Along with artificial wombs and other new and futuristic reproductive technologies, cloning is a staple of science fiction, but for all the fantastical examples, we too often neglect that cloning already exists in nature: it’s called “parthenogenesis”, and it expands the universe of possibilities for … Continue readingWorldbuilding with Parthenogenesis
One of the most fun aspects of worldbuilding is constructing new aspects of every society, to make the world new again, as I have enjoyed recently in my first and second posts on worldbuilding my calendar. One aspect of worldbuilding that is often neglected is … Continue readingWorldbuilding Number Systems
I’ve grown quite enamored with my “new calendar” or “American Revolutionary Calendar”, inspired by the famous French Republican Calendar and Tolkien’s “Shire Reckoning”, for my science-fiction space-opera setting. I’ve already expressed a first set of thoughts on the subject of worldbuilding new calendars in a … Continue readingMore Thoughts on my New Calendar
Leaving aside questions of interplanetary or interstellar demography, or demography in an alternate history, topics I’ve blogged about before, there are also interesting aspects to real-life demography. Demography may not be destiny but it does shape the future; what kind of demographic future is in … Continue readingStop Worrying and Love the Birth Dearth?
Fantastical calendars are a staple of science fiction and fantasy, and for good reason: a way of measuring time that differs from our own being prevalent really helps to immerse one into another world. Sometimes this applies to our very own Earth, which has produced … Continue readingWorldbuilding New Calendars
What would film be without dialogue? Without those “wonderful lines” that Debbie Reynolds’s character in “Singing in the Rain” considered the sine qua non of true acting? Well, it would still be film; indeed, it might even be better film. The silent era had caption … Continue readingToward More Visual Storytelling
The results of the 2020 United States Presidential election are well known by this point, and much analysis has been offered, including by myself on Twitter. For the first time on this blog I would like to offer some of the thoughts I’ve expressed in … Continue readingChecking in on American Politics: 2020 Edition
It must be Star Wars month at this blog, because once again my head turns toward contemplating ideas for new stories set in that universe. Well, this latest one I have is not exactly a new story, but is more of my own take on … Continue readingThe Star Wars Darth Bane Film Trilogy I Would Make
One of the things I enjoy the most about worldbuilding my science fiction setting, which is also an alternate history diverging from our timeline around 1900, is considering transportation technology in such a wealthier and more advanced world. It has recently struck me that it’s … Continue readingWorldbuilding Motorhomes in my Sci-Fi Setting
What kind of a country strives hard to acquire territory only to deny its people the full splendor of the spoils? Among many other countries who often styled themselves “empires” and acquired far-flung islands across the ocean, the United States, that’s who. Specifically I’d like … Continue readingA Not-so-Minor Dream for the Minor Outlying Islands