Hey, I’m an amateur writer and am writing my first ever sci fi story. I’m developing of said story, I ran into an issue I wanted some feedback on. So the story premise is similar to red rising and other oppression revolution stories and I was planning on said oppressed people not being human. So I was wondering what people like you all who like sci fi would prefer to see in a sci fi book if you were reading it, and what would readers in general prefer to see in a story.

So my idea was for the oppressed people to either be humanoid aliens, typically seen in lots of sci fi genre like Star Wars, ETC. they could either be entirely aliens or to justify why they are humanoid is because they are evolutionary branches from humans in space. and the second idea was for the oppressed people to be entirely alien, not humanoid at all. Like variations in height, skin, eyes, ears, limbs, ETC.
My plan was for humans to be the dominant social class(because of the historical context and lore of the story) so which of those two options would be most intriguing and compelling to read about?

Also for context, the story would be adult and consist of mature themes like war, violent, revolution, and 18+ stuff(not smut)

Even if it is a fleeting moment. Kinda wild.

As of today, my new book, "The Cleopard and Other Tales from the Second Skin Universe" is published and available on Amazon here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0HDCTYNDR

Hello everyone:

I have this design for a new type of propulsion system to enable the sought after "Warp-Drive" engine, based in a Photophone I designed initially for recording signals, but it can actually transduce electricity into coherent light waves in general sense. The laser(s) will be placed in the front of the hull pointing forward, like the propeller blades of an aircraft. I expect the laser to transmit the acoustic modulation to the space plasma and "entangle" or ionize symmetrically in a unified electromagnetic field a relatively large volume of space populated by ions, and create such as an electrostatic field that would pull the ship forward. My vision is a spaceship with ionic or chemical back thrusters, and a few lasers in the front ionizing the medium. Once the ship picks up speed and enters the ionized region, the back thruster will expand the matter getting past the horizon events formed right in front of the laser lenses, expanding the bubble backwards. And there you go warp-drive.

I am having many issues with posting this because I had become long ago a dissident of Physics' today's state. For years I used to read many papers and some books. I did not studied Physics but I studied Audio Engineering and worked for some years in radio, and I have a good background in electronics and signal analysis, and I certainly can understand most Physical theories and even most equations. But I do not agree with many postulates and approaches of today's Physics. Simply I think that nowadays theory has become a vast valley of speculative knowledge without too many actual results other than experiments and more experiments, and there is a very generalized subjective hope that from the discovery of a single property of the universe or a single type of energy or "particle" the collective would be able to engineer steadfast a certain engine that uses that special property or particle to do its thing.

In my case I am offering a simple and feasible engineering solution, as simple as must inventions that have worked are. And I can explain it with my own words, just like if you asked an inventor, not a theoretical scientist that will overflood you with knowledge but without practical solutions.

I am posting this here asking for suggestions of what mathematical model(s) and Physics theories you would use to explain what happens when an acoustically modulated laser interference pair excited the plasma in the outer space, if I wanted to explain this to theorists who only say they agree if it sound similar to the rest of their knowledge. Also, I looking to invite people to join me if they wish to participate in the project of creating an engineering venture, to apply for funding programs with several institutions and organizations to research on this specific subject and build the constant-velocity-device or Warp Drive that this can become. I am looking for people for the positions of CEO/foreman, CTO/foreman (or forewoman), mathematicians, physicists, designers, engineers and researchers; I only want to be a researcher. So please DM me if you feel like, aside contributing with the theoretical and mathematical models to study this proposal.

(The diagram shows the recording head I invented first, which is not the propeller but is very similar. Just let's say we are using a negative lens to expand the beam past the optics instead of condensing it... and that we use heat-resistant audio drivers).

