Have you read Niven's detective stories (set in the same universe as Ringworld). There's some fun with how teleportation affects murder investigation ('The Alibi Machine"). IIRC Niven cited the transfer booths as one of the main obstacles to creating stories in the universe. I don't think he quite solved it.
I don't think I knew they existed!! Gonna go dig them up now, I love the ringworld universe. I haven't read all of the man-kzin wars books either since sometimes they're hard to get ahold of, but I enjoy the ones I have.
I've always thought storytelling is essential for how we humans make sense of the world.
You ask, "What are you working on? Does it help you learn?" I'm finishing up a post for my travel blog and as part of it, I've learned about the Colossus of Constantine (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colossus_of_Constantine).
Oh fun!! I'm actually going to Italy tomorrow for a work thing but alas I won't be able to make it to a Rome... Got to teach my son all about the pillars of Hercules and Gilbraltr and the Atlas Mountains today because he was listening to an audiobook about the labors of Heracles today, tho!
Yes!! All I ever want to do is learn/write about things I'm curious about, it's the best way I've found to keep life interesting. One great example is I started working on a science fiction novel around the time I got interested in astro & quantum physics. I don't even remember which came first, the story or the curiosity!
I have to keep reminding myself that it's ok not to be an expert in any of these things in order to write about them... I always want to go way too deep which feels kind of inefficient in the long run.
I looked up the paper on narrative creativity. Its threefold practice ("The first uses narrative techniques to help the mind imagine new environments; the second, to help the mind imagine from different perspectives; and the third, to help the mind imagine possible future actions") is at least portable...
I just read Job by Heinlein, it was better than the other pulp sci fi of the 50s and 60s that I pulled out of a bargain bin, but still feels so dated! Comparatively, I recently borrowed a library book called Loki’s ring (think a ring world visited by salvagers and then fought over by various agencies, but the protagonists are lesbian, Indian, Matriarch’s who are more interested in the rights of the A.I. individuals who are trapped on the ring) the book itself was just alright, but following it with 60s sci fi feels sooooooo for lack of a better word yuck.
I liked Job well enough back when I read it, but yeah a lot of the old stuff is painful. I had a heck of a time trying to re-read the Honor Harrington books awhile back. The world (and I) has just changed so much. that said, I've been on a real "books about space salvagers" kick lately and you might enjoy Architecs of Memory by Karen Osborne. It's got a sort of Murderbot feel, although it veers off into star-crossed saccharine lesbian romance at odd turns.
Job is a spiritual journey through rapture, heaven, hell and beyond (the characters all quote Dante and Milton as the guide books of the after word.) It was readable, but maybe only because of star author power
The Cat Who Walks Through Walls - What an unfortunate way to start your Heinlein experience. I was the right age and temperament to start with his juveniles which is a much better entry path. I've always thought his later works suffered in part because of his health problems and because he had reached the point in his career where editors were reluctant to challenge him.
Still one of my favorite and long time most influential authors. A major contributor to teaching me how to think.
What's funny is we even owned the juveniles, which I read later... but somehow I started THOSE with "The Door Into Summer" which is really creepy. It really is a miracle I ended up reading all of his books, lmao. To Sail Beyond the Sunset is probably my favorite, mostly because it's one of the only scifi books I've ever read where a majority of the text is focused on a female character being good at traditional female things in an engaging way. Sad how rare that is :(
I didn't appreciate the creepy elements of "Door Into Summer" when I first read it. Th advantage of reading many books when you're still quite naive about the world. Most of Heinlein's books are my "comfort reading"; I'll pick them up and reread them when I simply want to escape the real world. Something that seems to be more necessary of late. Hard to pick a single favorite.
I suspect it might have gone over my head a bit more if I hadn't my godfather hadn't constantly made "jokes" about marrying me when I grew up while dating women closer to my age (~10) than his (~40) 😅
Yes, indeed! It's surprising how much of my earliest education in science and physics (and tactical knowledge and survival skills) came from the science fiction I read as a kid in the 1960s. Many authors put good science into their writing (Asimov and Clarke are perhaps tops on that list). That seems less common now — well typified by the bullshit "science" in most media SF these days — "science" that is little more than plot magic.
There still is some good hard SF around. Neal Stephenson and Robert J. Sawyer, for instance, have turned out some well-grounded work (and both are here on Substack).
A lot of early Heinlein is among the SF classics, but a lot hasn't aged well, and just about everything from SiaSL on is self-indulgent twaddle from a decaying mind.
Teleportation is also in a number of Niven's short stores where he explores some consequences of cheap and easy teleportation. For instance, huge mobs can show up at any interesting event publicized by official announcement or by private messages. Or a murder can be half a world away by the time the body is discovered. (Fortunately, perhaps, it's likely impossible, even in principle, to ever teleport a complex object. Individual particles is probably all that's possible.)
I think step one is figuring out what kinda of things you enjoy reading, and whether you enjoy writing things too, or even telling silly stories out loud. There are lots and lots of right answers, just depends on your interests. Happy to help!
Have you read Niven's detective stories (set in the same universe as Ringworld). There's some fun with how teleportation affects murder investigation ('The Alibi Machine"). IIRC Niven cited the transfer booths as one of the main obstacles to creating stories in the universe. I don't think he quite solved it.
