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Most worldbuilding mistakes we see over and over again come from lazy storytellers who create worlds as an afterthought. But a few mistakes persist even in worlds built with considerable time and effort. These are mistakes of oversight: the worldbuilder just didn’t remember to think about everything … read more »
Do even the worst train wrecks have something good to take from them? We will find out as Chris, Oren, and returning guest Graham sort through a long list of awful stories looking for the slightest gems. Sometimes it’s a character that’s better than the … read more »
While fantasy settings are usually far less technologically advanced than the real world, flight is still a common feature of the genre. No one bats an eye at wizards casting levitation spells, dragon riders soaring overhead, or powerful airships launching skyward. But authors rarely examine the … read more »
Most science fiction authors do not have the credentials to actually design a spaceship. Even authors of hard scifi have to handwave a few things that our current technology has no answer for. Instead of striving pointlessly for exact realism, we usually design our ships … read more »
If you’re not already familiar with it, The Expanse is a science fiction series by James S. A. Corey,* with an upcoming television adaptation on Syfy. It’s a sprawling, epic story of political intrigue in space, with five books already out and more on the … read more »
Chris, Mike, and Oren discuss the ups and downs of using history in worldbuilding. They question whether historical realism is a worthwhile goal, cover the pitfalls of using the history of other cultures, and critique settings derived from real places and events. But mostly, they … read more »
Sometimes technology is too good to be true. It might be so powerful that problems become trivial. Get into a jam? Just pull out that deus ex machina, it’ll clear it right up for you. Or the tech’s power level is fine, but taken to … read more »
Star Trek: The Next Generation introduced an amazing piece of technology, the replicator. These devices work by the same principle as transporters – making matter out of energy (or reorganizing existing matter into new forms, depending on which technical specs you’re reading). They were mainly … read more »
A while back, I wrote an article about the unintended consequences of various technologies from the Star Trek universe. I barely scratched the surface. A good number of the 700+ episodes (plus a bunch of movies) introduced powerful new tech without ever thinking about its … read more »
We see no shortage of stories where heroes and villains insist on using swords despite the existence of guns. It’s used to show how awesome they are compared to everyone else. And to paraphrase Obi-Wan, swords in all their varieties are more elegant weapons. However, … read more »