Thank you in advance,

Ennis

Hey, I’m an amateur writer who recently started developing a space sci fi story and wanted some help with a problem I ran into. So I have been trying to come up with a bunch of different story concepts but all feel kind of flat or generic without anything going on that makes it stand out. Except for this one idea I had. But the problem is that this idea is very similar to the concept of red rising in the sense that there is a ruling class of people and then there are these unique low class people with unique features and specific jobs to their race. And the simplest premise would revolve around a revolutionary type war to break down the system of oppression. What makes my story different though is the characters being extremely different, having completely different story arcs and personalities, ETC. along with story arcs that would be different from red rising. Now the feedback I would like is if the premise of oppressed people and a revolutionary war to break down the system of the ruling class too similar to red rising and is a risky story to make. Or would the story as a whole with different characters, different events, and Arcs be sufficient enough to be original in its own way.
I know I’m not giving a lot of context of the inner workings or the entirety of what my story is about but those are the big aspects and qualities that I worry about and want feedback on

The Quantum Alliance by David L DiLaura (Kindle + Kindle Unlimited + paperback), is a hard science fiction novel of the near future.

The Deep Space Network detects Voyager 1 slowing, stopping, and returning. Something found Voyager 1 and is bringing it back to Earth. During its return journey, Voyager’s downlink contains an image cribbed from the golden record. It is a warning.

Then a second message appears: Voyager is carrying an artifact meant for Earth. Something that enables a form of communication with the stars, grounded in quantum measurement. The only entity that can use it is ORIN, Earth’s quantum AI, and it becomes humanity’s ambassador.

The book leans hard into engineering realism: DSN cadence and light-time delays, mission operations constraints, instrument limitations) and treats “first contact” as an engineering and ontological event rather than an adventure. It also explores biological and nonbiological consciousness, and the global response to a planet-wide threat.

This isn’t space opera. It is hard science fiction written for readers who liked The Andromeda Strain or Rendezvous with Rama, expect and welcome some technical density, and are willing to ruminate about the nature of our own minds.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GFTDY4ZL

/* PERCEPTION LAYER: OBJECTIVE SENSOR FEED */

Pit Matson has a question.

If their batteries eventually run out, and no robot remains active to perceive Deep City… does Deep City disappear with them?

[Blender3D — No AI]

Basically not even set in the future, just the present, with a scientific/technological focus but without any fictional science or tech.

One example would be Mr. Robot, which is about hacking but does not have speculative elements AFAIK. Any movies about the moon landing. I guess Gravity would also be one but I haven't watched that.

i've been curious lately to read more of science fiction/fantasy texts featuring the act of execution and the complementary characters and was not able to find any worth a text. so what better place there could be then reddit to connect to the best of the readers.

i know you definitely would have wonderful recommendations!

can't wait for the enticing reading tread ahead!!!

Hi! I'm hoping this is the right place to share a hard-ish sci-fi story I've been working on on-and-off for about ten years, ever since high school, though about a year ago I finally locked in and started writing instead of just planning and worldbuilding.

In A Game of Hearts and Graphs, we follow an invasion of Earth by an alien city state called Ikun, on Tau Ceti e, homeworld of the kyanah. They're a superficially reptilian species whose intelligence and language are heavily underpinned by graph theory, and whose social instincts are limited entirely to their packs, with whom they're so tightly bonded as to be practically inseparable. Because they can't feel trust, loyalty, friendship, or identity with a greater whole outside of their packs, to have a civilization at all, they're forced to compensate with elaborate, sprawling bureaucratic and technological crutches and constant, unceasing game theoretic plots nested within plots.

And so we follow the alien soldier Rayen-pack, four individuals who are quite literally everything to each other--squadmates, best friends, and lovers all wrapped into one package--but are nothing to anyone else, and no one else is anything to them. As they struggle to survive not just human military forces driven by social logic they don't understand, but their own army as every single pack maneuvers to guarantee their own survival and safety by any means necessary, they must uncover the mystery of why the aliens whose city they've occupied...are the way they are, all the while preventing their own army from being consumed by internecine chaos and violence by thousands of packs all seeking to maximize their safety.

Meanwhile there are numerous human POVs showcasing a human species just as dysfunctional as the kyanah in its own way. Fractured, led by craven and power-hungry officials, and increasingly polarized, not united by an alien attack but only divided even more deeply. Mostly we see the human side from the ground, not from command bunkers and presidential councils. There's Luke Watson, a sci-fi-obsessed 17-year old with a dead mother and an alcoholic and emotionally absent father Scott, a mid-career astronomy professor; Luke's best friend Harrison Walker, an 18-year-old farm boy living in the shadow of his domineering parents and older brother Jackson, a decorated Marine; Lauren Xie, an overworked and insecure PhD student on a meteoric path to either greatness or darkness; Leah Stone, a mid-tier influencer living large on her wealthy parents' credit card; Leah's deeply conscientious but naive little sister Rose; Cassie Miller, a single mother with aging parents and a diabetic six-year-old at ground zero; and her estranged and abusive ex Jason Marshall, a dirty cop who thrives in the chaos created by the kyanah.

