Entries by Discover Sci-Fi

Who Are the Best Furry Friends in Science Fiction?

June 11, 2020 /10 Comments/in , /by

"To his dog, every man is Napoleon; hence the constant popularity of dogs." —Aldous Huxley

Like a captain willing to go down with the ship, the furry friends of sci-fi are full of a devotion that will keep them by their companion's sides till the bitter end. This week we are celebrating the ones who are always there, and who—whatever species they might be—can be counted on to bring a little extra dose of humanity to any story.

Think about which of the animal companions (robotic ones included!) from science fiction you'd want with you as the world falls apart, nominate as many as you'd like here or in our Facebook group, and then be sure to vote for your favorite(s)! We'll pin you down to one choice next week.

As always, we base our lists on the votes and nominations from this blog and our Facebook Reader group, and we want to hear your opinion!

​

Who Are the Best Furry Friends in Science Fiction?

  • Add your answer

Results


What Are the Most Terrifying Alien Invaders in Science Fiction?

April 9, 2020 /10 Comments/in , /by

"One day, we might receive a signal from a planet... But we should be wary of answering back. Meeting an advanced civilization could be like Native Americans encountering Columbus. That didn't turn out so well."—Stephen Hawking

This is what the brilliant Stephen Hawking had to say when discussing Gliese 832c, a possibly habitable extrasolar planet 16 light years away. It seems our favorite authors largely agree with him as oftentimes, the aliens of science fiction are painted as malevolent beings or, at the very least, those whose interests pose a serious threat to humans. But like anything, there are levels, and in the interest of turning our attention to a terror not presently making headlines, this week we are taking a deep dive into the scariest alien invaders of science fiction.

We've jump-started the conversation with a few suggestions of our own, but we want to hear from you!  Add your nomination(s) for most terrifying alien invaders below and then vote on your favorite(s). If you need a little inspo, take a peek at this post from Discover Sci-Fi's own Daniel Arenson from back in January. You guys had some strong opinions on what did and didn't make Daniel's list back then and now is your chance to be heard! 

As always, we base our lists on the votes and nominations from this blog and our Facebook Reader group, and we want to hear your opinion!

​

What Are the Most Terrifying Alien Invaders in Science Fiction (Books)

  • Add your answer

Results


What Are the Best Sci-Fi Titles Written by Women?

February 27, 2020 /6 Comments/in , /by

"I came into science fiction at a very good time, when the doors were getting thrown open to all kinds of more experimental writing, more literary writing, riskier writing. It wasn't all imitation Heinlein or Asimov. And of course, women were creeping in, infiltrating." —Ursula K. Le Guin

Even while many regard Mary Shelley's
Frankenstein as the first work of science fiction, the world of sci-fi is overwhelmingly dominated by men, writers and readers alike.  If you take a peek at NPRs (now very outdated) Top 100 Science Fiction and Fantasy Books, you'll find you have to scroll down to number 20 before you hit a title written by a woman. Much has been written on the topic of representation, and while it's important, that is not what we are aiming to discuss today. Today is about celebrating the women of science fiction.

While the numbers of women publishing in science fiction may be small, among them there are some truly outstanding writers; women who have conceived of some of the smartest, most well-written works science fiction has to offer. The best of these skillfully weave social commentary into narratives that are both gripping and artfully written. In advance of International Women's Day, this week's poll asks you to consider titles in science fiction written by women. Which ones might be considered the very best?  Add your nomination(s) below and then vote on your favorite(s).

We base our lists on the votes and nominations from this blog and our Facebook Reader group, and we want to hear your opinion!

​

What is the Best Sci-Fi Title by a Woman Writer?

  • Add your answer

Results


What Are the Best Utopian Sci-Fi Books or Series?

May 21, 2020 /6 Comments/in , /by

“Nobody owns anything but everyone is rich - for what greater wealth can there be than cheerfulness, peace of mind, and freedom from anxiety?”
― Thomas More, Utopia

Too good to be true?

We love a good, purely dystopian sci-fi story: The Stand, 1984, The Handmaid’s Tale, The Road, The Hunger Games… It’s easy to rattle off a list of both classics and more contemporary favorites that revolve around a dystopian society. This week we’re interested in utopian science fiction, and the bevy of sci-fi books that explore whether such a thing is even possible, or if all our imagined utopias conceal a dark underbelly.

