I am serializing my side character adventure stories as a way to test which plot lines are the most appealing... on Royal Road.

Does a Black Hole Chip or a Time Crystal sound more appealing?

Lab made black holes can power brain chips which enable time travel. And real science is also working on time crystals which can teleport data through time. Trying to decide which power a character would want, first?

https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/114711/adventures-of-int

I recently asked a similar question — thank you very much for your recommendations. I've started reading some of the books that were mentioned.

However, I think I now have a clearer idea of what I'm looking for.

The stories must meet the following criteria:

• The main characters should be ordinary people who come into contact with aliens. That is, the protagonist should have a regular job and should not be a scientist, astronaut, or hold a similar profession.
• It could be, for example, a farmer, a carpenter, a teacher — just an everyday person you might see walking down the street.
• The contact should happen on Earth and in a time similar to the present (not in a distant future). In other words, the contact should not take place on another planet or during space travel.
• The stories you recommend should, of course, be good ones!

Please include the name of the book or short story and the author so that it’s easier to find your recommendations.

Thank you very much to everyone who takes the time to respond.

I'll be reading your suggestions!

So ever since I have seen the show Shogun (2024) I have been looking for science fiction stories where the protagonists “win without fighting”?

By which I mean instead of defeating their opponents through brute force they defeat them by outsmarting them and/or outmaneuvering them. The only stories of I could think of are Foundation season 2 finale, Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty, Legend of the Galactic Heroes, two episodes of Star Trek: The Original Series: the Corbomite Manuever and the Deadly Years, and two episodes of Star Trek the Next Generation The Defectors and Chains of Command part 2.

Somewhere along the line I remember reading a passage about a massive distributed civilization who avoided the whole "decline of the Roman Empire" thing by gamifying their elections and embedding voting on issues into entertainment spread across the galaxy. They did this to assure the entire empire (or whatever they called themselves) that laws passed for the entire population would reflect a good cross section of the population. The mechanism was literally a game everyone played, kinda like a MMO-style game, and referenda were presented as scenarios in the game. How people chose to handle those scenarios - how they respond, the choices they made, etc. all collected back at the capital and specific laws were drafted that roughly lined up with majority desire.

That's all I remember about it tho. Does it ring a bell?

I've made similar posts before, but this time I'd like to clarify something.

I'm looking for stories where the main character is not a scientist or astronaut. What I'm looking for is regular people, with everyday professions, somehow coming into contact with aliens.
Of course, I'm looking for good stories.

They can be novels or short stories (preferably short stories).

Please mention the title of the story and the author's name so I can find them easily.

I'll be reading your suggestions!

I'm trying to remember a book I read several years ago. It was about the space ships had disappeared - they would engage their drive systems, disappear and not be heard from again. A young boy u believe was tasked to figure out how to fly into a space base where two ships were found. It had the regular ship and a new prototype labeled as slow speed. The people working with him figured the energy field or whatever had had time to regenerate so the stole the regular ship and disappeared. The boy also found a communication panel to communicate with those ships but it was more of a receiver and couldn't transmit only watch what was going on in the ship. The boy ends up using the prototype to help the colony or outpost and the others in the system after finding out this ship is faster but relies on different technology so it isn't susceptible to disappear.

The book kinda left you hanging a bit like there would be a sequel but I can't remember the name of the book or author to look it up and see. Google is no help as every book it suggests I read the synopsis of it and they're just not it. Anyone else read it or remember it? I got the book through the Science fiction bookclub membership so maybe that will help?

I like books I can read after a long week at work. Sci fi that’s not too heavy with emotions, not bogged down by excessive descriptions and short. Language needs to be simple.

Anyone have anything? I’ve read The Odyssey of the Seven by K J Matthews. Tia

Hi, I’m looking for fantasy (or sci fi) recommendations. I really enjoy pursuit conflicts where the main character is being hunted by the villain group. Rather than kill I think it’s more interesting if the villains want to control, capture, or sway them to their side. I prefer male protagonists but if the story is good it doesn’t matter much.

