Science fiction authors of the KSP forums, UNITE!

[DAL59]

https://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/index.php?/topic/172910-asymptote-episode-3/

Also, 200th post!

[SiriusRocketry]

Hi everyone!

Most of my stuff turns out as horror short stories or post apocalyptic stuff. I'm currently working on a horror short story named Strands and a SciFi/romance/teen thing called Merge.

Anyone wanna read a snippet?

Edited June 12, 2018 by SiriusRocketry

[NSEP]

I always have great ideas and a whole Sci-Fi universe to play with but i don't know how to write it down in a story. I tried many times, but i just end up ditching it.

[Bill Phil]

3 hours ago, NSEP said:

I always have great ideas and a whole Sci-Fi universe to play with but i don't know how to write it down in a story. I tried many times, but i just end up ditching it.

Maybe... write a history book for that universe? Could be interesting.

[NSEP]

1 hour ago, Bill Phil said:

Maybe... write a history book for that universe? Could be interesting.

I think that would be a cool idea for sure. But if i were to make story about my universe afterwards, i would still prefer to not make it so that only people who read the history book understand it.

I don't like the books that are filled with the brim with 'alien' names you are supposed to understand. I don't enjoy reading a gaint block of text, but if it is filled to the brim with names like Xythrarrothus, Drodozyth, Xylophone, Xyzonorratoth, is a no no for me. At least explain what a Drodozyth by calling it a man-eating Drodozyth instead so you have a rough example of what it is.

Sorry for the slightly off-topic rant.

[NSEP]

I could also just write a very short story, and by the time i lost interest of the story, its already done. Its almost like i have this thing called 'interest juice', wich depletes at a rate dependant on the topic.

Im thinking of a story were scientist try to achieve lightspeed with an antimatter spacecraft.

[Spaceception]

At the risk of bending/breaking rule 2.2h, I'm not getting into much detail here, but reading (certain) youtube comments gave me the idea for a thriller novel, that explores "what if the government did coverup space travel?" Not going to be a near-term book by any means, but my girlfriend and I had a brainstorm session recently, and it's definitely something interesting I'm thinking about.

Anyway, something a little closer (Probably), I got the idea to write a book around an alien invasion, where they launch high-velocity pods of genetically engineered spores to begin changing the Earth's environment. We find out, and begin quarantining it, but it doesn't work, and keeps spreading. Meanwhile, they find out around the same time that a massive fleet of ships is coming to Earth, and it's arrival will be around the time Earth is uninhabitable for us. So we build massive battle stations around the Earth-Moon system and prepare for their arrival, also by setting up bases and military outposts around other moons/planets in case they try taking potshots at us (Which the aliens won't do, since they want Earth for its biosphere, but the humans aren't sure).

That's all for details I suppose, I might explain further; I would like to talk about it during a playthrough of Stellaris with a species modeled after the alien race in the book(s?). We'll see.

[MDZhB]

I've had some sci-fi ideas in mind before, but I've never fully committed them to paper. They usually are more sci-fi than sci-fi, if you know what I mean. Anyway, maybe I should revisit some of those ideas. I try to come up with strange things, so maybe someone might be interested in them someday.

[Piatzin]

On 6/12/2018 at 7:27 AM, SiriusRocketry said:

Anyone wanna read a snippet?

Yeessss

Anyways, here's one from a book I'm currently writing:

“Righto,” says Julia, pacing up and down the dropship’s aisle. “This is how it will go: all the dropships on this transport vessel are heading to Arcadia – Troth’s capital. Accompanying us will be two Chinese transport ships from the SeventhBattalion. The city is, luckily, mostly evacuated.” She checks the time. “When we arrive, two hours from now, we’ll only be serving as wrap-up crew.”

“Well that’s good,” says Mark, nudging me.

“Marcus,” drawls Julia. “Would you like to say something?”

“Um, no?” says Mark, looking up.

“Then shut your mouth. Now,” continues Julia, counting on her fingers. “We have eight hours to finish emptying the city. Any later than that, and the swarm will start touching down on the planet.”

“Wait what?” exclaims Nicholas. “They’re not being pushed back?”

“Oh!” exclaims Julia, sounding more cheery than anything else. “Yeah, that. Don’t worry. Most of the warships in the reinforcements convoy are still a ways off – they left after the transport ships, so they’ll be late to arrive. Which means that the ships already in the Troth system will have to hold their own for a bit.” She looks around. “We should be exiting warp in. . . now.”

“Oh hey,” says Mark, pulling out his computer. “I have internet!”

“That’s awesome,” says Julia. “Now please put the idiotic device somewhere where it won’t distract your little brain. I suggest the fusion chambers.”

Nicholas reaches over and plucks the tablet from Mark’s hands. “You two are incredibly immature,” he mutters.

“Me?” I ask, surprised. “I didn’t say anything.”

“Shut up, ya’ll,” says Julia. “We’re undocking.”

The moment the words are out of her mouth, the dropship lurches backwards, and the view from the cockpit slides from the light grey and white of the docking bay to the black expanse of space.

“Preform orbital intercept,” says Julia to the control panel. It lights up green.

