@maxthefox@spacey.space
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maxthefox

@maxthefox@spacey.space

Beginner hard science fiction writer and science enthusiast.

My identity and beliefs: female/cis/bi/furry. Non-specific Progressive Protestant Christian. Market technosocialist. Anti-crypto/NFTs. Neutral on AI.

Discord: @maxythefoxy

------I wrote two sci-fi novels, check them out!
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/73240/stardust
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/74149/stardust-marathon

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maxthefox, to writing
@maxthefox@spacey.space avatar

June 1: Intro (cont)

There are 3 books (Origins, Marathon, and Labyrinth, last is ongoing), links are pinned on my feed. First is a space road trip that runs into a conspiracy, second is sort of like the game "FTL: Faster Than Light", third is essentially a space dungeon crawl with cosmic horror elements.

As my books are free webnovels in a genre that is rare nowadays, I am desperate for publicity! Check them out if you like hard sci-fi!

https://www.royalroad.com/profile/388086/fictions

pawsplay, to random
@pawsplay@dice.camp avatar
maxthefox,
@maxthefox@spacey.space avatar

@pawsplay @mynameistillian @nyrath Yep! GPT-style AI passing the Turing Test sometimes doesn't mean that GPT-style AI is sapient and worthy of personhood or being anything except a (flawed) tool.

It means that the Turing Test is twaddle.

maxthefox, to writing
@maxthefox@spacey.space avatar

June 1: Intro

I am Max, a hard sci-fi fan and amateur writer. Since 2 years ago or so, I have been making my own constructed world and novel series to go with it. It is semi-optimistic, a contrast to the recent flood of doomer sf, but mostly respects science and puts a lot of effort to worldbuilding and "realistic" alien designs. In effect the setting is a modernized and science-ized space-opera, though the books have somewhat unusual premises for this kind of sf.

talia_christine, to science
@talia_christine@beige.party avatar

😋😛😜🤪😝 #Science

maxthefox,
@maxthefox@spacey.space avatar

@talia_christine @mynameistillian Physics isn't just quantum physics, you know. I study material science and I could lick samples with relative impunity (aside from everyone else in the lab looking at me like I lost my marbles).

nyrath, to random
@nyrath@spacey.space avatar

Boeing Says Leak on Its Spacecraft Is Totally Fine, Will Launch Astronauts Without Fixing It

Okay then.

https://futurism.com/the-byte/boeing-will-launch-spacraft-with-leak

maxthefox,
@maxthefox@spacey.space avatar

@nyrath Holy shit, is Boeing just trying on purpose to utterly destroy their own reputation?

maxthefox, to mastodon
@maxthefox@spacey.space avatar

Literally TIL this existed, I used Fedi for what, almost a year now and I just found this out. -_-

And I wondered why I couldn't get any publicity for my books.

#Mastodon

maxthefox, to writing
@maxthefox@spacey.space avatar

The fifth chapter of Stardust: Labyrinth is out! Horrifying event after horrifying event happens as the five tries to find their way back after the fourth chapter's incident, threatening to derail the expedition completely. Will they manage to regain their bearings?

https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/85822/stardust-labyrinth

#Writing #amwriting #WritingCommunity #WritersCoffeeClub #books #sff #WritersOfMastodon #scifi #sciencefiction

ZachWeinersmith, to comics
@ZachWeinersmith@mastodon.social avatar

AI
http://smbc-comics.com/comic/ai-12

maxthefox,
@maxthefox@spacey.space avatar

@ZachWeinersmith @nyrath @mynameistillian ikr. As a writer who started writing after the whole "AI war" started, there was never a time where I felt, "oh no soon there will be no point in writing because a robot will be able to do it".

AI writing especially without heavy guidance involved (might as well write it yourself at that point) just lacks that certain something. Dunno what but I can tell it at a glance.

nyrath, to random
@nyrath@spacey.space avatar

Derek Lowe's "Things I Will Not Work With", a series about insanely dangerous chemical compounds.

In this episode, The Higher States of Bromine.

https://www.science.org/content/blog-post/higher-states-bromine

maxthefox,
@maxthefox@spacey.space avatar

@nyrath @Sevoris @michael_w_busch @klausman Actually, FTL comms would only further remove the need for organic crew, because then someone in the control room could just calmly pilot the drone or whatever. A boring future.