So. This week, whether they are ultimately optimistic or not, we want your picks for science fiction books and series that explore utopian themes.  

We've kicked things off with a few of suggestions, but we are counting on you to add your own favorites to the poll, so submit your nomination(s) below and then to vote for the ones you think are the best!

We base our lists on the votes and nominations from this blog and our Facebook Reader group, and we want to hear your opinion!

​

What Are the Best Utopian Sci-Fi Books or Series?

  • Add your answer

Results


 

What Are the Best Friendships Found in Science Fiction?

March 18, 2020 /2 Comments/in , /by

“There are good ships there are wood ships, there are ships that sail the sea. But the best ships are friendships, and may they always be." —Irish Proverb

Friendships really are the best ships, aren't they? While there is something to be said for a flaming hot romance; a seasoned, mature and devoted love; or, a passion unrequited, truly, some of the deepest and most loyal bonds are between friends. These friendships can also be a source of some pretty witty banter and some wild shenanigans too, which is always a treat to read!  

Does it feel like the world is falling apart right now? Maybe a little. We like to think The Beatles were on to something when they promised "we'll get by with a little help from our friends" and so this week's poll is in celebration of friendship. This week we're asking you to think about the most iconic and inspiring friendships found within the pages of science fiction, to add your nomination(s) below and then to vote on your favorite(s).

We base our lists on the votes and nominations from this blog and our Facebook Reader group, and we want to hear your opinion!

​

What is the Best Friendship from a Science Fiction Book (standalone or series)?

  • Add your answer

Results


 

What are the best multi-book sci-fi series of all time?

January 15, 2020 /40 Comments/in , /by

“You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me.”
― C.S. Lewis

We can't help but think that C.S. Lewis, he himself having published one of the most popular multi-book series of all time, would approve of the smorgasbord of options available to science fiction readers these days when it comes to multi-book series.  

The multi-book series has the power to absorb us like nothing else. Authors have the freedom to play the long game: to build out worlds with detail and richness the likes of which they simply couldn't if restricted to the length of a standalone or even a trilogy; to build characters of epic proportions that over time, we readers come to know better than our own friends. You ache for it never to end, and no matter how long it is when it does conclude, it will always leave you wanting more.

This week's poll asks for you to ponder multi-book series' containing four books or more, either completed or evolving. Which ones might be considered the very best?  Add your nomination(s) below and then vote on your favorite(s).

We base our lists on the votes and nominations from this blog and our Facebook Reader group, and we want to hear your opinion!

What Are the Best Multi-Book Sci-Fi Series of All Time? (Four BOOKS or more, completed or evolving)

  • Add your answer

Results


What are the Best YA Sci-Fi Books or Series?

February 6, 2020 /5 Comments/in , /by

“Good stories are good stories, no matter how they’re categorized.” —Octavia Butler

Why yes, we YA!  What about you?

Generally—or perhaps historically—speaking Young Adult works were written for audiences in the 12-17 age range. Even while the popularity of YA fiction has grown across all age ranges over the last decade, some adults still snub YA fiction, writing it off as lacking the maturity necessary for a grown up audience. We know however, that a great YA novel or series can be sophisticated and well written enough for the discerning reader of any age. This, for starters, requires the author to have a little faith in the younger generation and their capacity to attend to a multi-layered narrative. It requires them to choose interesting themes and write those themes in a way that is accessible while also having depth; and, it requires them to choose their language with care. Failing that, it requires them to write something appealing to youth, while sparking something like a sense of adventure (for example) that might provoke the adult reader's feelings of nostalgia. Or, it could just be down right fun. In today's world, sometimes that is plenty; sometimes that is more than enough.

This week's poll asks for you to ponder young adult science fiction books and series. Which ones might be considered the very best?  Add your nomination(s) below and then vote on your favorite(s).

We base our lists on the votes and nominations from this blog and our Facebook Reader group, and we want to hear your opinion!

​

What are the best young adult science fiction books or series of all time?

  • Add your answer

Results


What are the best one-liners from sci-fi books?

