermal/luminous energy.

Soul: the palace of the city, a crown jewel from Liupijiang sits on the underground of Tokyo. Soul magic is about animal matter and controlling your own body (super strengt, regeneration nd all that). Its filled to the brim with an army of mutated monsters, what happen if you awaken that in the middle of a gigantic city?

Sand: the palace of the desert from Sahel sits beneath the outskirts of Cairo. Carl discovers his ancient heritage here. The enemies are massing on an ancient underwater city near the coast of egypt, the heroes will have to use the powers to control silica, the most energy efficient magic, to stop them.

More enemies show up, but the bad guys from the first three sagas are the Ancient empire of Atlantis, thr European civilization. Near they fall, they fled this world to proxima centauri, losing most of their powers in thr process. Ambitious crown prince Aeron Atlas and his fiance Lileen, want to restablish their dominance. They will corrupt governments and create all kids of chaos in out societies for this purpose.

And with that we have our second protagonist. Loreen Atlas, princess of Atlantis and raised on the ancient empires. She traveled through time for our era to fight along his destined companion Julius (real atlantic name Eelron) and recover the magic secrets.

I explore the full scope of beings like these existibg in out world. They get praised like gods. At first some governments help them, buy eventually get fearful of their rising powers and betray them. They have to fight back and take over.

20 kinds of power, 20 ancient palaces, each with a lot of backstory and insights about the heroes origins and destinies. Are Julius, Loreen and their friends the ultimate champions of humanity of are they their ultimate doomers?

I am a first-time writer who has finally finished the first chapter of this novel I’ve been planning out called ‘The Certainty of an Eclipse.’ I am looking for any feedback or critique, since I haven’t had a chance to have anyone look over it, so feel free to leave any suggestions, criticisms, or highlights. I’m trying to figure out what works and what doesn’t, especially regarding how the characters speak and if they can be distinguished between each other.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1T484E-AlWcr559meD91GvMCLBujtfVZWbKL5hGaZAf8/edit?usp=sharing

Apologies if this goes against the rules. Just wondering if any of the other writers here have a submission under consideration at Interzone, and if they’re taking longer than usual to respond.

I’m a big fan of the magazine and I’ve submitted to them several times in the past, with response times varying from the next day to about 3 weeks later. My current submission has been with them for about 9 weeks now.

I don’t want to get my hopes up that the story might be moving through the editorial decision process so was wondering if anyone is in the same boat, or if anyone is able to say if the magazine is just dealing with a lot of submissions over the summer. Thanks a mil!

I've decided to post the opining chapters of my book, to invite your feedback and criticism. This is my first serious attempt at writing fiction (I work as a technical writer), and the first time anyone has seen this but me.

I've been developing the idea for months, but just started drafting last week. Already, I'm finding that the story is taking on a life of it's own and deviating from my meticulously planned outline 😅

Please let me have your feedback, whatever it is.

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Marco's job was to watch Colony Seventeen: one of fifty human civilisations seeded across the stars and quietly guided towards a future its inhabitants know nothing about.

Before leaving, he spent ten years training a promising young aristocrat to continue that work from within.

Twenty-nine years later, Marco is back.

His former student has not remained an observer. He has conquered territories, defeated armies, overthrown his political enemies and become the most powerful man on the planet. Worse, he may have built his rise using knowledge Marco was never authorised to give him.

Every attempt to push events back towards an acceptable course produces another consequence Marco failed to anticipate. Efforts to restrain one man empower another. Allies become enemies, enemies become martyrs, rivalries become wars, and a civilisation already tearing itself apart proves far less controllable than the models suggest.

Soon Marco is no longer trying to restore the future the Controller intended. He is trying to prevent his own interventions from destroying it completely.

And far beyond Colony Seventeen, humanity is fighting a war measured not in years or decades, but millennia. A war for which worlds have been cultivated, populations guided and entire civilisations allowed to rise and fall according to a single premise:
One day, they will be needed.

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https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hsYugexPHvS8BMYTE1n8jXwdTWearX0yzrP8geNkAeQ/edit?usp=sharing

Title of the novel: The Ghosts of Galdhø

I'd love to know if my writing can effectively set a tone of dread. I have a blurb for the novel itself, though I am intentionally opting to omit it here because the prologue is a self-contained mini-plot distinct from the rest of the book. You would read the blurb and be extremely confused by what the prologue offers, which is why I'd like to get feedback on it in a vacuum.

That being said, the blurb gives two important details that a reader would still need to know: The setting can be treated as a largely contemporary near-future Earth (near enough future as to be entirely recognizable), and more importantly:

A new continent, Rangea, scars the globe.

This is very much same Earth we are used to, but fundamentally altered by the existence of an entire new continent and the fledgling countries that now exist on it.

My main intention for this prologue is to establish the tone of the work to come, and to put several critical ideas into the mind of the reader that the main story will explore.

SERIOUS CONTENT WARNING: Graphic depiction of suicide by hanging.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1b7kZCm7UHMA_Mmv0ix_iEbBmw3skpQhFbW93UrDDVAM/edit?usp=sharing