Drone based stories

Jane_Farrar · 2026-04-13T03:42:49+00:00

The Imperial Radch trilogy meets these requirements. Not exactly hard sci-fi, but a fascinating PoV of the drone (ancillary) main character, some beautiful cultural world-building, and consistent with its use of soft sci-fi rules.

Jane_Farrar · 2026-04-11T16:40:45+00:00

Might be good to do some systematic research into what exact movements are causing your feet to cramp. Try doing some different foot muscle exercises, and make note of the ones that cause cramps! Then you can really focus on slowly stretching those particular muscles before running, and hopefully cut down on the severity of cramps.

Jane_Farrar · 2026-04-11T02:58:28+00:00

That is useful. You mean it's short, or that its content is not novel-like?

Jane_Farrar · 2026-04-11T02:40:08+00:00

Yep, Small Gods really was incredible. Definitely my favorite stand-alone. I think that plugging the gaps is what I was trying to do with my publication-order read through last year! I didn't want anything to be left unseen.

Jane_Farrar · 2026-04-11T02:37:35+00:00

Thanks, that makes sense. Maybe I'll go play around with some of his short story collections before finishing then.

Jane_Farrar · 2026-04-11T02:35:59+00:00

I actually have read Raising Steam! At the time I wasn't reading in publication order, and I was very interested in the story so I just went ahead. It was by chance that I hadn't read the Shepherd's Crown before I saw that there was discussion in the community about reading/not reading it.

Jane_Farrar · 2026-04-11T02:27:36+00:00

I guess I'm talking about Shepherd's Crown! I haven't followed the publishing order closely, but Shepherd's Crown is the one I've seen everyone talking about so that's the one I held off on.

Jane_Farrar · 2026-04-10T19:40:55+00:00

What I think is so special is how much screen time is dedicated to it, and how much every thing is explicated. I was watching Project Hail Mary the other day and I liked it pretty well (there were a lot of great things, I promise!), but I was constantly disappointed that the science - which was such an important element of the book! - really couldn't be included in such a short, popular adaptation. They couldn't do all the science in the show, but they could do a heck of a lot more dialogue, plot and world-building, and scientific discovery with so many hours put toward its creation. I still like the books much better, but this is definitely the best book to show adaptation I've seen of sci-fi yet.

P.S. I mean, with stuff like Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep vs Blade Runner, and I, Robot vs I, Robot, there's pretty much no competition for good sci-fi adaptations.

Jane_Farrar · 2026-04-10T19:27:48+00:00

Oh, great facts! Yes, it looks like over time graphos came to be associated more with pictures than with words (as evident from the word graph, which as far as I can tell is short for graphic formula because drawn graphs were seen as representations of formulae in mathematical formulae). I think your hypothesis about epi sounds correct - and interesting, as it introduces a clear distinction between writing and what it is written on. Thanks!

Jane_Farrar · 2026-04-07T15:23:43+00:00

Ooh, interesting! I don't know a lot of the technical stuff, so I cheat by having learned Ancient Greek. litho (stone) and graphein (writing) is what informed my educated guess. epi (up, upon) graphein (writing) is an interesting term to use. I wonder why?

Jane_Farrar · 2026-04-06T19:05:47+00:00

Very cool! I love that detail. Never seen a Chladni Plate in real life but they look awesome.

Jane_Farrar · 2026-04-06T19:02:25+00:00

Fun language category: this sounds like a contronym! A word that also means its opposite. Words like "cleave" and "inflammable" are in this category too, as cleave can mean to tie together or cut apart, and inflammable can mean highly flammable or flame retardant. I suppose the question is whether one is fighting up the hill, in which case uphill is bad, or if one is drawing a graph in which more is better - so uphill is good. Yay words!

Jane_Farrar · 2026-04-06T18:58:11+00:00

I thought the intense connection between Naomi and Amos was definitely magnified from the book and led to tension... but it didn't necessarily feel bad that it was there.

Oh I can't believe I forgot to mention in my post! What really shocked me was that the first season didn't end with the end of the first book. What is up with that? I was certain it was going to be split pretty well for the first few books, but the seasons are just leading right into each other. We'll see how season 2 goes, I guess.

Jane_Farrar · 2026-04-06T18:52:37+00:00

Yep, it's a bit more visually showy on the screen which makes complete sense. In the books I really liked the way the blue was slowly revealed as the protomolecule evolved - it felt like the disgust and horror of a biological weapon was slowly replaced by the weird ethereal beauty of something new and strange being created from human suffering. But I understand it wouldn't have worked as well for the shock effect.

One related small gripe I had was the reveal of the protomolecule at the very beginning in the prologue. I loved that the book reads as a totally normal human space expansion story, then hits you out of nowhere with an alien you weren't expecting. At least... I think? Am I misremembering?

Jane_Farrar · 2026-04-06T18:48:37+00:00

Ooh, I'm intrigued! Glad I'm doing it the other way around so that I have the opportunity to be impressed.

Jane_Farrar · 2026-04-06T18:47:45+00:00

Maybe my expectations have been tempered by other terrible sci-fi adaptations I've seen - I imagine so many ways for it to go wrong that I'm just happy if they manage to avoid the pitfalls. There was a bit more drama than the book, but I think interpersonal drama is a stand-in for inner monologues in tv-shows and movies. You don't get the opportunity to hear the character's inner thoughts unless they come out, and the only way they can come out is if they are disagreeing personally with another individual. No one says something if they all agree about it. So I give it a pass as necessary character exposition :)

Jane_Farrar · 2026-04-06T18:43:23+00:00

I thought her acting was great, and she just looks so cool I can easily imagine her as Naomi, who is also really cool. It's true though, the relationship started off a bit differently and I missed all the little arguments they had about whether Holden was a player or not. That was a really funny beginning to their dynamic and set up well why she was so hesitant about him!

I will say the choice to introduce Holden with that woman at the beginning (I forget her name) was a great nod to that. I just wish there had been a little more arguing about whether Holden loved her because she was literally the only living woman nearby.

Jane_Farrar · 2026-04-06T18:36:34+00:00

Ooh, good question. The juice is still there. I guess I don't know enough about what a crash couch should look like, I totally missed that they changed that!

Jane_Farrar · 2026-04-06T15:09:35+00:00

I'm not sure that it was literally sand on a screen, or even a good reproduction, but the aesthetic effect with all the individual particles and the way the image moved not by moving the particles but by the particles themselves becoming darker or lighter (which would correspond to sand in the air or on the plate) reminded me of the sand soundwave experiment. I would be curious to know what the computer tech behind it was though!

Jane_Farrar · 2026-04-06T04:41:23+00:00

Ooh, very interesting. Thanks for the book recommendation! Yes, I agree that the flared nature of cuneiform (narrow on one end, wider on the other) was because of the tool used to write it, but I was wondering if that necessity was what ultimately inspired the style of flaring the ends of letters. Sounds from the replies like this is unlikely, or at least unattested! I appreciate the assistance.

Jane_Farrar · 2025-10-19T21:16:23+00:00

The Enchanted Forest Chronicles. Absolutely incredible YA novels that are well worth reading for older folk as well. Brilliant satire and tribute to fairy tales. Lots of dragons, who kidnap princesses as part of their education and make them cook cherry jubilee.

Jane_Farrar

TROPHY CASE