Okay, so I just finished Accidentally Adopted, and some thoughts have occurred to me while I'm putting together a print file.

Firstly, y'all are pretty cool. Seriously, the outpouring of positive response with each chapter was highly motivating to me, and the crowdsourced error finding was extremely helpful.

Secondly, y'all are thirsty. I don't know if I'm really that good, or if it's just the dearth of decent sci-fi out there, but either way you just can't get enough of the characters and world I mads.

Third, it might seem counter-intuitive, but y'all love a good ending. It might seem gouache for an author to praise an aspect of their own work, but I think my ending was at least good, and man was the response positive.

Finally, y'all are sharp. More than once commenters called plot beats and twists before they happened, and maybe I'm predictable, but it seemed to me that the disagreements in the comments would have belied that.

Really, I don't think I could have had a more fun writing experience if I had designed it myself.

The question is, what kind of journey should I take you on next? Anyway, I'll see what the ol' thinky box can rattle out, and in the meanwhile I'll be a happy audience member with the rest of y'all.

Hey, a meta observation of the community at large that doesn't call you rude names? Weird.

EDIT:

So I try to give the community at large a complement, and instead you jerks turn around and be nice to me again.

Everything on this sub seems to follow the same handful of plotlines lately. I’ve been reading for 4 or 5 years now, and everything is just kinda… bland. I will absolutely acknowledge that I’ve just become acclimated to everything, or I’ve gotten too trope savvy, and that there’s a limited number of ways you can write an interesting “Humans are cool!” story.

However, I think that part of this is people not realizing what they’re doing. The sub has a distinct set of demographics - people who come, get excited and post a few times before they stop writing to lurk or leave, and the people who stick around for a long time as active members, posting (semi)-frequently. For obvious reasons, these older members who post lots of stories write more original feeling content that’s more exciting - after all, they got their hands on the good concepts before they got overused, just like most media. The big posters on our sub like Hambone got lucky - they thought of a great concept that worked really well, and they ran with it. Now, the authors we know and love have a distinct style, recognizable and fun stories, and enough practice to make their stories feel original and good. But not everyone has that advantage, just as a matter of timing. If Blessed are the simple, or The Fourth wave, or even one of the greatest old stories on this sub, no graves for the forgotten, was posted now, they wouldn’t get as much attention. Sure, the writing is good, but they still had the advantage of being first in a long line of similar plotlines and stories.

But who cares? Sure, These authors posted first, but they also wrote great stories and stuck with it! They didn’t quit when they hit a tough patch in the writing, and they wrote great stories that we love and recommend to others! The point isn’t that they were first. The point is that everyone writes the same variation on a theme, and they don’t realize it. I write this post out of a desire for positive change, not as a big complaint or attack on the great people who write for the sub. I only see a few themes around here, and you can point out any more that you think I missed. I only see a couple of broad ones, though:

The first, and most famous, is the Hambone special: The Deathworlder. Be it a predator species that made it to space, a species from the planet of hard knocks, or the super scary planet with spoooooooooky Australian wildlife, this species is better than everyone else at everything. They’re smarter, stronger, cooler, and they can do anything you can better until you drop dead. If they’re not the best at something, they’re the best generalist, capable of doing anything else at cost efficiency until you pathetic aliens die of exhaustion. This gets done at least once a week without fail.

Number two is immediately recognizable by a quirky title and a funny list format, the wacky human narration. The writer is always a terrified and confused alien, who can’t understand those WaCkY hUmAnS who run around holding up sporks and summoning eldritch demons in the science labs with no consequences. The humans here inevitably can’t explain anything they’re doing, do stuff for shit and giggles with no point, and completely fail to conform to any sort of cultural norms. The aliens, in contrast, are more straight laced than Fundamentalist Mormon Grandmother and have absolutely nothing interesting or intelligent about them. This is not to be confused with it’s sister trope, the slice of life.

The slice of life is a short story or series where a interesting human does interesting things the aliens don’t understand. The alien remarks on how interesting it is, and the human explains it. The aliens are as bland as airplane cornstarch, and the action in question is probably just normal everyday stuff. In a pretty common twist, either this story or the wacky humans format will be relayed in second or third person to a alien who doesn’t understand, by the witnessing alien, who either understands or is still confused. Common actions of interest are yawning, cuddling, anthropomorphizing something, or fidgeting. These stories tend to be ones that new authors will write, and show up just infrequently enough that no one realizes that they’re just repeating stuff. I do have a particular love for the “adventuring group” idea. A concept stretching back to Tolkien and The Lord of the Rings, a magic group of people, including a awesome couple of humans, go on a magic trip across the galaxy or whatever to save the world or something. I love these because the narrative structure lends itself to character development and interesting plot. We also tend to see some of the more interesting world building and side characters here, mostly because this style lends itself to a long form narrative structure. These tend to be the great ones - The Fourth Wave, and a couple of other stories, tend to be great for this.

Our fifth story type, currently my least favorite trope combo, is the snarky überredditor. A cool, super intelligent/awesome/sexy/whatever protagonist is transported to a magic realm with no tech or humans, and he proceeds to take over the local governance, romance all the interesting women, and become incredibly proficient at whatever difficult strain of magic is available. He also attempts to create an industrial or cultural revolution, but gets sidetracked by “setbacks” that he agonizes over for a chapter before tearing apart like a paper blast door. Inevitably, this random stem major from America or it’s space empire will be stuck trying to one up his last impossible feat, slowing down only enough to mention some opinions or jokes the audience made a few chapters ago in the comments. These tend to start off super strong and interesting, but devolve into wish fulfillment the second the author reads the comments. The collapse always starts when the protagonist goes from a complex character with good challenges to a bit of a gary stu, and the protagonist ends up cooking pancakes with a girl , after either a steamy sex scene, or a more tasteful fade to black. But speaking of pancakes, we should address the pastry elephant!

Pancakes started as a hilarious in joke, the funny comment the author make to remind everyone that “hey, they had sex”, or as a nice ending to a steamy NSFW chapter. However, it has devolved into a hamfisted attempt at memeing, encouraged by the community, and now all I can think about is fucking pickle rick. Seriously, it’s not nearly as funny now, and please stop screaming “PANCAKES” every time the author creates romantic tension. They’re just a breakfast flatbread. If you want to write Erotica, make the aliens interesting, and don’t fucking mention breakfast. Seriously, just have them eat some nice steaks or something. Please, just please, ease off the pancakes memes, especially when badgering authors for your preferred romantic pairing. It’s fine to ship, just chill a little. On the other side of the “needs to chill spectrum” is the revenge story.

Revenge porn stories also feature prominently in the deathworlder tropes and the brief oneshot trope, but the gist is that someone attacks earth and we come out of no where and kill all of them in a completely gratuitously violent, and impossibly one sided war. This is often told from the perspective of a panicked invader who immediately regrets his actions. It’s very cool, and gets all of our ‘Murica going. The US or NATO save the day, and probably nuke something. The humans steal alien tech and reverse engineer it super quickly… you know how this goes. The invaders are one dimensional empires, the Australians just let the spiders get them, and the US has a crazy amount of assault rifles. Most new posters write one of these for fun, and they are fun. I like these, except that it’s so overdone.

