So... one'd imagine that at this point (a couple of weeks into the... ummm… shall we call it "the situation"?) we have all long since expanded across the 'Expanse', trecked-through all the various iterations of ' 'Trek', thoroughly altered our "carbon" and doubtless revisited most of our well-loved authors in the genre. Was thinking therefore that it'd be pretty cool if all you cats could suggest stuff that you have liked which many ('specially yours truly) might not have heard-of before... the unlikelier the better, yes? Figure, so the thread is not shut-down for reasons of irrelevance, it'd be nice if said "stuff" was something that could plausibly inspire the further development of the 'Verse also... one is told some of the CiG-Gods do sometimes read the ramblings 'round these parts after all. Anyways... to kick-off: Am currently reading "The City in the Middle of the Night" by Charlie-Jane Anders. What is curious about this book is that it is set on a "tidally-locked" planet (one side is always Sun-facing) which is, to an extent, new-Science (Who would have guessed ten years ago that most "habitable" planets we can observe would be similarly "locked" dealios orbiting red-dwarf Suns?) and the "story" follows with nice logic from this premise. Figure, what with much of CiGs planet-making tech' being based upon meteorological gradients, such "tidally-locked" worlds might well be something they could consider crafting in the future. Cannot too highly recommend anything by Ken MacLeod either (not the Buddhist hippy-cat McLeod... unless you are into them shenanigans); particularly his "The Fall Revolution" series. Unfortunately, the last book, "The Sky Road" is probably the best... Fortunately, unlike certain authors ("The third book of the Horse-Shite pentology!") all the novels are fairly stand-alone and can be enjoyed individually. Personally, find the "Historical" scope of his World-building (which is almost Asimov-like) intriguing, and was immediately reminded of him when one first became aware of the length of "History" in the StarCitizen 'Verse. Both seem to have Empires/Civilizations/Cultures that rise and fall according to their own internal logic. Anyways... if you like expansive Space-operas written by clinically rational Scottish Marxists, look no further! One can only imagine many do... no? Also... for a lark... if you haven't already re-watched the old 'nineties TV-series 'Farscape'... do so. It is a real example of how much imaginative (and at points almost hallucinatory) stuff can be produced on what seemed to be a shoe-string budget. It is amazing what astonishing "aliens" they were able to make (physical, not CGI) using... apparently... "fun-fur", foam-rubber and gaffer-tape. Think the dev-cats could learn a thing or two about how to be original and inject a bit of "colour" into our 'Verse, without tipping-over the line into absurdity, from watching that little show. So... "chins-up" all, and carry-on. Hope to hear about some cool stuff from you lot, Gods willing. Sincerely - "Grey"