September 5, 2019 /19 Comments/in , /by

“There's something to be said for hunger: at least it lets you know you're still alive.” — Margaret Atwood, Oryx and Crake

There's also something to be said for the beautiful pairings of words into well-shaped phrases, the meaning of which sparks joy, sadness, wisdom, and deep understanding in our hearts when we read it.

Science fiction plays an important role in forcing us to question the meaning of our day to day lives and the status quo of the world around us.

This week's poll asks for you to think of the quotes that struck fear and wonder, laughter and awe, into your heart when you read it. Add your nomination(s) below and then vote on your favorite(s).

We base our lists on the votes and nominations from this blog and our Facebook Reader group, and we want to hear your opinion!

​

What are the best quotes/one-liners from a sci-fi BOOK?

  • Add your answer

Results


 

Interview: Daniel Arenson’s latest release “The Earthling” is here.

October 12, 2019 /0 Comments/in , /by

This week we sat down with Daniel Arenson, author of the incredible Earthrise series to talk about his latest release.

Having written over 60 books across the sci-fi and fantasy genres, Daniel Arenson is a master storyteller. 

His latest release, Soldiers of Earthrise Book 1: The Earthling, was inspired by the Philippine-American war, but it's set in space. It's about a war between Earth and a Filipino colony on another planet. And if the success of the original Earthrise series is any indicator, this new installment is sure to be one epic ride.

What are you currently writing?

I'm currently working on new novels in my SOLDIERS OF EARTHRISE series. The first novel, THE EARTHLING, was just released. This is my most heartfelt series, and something I'm really proud to share with readers.

If you write multi-book series: how do you keep up a fast paced story, spanning several different settings/situations, and still manage to keep all of your readers excited for the next part of each story?

I tend to write long series. My Earthrise series is 12 books long. A few of my other series (Moth, Kingdoms of Sand, Children of Earthrise, Soldiers of Earthrise) are 6 books long. I like big stories. I like room to immerse myself in a new world, to take the time to fully explore it. I find that shorter works are actually harder for me to write. I love having that breathing room, to really take the time to flesh out my world and characters.

When writing a book, have you ever learned something interesting/surprising, etc. that changed your life, or how you looked at life afterwards?

I often base my fictional wars and battles on conflicts from history. I spend a lot of time reading about historical battles, looking for inspiration. Even though I write books set in fantasy worlds or outer space, humans are still humans, and warfare is still warfare. Being a fantasy and science fiction writer means I read a lot of history. When you read a lot of history, you learn about how horrible we humans can be, how tragic war is, but also how noble and triumphant we can be during the most difficult times.

What technology from a sci-fi book (written by you or not) do you wish was real, and why?

A holodeck would be fun. But I worry that we'd get addicted to it and never leave... I also think a transporter would be great. A lot of my friends and family live in different countries. It would be great to just ping Scotty and have him beam me over. Yes, Star Trek has the best tech.

Have anything you've written about come true?

Since I write about alien invasions, thankfully not!

What is the book (or books) you’ve given most as a gift, and why?

I give away three books to anyone who visits my website: Moth, Requiem's Song, and Alien Hunters. I've probably given away tens of thousands of those by now. Want them? You can download them here: DanielArenson.com.

Get Daniel's latest release, The Earthling, available now on Amazon.

Jon Taylor is an Earthling. He doesn't care much about space. At least until his brother dies on Bahay, a war-torn planet many light-years away.

After the funeral, Jon joins the army. He learns to kill. And he flies to Bahay, sworn to avenge his brother.

Centuries ago, Filipino colonists arrived on Bahay to build a utopia. But this world has become a nightmare. Jon finds himself in a dizzying dreamscape, a world of dark jungles and neon slums, of ruthless guerrillas and intoxicating bargirls, of blood-soaked battlefields and glittering brothels. Here on Bahay, a man can lose his life in the jungle, lose his sanity in the gleaming drug dens, or lose his heart to a local girl with a sweet smile and knife behind her back.

On Bahay, nothing is as it seems. In this place of strange dreams and secrets, Jon hunts the man who killed his brother. But he learns that revenge always comes with a price...

If you loved Ender's Game, Starship Troopers, and Battlestar Galactica, you'll love The Earthling, a new tale in the bestselling Earthrise universe.