That's why my world has FTL travel (which works only outside of star systems) but no FTL comms.

maxthefox, to writing
@maxthefox@spacey.space avatar

The fourth chapter of Stardust: Labyrinth is out! After the minor setback in the third chapter, the group ventures deeper into the eponymous labyrinth, and the sheer scale of the complex becomes apparent...

https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/85822/stardust-labyrinth

#Writing
#amwriting
#WritingCommunity
#WritersCoffeeClub
#books
#sff
#WritersOfMastodon
#scifi
#sciencefiction

arstechnica, to random
@arstechnica@mastodon.social avatar

In the race for space metals, companies hope to cash in

Mining asteroids could reduce the burden on Earth’s resources. Will it live up to its promise?

https://arstechnica.com/science/2024/05/in-the-race-for-space-metals-companies-hope-to-cash-in/?utm_brand=arstechnica&utm_social-type=owned&utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social

maxthefox,
@maxthefox@spacey.space avatar

@CartyBoston @arstechnica It'd seriously reduce the cost of metal, which would make plastic less crucial, making fossil fuels easier to transition out of smoothly.

But as I said in the other post, the government needs to get the ball rolling, not the corpos. Corpos won't do it for the reason I said: makes more money to keep metal prices high.

maxthefox,
@maxthefox@spacey.space avatar

@michael_w_busch @CartyBoston @arstechnica

  1. That's assuming current propulsion technology. I agree it's not particularly viable with current tech.
  2. More importantly and less handwavingly, what if the asteroid is first sent to orbit of Earth and mined there?
  3. We will eventually run out of rare earths in the not-overly-distant future.
pluralistic, to random
@pluralistic@mamot.fr avatar

Fun fact: "The Tragedy Of the Commons" is a hoax created by the white nationalist Garrett Hardin to justify stealing land from colonized people and moving it from collective ownership, "rescuing" it from the inevitable tragedy by putting it in the hands of a private owner, who will care for it properly, thanks to "rational self-interest":

https://pluralistic.net/2023/05/04/analytical-democratic-theory/#epistocratic-delusions

1/

maxthefox,
@maxthefox@spacey.space avatar

@pluralistic @mynameistillian And things like this will keep happening, and happening, and happening, with every new tech in ways we cannot foresee right now, until capitalism is either well and truly crippled or, preferably, ended outright.

(btw @nyrath might want to see)

Hcobb, to random
@Hcobb@spacey.space avatar

@nyrath What's the proper size for the hero ship in a movie, TV series or RPG?
99% of the crew of the Enterprise seem to do nothing ever, not even react to the half-human.
In the three Star Wars movies the Millennium Falcon seems more a setting for interludes rather than part of the plot. As soon as the rookie gets the keys to an X-wing he's outta there. (In diapers?)
Traveller has two types of ships, depending on the types of missions the gamers are in to. With few if any NPC crewmembers.

maxthefox,
@maxthefox@spacey.space avatar

@Hcobb @nyrath I'm comfortable with 4 to 7 characters. Any less and I begin feeling like I'm playing with a couple of action figures. Any more and half the cast does nothing in a given scene.

In Marathon, the ship has 25 crewmembers, but the story follows the 6 officers, sometimes taking attention to the ensigns. 6 is the sweet spot imho, if you make them distinct.

maxthefox, to writing
@maxthefox@spacey.space avatar

The third chapter of Stardust: Labyrinth is out! After the tense situation from Ch.2 is resolved, the heroes finally reach the ruins. What they find inside, and what they have to do, is not quite what they expected. This will be an... interesting mission.

https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/85822/stardust-labyrinth

cstross, to random
@cstross@wandering.shop avatar

#writersCoffeeClub 5/8: When writing technical or scientific detail, how much is plausible vs imagined?

Correctly depicting the background details in an SF/F story makes the utterly imaginary conceit at the heart of the story more plausible—it gains believability by being presented in a realistic context. (The best present-setting SF should leave you unsure how much, if any of it is imaginary.)

maxthefox,
@maxthefox@spacey.space avatar

@cstross @nyrath Verisimilitude > realism, tbh. You can have silly things like dozens of alien species in a small region of space, you can have easy FTL, you can have easy genemodding.

But what you HAVE to do is to make these things act as if they were real, within the context of the world. That's what makes a story believable.

I don't mind if the spaceship is powered by unicorn farts. Just take into account the logistics of an unicorn-based stellar economy. /hj

(btw @mynameistillian)

ZachWeinersmith, to random
@ZachWeinersmith@mastodon.social avatar

So there's a lot of kvetching, from myself included, about how the modern internet has gotten worse, usually due to a combination of SEO, social media gone evil, and the prevalence of money as more and more of a guiding factor in tech.

