Create accountLogin

Recent searches

No recent searches

Search options

Only available when logged in.
mastodon.ie is one of the many independent Mastodon servers you can use to participate in the fediverse.
Irish Mastodon - run from Ireland, we welcome all who respect the community rules and members.

Administered by:

Server stats:

1.8K
active users

mastodon.ie: AboutProfiles directoryPrivacy policy

Mastodon: AboutGet the appKeyboard shortcutsView source codev4.3.7

#sciencefiction

145 posts99 participants20 posts today
Public *
the junething

Babylon 5 was great and should never be remade or continued.

Yes, it had lazy Arthurian and Tolkien and Lovecraft references… among others.

But they worked alright for me.

What didn’t work for me was the alien languages.

Some alien writing just seemed to be English with the letters dingbatted.

And why were the Centauri basically Italians in all but actual vocabulary?

They did have an episode hanging a lampshade on that whole sci-fi convention — every species was going to demonstrate its religion, and all the earthers could think of was to go over the dozens of religions *we* have (instead of just one religion, one language, one ethnicity, one nation, one culture, one political system).

Anyway. As much as I’d like a remake with more expensive/elaborate sets and CGI — I don’t think it would work without Mira Furlan, Andreas Katsulas, Jeffrey Doyle, and others.

#sciencefiction #babylon5

“Babylon 5 Actors/Actresses/Personnel Who Have Died”
imdb.com/list/ls023048945/

IMDbBabylon 5 Actors/Actresses/Personnel Who Have Dieda tribute to some of the outstanding individuals who have contributed to the Babylon 5 universe
Public
Paul Semel

With the novella "Deception," author C.C. Robinson is putting a side spin on her young adult dystopian science fiction series "The Divided." To find out how, and why, check out this exclusive interview.
paulsemel.com/exclusive-interv
📖🧱🧱🧱
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
#CCRobinson #CCRobinsonInterview #CCRobinsonDeception #CCRobinsonDeceptionInterview #CCRobinsonDivided #CCRobinsonCaged #CCRobinsonUpheaval #ScienceFiction #SciFi #SpeculativeFiction #Dystopian #YA #YoungAdult

Public
Walt

Happy Birthday!
Dan Simmons, born on April 4, 1948, is a celebrated American author known for blending science fiction, horror, and historical fiction. His most famous novel, Hyperion (1989), won the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1990 and the Locus Award the same year. Hyperion cemented Simmons as a master of speculative fiction.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Simm
#Literature
#SciFi
#ScienceFiction
#books
#bookstodon
#coverart
#DanSimmons
Groups:
@scifi
@Scifiart
@sciencefiction

This cover art for Hyperion by Dan Simmons is an evocative and surreal blend of science fiction and mythology. At the forefront, a colossal winged statue dominates the scene. Its wings spread wide, majestic yet foreboding. In the background, a massive crystalline entity looms, its jagged body glistening like ice or glass blades. It has an almost celestial form, outstretched arms of sharp spikes reaching toward the sky, while fiery streaks—possibly missiles or energy blasts—cut through the heavens. This represents the Shrike, the enigmatic, terrifying being central to Hyperion, a creature of both divine mystery and relentless horror. Below, a tall-masted ship rests on grassland, its sails unfurled yet seemingly caught in a moment of stillness. It juxtaposes futuristic and ancient imagery, emphasizing the novel’s blend of technology and classical themes. Nearby, a group of shadowy travelers stands silhouetted, seemingly gazing at the vast, surreal landscape before them—a metaphor for the pilgrimage that lies at the heart of the story. Mountains rise in the background beneath a twilight sky, while a gnarled tree crackles with lightning, further enhancing the sense of wonder and danger. This cover masterfully embodies Hyperion’s epic scope—a tale of myths reborn, worlds colliding, and destiny unfolding.
Continued thread
Public
Assoc for Scottish Literature

“The Victorian era witnessed the emergence of a new genre of science fiction, dystopian literature… Oliphant’s short story ‘The Land of Darkness’ is an important and overlooked example”

—Dr Oliver Tearle on Margaret Oliphant’s ‘The Land of Darkness’

5/7

interestingliterature.com/2017

Interesting Literature · Dante Among the Machines: Margaret Oliphant’s ‘The Land of Darkness’In this week’s Dispatches from the Secret Library, Dr Oliver Tearle considers a curious dystopian story by Queen Victoria’s favourite novelist The terms ‘dystopian’ and ‘ecology’ both g…
#Scottish#literature#19thCentury
Public
xeophin

What keeps tripping me up in #ScienceFiction literature is when the depicted characters and society that are clearly extrapolated from contemporary Western European / North American culture use entirely new words for concepts that are commonly known, with a well-established name.