Author Biography:  Daniel Arenson is a bookworm, proud geek, and USA Today bestselling author of fantasy and science fiction. His novels have sold over a million copies. He's written over sixty novels in multiple series.

His bestselling series is Earthrise, the story of Earth struggling to rise after a devastating alien invasion. Children of Earthrise, a spinoff series, has recently been released, and Soldiers of Earthrise is launching Fall 2019.

In addition to Earthrise, Daniel has written the comedic sci-fi trilogy Alien Hunters.

He's also written several epic fantasy series: Kingdoms of Sand, Moth, Requiem.

You can follow Daniel on Facebook, Twitter and his website.

Are we living in the Matrix?

February 5, 2020 /2 Comments/in , /by

Are we living in the Matrix?

​I don’t mean the actual Matrix, run by maniacal robots using humans as batteries while we live out a simulacrum of life on Earth. But rather, the concept that our reality isn’t really ‘real.’

This concept is a provocative one on so many levels, and the truth is that there is just so much of science that has been leading us in this direction lately.

A significant group of futurists and renowned scientists firmly believe that we are living in a simulation: Elon Musk, Neil Degrasse Tyson, and even myself, but that’s not really a good reason for you to buy into the theory, nor am I necessarily proselytizing, but let’s take an objective look at some of the evidence:

The Mandela Effect

This was incorporated into a few popular books and movies, but if you’ve never heard of it, the Mandela Effect is the phenomenon where a collective group of people misremember events in history. The classic example is that a lot of people claim to remember Nelson Mandela dying in the 80s when in fact he died in 2013. Some people claim that this is evidence that our simulators are actively traveling back in time and altering history, or at least, evidence that there are parallel universes, which itself is a concept with strong ties to a simulated reality. A quantum computer simulation would likely simulate multiple variations of events in order to arrive at a desirable outcome. The question is what is considered desirable, and to whom?

The Fermi Paradox: Where Are All The Aliens?

Maybe there aren’t any—in this simulation. We might be the only civilization in what only looks like a vast universe. What about those points of light you see in the sky that we call stars? They could just be part of the backdrop of the simulation, a way to fool us into thinking we’re a part of something much bigger than we actually are. Simulating the rest of the universe at a great distance from us is actually relatively easy. There isn’t a lot of detail that we can see with telescopes. It’s not like we can actually travel to Alpha Centauri and go walk around on its planets. The sheer vastness of space and the difficulty we have in crossing those distances might just be an element of the simulation that’s designed to keep us contained in a manageable space, one that doesn’t overtax the resources of whatever supercomputer is running it all.

The Double-slit Experiment

Photons fired at a screen through two slits in a copper plate produce an interference pattern on the screen, behaving like a wave and passing through both slits at the same time. But if we conduct the same experiment under observation (remote, human, mechanical—doesn’t matter who or what is observing the photons): the photons behave like particles, and only pass through one of the slits, leaving no interference pattern on the screen. Electrons exhibit the same strange behavior. So what’s happening? Some say that this effect is the code of the simulation conserving resources by only simulating what it needs to. Video games today do this to great effect, only rendering what you can see at any given moment.

Like what you're reading?

If you're enjoying this article, why not join the DSF community for more awesome content? You'll get to be notified whenever a new top 10 list, or any other articles of interest goes up on our site. It's free to sign up and you'll also get recommendations for new releases and discounted ebooks from our expert editorial team, from bestsellers to hidden gems.

Computers and Video Games Are Advancing Rapidly

In just a few short decades, we’ve gone from 2D games like Space Invaders, Pong, and Pac-Man to this:

theHunter: Call of the Wild

Given another 50 or 100 years, video games will become indistinguishable from reality. Seeing this trend in 2003, Nick Bostrom, a philosopher from the University of Oxford, put forth a compelling argument for the idea that we might all be living in a simulation. He used the principles of statistics and logic to support his argument, but the basic gist of it was that it’s easy to imagine how members of an advanced civilization would have the ability to create a simulated world like ours, but not just one such world—they would be able to create many, many simulated worlds like this one.

