#Tag
We are delighted to announce the selection of two new Otherwise Fellows: illustrator and animator Aude Abou Nasr and author Ayida Shonibar @ayidashonibar .
https://otherwiseaward.org/2026/02/announcing-2025-otherwise-fellows
#SFF #illustration #fantasy #ChildrensLiterature #sciencefiction #horror
We are delighted to announce the selection of two new Otherwise Fellows: illustrator and animator Aude Abou Nasr and author Ayida Shonibar @ayidashonibar .
https://otherwiseaward.org/2026/02/announcing-2025-otherwise-fellows
#SFF #illustration #fantasy #ChildrensLiterature #sciencefiction #horror
Copying a little rant I made over on Bluesky yesterday, prompted by the attached Edna Mode "No pylons!" meme: https://bsky.app/profile/michaelhans.com/post/3mdvfjk3rgk2u
Honestly, this has been bugging me ever since Discovery jumped forward. To me, it's exemplary of the "designed to look cool" mindset rather than the "designed to make some amount of (even science-fictional) sense" mindset.
Has anyone done a treknobabble deep-dive into how these designs function?
It just reminds me of how Matt Jeffries originally put a lot of thought and drew upon his aviation background to create a design that made logical sense even when depending upon technologies that didn't exist yet: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Enterprise_(NCC-1701)#Concept_and_initial_design
It was one of the things that really drew me into Trek when I was a kid (as evidenced by the various blueprints and technical manuals still on my bookshelves). There was a believable, logical solidity to the designs. Yes, they looked cool, but they also made sense.
These new designs with nacelles just floating near the ship don't do the same thing for me. They don't look like something that makes _sense_, they look like something that looks _neat_. It moves Star Trek away from science fiction and into the realm of the science fantasy of Star Wars.
Are there still engineering sections? Is there a centralized warp core containing and distributing the power from the dilithium crystals? We know those are still necessary for warp flight, after all, so they must be powered and managed in some way. If so, how does that power get to those nacelles?
What benefits are there to the floating nacelle design? How are they serviced, especially in emergency situations? What if the transporter isn't working (a long-standing Trek tradition, after all)? Having critical ship's infrastructure physically disconnected seems like a big potential liability.
And speaking of the transporter, that also seems to have crossed over into "magic" territory. People just blip in and out, and there doesn't even seem to be anything triggering it in most situations. I can go with the system being smart enough not to beam someone into an otherwise occupied space, but it sure seems like it would be startling to have people suddenly popping into existence at any random point and time. If I was doing something critical, I'm not sure I'd want to have a sudden *pwoof* startling me just because someone beamed in unexpectedly.
Picard's open "transporter doorways" really bugged me. There were people walking in and out of them from both directions, and yet nobody ever collided. People would constantly be bouncing off someone just coming out of or heading towards one of those portals! Those were entirely nonsensical.
I want a universe I can believe in. Things can even look cool; I'm not opposed to that! But even a far-future science fictional universe has to have some underlying logic and thought to make it believable, otherwise it's just magic without boundaries or limitations.
So, Star Trek tech geeks: What's the underlying logic and technobabble that makes these designs functionally believable? What makes them science fiction and not science fantasy?
#StarTrek #DIS #TOS #PIC #SNW #SFA #ScienceFiction #SciFi #ScienceFantasy
Copying a little rant I made over on Bluesky yesterday, prompted by the attached Edna Mode "No pylons!" meme: https://bsky.app/profile/michaelhans.com/post/3mdvfjk3rgk2u
Honestly, this has been bugging me ever since Discovery jumped forward. To me, it's exemplary of the "designed to look cool" mindset rather than the "designed to make some amount of (even science-fictional) sense" mindset.
Has anyone done a treknobabble deep-dive into how these designs function?
It just reminds me of how Matt Jeffries originally put a lot of thought and drew upon his aviation background to create a design that made logical sense even when depending upon technologies that didn't exist yet: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Enterprise_(NCC-1701)#Concept_and_initial_design
It was one of the things that really drew me into Trek when I was a kid (as evidenced by the various blueprints and technical manuals still on my bookshelves). There was a believable, logical solidity to the designs. Yes, they looked cool, but they also made sense.
These new designs with nacelles just floating near the ship don't do the same thing for me. They don't look like something that makes _sense_, they look like something that looks _neat_. It moves Star Trek away from science fiction and into the realm of the science fantasy of Star Wars.
Are there still engineering sections? Is there a centralized warp core containing and distributing the power from the dilithium crystals? We know those are still necessary for warp flight, after all, so they must be powered and managed in some way. If so, how does that power get to those nacelles?
What benefits are there to the floating nacelle design? How are they serviced, especially in emergency situations? What if the transporter isn't working (a long-standing Trek tradition, after all)? Having critical ship's infrastructure physically disconnected seems like a big potential liability.
And speaking of the transporter, that also seems to have crossed over into "magic" territory. People just blip in and out, and there doesn't even seem to be anything triggering it in most situations. I can go with the system being smart enough not to beam someone into an otherwise occupied space, but it sure seems like it would be startling to have people suddenly popping into existence at any random point and time. If I was doing something critical, I'm not sure I'd want to have a sudden *pwoof* startling me just because someone beamed in unexpectedly.