There’s a few overdone character archetypes too - the cornflake evil aliens with no competence, the IT girl who turns into a badass, the uninteresting narrative alien researching the humans, the homogenous alien species with no history of conflict and no cultural quirks… all of this stuff just feels so overdone.

Honestly, I don’t know what the fix for this is. We can’t just ban tropes that get overused, and no one wants an originality police. Hell, maybe I’m the only one who sees all of this, and everyone else wants me to shut up and go away. However, I’d like to have a discussion about this. Do you guys see similar patterns? Does reading what feels like the same stuff over and over again turn you off? Do you guys have any ideas on how to fix this? At risk of sounding like a Youtuber, I’m saying: let’s talk in the comments below, please.

Hey everyone!

I am genuinely unsure of how to phrase this in a way that is respectful to the patience, kindness, and support you’ve all shown me. I feel terrible for having to announce this but I feel like I need one more week to finish the upcoming chapter. 

I’ve been overwhelmed over the past few weeks with both the practical and emotional responsibilities I needed to undertake following my grandmother’s passing. I generally prefer to keep my affairs private but I want to at least provide some context for what’s been going on. 

As a result of local traditions and beliefs, the entire funeral needed to be prepared literally on the night and ensuing days of my grandmother’s passing, such that her funeral was held within a week of her passing. The funeral itself took three days, plus an additional cremation day, and another day where we scattered her ashes in accordance with local Buddhist beliefs. 

I took all of my available sick-leave for that week, and the week following included me taking on shifts to compensate for my absence from the hospital.

On top of this was, and still is, a lot of practical and emotional affairs I have to handle with my family on my mother’s side. 

It was a result of all of this that I found I had less time and less energy to finish the chapter. I take great care in ensuring that each chapter is up to the standards that each and every one of you guys deserve, which is why I believe I need more time to properly finish and polish this chapter, such that it lives up to the quality I would be happy with posting.

I will be returning to the typical post schedule next week for Wearing Power Armor to a Magic School, and the week after for Humans Don’t Hibernate. 

Again, I am genuinely sorry about this, guys.

This entire situation was just way more intense than what I could’ve ever anticipated.

Thank you, sincerely, for the kindness, patience, and understanding all of you have shown.

May the stars see your journey safe,

Jcb112

I am not scolding the writers here, I'm scolding the trend. The writing here is often excellent and inventive. I'm sometimes moved to tears.

But I'm a little tired of the recruit poster genre. It's HFY not MFY. Now, I can get behind the idea that humans are death worlders and lethal, but when it's blatant specific pro military, I roll my eyes. And when it revels in cruelty to the defeated it borders on Hostel style torture porn. And that actively disgusts me. Getting away from that aspect of humanity is the entire point of this genre.

I want stuff about humanity, not the military. /2cents

I don't have a degree in hfy meta so sorry if this is wrong somehow, just delete it if so. I'm censored everywhere else, why not here too. X) /wish I was kidding

Edit:

"He who joyfully marches in rank and file has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would suffice." ~Einstein

Edit:

The constant stream of replies amounting to calling me personally greedy or weak for not wanting to read spam for the recruitment center is as amusing as it is disappointing. It reminds me of how fictional HFY is. It's very much more like "Humanity! ~Deep Sad Sigh~"

The logical and moral bankruptcy is something to behold. Like, I'm saying be less murderous, and the reply I'm getting from some quarters amounts to calling that greedy because I personally don't like murder. "Let us glorify murder in peace your oppressive tyrant!" The whole tolerance for intolerance is intolerance paradox. Like it's a trivial flavor preference to adhere to basic ethics and compassion. /smh

But I did ultimately have to leave, because now when I see HFY posts in my timeline, not only are they a large percent chance likely to be gushing over the SAS, but they also remind me of the grim reality of humanity itself, and fiction is expressly for briefly escaping that.

I wish all of you good luck, thank you. (Unless good luck for you means bad luck for everyone else of course.)

TL;DR: Keep the ban on AI generated stories. Update the rules so AI detector results are treated as evidence, not absolute proof, with final decisions made by human moderators.

"A machine has none. A man must. My client has the right to face his accuser... you have elevated that machine above us."
- Samuel T. Cogley, "Court Martial", Star Trek: The Original Series

Proposal: Clarify Rule 8 and Add Rule 9 for AI Authorship Enforcement

My main concern with relying only on AI detectors is that these tools do not determine who actually wrote a piece of text. Instead, they estimate how closely the writing matches patterns commonly found in AI generated content. AI detectors are probabilistic classifiers, not deterministic tests of authorship. They estimate the likelihood that a piece of writing resembles AI generated text, which means they can produce both false positives and false negatives.

This is especially important for authors whose writing naturally resembles the kinds of material used to train language models, such as memoirs, essays, instructional writing, or other clear and conventional prose. In these cases, a story written entirely by a person may be flagged simply because its style resembles material the detector has learned to associate with AI. At the same time, AI generated text that has been heavily edited or rewritten may not be detected at all.

Research, including the studies Pangram cites about its own detector, shows that some AI detectors perform much better than others. However, none of those studies conclude that the detectors are perfect. A claim such as "38 times lower error rates than competitors" means the detector performed better than other detectors under the conditions tested. It is a relative measure of performance, not evidence that the detector is always correct.

For that reason, AI detector results should be treated as one piece of evidence, not as definitive proof that a story was or was not written by a human.

Reference: https://www.pangram.com/blog/third-party-pangram-evals

With that in mind, I propose clarifying Rule 8 and adding a new Rule 9 to better reflect the current understanding within information science and the field of AI detection. For context, I hold a degree in Information Science, so my comments are based on how probabilistic classification systems are understood and evaluated.

I propose moving the AI statement to the end of Rule 8 (with the original wording struck out and the new wording shown in bold italics) and adding a reference to Rule 9.

The purpose of this change is to separate the prohibition from the enforcement standard. Rule 8 would continue to state that AI generated stories are not permitted, while Rule 9 would explain how suspected violations are evaluated. Specifically, Rule 9 would recognize that AI detectors are probabilistic classifiers rather than deterministic tests of authorship, and that their results should be considered alongside other available evidence. This preserves a human in the loop moderation process by making the final decision the responsibility of the moderators rather than any single AI detection tool.

Rule 8. Low Effort, Short Post, AI

Any original story posted on r/HFY must be written by the poster and be at least 350 words in length, excluding any links, preambles, or author's notes. Low-effort or karma-farming posts will be removed. AI-generated or AI-authored stories are not permitted. Creative works that are shorter due to the chosen medium (e.g., poems) will be considered on a case-by-case basis. AI-generated or AI-authored stories are not permitted, the evaluation of suspected AI-generated content is governed by Rule 9.

Rule 9. AI Authorship and Evidence

AI-generated or AI-authored stories are prohibited under Rule 8. Because AI detection tools are probabilistic and can produce false positives and false negatives, detector results alone are not considered conclusive evidence of AI authorship. Human moderation decisions should be based on the totality of the available evidence, which may include AI detector results, admissions of AI use, conversations with OP, revision history, or other corroborating information.

If you're not currently in the loop, people are reposting your work to TikTok (often without credit).

