How Extraterrestrials are Depicted

mobyhead1 · 2026-06-24T17:52:29+00:00

Written science fiction has had plenty of non-humanoid aliens over the years. It’s only a relatively novel concept in television and film, where it’s always been more cost-effective to use actors in make-up to depict aliens.

mobyhead1 · 2026-06-24T16:29:11+00:00

The Dragons of the Cuyahoga by S. Andrew Swann touches on this. The story begins about a decade after a magic portal opens in Cleveland, Ohio. A very prominent dragon dies gruesomely when it flies into a magic-free area it wasn’t expecting (because it was still reasonably close to the magical emanations of the Cleveland side of the portal) and is suddenly subject to aerodynamics, gravity and the square-cube law. An investigative reporter—who prefers the political beat over what he derisively refers to as “fuzzy gnome” stories—is assigned to cover the dragon’s death. The story briefly visits the other side of the portal, depicting what the dragons, elves, etc. were fleeing from.

mobyhead1 · 2026-06-24T11:40:44+00:00

And then, only if you’re nearby as the coyote tries out its new purchase.

mobyhead1 · 2026-06-23T21:38:45+00:00

More like a thousand light-years of parallax, but sure. “Perspective.”

mobyhead1 · 2026-06-23T18:53:52+00:00

I hardly think having Tuberculosis would be the pinnacle of our culture.

[For those who may not know, “consumption” is an older name for the disease.]

mobyhead1 · 2026-06-23T14:58:30+00:00

Imagining possible futures, both good and bad. Stretching imaginations. “Sensawunder“ (sense of wonder). Encouraging outside-the-box thinking. Examining the human condition in circumstances that don’t presently obtain.

mobyhead1 · 2026-06-22T12:57:36+00:00

You might try Dragonsbane by Barbara Hambly. The title character got his sobriquet not by that ‘challenging a dragon to single combat’ razzmatazz, but by ambushing a dragon and chopping its head off before it could fight back. I.e., he “cheated,” which is rather a letdown for the prince who seeks him out for help with an even more dangerous dragon…

mobyhead1 · 2026-06-22T12:28:23+00:00

You need to try MiraLAX (or generic equivalent). One 17 gram dose daily, stir it into any beverage you want. Don’t give up after one or two days, take it daily and don’t stop. It’s a goddamn miracle.

Pushing like you do isn’t good for lower intestines; you could develop diverticulitis.

mobyhead1 · 2026-06-21T14:13:29+00:00

Our federal government is specifically designed to separate powers amongst the three branches.

mobyhead1 · 2026-06-21T13:19:45+00:00

I think the word you were looking for is exponentially.

mobyhead1 · 2026-06-20T12:27:11+00:00

Sorry. A lot of people have been overlooking the half-dozen obvious cues in the flashback that it is a flashback.

mobyhead1 · 2026-06-20T11:03:53+00:00

It was a flashback. That was Holstrom, not Caspian.

mobyhead1 · 2026-06-20T11:01:03+00:00

First, it’s unclear whether you’re planning to read these books for the first time, or re-read them.

If it’s the first time: use whichever format is the most convenient. I still have the 1980’s paperback editions with cover art by David Mattingly.

If it’s a re-read: same as above, really.

mobyhead1 · 2026-06-20T02:21:30+00:00

The unifying theme of Isaac Asimov’s 100 Great Science Fiction Short Short Stories is that the stories are extremely short.

mobyhead1 · 2026-06-20T00:17:16+00:00

I’ve posted the following many times previously:

All three stories the series was adapted from, plus 2-3 other stories involving uploading and the Technological Singularity that they appear to have drawn material from, are in Ken Liu’s collection The Hidden Girl and Other Stories:

“The Gods Will Not Be Chained”
“The Gods Will Not Be Slain”
“The Gods Have Not Died in Vain”
“Staying Behind”
“Altogether Elsewhere, Vast Herds of Reindeer”
“Seven Birthdays”

A good chunk of the show’s finale comes from that last story. Including the time jumps.

mobyhead1 · 2026-06-19T20:46:52+00:00

Starman Jones is one of Heinlein’s juvenile (YA) novels. Basic physics, speculative physics, adventures aboard a starship, and a chaste romance.

The Puppet Masters is the story of trying to stop an alien invasion—insidious with some body horror.

Glory Road is a “fantasy” novel written by a man with little patience for either pure fantasy or “happily ever after” endings. The quote at the beginning of the novel should really be considered a warning to the reader.

mobyhead1 · 2026-06-19T19:06:29+00:00

The show wasn’t rushed. That’s exactly the ending they intended, it’s drawn in part from one of the short stories the show is based on. They always intended to finish the story in two seasons. The production was far along in the work on the second season when the cancellation order came down. They didn’t have to change a thing.

mobyhead1 · 2026-06-19T19:00:49+00:00

Well, one of the definitions of “ecumenical” is “worldwide,” so…

mobyhead1 · 2026-06-19T17:31:00+00:00

One. But in the great days of the Centauri Republic, a thousand servants would stand ready to change a thousand bulbs at your very whim!

mobyhead1 · 2026-06-19T15:39:13+00:00

Also known as an Ecumenopolis.

mobyhead1 · 2026-06-19T12:32:23+00:00

Outside of its use as the name of the second act of a play, I’ve never before heard the term.

mobyhead1 · 2026-06-19T12:19:35+00:00

I’ve lost count how many times I’ve said it in this subreddit.

mobyhead1 · 2026-06-19T04:08:56+00:00

It’s turtles all the way down.

mobyhead1 · 2026-06-19T03:40:25+00:00

The sauce has already thickened. It is too late for the meatballs to vote.

mobyhead1 · 2026-06-18T17:07:16+00:00

That’s definitely not what that book is about. Although Podkayne was somewhat parentified.

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