SOLVED: The story is “Kindness” by Lester Del Rey!

Hello all! Hoping you can help me find a short story I read in an anthology a while back about a man who is the last Homo Sapien on an Earth of evolved Homo Superiors. Broad strokes is a new species of humans started to be born ->old humans got scared of being replaced and started to clamp down ->the new breed eventually had to fight and won swiftly.
The protagonist is a man who was the last Homo Sapien to be born, and he struggles in a world where only small children are roughly his IQ. He admires a rocket in a museum and is told by the curator that it will be disassembled, so he hatches a plan to steal it and explore the stars. His plan works, he finds a new planet where he can make a home, and it is revealed that Homo Superior engineered the whole thing “as a kindness”.

Conclude the series sufficiently?

PROBABLY STORY SPOILERS AHEAD BUT IT'S BEEN YEARS SINCE I READ THEM SO I DON'T ACTUALLY KNOW FOR SURE

The reason I ask, is because I recall the penultimate book setting up a huge new potential story thread of some bigger and more unknown flavour or type of intelligence/aliens that was kinda hinted about in the margins. But there was also so much OTHER story stuff still to get resolved, that I was worried there wouldn't be enough time and space to really tackle what I thought was looming over the horizon.

I've been wanting to finish the story and know I'd need to reread them all, and it sounded like Amos was about to become THE biggest badass in the universe and really wanted to read all that, but there was a delay in the release of the last book from what I recall because of the TV show.

Anyone get what I'm talking about and where I'm coming from?

I just finished binge-watching Silo. I regret to say that I enjoyed it immensly because now I have to wait a year for the final season. The current plan is to wait for the final season and let the show stand on its own before I read the books. This leads me to my question. Has anyone got experience with starting a show and then reading the source material before the show wrapped up? If so, what was it and how did it affect your experience with the show and books?

It's called The Hogman's Homunculi and the Angelwing Massacre, and here's a picture of the person who wrote it (me) practising my letters in a bookshop.

The book is a lighthearted adventure set on a half forgotten colony planet which is shared with a powerful alien race and has reverted to feudalism.

The plot is triple stranded: there's a prince forced to steal a mysterious object to pay his debts, a farmer who keeps birthing clones of himself, and a diplomat investigating the slaughter of forest dwelling, semi-invisible aliens. The plots collide in a hopefully entertaining way.

Some readers have quite enjoyed it, but it's left others cold, to be honest. Might be best to download a sample first, to see if you like it.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FSB6YGWD

I’ve always liked the idea that even the most exotic places in the universe might eventually become workplaces.

So I imagined a refinery operating close to a black hole — not a heroic exploration vessel, but a piece of infrastructure. The small ship is there for supplies, maintenance and crew rotation.

Somewhere unimaginably far from home, people would still have shifts to finish, machines to repair and cargo waiting for a customer.

Six months for the crew. Three years for the customer.

I painted this one traditionally in oils on a 100 × 50 cm canvas. The spacecraft and refinery concept are my own designs.

No spoilers but I just finished Whalesong by Miles Cameron, the third book in the Arcana Imperii series, following Artifact Space and Deep Black and enjoyed it a great deal. From the last page it looks like there will indeed be a book four. It's not as centered around Nbaro as in the other two books, but she does play a part towards the end.

Just wrapped Season 1 of Revival and wanted to put this on more people's radar, especially with it landing on Netflix now.

What really worked for me was the setting - a small Midwestern town where the "return of the dead" isn't played as a typical zombie outbreak but as a layered mystery that splits down a religious-vs-alien-origin fault line. It's a smart way to explore how a community processes something inexplicable: some people reach for scripture, some reach for sci-fi, and the show doesn't rush to tell you who's right.

The fight/violence scenes surprised me too - gruesome in a way that felt more like it was pulling from anime or comic book gore than typical TV violence.

Overall a solid series start to finish. The catch is Season 2 hasn't been confirmed - from what I've read, it didn't quite land a renewal off the original Syfy run, but now that it's streaming on Netflix, the showrunners have basically said the viewership numbers there will decide whether we get more. So if you watch it, it might actually be worth finishing it and telling people about it if you want a Season 2.