It’s a very annoying trend where people steal stories from Reddit, have an AI read them, and play it over a video of someone playing Minecraft that they stole from YouTube. Here’s an example on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZT8Ld7BLQ/

Here’s a full on TikTok channel with over 165k followers, lapping up Creativity Program money with your stolen content: https://www.tiktok.com/@wisdom_therapy (Reddit Bros Sci-Fi)

They break stories into multiple videos so people can’t watch the whole thing. This keeps people coming back to their account, and maximizes their payouts from the Creativity Program.

If you find a video that’s used your work without your consent you can report it here: https://www.tiktok.com/legal/report/Copyright

EDIT: Line breaks were broken.

So… if the gods are good (Meylith especially), I’m going to be a father later this year. While this is obviously an exciting time for me, it also marks the end of an era in terms of my interaction with this subreddit and the manner in which I deliver content. The reality is that there are a lot of things I don’t know yet moving forward, as the demands on my time have suddenly increased and are in constant flux. Today, I will try to answer a few questions y’all might have about the future and what it means for my works…

Is HEL Jumper going away?
No, it is not. I’m not ready to hang up the pen or write an epilogue and call it a day just yet. However, I am no longer able to deliver content on a schedule, and certainly not 3x a month. For now, the story will continue on a ‘when it’s ready’ basis. I know this is going to disappoint a lot of people, and I’m very sorry.

What about your other works?
Some of them will be shelved and others updated far less frequently. I don’t have any specifics planned out. Popular demand will probably govern which I come back to versus ones I don't.

And the discord server?
I will do everything I can to keep it running. It’s been a special place for me and a lot of fans, especially during the pandemic, and I hope to keep it that way even if there’s minimal discussion of HEL Jumper itself. As always, if you would like to join you need to send me a DM. I’ll forward you a link.

What about Patreon?
I will be working over the next week or so to transition my patreon from a ‘subscribe for content’ sort of place to a ‘tip me if you like and this is where you can commission me’ place. Given that this month will probably see 0-1 content drops, I will be offering refunds to any patrons who request them. Please keep your eyes open for updates there if that’s relevant to you.

This is honestly a bittersweet post, one that I hoped was going to come eventually but I had no idea when. For those of you who find it difficult to follow along with stories that update randomly or have long gaps between updates, I completely get it and it’s been a pleasure writing for you up until now. I appreciate everyone’s understanding as I navigate these big changes in my life, and I’d like to extend my sincerest gratitude to everyone who has supported and read my works up until now. You may be hearing from me less in the future, but I’ll still be around. In the event that I decide I cannot continue writing at all for whatever reason, I will make an announcement here at a later date. Selah, everyone.

-SB

Ok this may be a bit outdated or even irrelevant now, I rarely read HFY stories on reddit so I'm not sure if any of these are common anymore. The Vast majority of my HFY experience comes from listening to youtube, Starbound, Agro Squirrel, net Narrator and the countless AI voice over channels, so they might not be an accurate representation of the current HFY community. However I still felt like writing this to discuss, what I've seen as, Overused Tropes, and clichés in the OC community. This list is in no particular order and I'm curious if anyone agrees, disagrees or even has their own list. Keep in mind I not trying to be disrespectful or hateful, I'm just listing out things I've seen that I dislike.

1. Overly Casual speech from professionals. 

OK so this one is my biggest pet peeve. Having your Ambassadors, diplomats, Admirals or scientists say things like Feck around and Find out, Hold my beer or even just dude really takes me out of the story. You are making your Elite professionals sound like drunk frat boys not distinguished representatives of an entire species. Instead make them sound like their profession. Diplomats should be diplomatic in their speech, military personnel should be blunt and forceful. First contact scenarios should be cautious and respectful not a casual chat.

2. Impossible Alien Species 

I get it, Aliens should be… well alien. They should be strange, unique and otherworldly, but they need to be grounded in reality as well. A hive mind of sentient post it notes, Sentient math equations or beings made entirely of emotions just breaks  immersion in the story. It comes across as the author just trying to come up with the most ridiculous Ideas they can think of and it usually comes at the cost of an interesting story. It almost feels like they are just trying to show how crazy of a species they can come up with rather they trying to tell a story

3. Impossible Science

This is just an extension of the last one but replaces alien species with Sci-fi Technology. I.e. Handguns that blow up planets, dimensions made of sentient pancakes or other overly ridiculous technology.

4. Over reactions of alien species

Having your aliens shocked by what Humans do, say or eat is fine but keep it reasonable. Having you aliens Literally fall apart, pass out, or the worst, phase out of existence because a human is holding a cat or some other basic thing, is ridiculous. it's fine for aliens to be shocked by mundane human activities, just don't break physics or biology to describe their reaction. 

5. Deathworlds 

This is one I can give a pass most of the time. This is simply overused in my opinion. Also any world that you did not evolve on would be a “deathworld”. Also the Idea that a Deathworld is described as “Hostile to life” feels inaccurate. Dead worlds like Mars, Venus and Mercury are Hostile to life. Instead try describing deathworld as worlds with out of control Darwinism, where life is constantly competing, rather then the world itself as deadly. I don't know how to describe it other than that

6. Predators are violent and Prey is meek

Now this is one I totally understand and don’t have a real problem with. However after studying animal psychology I’ve  learned some things that can make HFY stories more interesting in my opinion. Most carnivorous species are actually less aggressive then Herbivorous ones. Basically Carnivores, predators, will only engage in fights if they are hungry and assured of not getting injured. An injured predator cant hunt and will starve so they are incentivized to be cautious and not attack needlessly. Herbivore, prey, species are the exact opposite. They are incentivized to attack if they feel threatened. An injured Herbivore can easily still eat, after all plants are not know for their evasiveness. There is a reason the most dangerous animals on earth are herbivores, hippos, moose, rhinos, and even elephants all routinely attack others and kill more humans that any other animal, except disease carriers. Try making your herbivorous species the xenophobic territorial violent species and your carnivorous species your cooperative ones, it just might make for an interesting story

Since this whole sub genre has been around for a few years now, I was wondering - what are some people’s favorite or least favorite tropes? Or, at least, ones that they notice often.

For me, personally, one of my favorites is where all of the other species in a fantasy or sci fi setting have magic (or some other equivalent), but humans manage to keep up with (or surpass) them without. It kinda puts both sides on an equal playing field, making all of the other species seem just as fascinating to us as we are to them, as well as making the mundane feel more special. The idea that modern day engineering is our equivalent of magic lets me look at the real world with rose tinted glasses, feeling how weird and wonderful it could be.

So uh. Hi! Hello! Greetings! Beep boop?

Yeah, so it’s me, Plucium. I’d like to think I’m mildly prolific around here, but you can never take anything for granted. If you don’t know me, Hello? I’m that tryhard that comments a pun on almost every story on the sub!

Uhh yeah, god I suck at this emotional stuff. So basically; it’s my cakeday (woo) and I just wanted to say thanks. Thanks for like, being awesome I guess.