Picard's open "transporter doorways" really bugged me. There were people walking in and out of them from both directions, and yet nobody ever collided. People would constantly be bouncing off someone just coming out of or heading towards one of those portals! Those were entirely nonsensical.
I want a universe I can believe in. Things can even look cool; I'm not opposed to that! But even a far-future science fictional universe has to have some underlying logic and thought to make it believable, otherwise it's just magic without boundaries or limitations.
So, Star Trek tech geeks: What's the underlying logic and technobabble that makes these designs functionally believable? What makes them science fiction and not science fantasy?
#StarTrek #DIS #TOS #PIC #SNW #SFA #ScienceFiction #SciFi #ScienceFantasy
RE: https://mstdn.social/@Tiylaya/115954874077969692
In case anyone missed it last week... #StarTrek #Exoplanets #Science #ScienceFiction
Today in the #CosmicStories blog, we take a look at the #ScienceandSF of #Exoplanets through the lens of a case study: #StarTrek and its spin offs. Featuring #astronomy, #ScienceFiction, desert worlds, water planets, giants, and lots of Star Trek. Comments welcome!
RE: https://mstdn.social/@Tiylaya/115954874077969692
In case anyone missed it last week... #StarTrek #Exoplanets #Science #ScienceFiction
Today in the #CosmicStories blog, we take a look at the #ScienceandSF of #Exoplanets through the lens of a case study: #StarTrek and its spin offs. Featuring #astronomy, #ScienceFiction, desert worlds, water planets, giants, and lots of Star Trek. Comments welcome!
Today would have been Elisabeth Sladen’s 80th birthday - an important part of many of our childhoods #DoctorWho #sciencefiction #poetry #dalek
Today would have been Elisabeth Sladen’s 80th birthday - an important part of many of our childhoods #DoctorWho #sciencefiction #poetry #dalek
Warum boomt fantastische Literatur in China? Dieser Frage geht Jun.-Prof. Dr. Jessica Imbach, #Sinologie, nach. Im Interview erzählt sie, wie das Genre neue Denkräume im autoritären China eröffnet und welche Rolle digitale Fangemeinden spielen. Zum Interview: https://ufr.link/chinesische-fantasy
#universitätfreiburg #unifreiburg #forschung #sinologie #fantasy #sciencefiction
FAHRENHEIT 451 (2020)
Acrylic on Gessobord - 24" x 36"
Often the path to a successful cover isn't a straight line. That was certainly the case illustrating Ray Bradbury's iconic novel. 1/7
FAHRENHEIT 451 (2020)
Acrylic on Gessobord - 24" x 36"
Often the path to a successful cover isn't a straight line. That was certainly the case illustrating Ray Bradbury's iconic novel. 1/7
Warum boomt fantastische Literatur in China? Dieser Frage geht Jun.-Prof. Dr. Jessica Imbach, #Sinologie, nach. Im Interview erzählt sie, wie das Genre neue Denkräume im autoritären China eröffnet und welche Rolle digitale Fangemeinden spielen. Zum Interview: https://ufr.link/chinesische-fantasy
#universitätfreiburg #unifreiburg #forschung #sinologie #fantasy #sciencefiction
Cool #scifi short film alert!
A man possesses a device enabling him to jump through time and space.
He just has to work out the kinks...
"Jumper"
Cool #scifi short film alert!
A man possesses a device enabling him to jump through time and space.
He just has to work out the kinks...
"Jumper"
Kinderbücher, Thriller, Science Fiction oder Fantasy - der Amazon-Selfpublisher-Markt ist voller KI-Schrott. Timo Kümmel über die systematische Täuschung und Abzocke, die dringend reguliert werden müsste. #sfcd #kuenstlicheintelligenz #generativeKI #sciencefiction #fantasy #literatur
Generative KI: Miese Täuschung...
Kinderbücher, Thriller, Science Fiction oder Fantasy - der Amazon-Selfpublisher-Markt ist voller KI-Schrott. Timo Kümmel über die systematische Täuschung und Abzocke, die dringend reguliert werden müsste. #sfcd #kuenstlicheintelligenz #generativeKI #sciencefiction #fantasy #literatur
Generative KI: Miese Täuschung...
#WritersCoffeeClub Jan. 25 – What comes first - character, setting, or plot?
With #historicalFiction character and setting tend to come first in a sticky tangle with each other, and plot generally comes last and requires the most development. For instance, the big WIP had characters/setting first in the form of an ancient Koreanic queen and the people around her. The plot has been developing for 10+ years and many drafts, and is nowhere near done.
With my #scienceFiction ideas setting seems to come first, then plot, and finally characters to fit the plot. My recent "fuck Mars settlement" short is typical in starting out with a setting, with characters slowly arising out of plot development and the writing process.
Aujourd'hui sur Blog à part – Altermonde
Cette chronique de la bande dessinée Altermonde ne parle pas de prog, même si l’année est 2112, mais de dérèglements climatiques, de mégafeux et de survie.
