Star map and Atomic Rocket geek. The hard-science SF writer’s tech support. The website is at
http://www.projectrho.com/public_html/rocket/
Refugee from the decline and fall of Google Plus.
In my long and misspent youth I did the artwork for various TTWG such as Ogre, WarpWar, GEV and such.
Agreed.
All of John Brunner’s “Club of Rome Quartet” novels pack a punch.
Stand on Zanzibar (apocalypse by over population)
The Jagged Orbit (apocalypse by polarization and guns)
The Sheep Look Up (apocalypse by pollution)
The Shockwave Rider (apocalypse by internet and computer tracking)
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Brunner_(author)#Literary_works
@darrelplant @DmMacniel @simonbp @swope
Truth is stranger than fiction, because fiction has to make sense
@darrelplant @simonbp @swope @DmMacniel
The stories almost write themselves, don’t they?
There is actually a real world analog to that…
http://www.projectrho.com/public_html/rocket/colonysite.php#shanty1
(My website needs an index)
Or like a boomtown? (Scroll down to BOOMTOWN 2)
http://www.projectrho.com/public_html/rocket/colonysite.php#wikiboom
Aha! I was wrong. I do have a section about shanty towns
http://www.projectrho.com/public_html/rocket/colonysite.php#refugee
I think it would be more dramatically interesting if we could figure out some situation that made the pursuit more like a James Bond 007 automobile chase.
I seem to recall Larry Niven grumbling about his invention, the stasis field. Originally made to solve a minor scientific problem in one story. Turned out to be far too useful. Subsequent stories had to have their problems vetted to ensure they were not trivially solved by the stasis field
I agree with you, that if a science fiction author cannot keep things strictly scientific, the next best thing is to make it internally self-consistent. Yes, this is a challenge. Larry Niven found that out.
@swope @DmMacniel
Alas, I am not on Lemmy, so I never saw the original post.
In this case, I again note that the important thing is to focus on Effects, not Causes.
http://www.projectrho.com/public_html/rocket/fasterlight.php#id–Establishing_Limits
The desired Effect is “intercept / interdict the heroes”.
The proposed Cause of “deploy gravimetric wells” seems to have too many unintended consequences. For starters it can destroy planets.
Perhaps some technobabble that slows down the protagonist’s ship engine?
@JBrianCoyle @scifi
In Clarke’s Before Eden, astronauts visit Venus, and thoughtlessly bury their garbage at the landing site. The highest evolved Venusian animal eats it, and is killed by Earth microbes. The Venusian ecosystem follows.
https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?41621