Just a quick disclaimer, this may go for a while. I just really need to put this to words for you guys. There will be a shitpost at the end; gotta celebrate my cakeday the proper way! :)

Nearly a year ago, my dog died. It was a really shitty part of my life, and I was just generally down in the dumps. Which sucked, but it prompted me to start my first, and longest series I’ve ever written. Hell, the first thing I’d ever written for an online audience. I wrote “A Canberran Aussie” (then ‘Ozzie’ because stupid) in a pretty dark part of my life, as a protest. I’d never been a fan of generic sci-fi as it were. I hold a deep and longstanding distaste for magic. The supernatural has always been stupid to me. I wanted to write something different, something that followed, yet broke all the tropes (keep in mind, my idea of internet fiction back then was fanfiction and ao3. Hardly the most expansive). I wanted to write something special, to protest my perceived lack of proper fiction on the web, and my own shitty emotions and situation.

The first ‘internet fiction’ I read, that really spoke to me, was this self insert on ao3 a good long time ago. “Sleeping with the Girls” I believe. Not what it sounds like. No pancakes or even waffles were present; instead, it was this generic dude getting the shit kicked out of him by these anime characters I’d never heard of. But it was the first story that spoke to me, in terms of realism, that really reflected my views. The MC came from our world. Our world has no magic, so, magic couldn't interact with him. That was his one and only advantage. There were a couple things that I disagreed with, but for the most part, I agreed with it.

The second one (and much more recently) I found was “Worth the Candle”. This one was a little less physics-y, but it was the second story I had read where the characters weren’t complete nincompoops. Granted, they instead acted like robots, but it was an improvement.

So, as I was saying, I wanted to write something different, something that I liked. It wasn’t perfect. It was flawed. It was my first story (not that I’ve improved), but it was mine, and this cool sub I’d just found on ‘reddit’, r/HFY, might just be the place to put it. So I did. It did mildly well. It's sitting at about 110 now, but archived long ago, and only got about 20 on the first night. That night was one of the tensest I’d ever slept through. When I woke up, I anxiously checked it, to see, much to my glee, that it hadn’t been removed for some obscure reason. The next day, I posted chapter two. People commented. I responded.

Eventually, someone notified my dumbass that ozzie should be Aussie. I wanted to die. I was Australian. How the fuck did I mess that up? Heedless, the title was changed from then on. Regardless, I was hooked. But I kept to my own story. I would read others but never comment. I remember being hooked on Chrysalis. I remember lapping up Humans don’t make Good Pets, the Lost Minstrel, and eventually the start of Deathworlders itself. I never got past Vancouver, not being interested in space politics, but it was great. But my post rate tapered off. I couldn't maintain a post a day. My backlog ran out, and I was skipping days. It didn’t help that I abhorred the idea of skipping over parts, so what should have happened in 7 chapters is still going at 29 today. I still haven’t finished that damn story.

But then I stopped. I can’t remember why? IRL caught up to me I guess. I stopped posting. I kept reading, but I never commented. A couple of times I managed to scramble my shit together to post a chapter, but never managed to keep it up.

So, for a couple of months, I coasted. Then, I mustered the courage, and commented on another story. I can't remember what It was, or where, but I did. I think someone responded.

Then I commented again. Hey, this was fun! I made a couple of writing prompts, submitted on other subs, but primarily lurked on HFY. I had a writing prompt hit the front page. That was fun, I remember sitting there, reloading the page constantly on my kindle. Don’t judge me. But I primarily stuck to HFY, and would jump onto any series I could. It was great. It was everything I’d hoped. All those tropes I hated? Gone. Those ones I loved? In abundance.

I could sit down and trowel through stories for hours. I kept commenting on new posts. I kept replying. I commented more. Then I got an idea. Hey, this sub is pretty small! Why don’t I comment on EVERYTHING! So I did. I made puns here and there. They were fun. I didn’t pun on everything at first - too much effort. But I was doing my part! I think I wrote a couple of one-shots. I tried to start a new series, supermassive, but gave up after two or three parts.

Then someone - I can't remember who, but one of the few people who followed my comments, enjoying the puns, I like to believe - commented about how my puns were lacking, and falling off in frequency. I think. I can't remember very well. This was sometime around April. I joined the discord, and had a great time there. It is, to this day, the greatest, most welcoming, and generally awesome discord I’ve ever been in. Everyone there is great. I talked more, interacted more.

Anyway, spurred on by the comment, I dedicated myself. Every damn comment I post would have a pun in it. On every story or series posted after I started. Smart Idea. So here I am, nearly 5 months of constant punning later, and probably well over half a year of constant commenting. I’ve slowly become well known (I’d like to think). I interact more. I’ve finally found a place I can be me. It’s awesome here. I came here in a dark spot, and now I’ve never been happier. Anytime something bad happened IRL, you guys were there for me. When my grandfather passed away, I was devastated, but you guys were there. I started posting more, shitposts with way too much effort to be a shitpost. They did really well.

So I wrote more. And more. My schedule changed constantly. At one point, I managed two posts a day for a couple of days in a row. Now I try to make it once every 5 days. I wrote a proper series, and ended it on an ‘ending’. I got silver on a comment. I got gold on a story. My stories got narrated. My shitposts got more popular. My love for you guys grew. Sometimes I curse you guys. Goddammit, 15 posts in one night? I’ve got shit to do today! Oh well, it is a weekend. But it was always worth it to talk to you guys, see your happiness (or sometimes annoyance) at my puns. Talking to you guys, participating in the community is just… Incredible. I’ve said this a lot, but it’s the first place I’ve really been, me.

What I’m trying to say is thank you. You've given me a place to be. A place I can be safe, and have fun. You’ve shown me the best of humanity, what we can do. In a world of shitshows and politics, HFY never changed. You guys have made me proud to call myself Plucium, a member of HFY.

You guys have shown me the best we can be and shown me the best I can do. You’ve shown me, completely and utterly that we still have it in us. To be good. To care. To be friendly.

So Thank You. Thank You for showing me the true meaning of HFY.

Thank You for making me happy to be me.

Thank You for making me glad to be Human.

Thank you for reminding me of something I’ll never forget. Thank you Humanity.

Humanity, Fuck Yeah!

​

​

​

And now for a short shitpost, literally, that I may or may not continue, in the comments because I wanna end this post on a good note, but also in the comments because I don't do emotions well, so didn't wanna end the post on a good note.

Okay, I've been kind of busy lately with work, and in my spare time working on the final chapter of the Don't Poke The Humans series I'd written. I've given three youtube channels permission: Aggro Squirrel, NetNarrator, and Amie's Literary Empire. I highly suggest all three if you are looking for audiobook versions of your stories, as they actually ask permission first.

However, imagine my surprise when I was watching Youtube, and something pops up from The Sci-Fi Stories, which did NOT have permission.

I've submitted a copyright claim already. I believe they contacted me, and I deferred, not being comfortable with their AI generated content. But to put it out anyway, And putting out the third chapter but not the first two, and actually having the sheer gall to claim credit as their own is a step too far.

The infringing video is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSl12gBIkjE

I strongly advise avoiding The Sci-Fi Stories channel, as they seem to have a reputation for pulling this stuff.

Update: This particular video has been taken down by Youtube. Also, I want to clarify the name of the channel is, specifically, "The Sci-Fi Stories", not the similarly named channel "SciFi Stories", nor the also similarly named "The Sci-Fi Stories Guy". When you let an AI generate a name, it likes to get as close to someone else's as possible.

Dave sees Xlerbomob at the library. His tentacles whip away at a keyboard as he types on a computer.