Nick Bostrom, therefore, argued that the vast majority of realities would be artificial ones, simply because there is only one ‘real’ world, and it cannot be multiplied or used to spawn new ones. But advanced civilizations can certainly create thousands or even millions of simulated universes within one real universe. So, statistically speaking, it becomes more likely that we are living in a simulated reality rather than a real one. Bostrom suggested that perhaps we are living in an ancestor simulation created by a far future version of humanity.

There Are Error-Correcting Codes in the Fundamental Equations of String Theory

Theoretical Physicist James Gates thinks he’s found error-correcting computer codes in the equations of string theory. These types of codes are common in web browsers, and in the error-correcting memory of computer servers, but what is error-correcting code doing in the base code of our universe?

Conclusion

I could go on and on about this, but I won’t bore you with endless speculations and implications based on scraps of evidence. I’ll write a book about it, instead ;). But whether you believe we could be living in a simulation or not, I encourage you to think about the bigger questions behind that idea. Ironically, they’re the same questions we’ve been asking since the dawn of time: why are we here? What is the possible purpose of it all? Is there a God? I’ve come up with a few disturbing possibilities as to the why of it below:

  1. We’re prisoners from a far future society of humanity. We’re being rehabilitated in a relatively short-term (insert your hypothetical lifespan here) simulation, or else we’re just here to separate us from the ‘real’ reality and the ‘real’ people in a humane way that doesn’t allow us to hurt anyone. Our degree of suffering down here might even be commensurate with some type of sentence or eye-for-an-eye justice system.
  2. We’re bored immortal post-humans (humans who have uploaded their consciousness to android bodies, or to a supercomputer) living in a metaverse of countless different simulations. So why all the pain and struggle in this particular simulation? Maybe we got bored of having it easy. Think about it: if you never had to struggle, never felt pain, never suffered, would you appreciate anything anymore? A simulation like this one might be the equivalent of thrill-seeking for an immortal intelligence. That said, I don’t think anyone would choose to be a starving child in Africa. It’s possible that some of the people on Earth are the equivalent of NPCs in a game (non-player characters), which means that they only appear to suffer and aren’t really real, but that’s a dangerous line of thinking to incorporate into an actual philosophy of life. You don’t know who might be real and who isn’t, so you can’t make any assumptions without committing grave errors in judgment. Plus, this is just a wacky theory, so yeah. There’s that.
  3. Humans digitize and become immortal machines. Then what? How do you have kids? You can’t. You could program them, but they would have no notion of what it’s like to be a human. It’s likely that you would find them and their worldview utterly alien to your own (having once been a human yourself, you have that context as a base level of programming that underlies your decisions and personality). So this simulation could be a way to train and educate the ‘children’ of a race of post-human androids in matters of empathy, humanity, mortality, etc.

And finally, you may or may not be religious, but if what we think is reality is actually simulated, then there is a creator behind it all. And if this is a simulation, then any version of supernatural events becomes quite possible. Not only that, there could be a super intelligence behind it all, an AI that created the simulation and governs it. That AI would be God by all of our classical definitions. And if that AI also runs the ‘real’ world / base reality as some kind of benevolent ruler, then it would be a kind of God in that reality, too. Of course, there could be an evil AI as well. Maybe some rebels who didn’t like how things were being run in the metaverse programmed their own super-intelligent AI to run things differently. Sounds familiar somehow… I’m not saying that’s what’s going on behind the curtains, but the fact is that anything is possible.

​Unfortunately, there’s no way to find out for sure without dying first. Don’t worry, I promise I won’t say I told you so when we’re all back in the base reality again.

Until then, my advice is to be the best version of yourself that you can, because one of the more frightening possibilities is that we are all prisoners in here, and if that’s so, then proving our successful rehabilitation might be the only way we’re ever getting out.

​Jasper Scott is a USA Today bestselling author of more than 20 sci-fi novels including the best selling First Encounter, The New Frontiers trilogy and Dark Space series. With over a million books sold, Jasper's work has been translated into various languages and published around the world.

Jasper writes fast-paced books with unexpected twists and flawed characters. He was born and raised in Canada by South African parents, with a British heritage on his mother's side and German on his father's. He now lives in an exotic locale with his wife, their two kids, and two chihuahuas.

You can follow Jasper on Facebook, Twitter and his website.