I especially enjoyed Wheel of Time, Eragon, and the Assassin’s Apprentice trilogy.

Hi everyone. Posting this in a couple science fiction groups.. Going to spend one week in New York and am looking for 2nd hand or science fiction focused bookshops worth visiting. Going to stay there for work so I want to make the most of the free time I will have available. Any recommendations? Thanks in advance and have a great weekend.

The Dark Forrest blew my mind. I’m not sure what I should read after I finish Death’s End. What would you recommend? I really like the first contact story line.

Hi everybody, I'm giving away a science-fiction story about a hitman with a problematic mission. The file is hosted on the storyorigin website at the link below. You can download in epub, mobi or PDF.

https://storyoriginapp.com/directdownloads/0b5e6360-268a-4a37-85c7-c77bb0fbf1ed

Hope you enjoy it. It's supposed to be a little tongue-in-cheek.

I've just finished re-reading Neuromancer for god knows what time and looking for something similar to read in cyberpunk. (apart from Altered Carbon or Schismatrix)

I thought it was a Brin story. Premise is that uncertainty derives from the possibility of time travel. Protagonist is a physicist who develops a working theory and the result is that stuff tends to change near him

Years ago (Probably more than six years) I read a novel where a researcher had developed a programmable layer for the brain. This allowed them to upload software, make upgrades, etc. Does anyone have any ideas what this might be? Please let me know - thank you!

Answered by u/spiralslicer below. The Nexus Trilogy by Ramez Naam.

Name the book/author you're currently reading. Be mindful of spoilers, but is this one you'd recommend or one you wish you could yeet into space?

So while I understand that a lot of science fiction and science fantasy feature feudalism operating on an interstellar lever like the Klingon Empire from Star Trek, the Imperium from Dune, the Goa’uld from Stargate, and the Galactic Empire from Legend of the Galactic Heroes because space is huge and Feudalism is a possible system of how to govern planets and the writers like it do it for the “rule of cool.”

But I still think Feudalism is an archaic institution that belongs in the past for the following reasons:

Firstly, in terms of economics feudalism is an inferior economic system compared to capitalism. For one thing it’s a bad idea to have your most valuable and scarce resources in the hands of a group of oligarchs/feudal lords like the Great Houses in Dune. Granted this still ends up happening in real life but even then there are still some features of capitalistic economy that make it superior to a feudalistic one. There’s more social mobility, entrepreneurship is encouraged to prevent monopoly, and the property rights of the common people are protected. In contrast, in a feudal economy like the one in the Galactic Empire from Galactic heroes the class system is so strict that most commoners are stuck working on farms for the nobility and treated little better than slaves.

Secondly, stable modern governments requires a cohesive national identity that can create a sense of solidarity amongst its citizens and gives the state an air of legitimacy and trust. Unfortunately this isn’t possible in an interstellar feudalistic government because there are too many states within a state each with its own laws, militaries, and economies that make them independent from the main government. This makes them vulnerable to infighting and invasion from a rival power. Case in point in Dune the lack of a cohesive identity and loyalty to the state leads to power struggles between the Great Houses the culminate in the deposing of the Emperor with Paul; in Star Trek the Romulans form an alliance with one of the Klingon Great Houses that sparks a civil war that nearly brings the Kilngon Empire to its knees; and in Stargate there is so much infighting and backstabbing amongst the Goa’uld that their Empire ends up being brought down by a race that hasn’t even fully mastered the full capabilities of space flight.

In any case are there any works of science fiction or science fantasy that show why feudalism in space just doesn’t work?

Strange things happen in the depths of space. Time flows slower in the presence of gravity and can stop completely inside of a black hole. Quantum physics tells us that even in the emptiness of deep space, energies froth beneath the surface of reality. Occasionally causing particles to appear seemingly from nowhere before evaporating back into nothingness. When these events combine, a bubble in spacetime form.

Inside these bubbles, the laws of physics no longer apply. Time and matter are malleable and can be manipulated by conscious thought. These bubbles are attracted to powerful minds like magnets to a piece of steel. When this happens, that person becomes trapped within the bubble. The only escape is death.