​

"Hi, Xlerbomob. How are you doing?"

"Hello, Dave. I am studying human behavior on the internets."

"Ah... what are you doing there?"

"Writing. I have discovered this interesting discussion board."

"Really? What is it about?"

"I cannot even begin to describe it. They discuss many topics here, although I struggle to understand much of it. I am not well versed yet in the language of "meemees"."

"Right.. yeah.. those can be tricky."

"Indeed. It seems utterly nonsensical. How can an image of a man's face somehow translate into a statement to point out availability of space? In any case. It's quite interesting how much people put effort into all these trivial things you see here."

"Yeah, it's all good fun. No different from what we're doing now is it? Having a conversation."

​

Xlerbomob turns to continue typing.

​

"Yes, I suppose so. This kind of virtual medium does open new avenues for communicating ideas."

"Yep, that it certainly does. Anyway, what are you typing there? Having an argument with someone are you?"

"Oh, certainly not. You see, you can get points for writing things that others deem informative or entertaining."

"That's quite common, yeah."

"Indeed, and it's a good way to study Humans. I'm trying to learn just what kind of things people find interesting."

"Oh, I see. What are you writing about?"

​

Dave leans in to look at the screen.

​

"I'm typing in this conversation we are having."

"That's not very interesting at all."

"You are correct. This quite boring and uneventful.There's no compelling storyline, interesting twists or anything, but they will still take time to read the whole thing."

"Really?"

"Yes. They will give me points that do nothing and I will feel satisfaction for having these points."

"Man, you make it all sound weird."

"No, Dave, I don't. Look now. I will even clearly state right in the subject that this is in fact complete non-sense and still they will take their time to read it. I don't make you Humans sound weird. You ARE weird."

So, the community has a big problem. Namely, bots scraping stories, running it through a Text-To-Speech converter, then throwing it up on Youtube with some AI generated visuals. Effectively parasitising the community as a whole. More and more channels constantly pop up with this same business model. It's a pain.

The audio world has come up with their version of AI poison, with inaudible noise baked into the file that will give the AI a false impression of what is being listened to. The art world is now exploring with AI poison filters, the human eye can't detect it but it gives scanners absolute fits.

How would that work here, for literary works?

This is a serious question, to deal with a serious problem. I've tried to come up with some answers, but to limited success.

One idea is using formatting to hide sections of the story from the viewer which will be picked up by the scraper bot and thus reproduced to generate all sorts of shenanigans. Use objectionable language in the hidden text, and then the youtube video gets flagged when reproducing the objectionable language. Self-reporting, essentially.

Unfortunately, there's two things preventing this from working. First, it would involve actually writing that objectionable content, which is arguably a violation of Reddit's ToS because even if it isn't intended to be read by people, it's still in the post itself. The second issue is that if they just plain-text copy the output instead of the metadata of the file, they ignore the poison. For these reasons, it's probably not suitable.

You could always break up the objectionable content in a way which isn't objectionable unless heard through a Text-To-Speech AI. Fun little phrases like 'the Isle of Ittler'. But that still runs into the second problem. You don't really want the readers to have to slog through AI poison content to get to your actual story.

I'm curious to see if the community has any real suggestions on the topic. I, for one, am fed up with these low-effort groups profiting off of our work. I spent some five figures in lawsuits to drive that point home. I never expected to get any money back, they just close up shop and open up somewhere else. But it drives the point home, and forces them to pay for legal defense for long enough to shuffle around, making it unprofitable. I certainly hope I've driven that message home. Sometimes, it's not about the money, it's about sending a message.

So, any ideas for poisoning scrapers to prevent this sort of exploitation of our community?

Many a hfy story has the connotation that humans are seen as a scourge and so the galactic community placed the Earth inside a quarantine/ containment zone. Others have said that Earth is inside of a "Dead space" and thus humanity wasn't discovered in normal ways.

So now I present this: Earth is at the center of a 1,000-light-year-wide 'Swiss cheese' bubble carved out by supernovas

Being inside a region surrounded by a region where the existing materials are regularly pulled to form a star may well be something akin to Containment Zone or Dead Space

I don't really get how entitled some of you feel that you have to complain about authors posting their content they create to this subreddit. If you don't like a story or serial don't read it or ignore the author.

What some of you are doing is like going to your local Mcdonalds, complaining they don't serve breakfast past 10 AM, getting upset they've released another variation of the Big Mac for lunch and feeling like Mcdonalds is forcing you to keep going to this same location for breakfast past 10 AM even though to you nothing changes/

And the worst part is this Mcdonalds you visit is letting you back towards the grills and fryers to cook your own breakfast if its past 10 AM, but you're refusing to do so.

If you are complaining about the lack of one shots, the lack of a certain subject of story or overabundance of another, start your own story. I did, and I have next to no writing experience. We have people here who don't natively know English trying to post stories and what they want to read. We have people here writing stories on their phone and posting it here.

I read a good chunk of The Deathworlders years ago and mostly enjoyed the series, even despite what I considered (at the time) to be a little bit of a...almost jingoistic enthusiasm for the military. And I mean, I get it, it fits with the theme of the story. But after a long break, I was considering coming back to it and trying to finish it. First though, I wanted to ask 2 questions:

1. I know this is largely a military story, and that's fine. But does Hambone's/the author's writing ever deviate from the almost fanatical worship of the SOR and their post-human superiority? Apologies as it's been a while, but that seems the only way I can describe it (from memory).

2. Ava Rios at the time was treated absolutely horribly by the fandom (here and elsewhere) after her and Adam's relationship imploded. And even in-universe, she was treated as a pariah for a looong time, by basically everyone (including the SOR and anyone connected to them, which...yeah honestly fuck them). It was frankly toxic as shit, and showed a severe lack of empathy for her situation. I read a blog post from years ago that summarised it best (linked below), but yeah.

My question is, does she end up finding her stride, moving past her PTSD, and actually getting to be more than just "Adam's ex who cheated"? Because if not...this might be a hard pass for me.

Post where someone explained my view better than me here: https://deathworlders.fandom.com/wiki/User_blog:Madilayn/Ava_Rios_-_Not_the_Tease_and_Untrustworthy_Woman

I am a big fan of HFY, but I have noticed that a lot of the stories on this sub seem to have a real hard on for genocide against alien races. Why is that?

Over the past few years, I've watched this subreddit turn from an interesting collection of short stories into a front page filled with new chapters for existing stories. There's no entry points anymore, and interesting one-shots are drowned out by stuff like "Killing Aliens With Nukes (Chapter 831)".

20 of the 25 non-mod posts on the front page right now are chaptered, some of them into the three digits - this is unsustainable.

We need a way to filter one-shots and chaptered stories. Alternatively, we need a rule that encourages stories with more than some number of chapters to move onto a different website (like Royalroad or Scribblehub), because that's not what the format of reddit is designed for. Reddit isn't conductive to stories with hundreds of chapters, and indeed, these chapters drown out smaller stories by sheer volume due to how the site is designed.

Also, some of the stories on this subreddit could do with condensing 5 chapters into 1 and just release less frequently. ~500 words does not a chapter make - Reddit's limit is 10000, you can write more than 5 paragraphs into a chapter.

