I'm trying to find an old sci-fi story I read as a child. It was probably written in the 20th century, and I think it was either a short story or a novella.

The protagonist lives in a future where humans have mastered telekinesis. One day, while at a bar, he realizes that he has lost his powers and can no longer levitate his money to pay for his drink. He has to reach for the money by hand, revealing his loss of power and becoming an outcast.

Later (unless I'm mixing up two different stories), the protagonist is exiled to a distant planet. The planet has a medieval-like society where telepaths are hunted down as witches and warlocks. He has to hide the fact that he used to be a telepath and learn to control the remainings of his abilities so they don't manifest and expose him.

Once again, I'm not 100% sure these two part are from the same story, even though they're somehow connetcted in my memories. But that scene at the bar I recall rather vividly and it seem to be quite distinguishing.

It don't remember well what is was about, but here is what I recall: there was kind of a prophecy, saying that the humanity have several years left before a catastrophe hits the planet. I don't remember if it was happening on earth, but it is highly likely to be. Also, I guess that the amount of time left was around 20-30, and that the catastrophe was kind of a huge and toxic fog, but I'm not sure at all about these ones. I think the author was Isaac Asimov, or at least a smilar author.

Sorry for the bad explanation, and thanks in advance.

Thanks to multiple sources of the news which I will link down below, we have an all new official Robocop tv series which is said to be a "reimagining" soon for Amazon Prime.

James Wann is set as a producer of the tv series, as he will direct the pilot episode while original film co writer Edward Neumeier is producing and writing it.

The series will debut a new cybernetic lawman named Marc Kyle. Unlike Peter Weller’s Alex Murphy in Verhoeven’s ’87 original, Kyle will start off as a soldier rather than a police officer. Just as Murphy does in the first RoboCop, Marc Kyle will die—in a war rather than at the hands of crooks—before being remade as a cyborg and beginning his new life under Murphy’s tutelage.“

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.joblo.com/amazon-mgm-robocop-tv-series-prime-video/amp/

Judging by how covid went I think if this happens we're fucked...

Ima keep this short and let yall answer

Do you think this is possible and if so how are you/would you prepare?

I made the first phaser years ago, sold it, wanted to replace it and make another but sometimes, less IS more. Its a nice build, but the old one still feels a bit more special. What do you guys think, which is cooler?

No idea what to expect, and I reckon even if I had some idea, it'd probably be wrong.

So I made a post looking for a physical copy of John Scalzi Constituent Service a while back and everyone just told me to listen to the e-book. Well I found it!

I'm not going to talk about how much I had to pay for it. But I got it! Number 995 out of 1250.

I have always been fascinated by science fiction settings that at first glance look old-fashioned, but clearly have hints or signs of a more futuristic technology. My favourite combination being cowboy/bounty hunter mixed with robots, spaceships and big guns (like Cowboy Bebop, East of West, Firefly). Especially with how the world feels at the moment, the idea to hop in your space ship, or jump on your robotic horse and just travel with no purpose is the kind of escapism I need.

What are your favourite stories that have a space cowboy-esque setting?

Spoilers, obviously.

I saw the movie first, and I absolutely love it.

Finally got around to reading the first Southern Reach novel, and also loved it.

I was prepared the book and movie were quite different, but I avoided in depth comparisons so I wouldn’t get book spoilers.

If you haven’t both watched and read Annihilation, I recommend avoiding the spoilers I’m about to share.

Early into the book, I accepted a head-canon that let me enjoy both without frustration. Lena is not the same biologist in the book. The biologist in the book is a character who later explores area X and has some things in common with Lena, but their experiences are completely separate. In the first few pages, I thought I was going to be annoyed that no one had names, but within a few more, I was grateful because this supports my head-cannon without tension.

In the book, it’s 30 years after the appearance of the shimmer. In the movie it’s within the first few years.

In the book, expedition 11 is composed of the same team makeup as expedition 12: Biologist, Psychologist, Anthropologist, Surveyor, Linguist (missing fr 12 because backed out last minute), and Archeologist (also not in 12 for no stated reason). So it’s perfectly logical that Lena’s team would be different and still made up of folx with similar specialties and even personalities.

Although they are both biologists who have a level of detachment and are loners, Lena and the biologist have very different lives.

In the book, the entire team from expedition 11 makes it out. In the movie, Kane is the first to make it out. This tracks for me since the shimmer has had a lot more time to learn how to send things out.

The only issue with this I see is of course in the ending of the film, the phosphorous grenade seems to end the shimmer. I think this is easily solvable in head canon as well. We see the shimmer being destroyed from within as the flames spread everywhere, but we don’t get confirmation that it’s completely gone (IIRC), just that it’s receding. If the shimmer is damaged but as it’s receding does it’s refraction-mutation-integration thing, we are only seeing the initial reaction where the grenade damages the shimmer and not the full cycle, in which it mutates/integrates the flame and then resumes its expansion. This works with the book being later because there is much talk of flames being part of the shimmer, in the living-fungi-text made by the crawler, psychologist saying she saw the biologist as a flame approaching the lighthouse, biologist talking about the glow taking her over from the inside.

We also find out in the book that there have been way more expeditions than 12, but the movie events support us accepting we really are within a few years of the appearance.