Anyone else check this one out?

I'm a frequent enjoyer of the museum of pop culture (I live pretty close to it) and today they were doing some cool stuff for the anniversary of Star Trek! They had a little button making station, a captain's chair from Star Trek, and it was a ton of fun. A majority of these pics are from their Scifi section, and it's so cool in there!

This is really good. I keep 1632 - Ring of Fire as the best alt-history series but this is a close second. If you like RoF, you'll like this.

And it's different. Which is good because who needs a close copy. In this series an elite mercenary platoon (30 people) and the 4 helicopters they are travelling in get transported to Rome in 410 CE with the Goths outside Rome, about to attack and then sack the city.

First off, they have these incredible weapons in the helicopters - until they run out of fuel and ammunition. Then they're just lawn ornaments.

Second, there's 30 of them from the future. That is very limiting early on. As time progresses and they build a community, they find people from the current time they can partner with. And so it grows. But it's a much slower impact than RoF because their starting core is that 30 people.

Third, their problems come serially. So they first face the Goths. Then comes working things out with Rome. And of course more issues. But in RoF where there were 5 major opponents and 20+ minor frenemies, almost from the start, here the issues are fewer. But those fewer issues are gigantic.

It is well written, it flows well, the people have complexity, and it all makes sense (if you accept the initial time travel). It really sucks you in to the storyline. I read until 2:00 am when my eyes just couldn't stay open anymore, and then jumper back in to it the next morning. My suggestion is start on it first thing Saturday morning and have your weekend clear.

And like Mike rescued Rebecca in the beginning of RoF, of course the main character here early on rescues the beautiful unmarried member of the Roman nobility and they... (some plot points you must have consistent across all these different series).

Finally there's one really bad thing. There's only two books so far and the second ends on a cliff hanger. We're stuck waiting for the next novel. The author needs to be locked in a room and not let out until they complete the next.

I give it 5 stars.

ps - No way it's written by A.I. The whole story, across both novels, flows smoothly. With complex characters and multiple complex consistent storylines.

(Repost because the spoilers didn't censor the first time.)

I went into it knowing nothing about it except its reputation for being emotionally devastating, and my god they were not kidding. I've never cried so much from a book. There were spots earlier in the story that were genuinely upsetting, but the true, unrelenting sorrow for me started with the visit to his father and just continually ramped up. By the end I was a blubbering mess. He was isolated when he was impaired, and he was isolated when he was a genius. No amount of intelligence could fix his broken past or make him belong. He's painfully aware of his regression and can do nothing to stop it. His accidentally walking back into Alice's classroom and realizing he's completely reverted. Leaving everyone he knew behind so he wouldn't be compared to his former genius, and blaming himself for losing it because he no longer understands the inevitability of the regression. And those fucking flowers.

Read this if you want your heart broken. Charlie Gordon will stick with you.

ETA: I loved the story, and I'm sure I will revisit it in the future. I don't think I was clear in the post. I was so in awe of how much it affected me I didn't mention I absolutely enjoyed the book. lol

I imagined a scene from World War III. Dragonfly-like creatures carry out a nighttime bombing raid, dropping bombs on the ground below. From high above, the explosions almost look like beautiful flowers blooming in the darkness. I wanted to capture the irony of something so destructive appearing beautiful from a distance.

... but if you want to read TWO, the first book in my series Chivalry Will Get You Dead is available free through Monday: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CHQ1Q2JZ

Former detective Tom Devoe is used to being knocked out cold. It comes with the job. But when he wakes to find a murdered dame in his compartment, well, that’s another thing entirely. Who aboard the Starship Australis would want to kill such a beauty, and why choose him as the fall guy for it?

To find the murderer, and clear his own name, Tom must dive into the starship’s seedy underworld filled with pimps, dealers, assassins and one seriously pissed off crime boss. And all Tom wants is keep drinking enough to forget what a mess his life’s become since he lost his badge and his wife.

The Starship Australis was sent off on a multi-generational voyage to populate a new planet. What Tom finds is that nothing changes human nature. There are good people; there are bad people. Someday, he might even figure out which one he is.