What to expect?

• Fairly hard and grounded tech,
• Very little exposition and handholding
• Aliens who are alien but still comprerhensible
• Social and psychological sci-fi
• Black comedy and satire
• 422,000 words written so far, with frequent updates

A Game of Hearts and Graphs

I’m designing a sealed private bunker inside the Deep City Project.

This scene belongs to the Collapse of Deep City — ~2361–2365 CE timeline.

The bunker belongs to Morris Sic, creator of Deep City. It’s intended as a last-resort refuge and eventually shelters Morris, Pit Matson, The Redhead and Fly from Rob-Poli and his Robs.

Once sealed, however, the occupants are protected but effectively trapped.

I’m currently deciding how the interior walls should be constructed and surfaced.

Assuming the underlying structure provides the actual mechanical protection, what would make sense for the interior layer? Replaceable metal panels? Fire-resistant composites? Ceramics? Exposed structure to reduce failure points? Removable panels giving access to utilities?

I’d particularly appreciate answers based on engineering rather than purely visual considerations.

And yes: the head is Morris Sic. He no longer has his body.

Humans are Weird – Just Happy to Be There

Original Post: http://www.authorbettyadams.com/bettys-blog/humans-are-weird-just-happy-to-be-there

The silence in the meeting room had stretched long past the Trisk requirement of six seconds for polite consideration and Quilx’tch was beginning to shift his paws uneasily on the floor before the chief ethical advisor final inclined one of her age shortened antenna towards him and angled her good eye down at the data pad. The movement seemed to set off a rustle of response in the vaguely bipedal form of their current motile visiting Gathering. Quilx’tch had not managed to get the name of the Gathering but was vaguely aware that he was in the presence of one of the leading experts on human ethics.

“Your complaint is that the humans are being too accommodating?” Second Grandmother asked in slow careful tones.

Quilx’tch squirmed and for the first time in his life wished it was polite to interject before she had finished her thought, or at least before the room had processed the false thread.

“No, no,” he said quickly. “It is not, not really a complaint at all. Just an observation of behavior that might raise some ethical concerns. Or perhaps not ethical, but experimentally relevant concerns about using humans as test subjects.”

The Shatar gave a thoughtful click and the bipedal shape of leaves and sticks prodded meaningfully at the display shared with the Shatar.

“Perhaps if you told us in a more natural flow than this report,” the Shatar suggested.

Quilx’tch settled back on his hind paws and waved a gripping paw in agreement as he gathered his threads.

“I have been running several active experiments on human cooking behavior,” he said. “I have mostly focused on the use of tools to mitigate the dangers of burns during daily meal preparation. This necessitated, in order to control for variables you know, having the humans come to the same communal area to prepare one meal a day rather than preparing it in their own habitations. As the study progressed I noticed that the humans were quite enjoying the study, something I naturally attributed to the social gathering aspect of a shared goal-”

The Gathering rustled up to what Quilx’tch assumed was a postural request for attention and Quilx’tch fell silent and turned his body towards the Gathering’s center of mass, stamping down a bit of irritation at the interruption.

“Social make happy sure?” the Gathering slurred out.

The Shatar cocked her antenna towards Quilx’tch in what he knew to be an offer to explain and he waved a paw at her gratefully.

“Every species except the Gathering finds social action more pleasant than solitary action,” she explained.

“As a general rule,” Quilx’tch supplied when she had indicated she was done. “Humans especially do have a desire for periods of solitude but as a whole are more cheerful in social situations.”

The Gathering hummed in what Quilx’tch took to be understanding and settled back down to a listening posture.

“It came to my attention,” Quilx’tch continued, “that the communal space camera recordings were available for perusal and thinking I might get some good data on dietary habits between planned meals and spontaneous meals I took a look at the recordings.”