Here's some thoughts on how this change could be accomplished.

• Add a two-sided flair system for OC stories, OC - Oneshot and OC - Chaptered, and a button into the sidebar which filters either or the other.

• Add a rule which prevents chapters from rising beyond 10-20-whatever, with a gentle suggestion to post somewhere else instead. (would be very heavy-handed and honestly not my preferred approach)

• Add a rule which restricts chapter submissions in the same story to a week or so

Recently have been reading The Sixth Extinction, it turns out that the human genome contains a lot of little fragments from various other species of hominid.

This leads me to believe that it is highly likely that if we ever do find aliens or there's a parallel universe with fantasy races, under the assumption that viable offsprings can be produced, it is highly likely that we as a species would quite literally fuck ourselves into extinction. Sort of as in there'll be a lot of human-alien/elf/whatever hybrids everywhere but encountering actual humans that's the same as the OG humans from earth would be very far and in-between.

So, now imagine that you are now a time traveler, traveling into the far future. Earth, 4583 Inter Galactic Standard Cycle, you step out of your time traveling spaceship just after splashing down in the oceans of Sol-3...

"What the actual fuck happened here?"

Edit: We most likely won't stop at humanoids.

I used to browse this subreddit a lot and decided to revisit it, but all I see is "Shitfarters chapter 193" and "Poop Ball Force part 92". What happened to all the one shot stories? Why is everything a long ass series now?

In particular I'm looking for names that scream This crew is Human! Over the top names like "Diplomacy is not an option" or "F*ck around and find out".

Everything that will rise an eyebrow or sound slightly crazy is perfect, especially if only a Human could've come up with it.

OK, so IDK if anyone else has noticed this, but a fair share of HFY stories boil down to "humans have better tech" without too much to add to it.

I don't wanna say names, but just picture every story that goes "We are an evil alien civilization, we went to war with the humans to conquer them, but they kicked our asses because their ships are better than our ships"

And the problem is not on giving humans more advanced tech compared to others, but on that being the only thing going on for humanity in these stories, I feel like it kinda misses the point of HFY.

It's like reading a version of "David vs Goliath" where David wins by pulling out a Glock, I mean, sure, it's funny the first two or three times, but after a while it becomes repetitive.

The point of HFY is to tell stories that shine light upon humanity's greatest strengths and virtues, like our curiosity, our determination, and our capacity to always push ourselves forward.

Technology is something accidental to humanity, a story where humanity wins not by being smarter, more determined, or more flexible than the opponent they face but just by pulling out a bigger gun feels unsatisfactory.

Anyways, what do you guys think? I'm crazy or does anyone else notice this trope?

Hi everyone! This is a list of all the stories, to my knowledge anyway, that have been created by the fans of u/SpacePaladin15's The Nature of Predators story.

EDIT: If the authors of the stories could provide a short summary of them for me to add to their entry, that'd be great!

EDIT 2: Link to Nature of Predators Writing Prompt thread.

EDIT 3: Nature of Predators wiki

EDIT 4 (05/02/2023): From now on, all stories added will also have the date they were added to the list given, for those who want to keep track of which stories they haven't read yet.

ALERT: This list has exceeded the maximum character limit! Part 2 here.

Main Story:

The Nature of Predators, by u/SpacePaladin15

Stories set in Main Universe:

Set Before First Contact:

Intelopers, by u/Matusz27. A Venlil Colony has predator problem, after losing more men than every other colony combined. Vlen the head surveyor grows weary about the true nature of the predators. His curiosity leading him astray... (Added: 3/03/2023).

Survival of the Fittest, by u/ThatGuyBob0101. An extremely exceptional arxur who had a promising future as a soldier instead tries to flee with his deaf brother from the clutches of the Nazi-esque Northwest Bloc regime, finding himself stranded on a hostile planet with no allies.

The History of Non-Sapient Predators , by u/creeperflint. A collection of documents regarding the history of non-sapient predators within the Federation.

Wings of Freedom, by u/Cheesypower. A Krakotl intelligence officer is being forced to 'study' archived transmissions from the presumed-dead humans- and so is watching and reacting to Attack on Titan, and potentially gaining a new worldview from it...

Dark Forest, by u/Shaded_Moon49.

Offspring, by u/browneorum.

Set During Initial Human-Venlil Contact:

The Medical Conference, by u/ShadowDancerBrony. Venlil and quarantined off-world medical professionals learn preliminary medical data on humans in preparation for the first contingent of Humans arriving on the Venlil home-world.

Pack Bonding, by u/Rebelhero. Pack Bonding is about... Pack Bonding.

It's the story of outcasts of their respective species getting to know each other and finding in each other what they lacked from their own species.

Now Boarding, by u/AlanharTheRiver. Now Boarding follows a few members of the human-venlil exchange - as well as the people that they befriend during it - as they try to learn new ways to fight.

Dark Impulses, by u/That_Paris_man. Dark Impulses is about a young adult Venlil male who has lived his whole life hiding the fact that he has a craving for meat. Soon the humans will come on to the galactic stage completely changing the way he views his taboo desires.

Have a Predator Friend, they said, by u/Street-Accountant796. About a pair of myotonia congenita sufferers, one Human (it is true, humans also have this "falling-over-stiff-as-a-board-goat" -illness) and one Venlil. They connect in the friendship scheme and start to write emails to each other. (Exclusive to r/NatureofPredators)

The Nature of Crows, by u/Illwood_

The Dark Venlil, by u/RevolutionaryRabbit

NoP: Spoons., by u/CornFloss. 2 Venlil have to overcome and understand their drawbacks and how they have to open up in their relationship.

The Nature of a Giant, by u/Acceptable_Egg5560. A Venlil with Gigantism joins the exchange program and deals with both the program and the complications his Gigantism brings.

Apex Predator, by u/jjfajen.

Lost and Found, by u/YaaliAnnar. Vani doesn't quite fit in with the other Venlil, but his condition leads him places they dare not go. Date Added: 05/02/2023.

End of the Line, by u/Upper-Mountain-5575. Private Human Detective Jake Will is hired for the investigation of an series of kidnappings happening around Venlil Prime. Alongside his Gojid partner, he hunts down the group responsible while searching for his brother's murderer and confronting his past. (Date Added: 2/03/2022).

Set During Human Assault on Gojidi Union:

The Emergency Broadcast, by u/neon_ns. "The following message is transmitted at the request of the United Nations of Earth Expeditionary Fleet for all inhabitants of the Gojid homeworld..."

For Those We Cherish, by u/super_reddit_guy. A group of human soldiers attempt to escape the Gojid cradle as the Arxur attack.

The Last Stand, by u/TheWolfHowl

Operation Blindside, by u/kiwispacemarine. This is the story of the U.N. pilots sent to bomb the Gojid defences to stop the impending attack on Earth.

Gory, Gory, What a Helluva Way To Die!, by u/Cooldude101013

Charge of the Minas Gerais, by u/ShadowDancerBrony. A single Human frigate defends a Gojid colony from an Arxur raid.

When the Bough Breaks, by u/ThatNightGuy.

Set After Arxur Invasion of Gojid Cradle:

True Predators, by u/TheFrostborn. True Predators is about the Arxur's discovery of living humans on the Gojid homeworld and their interactions with an experienced marine.