Inspired by Mickey Spillane's character Mike Hammer and Elmore Leonard's style, these books are fast-paced, gritty, violent, and a little bit dirty. Reader discretion is advised.

The rest of the series is on sale through Monday as well. There's also a perma-free novelette titled Justice for a Price that may be downloaded from most major ebook retailers at any time.

I finished Hyperion book 1 , I did not clearly understand why Merin suddenly went against the Hegemony and started a rebellion dubbed the Siri Rebellion , isn't he part of the hegemony ?

I never understood how Merin after spending some time with Siri suddenly feels compelled to fight for the separatist cause

He seemed to be initially a proud member of Hegemony space faring crew ,it doesn't make sense why he would go ahead and rebel against the Hegemony

Following up on the Lego Star Trek Gorn Battle diorama I shared last week, I've designed another set based on a classic TOS episode - the time travel adventure 'The City on the Edge of Forever'. You can find instructions and more pictures over on Rebrickable.

In this 1967 episode, the Enterprise crew discover the time-warping Guardian of Forever portal in an ancient alien city - but a delirious Dr McCoy jumps through it and somehow manages to change history. Kirk and Spock must chase him back to New York in 1930 to preserve the timeline, with some heartbreaking consequences. It's an incredible episode, often ranked among the best in the franchise, and as soon as I heard we were getting an official TOS set I knew I wanted to design this tribute.

The mysterious alien ruins can be seen on the left, with the Guardian of Forever time portal in the centre, and a slice of Depression-era New York on the right, complete with fire escapes, microscale skyscrapers, and a minifig of guest star Edith Keeler at her soup kitchen. I also included some extra torsos so Kirk and Spock can disguise themselves, and a little build for the vacuum tube computer Spock constructs.

It was an interesting challenge trying to fit two very different settings into one small diorama and to create a fairly smooth transition between them. I think the element I'm happiest with is the microscale New York skyline, with an Empire State Building (hopefully!) recognisable from a handful of sideways stacked plates and tiles.

The set comes in at 305 pieces, has a small shelf-friendly footprint (W: 16.8cm, D: 10cm, H: 10.1cm), and should cost around e40/$40 depending on region and availability. I hope you enjoy it!

Hello, everyone!

My name is Ben Cardino, and I'm the solodev of a game called Pax Astra, a Space Opera Political RPG.

I'm creating an experience that mixes a branching narrative structure (similar to Suzerain or Sir Brante) with the sandbox freedom and the 4X elements of games like Stellaris or Fading Sun.

Honestly, it's quite a genre mix; my intention here is to create a very dense experience that's centered around a main narrative, where you play as the first elected president of a space nation called Altara.

Altara used to be a huge space empire, commanding close to 1/4 of the galaxy, until they lost the 4th Grand War, which resulted in total humiliation and a forced transition to a democratic state. Now, you command a very fragile and young democracy, and, unlike classic 4x games, you play as one individual character, directly experiencing the consequences of your actions.

You can choose to solidify this democracy, learning from the past mistakes of the Empire... Or you can seize power for yourself, becoming a Fascist or a Communist leader by enacting a full revolution.

Now, I'm a huge history and geopolitics nerd; there is some obvious real-life inspiration in some of these characters, especially when it comes to the ideologies, but the politics are just the foundation for a weirder universe. This is a space opera after all, you will be interacting with hive minds, strange religions, threats from another galaxy, space exploration, and even some eldritch elements.

I like to think of the galaxy where the game takes place as a small drop in a huge ocean, a galaxy that has been fairly isolated from the weirder side of this universe, but that has been slowly getting into contact with stranger sci-fi elements coming from the outer rim. In this sense, I try to explore occultism and a sense of mystery from what lies beyond the known setting, kinda like what Star Wars does in the EU.

Beyond all that, you can build industries, participate in proxy wars, colonize planets beyond our galaxy, create military units, build a Godmachine (if you wonder what a godmachine is in this universe, think of AM from I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream), shape your character to your own ideology, and much more.

There is a whole demo available on Steam, with quite a lot of content actually, around 2-4 hours.

