The Hunt for Count Gleichen’s Treasure is now up to 13,355 words, the Venus section accounting for most of the additions. But rather than bore you with an incremental update on my novel, I will offer a change of pace by outlining a concept for … Continue readingWorldbuilding the Cool, the Romance, and the Fantasy into my Space Opera Setting
In my last post I elaborated upon the space opera world I am building, which is also an alternate history of the 20th and 21st centuries and has a near-future-level spacefaring phase. I’d like to take this occasion to announce that I have decided to … Continue readingBeginning the Adventure of writing a Novel
It looks like I’ve had science fiction and space opera on my mind lately, and I haven’t stopped since the last post, so I thought I’d share with you my thoughts on a science fiction world I’ve been building for myself. That is somewhat different … Continue readingWorldbuilding a Space Opera Setting of My Own
In the science fiction setting I am worldbuilding, Proxima Centauri b as in real life is a roughly Earth-sized planet with an orbital period of 11 days, and is the closest known exoplanet. In real life we don’t know much about Proxima Centauri b aside … Continue readingThalassa, or Proxima Centauri b: The Pale Green Dot
When worldbuilding a science fiction or especially space opera setting, it is often desired for the scope to encompass more than one solar system, spanning part or all of one galaxy or even beyond. There is just one big problem: no object with mass can … Continue readingWorldbuilding Faster than Light Travel
One of the most distinct characteristics of life in outer space is the lack of gravity pulling you and everything else down to the floor. Objects and people inside any structure launched into orbit will float around and experience zero gravity. This is not a … Continue readingArtificial Gravity in Outer Space: Centrifuges and Beyond
Solarpunk, a subversively optimistic genre of science fiction, has proven to be a breath of fresh air for our vision of the future over the past several years. As the latest major incarnation of the various “-punk” subgenres, it joins the likes of atompunk, clockpunk, … Continue readingToward Nuclearpunk: Solarpunk with a Twist
The concept of a city that is so large it engulfs an entire planet is one of the most common tropes of science fiction, especially space opera. After all, population growth and urbanization throughout history, particularly in the last two centuries, have driven cities to … Continue readingEcumenopolis: Thoughts on Worldbuilding City-Planets
After the solar system is colonized, settled, and developed, interstellar colonization is the next step in mankind’s journey through the final frontier. The distances between planets within our own solar system are easily surmountable once enough space infrastructure is built out to allow the mass … Continue readingWorldbuilding Near-Future Interstellar Demography
When worldbuilding any outer-space setting, from galactic-scale space opera to the earliest space colonies, one must consider demographics: the magnitude, distribution, and composition of the setting’s population. While other galaxies or far-future settings could easily have a very wide range of outcomes, a near-future in … Continue readingWorldbuilding Near-Future Space Demography