Or, more succinctly:

No, really, this is a zombie.

(#imreading The Girl with all the Gifts)

Public
matiu bidule

C'était même l'une des premières critiques qui avaient été faites à Lucas à l'époque, d'avoir fait un film trop "compliqué" et trop "politique".
¯\_(ツ)_/¯

#Politique
#ScienceFiction
#StarWars
#USpol

via mamot.fr/@paul_denton@mastodon 🔗 mamot.fr/@paul_denton@mastodon
Je savais bien que l'épisode I de Star Wars finirait par acquérir ses lettres de noblesse avec le temps! Toute ressemblance entre la cupide Fédération du commerce et l'administration Trump... 👀

Intro: Episode I : La Menace Fantôme (1999) La République Galactique est en pleine ébullition. La taxation des routes commerciales reliant les systèmes éloignés provoque la discorde. Pour régler la question, la cupide Fédération du Commerce et ses redoutables vaisseaux de guerre imposent un blocus à la petite planète Naboo. Face à ce dangereux engrenage, alors que le Congrès de la République s’enlise dans des débats sans fin, le Chancelier Suprême charge en secret deux Chevaliers Jedi, gardiens de la paix et de la justice dans la galaxie, de résoudre le conflit…
Replied in thread
Public *
RS, Author, Novelist, Prosaist

#ScribesAndMakers ##TTMD @sfwrtr @Nisaa

I see you are coming back from burnout. Any tips on how to avoid it?

I did answer that one so be sure to search the #TTMD hashtag, but my best answer was to ensure you can communicate to someone with your writing, if communicating is what counts for you. Since 2015, I have had a fan fiction outlet that generates feedback and page view to which I can write. However, being able to write replies to all you folk on Mastodon is also good.

I’m excited to see you are publishing your book to Mastodon in chapters. What made you decide to publish it that way?

I found a set of 31 women's rights prompts for March. Since the card was in French, the month name read "Mars." An SF feminist idea popped into my head. I took up the challenge. The result is pretty good (says the author immodestly), likely commercial quality with careful revision after fixing some science mistakes. Sadly, I've burnt my 1st Publication Rights sale by publishing even temporarily online. I'm now busy revising and adding material, and think I can make a go of selling it, probably as a self-pub.

Wanna read the completed story? It should be available for the next week: Mars Needed Women: eldritch.cafe/@sfwrtr/11426181

What’s a question you wish someone would ask you about your work?

How do you think Mars Needs Women does feminist lit differently?

I interpreted your question asking for a question as specifically for the web-novel, but it's applicable to my other works. How? By writing women embracing being female, but neither shamed nor accepting their fate. The story depicts women both as stuck in their role models thanks to their society, and redefining themselves and their roles when they seize the opportunity. The main character has to get married (but she does choose the gorgeous guy!) and has five daughters, but she's avoided the housewife trap on Earth as an engineer on Mars. Women are shown liking sex, nursing their infants in social situations, working on important projects, and convincing their husbands to assist in child care. Because the MC has a temper, she fights back when men in power interfere with the developing women's society. With the help of her daughters who become important side characters in the story, she finds cunning opportunities for the first generation of martian girls, and together they break open the patriarchal power structure that the conditions on Mars is causing to unravel.

PS: Sorry I took so long to answer. I was pretty messed up after the marathon compose, revise, publish grind during which I wasn't sleeping well.

[Author retains copyright (c)2025 R.S.]

#BoostingIsSharing and #CommentingIsCool

#gender #fiction #mystery #thriller #romance #fantasy #sf #sff #sciencefiction #writer #author #photographer #chef #cooking
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion

The cover art for Mars Needed Women. The background is of the Mars surface with rover tracks, big rocks, sand, and a greenish sky. There is a triskelion image of Mars, which is a tattoo in the story. Credit NASA and ESA for the photos. The back cover reads as follows: Shanghaied May Ri struggled when the EM goon clamped an aromatic wet rag over her nose and mouth... Waking weightless and nauseated—stuffy head pounding, being floated somewhere—despite grogginess, she eyes-closed punched someone, spinning away to bounce off a wall. The click of cartilage, the thump off a bulkhead, the blare of a warning horn, and "Rig for ring spin!" rang in her ears. A tech clapped a bag over her mouth before she vomited up her last meal, while enduring the blonde's glare as blood beaded around her nose. May Ri glowered back. Sitting on the wall, dragged on her butt, her inner ear then her innards soon informed her the wall was becoming the floor. From the author: “A hopeful deeply-dystopian feminist SF story, with thinly veiled jabs at our current world's bad actors making for a bad future. Please note the past tense in the title: Mars Needed Women. The story's women are going to work to bring down the system, at least that part that's oppressing them, in a massive unscheduled disassembly.”
Eldritch CaféRS, Author, Novelist, Prosaist (@sfwrtr@eldritch.cafe)Attached: 2 images My feminist SF web-novel *Mars Needed Women* is complete! 23,300 words in 31 chapters, one chapter posted each day throughout March, the last posted 23 minutes ago as I write this. Check out the cover art. To read, either use the hashtag #RSMarsNeededWomen or this link to the first chapter: https://eldritch.cafe/@sfwrtr/114088945266387178 The full novel is in the thread. Just scroll to read. > “A hopeful deeply-dystopian feminist SF story, with thinly veiled jabs at our current world's bad actors making for a bad future. Please note the past tense in the title: Mars Needed Women. The story's women are going to work to bring down the system, at least that part that's oppressing them, in a massive unscheduled disassembly.” I'll leave it up for you to read for at least a week. After that, I'm revising it for later secondary publication. [Author retains copyright (c)2025 R.S.] #BoostingIsSharing #Writever #Mars #SpaceOpera #writer #author #sf #sciencefiction #scifi #feminism #gender fiction #writingCommunity #writersOfMastodon
Continued thread
Public
Spooky Panda 🇺🇦

#PennedPossibilities 634 — MC POV: How much do you value companionship? Do you always keep people around, or do you prefer to be alone?

Alexios: It isn't about what I want or what I value. My friends stay close, and they always have. We're a family, choom. I'm thankful for it, too. If that means that I value friendship and companionship, then I guess so—the answer's yes.

#WritingCommunity#TheCityOfOpulence#DigitalDystopiaSeries
Public
SciFi/Fantasy Magazine Covers

Uncanny Stories vol. 1, no. 1 (April 1941)

He looks terrified and determined, but she’s just mildly concerned. Excuse me Steve, would you mind awfully rescuing me from the flying octopus creature?

Learn to be assertive in the workplace without coming across as aggressive, young women. Or, you know, overthrow the patriarchy.

Original magazine: archive.org/details/UncannySto

A man in contemporary suit and tie struggles with an octopus-like creature which has a tentacle around a woman in similar business attire. In the background are city buildings and other octopus creatures, one flying through the air holding a woman. Magazine cover from 1941.
#Magazine#MagazineCover#PulpMagazine
Public
Christine M.

#space #sciencefiction #NASA

Recommend: The „Lady Astronaut“ books by Mary Robinette Kowal, starting with „The Calculating Stars“. In 1952 a meteorite hits the US initiating a climate change. A run to establish colonies in space begins. Dr. Elma York fights for women to become astronauts.

Kowal did tons of research on this, also with the help of NASA contacts. Exciting storyline with lots of space buff stuff.

Compare: „The Six“ by Loren Grush. The story of the first US women astronauts.

Cover of „The Calculating Stars“. Dark blue background, lightening up towards the lower half. Seven backlit women shapes walk towards the reader.
Cover of „The Six“ In the background a space shuttle lifts off. Lower third: The backlit shapes of Americas first six woman astronauts.
Public
Brett Hodnett

When writing the acknowledgements for my novel HUMAN it occurred to me that one of the greatest debts I owe is to all the authors that I’ve read throughout my life. Not only classic literature, fantastical tales and heartbreaking stories, but also non-fiction, whether about #science or #history, #economics or home renovation. In fact, why stop there? I must also include scientific papers, newspaper articles, blogs, and all the various and sundry writings I’ve ever come across.
Together, they provided me with the rich tapestry of stories and facts which have smashed around in my head and resulted in creative thoughts of my own. They also provided me with the knowledge of how to write. I never really learned how to write a story, I’ve only intuited how to do so through reading what others have written.
So I would like to thank everyone who has ever let loose written words into the world. I’ve made HUMAN free this week for all #FediHumans. Visit bretthodnett.com/FreeHUMAN.htm and use the code ‘fedihuman’ to get your free EPUB.

bretthodnett.comHUMANA remarkable exploration of family, society, and what makes us human, HUMAN will take you from the post-apocalyptic world of the near future, to the two very different societies that emerge 15 million years later, where those few surviving individuals have evolved to become something that we might not fully recognize as human.
#Human#WritingCommunity#SelfPublishing
ExploreLive feeds
About