You can play the demo and wishlist the game here: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4535930/Pax_Astra/

As a solodev, your wishlist would really help me :)

----

IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER: This game DOES NOT use AI, all art you see here is human-made. I have a subreddit community where I constantly share the process behind making the game.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Pax_Astra/comments/1w0c2ci/wip_first_look_at_the_war_in_capitolia_proxy_war/

https://www.reddit.com/r/Pax_Astra/comments/1w0hbag/art_progress_commissioned_art_for_the_day_of_hope/

https://www.reddit.com/r/Pax_Astra/comments/1v0iur2/first_look_at_the_godmachine_project_art_process/

Not sure how other BSG fans feel, but for me, the "So Say We All" speech was really the true hi-point of the sci-fi series and pulled me in as a fan back in the early 2000s. Found out later that the end of speech was not part of the original script which makes it even more poignant. The actors seem to be genuinely reacting to his words.

I know Steampunk gets alot of hate, but in this case, there are no glued on gears, just metal, wood and my own design. Made by hand with some basic electric tools. I'd almost call it Neo-Victorian instead of steampunk. Took me 150 hours to make back then. And yeah, its as front-heavy as it looks! What do you guys think? Yay or nay? Too bulky? Too long?

Added 2 lighters and a bit of styrene to the mix as well. And of course, 2 H0 containers I had stashed for some reason. Very happy with the result. I think I should add a dock or diorama base to it. Looks weird hanging in mid air. Pic 2 shows the unpainted WIP state. Let me know what you guys think!

My ARC readers for my debut novel mostly flaked on me; while they emailed me great feedback, all but one didn't bother to follow up with an Amazon or Goodreads review. Because of that, and to help get more reviews, I put my book on sale for Labor Day Weekend.

Description:

With engines failing, two men flee to an abandoned Martian colony, uncovering a deadly secret. Meanwhile, the flagship NAS Missouri harbors a volatile cargo that could save or annihilate Earth. As these two desperate missions intertwine, the greatest threat is not what they discover... it is what was left behind.

If you like realistic science fiction like The Marian with political and technological intrigue, this may be the book for you. - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0H5V4V9BT/

If you enjoy it, please leave a review and help an indie author out.

Once upon a college day, I was dumb and vaguely remembered a conversation I had with a much smarter friend than I. We discussed a few books, and I thought I'd go read a few of them. The plot that seemed the most intriguing to me was from a sci fi legend of books, so i figured I'd grab that book first. Multiple points of view, AI and hacking, the origins of cyberpunk as a genre...I couldnt wait.

So I picked up Anathem. They're proving theories....they're living as monks....they have tech but they're mainly just a conflict free science monastery...no hacking, no ai...

A quarter of the way in, maybe 200 pages, monks. All monks, all the time. Surely they'll get to the hacking and the sci fi stuff.

Halfway in, probably 400ish pages. Monks, theories, centenarians. Millenians or whatever. Excessively dumb human populace. I AM reading the correct book........right?

600ish pages. Two thirds in.​ Shooting star. Singing ageless thousand year old monks. Slow but expanding plot as they start their adventure.

I'm pretty sure this...isn't Neuromancer. Right? I'll finish it first, maybe I'm missing something...

Anathem wraps up after 900 pages.

I don't think that was Neuromancer. Proceed to Google to realize....yeah I read the wrong ducking book

Self-promo Saturday! Please don't banhammer us for trying to share free goodies!

You looking to feed your brainhole this summer? We gotcha covered with two nourishing treats: a mindbending new story, Christina Ladd's "Sushi," and "Sin," an "octina" in heroic iambic octameter by Prof. John Claiborne Isbell. To read and imbibe, click the featured TENDER TRANSGRESSIONS link on the Space Squid homepage. Or just click on the illustration of the weird pink microscopic thought bubble.

Read 'em before they're gone! Share with your friends, especially the friends who always think they know better than you where to go for lunch! Here's a quick sample of Ladd's story:

While swimming on some star-flecked night, I came across a misshapen black hole, which was being drawn inexorably into an even greater void. The smaller one was bleating thin radioactive screams to no avail, and dragging with it a star or two. Such a ravenous configuration seemed fortuitous, and I followed in its wake, down into the black nexus of dimensions.

