nyrath

@mattblaze @simplenomad

I remember when I was a child being taught to "Duck and Cover". And being shown some cartoon about a turtle.

@JBrianCoyle @scifi

In Clarke's Before Eden, astronauts visit Venus, and thoughtlessly bury their garbage at the landing site. The highest evolved Venusian animal eats it, and is killed by Earth microbes. The Venusian ecosystem follows.

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?41621

@[email protected] @[email protected]

Agreed.
All of John Brunner's "Club of Rome Quartet" novels pack a punch.

Stand on Zanzibar (apocalypse by over population)
The Jagged Orbit (apocalypse by polarization and guns)
The Sheep Look Up (apocalypse by pollution)
The Shockwave Rider (apocalypse by internet and computer tracking)

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Brunner_(author)#Literary_works#Literary_works)

@darrelplant @DmMacniel @simonbp @swope

Truth is stranger than fiction, because fiction has to make sense

@simonbp @swope @DmMacniel

A quote from @cerebrate

http://www.projectrho.com/public_html/rocket/spacecolony.php#segboss

@darrelplant @simonbp @swope @DmMacniel

The stories almost write themselves, don't they?

@simonbp @swope @DmMacniel

There is actually a real world analog to that...

http://www.projectrho.com/public_html/rocket/colonysite.php#shanty1

@swope @DmMacniel

(My website needs an index)

Or like a boomtown? (Scroll down to BOOMTOWN 2)

http://www.projectrho.com/public_html/rocket/colonysite.php#wikiboom

@swope @DmMacniel

Aha! I was wrong. I do have a section about shanty towns

http://www.projectrho.com/public_html/rocket/colonysite.php#refugee

@michaelgemar @DmMacniel

I think it would be more dramatically interesting if we could figure out some situation that made the pursuit more like a James Bond 007 automobile chase.

@swope @DmMacniel

I seem to recall Larry Niven grumbling about his invention, the stasis field. Originally made to solve a minor scientific problem in one story. Turned out to be far too useful. Subsequent stories had to have their problems vetted to ensure they were not trivially solved by the stasis field

@swope

I agree with you, that if a science fiction author cannot keep things strictly scientific, the next best thing is to make it internally self-consistent. Yes, this is a challenge. Larry Niven found that out.