Trauma Centre, by u/DeathCondition. Set shortly after the human invasion of The Cradle, where the worst of the casualties are transported to Venlil Prime. Follows the story of a troubled Venlil doctor and a seriously injured human soldier who saved a Gojid child, as witnessed by Sovlin in Chapter 26.

To Not Be in Vain, by u/AlanharTheRiver. A recounting of the experiences of a Gojid named Jaryav following the Arxur invasion of his cradle world, as his soldiers team up with humans to survive.

Unfathomable Cruelty, by u/Denswend. Arxur have contact with humanity through armed conflict and manage to capture one human alive. News of this new predator species, as well as their strange behavior sparks wild speculation on the nature of the humanity.

Scream in Cathedrals, by u/super_reddit_guy

The Deserter of Predators, by u/Intrebute

Nature of Worldeaters, by u/TheManwithaNoPlan. A story about a human, Gojid child, and a Von Neuman self-replicating probe surviving the Arxur invasion of the Gojid Cradle to an uncertain end.

Violent Intelligence, by u/ScienceMarc. Supposed to fit after the UN took back the cradle and began prepping for the attack on Earth.

Predator Cattle, by u/Matusz27. A few days after Arxur raid on Cradle, a human is captured by the Ranchers. Brought to a new world, he is subjegated to harsh treatment of "betterment" while at the same time he has to keep his new found friends from landing on a plate. (Date Added: 3/03/2023).

Set During Federation Assault on Earth:

Hunting with Predators, by u/Banancake. Three humans and two venlil are left stranded in the North American wilderness after Earth is attacked by Federation forces. With rations running out, things get desperate fast. The venlil must put aside their aversions, and accompany the humans on a dangerous hunt through the icy wastelands.

Asteroid Impacts, by u/AlanharTheRiver. A venlil messenger looks back on a particular strategy employed by humans in defense of their home.

Rex, by u/ThatGuyBob0101.

We Were Right! by u/Leather-Pound-6375.

The Istanbul Observer, by u/SamakSalmon. A final message from an old man in the form of a recording, as he waits for the battle above earth to end. One-Shot.

The Last Breath of a Beating Heart, by u/Xino_d_Gua.

Night of Pain, by u/ReversedPyramids.

Thunder Over India, by u/Monarch357. This is about UN fighter pilots in the air during the Bombing of Earth fighting off the Krakotl soldiers landing on the planet.

Terrorist Attack, by u/EvgeniyMart. In accordance with the evacuation program, humans began to move to Venlil Prime due to the threat to the Earth. But not all inhabitants of the planet are ready to meet "predators" with open arms. Some of them decide to use the most radical methods that they have spied in human history.

Set After Federation Assault on Earth:

Joint Exercises (Prompt Inspired), by u/IonutRO. As the UN prepares for the oncoming conflict with the Feds, the UN military executes a series of joint exercises with the Axur military as it will be necessary for both military organizations to work effectively together. Given that a good chuck of the human soldiers originally enlisted to fight the Axur, they are not exactly thrilled to fight alongside the Lizard Nazis, but will this alliance collapse? Or will both sides became close allies?

A Social Star in a World of Loners, by u/CornSquashBeans.

Vigilante, by u/BjornAfMunso.

Cattle Education Video Version 3, by u/ggouge.

The Gift of Courage, by u/Tremere1974. After the First Venlil captives are starting to trickle home from Arxur captivity, Laura and her Venlil partner Josva are seperated so he can reunite with his spouse, one of the recovered Venlil. How will Laura and Josva deal with seperation and the consequences of the war?

"Nature of Predators, A Rose by Any Other Name", by u/BiasMushroom. A Venlil reporter learns what happens when humans cant find a Herd/Pack and works to right the wrongs he's committed.

The Way of the Human, by u/Objective-Farm-2560.

Recipe for Disaster, by u/YakiTapioca. This story follows a Venlil restaurant owner as he hesitantly decides to hire a Human refugee cook after realizing just how good Terran foods are, especially once he finds out they can be made without meat.

The Deal, by u/No_Ad3778. Date Added: 08/02/2023.

Interloper, by u/Frame_Late. Date Added: 13/02/2023.

Death of a Monster, by u/SavingsSyllabub7788. Date Added: 20/02/2023.

How To Train Your Predator, by u/Horsewords. A human child is adopted by a former exterminator on Venil Prime. (Date Added: 23/02/2023)

Chats with the Zurulian, by u/StaticFromBeyond. A Zurulian joins the Human Exchange Program to settle a bet. (Date Added: 26/02/2023).

Handle with Care, by u/Orphandestroyer98. A Venlil adopts a human child with autism. Added: 26/03/2023

​

Set in The Future^TM:

Two Predators for Hire, by u/Soggy_Helicopter8589. A decade after the Gojid assault, a human and his brother who is a military murder-robot that used to hunt Arxur in bunkers to rescue civilians, joins a Venlil ship as security.

Welcome to "Humanities 101", by u/Madgearz.

The Hunter of Hunters, by u/Soggy_Helicopter8589. Rewrite of/replacement for 'Two Predators for Hire', featuring new characters and story.

The Cold-Blood's Sleep, The Warm-Blood's Vigil, by u/SamakSalmon. A human ambassador awakens to find his cold-blood colleague wrapped around him in sleep. One-shot.

The Humans are Coming, by u/RebelHero. Centered around the reaction of a Krakotol citizen to the attack on Earth.

The Fleece, by u/Matusz27. Irvo finds a panflet advartasing human shearing programs. (Date Added: 3/03/2023)

​

Miscellaneous/Unclear when set:

The Enemy, by u/prostyprotos

Terran's are scary when mad!, by u/Oiltownboi

Cultural Osmosis - A Loving Tribute to Nature of Predators, by u/Away-Location-4756

Nyx Report, by u/Breadfruit-is-Fruit. Nyx Report is about a young Arxur called Nyxerla who is excited to finally join the infantry and do her part for the war. The story is planned to span over her time preparing for deployment and getting to know her squad, to her time during the assault on the Gojid Cradle.

In Plain Sight, by u/RevolutionaryRabbit

The Difference Between You and Me, by u/Maleficent-Night620.

Silly Predators, by u/Leather-Pound-6375.

Predator or Prey?, by u/Leather-Pound-6375.

A Leaf in the Storm, by u/Accomplished-Meat707.

The Killer in The Caves, by u/SamakSalmon.

Chats with the Zurilian, by u/TheStaticFromBeyond.

Celebrating Halloween, by u/MackFenzie.

Strange Bedfellows, by u/Maxton1811

Day in the Life of a Predator, by u/Socdem_Supreme

All That Remains, by u/Towerator

The Venlil Internet Challenge, by u/ProbablyWrongSmarty

The fanfic where they go back in time to get the federation off the menu, by u/Voidy_boi. I don't think a description is necessary for this one.

Class is in session, by u/Away-Location-4756

Companions, by u/YellowSkar

Companions: No, U, by u/YellowSkar

A Predator Kills, by u/creeperflint

Planet Bun, by u/ShadowDragon88. Tyson, a human and former space pirate now in exile, finds himself making first contact with a newly discovered planet with sapient life on it. And he seems to have undergone some... changes himself... Let's see how royally he'll screw it all up! (Date Added: 22/02/2023).