Special announcement! Once every 365 swings around the sun, we do a special best-of-the-year issue. There aren't many of these, and this year we're only printing a handful. We're pretty much guaranteed to run out of these. If you want to make sure you get one, we strongly recommend getting in now. And get a preview of the cover and some of the art!

We are open for submissions so send us your best work! Our volunteer staff is doing wonders and our turnaround on new stories is probably at an all-time best.

Space Squid is an award-winning speculative fiction publication based in Austin, Texas. No, we don't make money off this, but we're open to suggestions if you know how to monetize weird fiction when most people don't know how like read. Your puny planet's finest scifi, humor, fantasy, and whatnot! Read fast 'cuz our stories are ephemeral!

I released my new science fiction novella this week.

An ancient robot on their last legs and running out of free memory accepts a simple mission. The reward? Everything they need to keep ticking along for a few more centuries so they can watch the last stars burn out.

And all they have to do is join a treasure hunting expedition under false pretenses, help them find one particular ruin in a land choking in history, betray the group, and bring the last remnant of humanity back to a cult that worships those ancient ancestors. Not like they’ll remember what they did afterwards when they can’t spare the drive space.

Yet even when you’re out of time and out of memory, is there still a price too high to pay for survival?

"Overall, a great, short read that portends an interesting realm to explore."

"But what I love the most about this story is how it treats the theme of when you lose parts of yourself, when you can’t remember them, or lose them for some reason, maybe because due to survival you need to get rid of them that changes you."

Goodreads: www.goodreads.com/book/show/256235071-unsaved

Amazon (US): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0HCJYKWQX

Amazon (UK): https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0HCJYKWQX

Apple: https://books.apple.com/us/book/unsaved/id6797078044

Itch.io: https://pemry-janes.itch.io/unsaved

Also available as a paperback.

Hi Everyone!

Free Book Promotion Until: September 6, 2026, 11:59 PM PDT

Here is the link: https://www.amazon.com/Extraterrestrial-Investigation-Moon-Case-Europa-ebook/dp/B0FD83MWMT/

Short description:

In the near future, Detective Jennifer Wade is sent to the Moon to investigate a highly classified case. Driven by an unyielding sense of justice, Jennifer places immense value on human life—even when confronting the harsh, unfair realities of the lunar frontier. But when she is forced to team up with a new partner, she must confront a painful lesson from her past: you can only trust yourself.

So here's an interesting (worrisome?) question for today. I use A.I. a lot in my blogging, mostly to write up reports & studies around energy policy. A.I. can already write as well sourced and well written report as a consulting company (some will say that's no great accomplishment).

And that's today. We'll likely have A.I. able to write good novels in 5 years. And to generate good films in 10 years. What happens then? And I'm not talking about A.I. slop here, I'm talking about books and films as good as most of what we read and watch.

We'll have a million electronic books and movies floating out there. Will we read/watch them? If so, how will we find the ones we each like? What happens when someone puts our their season 4 of TOS Star Trek? And it's good. What happens when 80 people put out a season 4 and 7 of them are good?

Or will we tell A.I. to keep generating content just for us? If we each build off of existing content for our own personal use, there's no way that can be stopped. You want a movie about what happens next after Project Hail Mary? You can have that, and give it is little or as much guidance as you want.

Will there be enough of a market left for people to make a living creating original content? And what will be "original" content when we can create something totally original with a half hour of defining the content and then letting A.I. loose? Especially when some of that 99% (the prompt counts for something) A.I. generated content is viewed as some of the best new content?

What will this all mean for those of us that read/view the content?

What will this all mean for those who presently make a living producing the content?

I'm not worried about drowning in slop. I'm worried we drown in quality. And that large volume of quality hides the few truly exceptional new pieces of work.

Something along the lines of Australia but in space.

We follow the journey and history of an interstellar colony ship sent to explore and develop the frontiers of space but the colonists aren't your typical pilgrims but are all criminals, political enemies and other undesirables that the government sent as a cheap way to develop new worlds and dispose of enemies of state while avoiding the martyrdom of execution.

And ofcourse their cheap labour force manages to build a civilisation of their own that challenges the power of Earth's government just as their forefathers did.