“How many of you don’t know which squad you’re in?” she asks, slinging a gun over her shoulder. No hands go up.

“Good,” she says, forcing in some exaggerated relief. “The sergeants should be waiting on the field. Head over to them immediately and do not get distracted. That goes double for you, Marcus Macsomething.”

Mark glances at me, a pained expression on his face. Why, he mouths.

I'm surprised you said 'snippet' because that's exactly the word I use too lol

Edited June 29, 2018 by Earthlinger

[daniel l.]

Now, I wonder if I can get you guys' opinions on this.

For some time now, I've been working on a short novel as a means of building up a sci-fi universe to eventually write bigger stories in.

The story is quite simple: Tom Parnell, a young man straight out of flight school (for spacecraft) in the 23rd century, buys a century-old freighter called the Norfolk. This ship is vastly slower than the ships of Tom's present -- it lacks the engine upgrades provided by the Sundered (their actual name is unpronounceable) -- a long-lost offshoot of humanity, physiologically adapted to the dark, low-g environments of their homeworld in the Luhman 16 system (tall and skinny, large eyes, white/translucent skin). So Tom hires several of his friends as crew and embarks upon a mission to carry a valuable commodity from the Floater colonies on Venus to the Solarian/Sundered colony on Luna -- a dangerous trip, as Norfolk is incapable of taking the safe direct route, and thus instead must travel via old-fashioned orbital mechanics, which makes them vulnerable to pirates.

I'm attempting to avoid the 'hero' trope by making all the characters relatively flawed. And by putting all of them in their late teens or early twenties, I'm in a better position to write them competently -- and have it make more sense when they inevitably mess things up.

So basically, a bunch of youths buy a space jalopy and attempt to make money with it while dodging pirates and attempting to get into each other's pants.

In general, I'm aiming for a character-oriented story in the style of the pulp stories of yesteryear. The aim of the story itself is to flesh out the universe so later novels can have a better foundation to build their stories upon.

If anyone is interested, I can post the first two completed chapters for critique. I was working on the third chapter until I caught a cold a couple weeks ago, and it spoiled my mojo. If you guys are indeed interested, I could finish the novel. I'm aiming for 50k to 70k words.

Also, if anyone would like to collab on this, please PM me.

SPECIES GLOSSARY & LORE:

Solarian - Any human born within the Sol system of rootstock genetics. AKA, classical humans.

Sundered - A human offshoot from Luhman 16. Their ancestors were abducted from Earth by an unknown alien species approximately 100,000 years ago and enslaved for the amusement of their captors. Unfortunately for the aliens, the creatures they had taken weren't just another animal species, but an intelligent race in its early years -- the proto-Sundered managed to successfully rebel and drove their captors off the planet, they never returned. For millennia afterward, these people diverged from humans on Earth: Taller and skinnier due to low gravity, extremely pale skin due to the lighting conditions of their world (comparable to moonlight on Earth), larger eyes to see in the dark better, and are largely hairless due to the tropical climate of the planet (brown dwarves emit significantly more heat than light). Having had no culture or civilization to speak of at the time of their abduction, the Sundered developed entirely independent of Earth, and so the way they live and interact is almost entirely alien to Solarians -- though the feeling is mutual. the Sundered were reunited with their Solarian cousins when a probe from Earth entered their system and accidentally triggered the old alien defense systems, which destroyed the probe; in response, the United Nations of Earth sent a drone battlefleet which engaged and disabled the defenses, finally freeing the people from their world. Also due to these defenses, which targeted any surface establishment that drew too much attention to itself, the Sundered developed the habit of living discreetly, never using any sort of broadcast communications systems -- meaning they were never able to listen to or respond to Earth's own radio broadcasts.

Floater - A species of intelligent, airborne plants. The floaters thrive in warm, thick, carbon dioxide-rich atmospheres. So it was no surprise to humanity in the 22nd century that when a generation ship inhabited by Floaters arrived in the Sol system and opened communications with the United Nations of Earth, their first paragraph after a customary greeting had been to ask if they could colonize Venus. In return, they offered a cultural exchange and access to the technology of their ship -- though it was hardly more advanced than the Solarians own tech. As Floaters age, they shed their extremely durable skins, which settle on the surface of Venus; these skins are extremely valuable in the Solarian economy due to their durability and aesthetic qualities, so much effort is made to harvest them from the surface before the heat ruins them (a Floater skin can last up to a month on the surface).

 

As you can see, I've already fleshed out this universe quite a bit.

Edited June 30, 2018 by daniel l.

[Bill Phil]

1 hour ago, daniel l. said:

-snip-

Sounds interesting. I'd love to see what you've got so far.

[daniel l.]

Just now, Bill Phil said:

Sounds interesting. I'd love to see what you've got so far.

Thanks.

I'll go over the first two chapters, give them a quick edit to fix any major typos and other problems -- they're in the first draft stage.

I should have them posted on here within an hour.

[daniel l.]