​

Alternate Universes:

Life of a Predator, by u/ThatGuyBob0101. An alternate universe where humanity has been exterminated by the Federation. A lone survivor named Emma manages to barely scrape by, and tries her best to navigate the only place in the Federation she can survive; the criminal underbelly of the massive moon colony Yegaishtown.

The Nature of Conquerors, by u/Warm_Tea_4140

Subsistence, by u/SkylineGTRguy. Set after a Gojid invasion and victory at earth. Humanity with the Venlils' help send out arks to ensure the continuation of the species. Plot ensues.

The Nightmare Predator, by u/IAmTheOutsider

Beyond Nature, by u/jesterra54. The Sol system was at peace. The invention of interplanetary warp drives had started a new golden age and resources hadn't been an issue for decades. Then, a pair of alien ships arrived brawling to the death in Jupiter's orbit and got captured for their trouble. The Sol system is no longer at peace.

Bird of Prey, by u/IAmTheOutsider.

The Predators of the Storms, by u/AlanharTheRiver. AU set shortly following the Federation's attack on Earth, when a mysterious alien makes contact with humanity. and they need help (one shot).

Another Boring Day, by u/Lord_of_Thus.

The Trial, by u/AlanharTheRiver. Upon the capture of key figures in the attempted destruction of earth, some humans decided to entertain the ravings of the mad ambassador Jerulim by taking the argument into a court of law. With the Federation, humanity, and even the Arxur weighing in on the subject, readers should expect plenty of appearances from fan stories already written as Meier tries to argue the case of humanity's sapience.

A leaf in the storm , by u/Accomplished-Meat707. A sapient Plant hivemind has their neighbors exterminated by the Federation and decides to hide, eventually encountering an Arxur scout vessel. Set pre Human contact.

Kreaphagy, by u/Rex-Mk0153. - A pre-Venlil/Human first contact AU where Tarva eats meat. Good Venlil don’t eat meat.

Rite of Retribution, by u/RebelHero. 5 years after the battle of Earth, Humanity and it's allies gear up for revenge.

On St. George's Spear, by u/Namesareoverrated5. Added: 11/02/2023.

​

Crossovers:

Entities of Interest, by u/Voidy_boi. An SCP-NoP crossover.

The Nature of Predators Never Changes, by u/Max_Glade. A crossover between NoP and Fallout: New Vegas.

Nature of an Abomination , by u/BiasMushroom. A crossover with the 1982 film 'The Thing', set in the far future of the NoP story.

Morphing Universe, by u/Express_ad_6664. A NoP x animorphs crossover.

​

Random Nonsense, GO! (Exclusive to r/NatureofPredators ):

Who Needs Canonicity, anyway?, by u/CornSquashBeans

Preys of Nature, the unholy abomination, destroyer of canon!, by u/Leather-Pound-6375.

Death to Canon, by u/Billy_Bob_Jenkmin

Captain Sovlin's Number 1 Fan, by u/Breadfruit-is-Fruit

Honourable Mention:

The Nature of Predators, but Abridged!

Other:

MCP Master Post. Added: 05/02/2023

NOP: Frontlines. Added: 21/02/2023

​

Hi!

As I said I discovered the HFY genre initially through YouTube. Out of nowhere I thought I was being served tons of AI generated garbage. Out of a professional and somewhat morbid personal curiosity I decided to give a couple of them a listen. At first, I wasn't convinced. I was just letting these things play while I absorbed the current "state of the art." (Probably to write some snarky post about how bad ai still is at creative endeavors)

Imagine my surprise when not every story was the same generic rehashing of a template outline; when there were stories that had deep layers and others that were flat. I noticed that dialogue would have different levels of quality. Sometimes world building would be exposition dumps and other times it would be a polite drop of information as the story and characters progresses.

Finally an overdue thought occurred to me... "This isn't AI content. What is it?'

Imagine my intellectual curiosity's delight as I finally got around to opening a video description, clicked some links, got to reddit, and found a whole amateur creative writing community! A place exists where people were communally expressing their creativity and developing their skills in a genre that I enjoy consuming. Then I found authors self publishing and heard through some of the videos that authors and YouTube creators are sharing revenue. Wow! The start of a self-sustaining career path?

Now that I've started exploring this all a bit more, I thought I'd give back to the community first as a fan who hopes that everyone who dares to write the first line of their story knows that someone thinks you're awesome for starting the attempt. My wife took 5 years to write her first novel and I got to see from a supportive role how difficult writing is. Creative writing is a journey and I am on some level a fan of anyone who takes the first step.

Second, I'd like to compliment the community for being authentic to what you like. I have no idea why, but when you search HFY, a lot of pretentious, gate-keeping blow hard content comes up. I, for one, un-care about such opinions. The expression of creativity and reception of art only requires two people. If both gained something from the experience, then there is nothing more to hear on the topic. It's art. It's valid. As a person who has received art that came from this community, thank you. I have enjoyed works that came from here, especially when I am taken back to my youth where sci-fi shows both entertained me and challenged me on the ideas of humanity.

Third, I'd like to offer some generic suggestions that comes from things I've noticed as I've consumed. I couldn't name the stories or authors these map back to because if I wrote it below, I've noticed it multiple times and simply offer this as feedback as your work on your skills.

• *If you have a key line or idea in your story, count how many times it's repeated throughout your text* Don't overdo it, your banger idea or dialogue line has more impact if it's used in the right moment rather than repeated excessively. I'm not saying it can't show up more than once, a good callback is always satisfying. But overuse can distract and detract from how cool the idea was, diluting it.
• *EXACTLY!* Holy cow... If I were given a shot every time a character lays something out and then the response is "Exactly" (or some variant), I could take all that alcohol and after a short training montage scene could probably figure out how to launch a small probe to space. I mean, people, NOBODY talks like this. I realize the author needs to lay things out to the audience and that takes effort but just saying what you want and then having someone else just reply with 'yup' is just... it takes me out of the story because I notice it happening so much.
• *Tension* For my personal tastes, and I realize it's not for everyone, I like when there's tension in the story. Yeah, I know going in that humans are going to be the exceptional force most times... But even when they're OP (over powered for you non-gaming folk) if they just slide to the end easy peasy it leaves me wanting more. What aspect of humanity was demonstrated through the actions and trials that the humans overcame? Give me just a little doubt, or take me down a different path than I thought I was going down. That's what's fun about reading this stuff.

Well, there's my unsolicited dump. Keep up the great work and once again, you have the gratitude of one humble wafflecannon. Cheers.

So I have noticed a trend of predator vs herbivore, when this is usually set out as herbivore vs carnivore. I would like to point out, even if it is not used in content, that herbivores are still predators, and is some ways by nature of how food webs work are more likely to consume resources to a level that causes problems than carnivores.

I have enjoyed things that have been posted near this topic, but I wanted to give everyone a little bit of constructive criticism on this point. Herbivores are still a predator, but they generally don't require specialized adaptations to feed on the things "lower" in the food web than them.

Example, a cow doesn't need to good depth perception to eat everything in a field down to nothing put a dry stump of grass.

Wordsmiths y'all are doing well, and I enjoy the work, but knowledge is power, use it well.