It is just crazy to see so many of these two kinds of posts:
"I am SO sorry that Imp is right, but he really is. Here is an example:"
and
"Fuck Imp! Fuck him to death with a pineapple!"
Otherwise Australia would literally be run by foreign nations.
What could we even learn from that?
Besides if that actually happened, I think I would have learned about it in school!
Stick with it. It gets steadily better as the author finds their voice. More of the universe gets explained as things happen.
Enjoy.
I have been thinking about what to recommend for you.
Try Black Ocean: Galaxy Outlaws by J.S. Morin.
It is space opera in the best way. Interstellar travel is made possible by wizards or enchanted star drives.
Imagine if you needed to have a Jedi onboard to jump to light speed, or a FTL drive made and maintained by Jedi.
The magic is great, the tech makes sense and the whole thing takes place on a ship full of interesting characters as they try to make their way. The author was clearly inspired by StarWars and Firefly. They do a great job of pulling it together.
There is an audiobook omnibus if you prefer that or you can pick up the kindle versions for reasonable prices.
Tell me if this hits the spot, because I thought about it pretty hard!
The products of your labor belongs to the a workers, Comrade!
Were you to keep anything for yourself, that would be cheating the Workers and trading in the Black Market! It would be the gulag for you!
How about SF dressed up as fantasy?
"The Magic Goes Away" by Larry Niven. It is hard SF in a magical setting.
Now you want to SAVE Lincoln?
Well, this is awkward.
The very early ones don't suck as much. Eventually Piers Anthony wrote one or so a year and just stuck to a formula.
The aforementioned precocious, nubile tweens show up a lot. They are (relatively) innocent, but there are a couple plot points that revolve around relationships or kissing or something with girls of about ten or so. It isn't filthy, but ... yeah. It hits differently today.
The first one is the Blue Adept series. I don't know about the second one.
Piers Anthony was not a great author. Eventually he discovered that he got paid by the word and churned out huge tomes of low-effort crap.
His most successful series is a fantasy setting called Xanith or something close. It is about adventures in a magical kingdom where most of the magic is based on puns. Piers writes long, 'educational forwards' that don't age well.
I can recommend other, better series. Try out Dungeon Crawler Carl.
Was that written before or after Piers Anthony wrote a lot of books prominently featuring precocious, nubile tweens?
I think you are talking about the Incantations of Immortality, which I have read, or Blue Adept, which I have not read.
Incarnations of Immortality starts well, but every book is worse than the last.
Have you read "Protector" by Larry Niven?
It is a first contact story, where an alien ship enters the Sol system with a single occupant.
It turns out the pilot is a super-intelligent humanoid on a mission. The alien is soon dead, but the Belter who made contact with him is changed forever and becomes the Protector of the human race.
It is an older book and from early in Niven's career before he discovered swinging and got weird. At the height of his power Niven was a great author, and this is one of his better works.
Larry Niven writes great aliens.
Niven and Pournelle co-wrote "The Mote in God's Eye"; the best first contact book ever. The aliens are very alien.
In Larry Niven's Known Space universe there are the Man-Kizin Wars.
There are very good reasons for most aliens having a compatible biology (I'll tell you if you like) and the Kizin are pretty great as an alien species. They have a lot more in common with panthers than they do with humans.
Lets make a new country for them! We shall call it Liberia 2.0!
You ded?
The Expanse universe is mostly cribbed from Larry Niven's Sol System from his Known Space universe.
The politics of the Belt vs "flatlanders", the issues of water, radiation and gravity to conceive and birth children. Niven even wrote about the conflicts arising between an established terrestrial economy and a developing belt economy. He put a lot of thought and writing about the asymmetrical conflict between belters in small ships (with a lot of skill) vs bigger ships with specialized weapon systems.
Niven went into rapid decline after he discovered swinging. At least his career wasn't long enough for him to get woke?
So you are saying you liked E3 before it was one giant gay op to manipulate the media through a complicit gaming press?
Okay, what kind of dinosaur were you riding?
Hey, If I were king of the world, I'd fortify the shit out of every election!
Hell, I'd convene meetings in private rooms of expensive clubs and hand out cigars just to get the smoky, dimly lit atmosphere conducive to proper fortification planning.
I don't see why I'd be surprised that the ruling elite is doing exactly what I would do.
I am Imagining one of those built to serve a one megawatt turbine ...
It would be the stuff of legends. I imagine the belts would fly off within the first day.
DC power cannot be transmitted over long distances.
You sure about that, bro?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-voltage_direct_current
Admittedly, HVDC Transmission was not possible in the early 20th century when electrification was taking place. It is possible now.
HVDC Transmission is not at all suitable for suburb or street level power transmission.
Generating 50 cycle electricity mechanically requires something to spin magnets near conductors at some multiple of 50 hertz.
That would require a complex mechanical drive, which would be both expensive and unreliable.
Instead it would be done with power electronics. MOSFETs and capacitors.
Capacitors are expensive and have a limited life. You replace the power electronics periodically and amortize the replacement cost over every watt generated.
It would be possible to design the power electronics to be reconditioned. That is the way it used to be done in the 60s and 70s. An older design like this would use huge, heavy coils, which last a long time and (depending on the design) can be re-wound.
What shade of lipstick did you use?
Seriously? Angela Knight thinks that we should elect the President of All Gamers so gamers, as a group can have legitimacy? That is a galaxy brain take.
It is crystal clear that Angela has never spent a single moment on any of the Chans. Statements can be evaluated on their own merit. Engage with ideas, challenge ideas.
This whole "oh, if you don't have a leader, then you don't have a point" is beyond stupid.
A major part of GamerGate is that the people who put themselves forward as Leaders of Gamers were corrupt and were using their popularity to push an agenda. The gaming press WERE NOT gamers and did not like or understand gamers. From this gamers, as a group, distrust people to speak for us. If you you want to find out what a gamer thinks, ask them.
It is becoming clear that Angela thinks with her feelings.
Fuck the whole "clout chasing" phenomenon.
Listening to your interview it seems that Angela is struggling with a definition of "gamer" on which to base the gamer community.
The only definition that really matters is: How many hours do you spend gaming?
People who spend more than 20 hours a week, lets call them hardcore gamers, contribute the vast majority of resources to the gaming industry.
Lets restate that. Hardcore gamers spend enough money to make the gaming industry bigger than Hollywood, pro sports and publishing combined.
Hardcore Gamers were the targets of the evil smears of the media during GamerGate.
How fucking unrealistic! As if women would take turns letting the alpha chad ride them like a skateboard!