But of course the old internet had the problem of being fairly boring. The interesting question is how to get a third way. I've heard a few proposals:

maxthefox,
@maxthefox@spacey.space avatar

@ZachWeinersmith @nyrath I want UBI so that artists and writers can comfortably make niche stuff that they and their friends like without worrying about not being able to make a living off it or having to work a day job in addition (resulting in less quantity and probably less quality).

rn my webnovels are free but I write them in my spare time, not ideal but what else can I do...

maxthefox, to writing
@maxthefox@spacey.space avatar

The second chapter of Stardust: Labyrinth is out! After sorting out some issues and being faced with the discovery of the ruins, the five archeologists depart towards the planet in their landing craft. The planet turns out to be less tranquil than it seems...

https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/85822/stardust-labyrinth

nyrath, to random
@nyrath@spacey.space avatar

An old classic "what if" question is What scifi novel or movie would you like to live in?

Adult me is skeptical of most of them, they all have drawbacks.

Child me instantly knows my heart's desire.

maxthefox,
@maxthefox@spacey.space avatar

@nyrath My own... even though I'm obviously biased it's a pretty alright future. Essentially democratic socialist economy, around 65% post-scarcity, universal morphic freedom, the alien cultures are actually varied and deep. Would still be a writer but with more free time.

I actually wouldn't want Star Trek because frankly the aliens there look and act boring and cosmetic genemodding is banned (again am biased).

Wouldn't mind the Culture, yea. Seems like the best of both worlds.

nyrath, to random
@nyrath@spacey.space avatar

The word on the street is that the computer game Kerbal Space Program 2 might have died aborning.

The publisher said it was going to fire employees and cancel projects in order to save money. So far the Kerbal team has lost seventy workers. Including the Kerbal community manager.

I hate this timeline.

maxthefox,
@maxthefox@spacey.space avatar

@nyrath It's hard to make a sequel to one of the best games of all time.

They went even more ambitious... and just crashed and burned. Icarus.

maxthefox, to scifi
@maxthefox@spacey.space avatar

Launched my third book! In 2234, a multi-species expedition explores a 'glass planet' in poorly-charted space. Iraklijs the human and his alien comrades uncover a precursor installation full of riches, secrets, and dangers, altering understanding of the Silent Empire, and perhaps the whole central Oval. Basically dungeon crawl, best read after Origins or Marathon for context.

https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/85822/stardust-labyrinth

elizabethtasker, to random
@elizabethtasker@mastodon.online avatar

From worlds where stars do not twinkle, to lands where you must outrun the sun-rise to survive, "Alien Earths" by Lisa Kaltenegger is packed with truly delicious visuals of what we might find on the surface of an exoplanet.

Kaltenegger gives a personal account of what it's like working at the cutting edge of uncovering the nature of these alien worlds, with many amusing anecdotes such the perils of interdisciplinary work!

My book review is here in Science Magazine 🔗! https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.ado1465

Computer graphics visualisation of a planet seemingly made of glass. The text is an anecdote from "Alien Earths", saying: "When geologists talk about glass, they mean a cooled magma. When astronomers talk about glass, we mean the see-through material that comprises the vessels we pour liquid into. When I called it a 'Cinderella glass-slipper planet' the geologists understood what the astronomers were thinking. A lot of teasing ensued."

maxthefox,
@maxthefox@spacey.space avatar

@elizabethtasker @nyrath ...strange that I see this on my feed right as I start writing a story set on a "glass planet". Whew.

maxthefox, to sciencefiction
@maxthefox@spacey.space avatar

My first book, which used to be highly janky, has been de-janked as much as I could. It's still the first long-form writing I ever did, so the quality is definitely not as high as Marathon, but it's very readable and the premise is rather unusual. It's not military sci-fi unlike Marathon, rather it's about a space road trip that ends up stumbling into a conspiracy.

https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/73240/stardust


nyrath, to random
@nyrath@spacey.space avatar

New Moon: Lutecia in orbit

https://www.artstation.com/artwork/9xLWN

maxthefox,
@maxthefox@spacey.space avatar

@nyrath @isaackuo @sudnadja @RogerBW @michael_w_busch I solve this with a Starguard looking at every ship's thrust vectors in inhabited systems and being ready to either shut off the engines or blow up the wannabe terrorist.

Are this kind of control-transponders an invasion of privacy? Yes. Are they necessary for interstellar trade to be safe? Also yes.

nyrath, to random
@nyrath@spacey.space avatar

Old 2018 article about the danger of farts in space suits.

https://www.discovermagazine.com/the-sciences/farts-an-underappreciated-threat-to-astronauts

maxthefox,
@maxthefox@spacey.space avatar

@nyrath This kind of thing normally doesn't get much research because of researchers' embarrassment at potentially being known forevermore as "the person who wrote a paper about astronaut farts".

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