I don't think I knew they existed!! Gonna go dig them up now, I love the ringworld universe. I haven't read all of the man-kzin wars books either since sometimes they're hard to get ahold of, but I enjoy the ones I have.
I've always thought storytelling is essential for how we humans make sense of the world.
You ask, "What are you working on? Does it help you learn?" I'm finishing up a post for my travel blog and as part of it, I've learned about the Colossus of Constantine (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colossus_of_Constantine).
Oh fun!! I'm actually going to Italy tomorrow for a work thing but alas I won't be able to make it to a Rome... Got to teach my son all about the pillars of Hercules and Gilbraltr and the Atlas Mountains today because he was listening to an audiobook about the labors of Heracles today, tho!
Italy! So jealous!
Yes!! All I ever want to do is learn/write about things I'm curious about, it's the best way I've found to keep life interesting. One great example is I started working on a science fiction novel around the time I got interested in astro & quantum physics. I don't even remember which came first, the story or the curiosity!
I have to keep reminding myself that it's ok not to be an expert in any of these things in order to write about them... I always want to go way too deep which feels kind of inefficient in the long run.
I looked up the paper on narrative creativity. Its threefold practice ("The first uses narrative techniques to help the mind imagine new environments; the second, to help the mind imagine from different perspectives; and the third, to help the mind imagine possible future actions") is at least portable...
Re Schrödinger: Is the cat not an observer?
Thank you for your learning-in-public.
I just read Job by Heinlein, it was better than the other pulp sci fi of the 50s and 60s that I pulled out of a bargain bin, but still feels so dated! Comparatively, I recently borrowed a library book called Loki’s ring (think a ring world visited by salvagers and then fought over by various agencies, but the protagonists are lesbian, Indian, Matriarch’s who are more interested in the rights of the A.I. individuals who are trapped on the ring) the book itself was just alright, but following it with 60s sci fi feels sooooooo for lack of a better word yuck.
I liked Job well enough back when I read it, but yeah a lot of the old stuff is painful. I had a heck of a time trying to re-read the Honor Harrington books awhile back. The world (and I) has just changed so much. that said, I've been on a real "books about space salvagers" kick lately and you might enjoy Architecs of Memory by Karen Osborne. It's got a sort of Murderbot feel, although it veers off into star-crossed saccharine lesbian romance at odd turns.
Job is a spiritual journey through rapture, heaven, hell and beyond (the characters all quote Dante and Milton as the guide books of the after word.) It was readable, but maybe only because of star author power
The Cat Who Walks Through Walls - What an unfortunate way to start your Heinlein experience. I was the right age and temperament to start with his juveniles which is a much better entry path. I've always thought his later works suffered in part because of his health problems and because he had reached the point in his career where editors were reluctant to challenge him.
Still one of my favorite and long time most influential authors. A major contributor to teaching me how to think.
What's funny is we even owned the juveniles, which I read later... but somehow I started THOSE with "The Door Into Summer" which is really creepy. It really is a miracle I ended up reading all of his books, lmao. To Sail Beyond the Sunset is probably my favorite, mostly because it's one of the only scifi books I've ever read where a majority of the text is focused on a female character being good at traditional female things in an engaging way. Sad how rare that is :(
I didn't appreciate the creepy elements of "Door Into Summer" when I first read it. Th advantage of reading many books when you're still quite naive about the world. Most of Heinlein's books are my "comfort reading"; I'll pick them up and reread them when I simply want to escape the real world. Something that seems to be more necessary of late. Hard to pick a single favorite.
I suspect it might have gone over my head a bit more if I hadn't my godfather hadn't constantly made "jokes" about marrying me when I grew up while dating women closer to my age (~10) than his (~40) 😅
Did you formally learn how to write creatively or did you DIY-story writing?
Yes, indeed! It's surprising how much of my earliest education in science and physics (and tactical knowledge and survival skills) came from the science fiction I read as a kid in the 1960s. Many authors put good science into their writing (Asimov and Clarke are perhaps tops on that list). That seems less common now — well typified by the bullshit "science" in most media SF these days — "science" that is little more than plot magic.
There still is some good hard SF around. Neal Stephenson and Robert J. Sawyer, for instance, have turned out some well-grounded work (and both are here on Substack).
A lot of early Heinlein is among the SF classics, but a lot hasn't aged well, and just about everything from SiaSL on is self-indulgent twaddle from a decaying mind.
Teleportation is also in a number of Niven's short stores where he explores some consequences of cheap and easy teleportation. For instance, huge mobs can show up at any interesting event publicized by official announcement or by private messages. Or a murder can be half a world away by the time the body is discovered. (Fortunately, perhaps, it's likely impossible, even in principle, to ever teleport a complex object. Individual particles is probably all that's possible.)
I really want to try writing fiction but have zero background in it. Any suggestions on how to even start?
I think step one is figuring out what kinda of things you enjoy reading, and whether you enjoy writing things too, or even telling silly stories out loud. There are lots and lots of right answers, just depends on your interests. Happy to help!
Hmm been on a non fiction kick for the past few years. Maybe that’s signal for “not right now”. Lol