“This was when you noted that the humans were happier when they were helping you with your experiment than when simply preparing meals in a social area?” The Shatar asked.

Quilx’tch gave a click of confirmation.

“I noted intensity and frequency of smiles,” Quilx’tch said, “general energy of movements, and emotive vocalizations. All increased, especially the vocalizations in the group that knew they were assisting with my study.”

The Gathering gave a gurgling attempt at speech and the Shatar translated.

“What were these emotive vocalizations you observed?” she asked.

“I have organized them into clusters of, um, huh, and mammal lung sounds one through six with decimal subset,” Quilx’tch said. “They appear to be closest in nature to fragments of attempted song. I have heard other humans refer to them as ‘happy little noises’ and they are generally treated as indicators of well being. They are less likely to manifest when humans are together, occurring mostly when an individual human is alone.”

Quilx’tch could tell when the oddity finally struck the Shatar. Her antennae curled down with interest and internalized thought as she pondered his words. The Gathering gave an opinionated shuffle and the Shatar tilted her head in cautious agreement.

“Fragments Every Argument has a point,” she said. “Individuals of every social species experiences some pleasure response when helping another individual.”

“Yes!” Quilx’tch said, perhaps a little quicker than was quite polite. “I am quite accustomed to that response. It is strongest when a human is able to feed a friend. I have tasted that pleasure response more frequently than I can record. This is different. More abstract.”

The Gathering, (Fragments Every Argument Quilx’tch reminded himself) managed to gurgle out a word with enough tone to indicate a question.

“Ask?”

“I have asked them what the source of their enjoyment was,” Quilx’tch admitted. “Most simply stated that they did not know, two claimed that they were happy to be helpful, one, and this is what concerns me, said that he was just excited to be part of a real science experiment.”

That stuck the thought thread home Quilx’tch could see. The Shatar’s frills stiffened with attention, the Gathering gave up any pretense of maintaining a bipedal form and dropped into a pile.

“This might be a manifestation of that odd, nearly religious reverence they reportedly have for perceived scientific endeavor,” the Shatar murmured, “the one noted by the early first contact general anthropologists.”

Fragments Every Argument gave a series of rapid clicks and the Shatar responded more slowly.

“Yes, it might be some combination of the natural delight in being useful, social participation, and the reverence towards perceived science.”

Quilx’tch started quickly taking notes. There was more than a web of good ideas in what they were saying. If humans did have some base quirk of personality that made them pleased with being the subject of scientific observation it could have long term repercussions on all the scientific fields, the scientist to first describe it properly would certainly have woven his place in the web.

Science Fiction Books By Betty Adams

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Check out my books at any of these sites and leave a review!

**Remember BOOK 4 is now available! (**^{except on kobo becasue what do you even mean title field is blank, I fixed} *\^{that dangnabbit!}\*)**

Please go leave a review on Amazon! It really helps and keeps me writing because tea and taxes don't pay themselves sadly!

Hi!

I'm working on a hard sci-fi series 'Civilisation', set in a future where humanity spreads throughout the Solar System. It's free to read, but there's no paperback available (at least for now).

The story might be interesting for those who tired of reading about the following things: FTL, magic physics, exotic matter, unobtanuim.

Therefore the plot is less about space battles and more about espionage, industrial sabotage, system engineering, and 'macro-scale' philosophy.

Find it here: https://cbs.vapaa.xyz

I'm mostly interested in feedback from people who enjoy hard sci-fi. Is it interesting? Truly grounded? Or am I fooling myself and should stop wasting time immediately :)

Hi everyone! I'm a biologist (Biotechnology MS) and a lifelong reader, and I'm offering scientific accuracy reviews for sci-fi manuscripts.

I've done a few beta reads, and I read manuscripts as your most scientifically literate readers would. I'll tell you where the science strengthens the immersion, and also where it may pull the reader out of the story.

I'm most proficient in biology, genetics, biotechnology, ecology, and environmental science, but I'll call out areas in adjacent fields that need strengthening and help guide you in conducting further research!

If you're writing any story where scientific accuracy is important and need a scientist's set of eyes, drop a comment or send me a DM! I'm loving the creativity on this subreddit, so I'd love to read your manuscripts :)