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aliens

For Writers: The Fermi Paradox

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Today’s writer topic comes from QSFer Jim Comer: Has anyone seen Geoffrey Landis’ intriguing answer to the Fermi Paradox? If even a very small fraction of the hundred billion stars in the galaxy are home to technological civilizations which colonize over interstellar distances, the entire galaxy should be completely colonized in a few million years. The absence of such extraterrestrial civilizations visiting Earth is the Fermi Paradox. You can find Landis’s arguments here. In a nutshell, though, why haven’t we found noisy galactic neighbors? Join the chat

Discussion: What 3 Things Would You Take?

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UFO

If you were invited to go to another planet by an alien race to live for the rest of your life and never return, what three things would you take with you, and why? They’re friendly, you can communicate with them, and their planet is Earth-compatible. Go. Join the chat!

China Joins Search For Alien Civilizations

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China Telescope

China is constructing what will be the world’s largest radio telescope. The Independent reports: Assembly of the five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope, or FAST, began in July and is expected to be completed in 2016. Once finished, the reflector dish of the telescope will be 500 metres in diameter, replacing Puerto Rico’s Arecibo Observatory, only 300 meters in diameter, as the world’s largest. The wider the dish, the more effective the telescope becomes at picking up weak messages from outer space. Nan Rendong, the chief scientist of the FAST project, told the Xinhua news agency: “A radio telescope is like a … Read more

WORLDBUILDING WEEK: Day Two – Creating Alien and Magical Races

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Worldbuilting Week

Welcome to the first annual Worldbuilding Week at QSF. We’ll talk about all aspects of building a world for your story, including languages; alien/magical races; history and timelines; culture and politics; sex, marriage and reproduction; and tools and techniques. It should be a lot of fun. Today we’re talking about alien and magical races, and Jana Denardo will be our moderator. Have you ever created a an entire alien race for a story? Or maybe a magical race for a fantasy novel? How do you design them – are they human-like? Completely alien? What characteristics do you consider? And how … Read more

Humanoid Aliens

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aliens

Today’s topic comes from QSFer Michael Barnette: “Aliens that are ‘just like us, maybe with cosmetic differences like skin color, or other minor differences. Take away the cosmetic appearance change and otherwise they’re just humans. Do you write aliens this way and why? Do you dislike this type of ‘alien’ and why?” Coincidentally, Theo Fenraven posted this article on the FB page a couple days back: https://www.veronicasicoe.com/blog/2015/04/humanoid-aliens-how-much-likeness-is-plausible/ Veronica breaks it down much better than I ever could. This is something that always bothered me about Star Trek – how is it that 90% of the Star Trek aliens were bipedal … Read more

Announcement: Love: Universal, by Dawn Flemington

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QSFer Dawn Flemington has a new sci fi MM romance book out: John Russell, a UFOlogist, comes home for a much needed break, only to find his ex-lover Adien Kaper has moved in next door. They made a perfect couple except one thing: Adien doesn’t believe in UFOs or extraterrestrials. After spotting a meteor shower, John goes to investigate, only to find a dark crystal. Later, that same crystal produces an alien who is looking for Adien. It seems Adien is needed back home on Xulpath as soon as possible. But Adien doesn’t believe he’s an alien and he doesn’t … Read more

Would They Really Look Like Us?

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For the purposes of MM-Romance driven gay sci fi, alien characters are often built like us – otherwise, would we want to have sex with them? And to be fair, this is not just a conceit confined to MM romance. Many sci fi TV shows have constructed their aliens around human lines – most prominently star Trek – with two arms, two legs, and a head with two eyes, a nose, a mouth, and two ears in generally the standard human configuration. Some have even come up with semi-plausible reasons for the similarities, from “it’s the only practical configuration” to … Read more