@Bill Phil

Okay. Here's chapter 1, after a quick polish.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1atJnPdK7BlEpo6-fu29J0cwrgAxg_8B9-8lUHEdPxvY/edit?usp=sharing

Chapter 2 will probably take a little while longer. A lot of it could be kinda dubious now that I've looked at it -- I'm following the writing technique of "Just write everything, then edit."

Edited June 30, 2018 by daniel l.

[SiriusRocketry]

Super interesting, @daniel l.

[daniel l.]

Just now, SiriusRocketry said:

Super interesting, @daniel l.

Thanks.

I'll give chapter 2 the fixing it needs, post it tomorrow, and get back to work on chapter 3!

I hope you guys like the novel itself -- though it's purpose is mainly to build the world so I can place bigger, more important stories in it without self-contradiction.

[SiriusRocketry]

I love the sense of world building in the novel so far, and the reverence that the Norfolk gains.

[daniel l.]

Okay. So I've finished editing chapter 2, and I think I've gotten it pretty polished.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1BzR7FUu4ekT3lGDfXvdlWxauIAhiYtg3U4Ik74YY8U0/edit?usp=sharing

For the record, this chapter introduces a lot of new characters (some of whom belong to demographics I'm largely inexperienced with, I hope I've written them in a respectful manner), and I've deliberately given the protagonist a few major flaws as well. Also, there's a bit of profanity -- I prefer realism

Please, do not mistake this story for something in the YA genre. While the characters are a bunch of young men and women, and they're going on an adventure...

Spoiler

A good comparison for this story would be the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "Valiant", rather than The Hardy Boys. Needless to say, these guys don't really know what they're doing!

 

 

[HansonKerman]

Hmm... weird title.

Aanywaay...

I'm writing Project Seeker, a story about... oops, can't tell you yet. Um, it's not great, as it's being written by someone in elementary school, but it has lots of fourth wall breaches and me in it! Oh, and Lucida Sans Unicode is prominent.

 

Oh, and sorry for the off-topic-ness, but what does PM mean?

Edited July 1, 2018 by HansonKerman

[Spaceception]

@daniel l. I really like the Sundered species. And it's a clever way of implementing the old conspiracies of Alien abductions. They wanted to see how their original ancestors adapted on Earth. I wonder what people had to say about that

Anyway, the idea and story sounds pretty interesting.

[adsii1970]

20 minutes ago, Spaceception said:

@daniel l. I really like the Sundered species. And it's a clever way of implementing the old conspiracies of Alien abductions. They wanted to see how their original ancestors adapted on Earth. I wonder what people had to say about that

Anyway, the idea and story sounds pretty interesting.

But there are a lot of stories about these "alien zoo" scenarios. There's an episode of Star Trek (TOS), The Twilight Zone, and even The Outer Limits have dealt with this very topic. And that's just the first three that come to mind. If I recall, the movie Predator was also along the same idea, but the aliens there simply hunted and killed various species of sentient alien life for sport. While it can be a fun idea to play with, I'd be careful with it because it has been done so much - and some well and some not so well done. 

The main problem with writing anything with anyone else is it is hard for the work to be fluid. This is why even though this thread exists, there's been little effort in doing a collaborative story.

[daniel l.]

8 hours ago, Spaceception said:

@daniel l. I really like the Sundered species. And it's a clever way of implementing the old conspiracies of Alien abductions. They wanted to see how their original ancestors adapted on Earth. I wonder what people had to say about that

Anyway, the idea and story sounds pretty interesting.

Thanks.

Once I finish with this first novel, The Venus-Luna Run, I plan on perhaps writing a few novellas and short stories to cover the lore. It is my hope to make something as extensive as the works of Niven or Banks.

[HansonKerman]

On 7/2/2018 at 6:07 PM, daniel l. said:

Thanks.

Once I finish with this first novel, The Venus-Luna Run, I plan on perhaps writing a few novellas and short stories to cover the lore. It is my hope to make something as extensive as the works of Niven or Banks.

Fun! P.S. I sentt you a message

Edited July 3, 2018 by HansonKerman

[KerbolExplorer]

I'm currently writing a novel were a kerbal gets stranded on an alien world and has to survive while on kerbing a deadly zombie apocalypse is about to start.Well I'm actually kinda close to finishing the story.Maybe 10 more chapters?. I'm aswell already have an idea for my next novel.its going to be called surviving Duna.So you kinda have an idea of how the novel is going to be about.

[NSEP]

I am thinking of making a story about life in a generation (?) ship, and colonizing exoplanets.

Its not really a generation ship, the ship only travels for 50 years.

Maybe im not going to make it a story but i will for sure do some cool math.

[Bill Phil]

On 7/16/2018 at 2:56 PM, NSEP said:

I am thinking of making a story about life in a generation (?) ship, and colonizing exoplanets.

Its not really a generation ship, the ship only travels for 50 years.

Maybe im not going to make it a story but i will for sure do some cool math.

This gives me an idea...

What if we had a kind of fantasy world, that was realistic. We could have a whole "Lord of the Rings" style thing happen, and then a big reveal that the world is actually a generation ship on a thousand year journey to... say... Trappist-1 (why not?). 

Probably not a new idea, but then again, what is?