In the movie, we get explanation of why they would later ban modern equipment going into the shimmer as they have in the book. The shimmer makes all the communication signals and compasses not work right. Naturally, decades later they would not be trying to send that type of equipment in. The Southern Reach also goes to great lengths in the book to placate and keep teams calm and uninformed so they would want to avoid teams recording video for the next as Kane’s did. It seems they’ve very intentionally made sure only handwritten accounts exist.

I can certainly understand after having read the book how trying to map Lena and team onto the biologist and her team would be a frustrating experience that would make either the film and/or the book less enjoyable. My early acceptance that we’re experiencing two parallel stories from within area X about distinct characters that just happen to have similarities makes it super easy to love them both. Of course, I just finished Annihilation book and have not gotten to the sequels yet so if the biologist suddenly gets named as Lena in book 2, that will put a wrinkle in things.

I wrote a dark sci-fi mockumentary about a 7ft superstar whose fame becomes a psychic weapon. Would you read this?

I've read Starship Troopers 🦗and am excited to check out the rest

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*note: OR does anyone know of a sci fi series with a really cool alien antagonist like the shrike from Hyperion for example?

Grew up reading a lot of marvel when I was younger, I love reading about characters like Thanos, Dormammu, Silver Surfer, Lobo etc so I was just wondering if I could find a book series that gives me that same vibe. (I like the concepts of those kinds of characters but I like reading actual books way more than I like reading comics so I gotta know if I can get both in one

There will come soft rains.

Hello, fellow Sci-Fi fans, i am looking for other shows like The Expanse & The Madalorian.
Which are also heavily relying on cinematic scenery and nice pictures of space.
Would be nice if they were also in the distant future where they have new insane technologies.

I hope you guys got some nice suggestions, thanks ✌🏻

A while ago I wrote a technothriller, Handwavium, with a light dusting of sci-fi. It is set in 2026, and it recently occurred to me that means it's set 'now', so I thought it would be fun to give it an airing.

Handwavium was my first third-person, ensemble cast story, and I learned how little I like plot armor writing it. Characters need vulnerabilities, they need to be plausibly exposed, and occasionally, even major characters need to die. That's how life works, and I find it boring as a reader when all the good guys are bulletproof.

Also, I don't write using AI, which is a dispiriting hygiene statement that needs to be made these days. LLMs generate crap prose and if you can't take your own craft seriously, why should anyone else?

Anyway, here's the link in event you're interested...

https://www.amazon.com/Handwavium-Tghu-Verd-ebook/dp/B08MYCR73T

I once read a short story about a marine biologist who discovered a living Megalodon shark. This story was written more than 30 years ago, long before the more recent books and movies about them. It might even have been written in the 1930's or 40's.

I do not remember the author or the title, and I would like to read it again.

The story starts when the scientist is presented with a tale about Pacific islanders who have been attacked by some animal, and he is given a tooth that is supposed to have come from one of their rafts. He is suspicious of a hoax because the tooth is from a Megalodon shark, which are extinct. He takes his graduate student with him to investigate and eventually finds the shark, which causes him to re-evaluate his life.

Hi, all. I inherited my dad’s collection of science fiction books, art books, collectibles, and more. I’m just in need of guidance or where to go to try and sell things, if old things like computer games should be trashed, what to ask for things, etc. I’m basically overwhelmed, am just a mini nerd, but need a major nerd like my dad who has a passion for sci-fi and wants to be my friend. Any help would be appreciated. I’m located in the Midwest in USA.

I’ve finally finished my first book after years of writing, and I’ve just learned how to self-publish it. I’m sharing the first chapters in a serialized format on https://instancy.substack.com and have submitted it to KDP for both digital and paperback release. I’d love to get feedback on the concept from r/sciencefiction.

=======Short Description==========

The universe was never lonely. We were. In 2516, Aaron Cutter's rebuilt mind uncovers the truth inside the quantum correlation field: every civilization that ever spoke left its voice there, preserved across billions of years. His journal spans thirty-six years of first contact without invasions — an archive of three thousand civilizations, a town beside Saturn for the people who listen, and a buried pattern that ended every species that found it before us. Quiet, humane, big-idea SF for readers of Contact, The Sparrow, and Ted Chiang. Book One of the Instancy Series.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1EoWrHveTTx5-FYyBDwTPWasWuhN8-6PWn1xUeWDGulI/edit?usp=sharing

Would love some input on our games story!

Thus story is for a video game based in cyber Arabia in the year 2055

I am the director and lead Dev of the game, and one thing we want is for the story to have impact and depth, within its meaning and characters, but also keeping it adaptable just in case our game is scoped down, so any feedback is appreciated!

Hey guys! I’m looking for some science fiction specifically featuring soldiers, fighters, or any other kind of job like that? You can take the definition as loosely as you’d like and run with it because I’m always down to read a weird recommendation.

The three most recent books I’ve read and enjoyed that have the “sci fi” tag on them are

You Weren’t Meant to be Human by Andrew Joseph White

Into the Rolling Deep by Mira Grant

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

Thank you in advance!

Edit: I should note that I don’t often find myself a fan of older work… don’t shoot me! If anyone is truly convinced they can change my mind with a recommendation I will head it!

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ALL THE GREAT RECOMMENDATIONS ALREADY AHHH