Completely agree with all of this. I just finished a truly abysmal SF novel which seem to assume that the audience was deeply, deeply interested in the most pointless details of how the spaceships worked, up to the point where there was a multi-chapter arc where the main species switched between two different power sources for their craft.
There was even a section where they explained how the 3D printers that built the ships worked -- we don’t need to know that, 3D printers ACTUALLY EXIST.
There was at least one point where I shouted “I don’t care how the spaceships work! I care THAT they work!” Because I live in a world where space travel is complicated and expensive and practically unheard of, whereas this wacky bunch of genocidal flesh-eating aliens live in a world where it’s relatively easy to travel between solar systems in their thousands.
So then what does that lead to? What STORY results from this, how do the CHARACTERS respond to this? (Answer: the writer’s word count did not seem to stretch to any conversation that was not two characters explaining technology to each other, much less anything approaching a narrative. Honestly, it was like reading a very, very dull history book about a place that didn’t exist.)
So yes. Explain some things. There are some things you don’t need to.
I think an important instinct you have to build up when you read/watch sci-fi is discerning which things are givens. If Arrival tells you that the alien language is atemporal, it is, that's not a puzzle for you to pick apart, it's a prerequisite to getting the rest of the story. When I talk sci-fi with people who don't consume a lot of it this seems to be a thing they get hung up on.
This is literally the most heart warming story I have read on Twitter so far. I think this is exactly what friends should do, and I feel everyone deserves people like this.
Project D by 肉十鹿RSL
hobbies include: close reading the Redwall series to answer my most burning questions. such as:
- can I replicate any of these delicious-sounding foodstuffs and would they in fact be delicious if I was able to
- corollary to the above: are we just supposed to read “oat cream” and “nut cheese” every time we see the words “cream” and “cheese”? I think so. bc if not, what tha hell are their livestock animals
- what is Society like? I don’t think we ever see a Mouse City or even Mouse Town though we do see castles and obviously an abbey. are we supposed to believe that most creatures are either in wandering bands or these societies based around a single structure (castle/abbey?)
- they appear to have an idea of what currency is (the bad guys always want treasure — maybe just to have, not to sell? but less ambiguous is some dialogue I just read, “acorn for your thoughts?” “you can have them for free”) but again, we never see anyone using money or making goods for the market. is this after the fall of Mouse Capitalism? are the bad guys (the idea of rat pirates gives me a headache, vis a vis the political/economic systems needed to power piracy) raiding preindustrial mouse societies for treasure/meat?
- corollary to the above: the abbey creatures have oats and wheat but we don’t see anybody farming or trading for farm goods on a large enough scale. is the abbey “orchard” really a like an indigenous forest farm of mixed foodstuffs? is that possible if you live in the same place the whole year or only if you travel each season? I have to do some googling
- both the lack of mixed-species families and the idea of mixed-species families give me a headache. has a squirrel never fallen for a handsome otter? what is the culture shock like if you marry into a subterranean mole family?
- this is the least “important” question but this read through I’ve been desperately trying to figure out What Size Everything Else Is. i’ve come to the conclusion that everything other than animals are at mouse scale, given that they can make seaworthy vessels their own size (a mouse sized vessel with real-world-sized waves seems impossible) and pick and eat apples and plums. but so far it seems like they’ve avoided mentioning how tall trees are — like a person compared to a tree or a mouse compared to a tree?
six weeks six fucking weeks . someone please god teach the women of Texas about period charting because the need to know like the second they can possibly know
hey chat did you guys know there's a whole website with informational videos on the rights you hold when interacting with ICE or witnessing interactions with ICE. all written by immigrants and for immigrants. idk man it'd be a shame if people watched these informational videos y'know.
With Winnie-the-Pooh and The Battle of Hastings sharing an anniversary today, did you know that E. H. Shepard once drew this amazing scene for an exclusive book bag?
the adventures of tintin (1991) + slice of life
Shigeru Komatsuzaki's box art for Thunderbirds model kits.
If you like frogs. Or possums. Or cool builds. Or happiness. This is the video for you.
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