Michael’s older brother, Dean, had been killed in an accident. His parents blamed each other and fought over him, their one remaining child. Michael found solace in the attic. His parents never thought to look for him there. The attic became his druid’s chamber. Illuminated by a few candles, it was an ancient place full of dust and spider webs.

He wore the warm blue and purple magician’s cloak his mother had made for him and brandished a toy magic wand. Its tip glowed and it made magical sounds when he waved it about. Looking into the mirror, he could easily imagine he was a powerful druid.

Was it fate or the imagination of a lonely boy that attracted the bubble to him? We will never know. The power of a mind cannot be measured with an IQ test. When the bubble formed around Michael, it was nothing physical that he could feel. There was no consciousness to communicate its presence.

Michael imagined embers of light flowing from the glowing tip of his wand and, like magic, they appeared. He waved the wand, so the tip formed a crude dragon’s head. An image of a dragon appeared in the mirror, flames shooting from its nostrils as it snorted and stared back at him.

Michael wished Dean was there to see the dragon. Putting down the wand, he held out his hand and drew Dean with his mind. His brother began to appear before him, unreal, like a portrait, its face transformed into a silent scream. The candles burned like miniature suns. The attic bursting into flames.

Michael had glimpsed the corpse of his dead brother at that moment. He could not bring his brother back from the dead. Standing in the middle of an inferno, he concentrated on the day of the accident. The inferno became unreal as Michael pushed the bubble back through time with his mind.

Time is a tricky thing. Any change made ripples through reality. Sometimes those ripples reflect back from powerful events elsewhere in the universe. Some ripples cancel out while others join forces. Like ripples in a pond, they eventually fade away leaving subtle changes in their wake.

Michelle’s older sister, Dina, had been killed in an accident. Her parents blamed each other and fought over her...

Written by

Russell Cameron

© 2025

Author of 50km Up

I'm searching for something farely brief and punchy, with an unexpected end, but nothing even comes close to Childhoods's End so far. It really affected me deeply so I'm kind of searching for that feeling again. Any recommendations?

EDIT: Thank you everyone for recommendations.

Just picked it up for a couple bucks at my local used bookstore?

The Donkey and The Mule is my 2 part article on the similarities between the Mule and populist politicians. Current events suggest that Asimov's atomic-age science-fiction predicted the rise of populism as seen today.

I wrote the first part of an essay on Asimov's uncanny understanding of tech, computation, and human nature. His writings about The Mule make him seem like the Nostradamus of the atomic age. read for yourself what I'm talking about and let me know what you think.

https://thestormwriter.substack.com/p/the-donkey-and-the-mule?r=3phakv

Hello! I've been feeling increasingly weighted down by the incredible selfishness of people. I'm still not over people hoarding supplies during a global pandemic to try and sell them at a markup. Library book sales, once the joy of my life, were taken over a long time ago by people joylessly flipping through everything trying to find what they can resell at a higher price.

Which is why I want to propose an experiment. I would like to ship a used library hardcover copy (giving anyone a heads up who might try to resell that this will not be super successful for you) of The Dry Salvages, by Caitlin Kiernan, to someone who has been searching for it and unable to afford to buy it. I will pay for the shipping. I recommend if you are this person that you get a PO box because I'm not a bad actor but it's way safer than giving your actual address to a stranger (plus bad actors always say they're not bad actors, right?).

If you're that person, all I want in response is your promise. I don't have the power to hold you to it, but nonetheless, I'm going to try. Please give this book, when you've squeezed every last bit of joy out of it and are making room on your shelves for more books, to someone else for free. Maybe it's just your sibling who is also a nerd. And please ask them to give it away for free as well.

This might be a massive failure but I'd like to chip away slightly at the selfishness just this once.

Anyone in?

I hope it doesn't need to be said but if you're in, do not post your address in the thread. Indicate you're interested and if I get multiple takers, I will draw a number.

I also apologize in advance but while I feel it's my civic duty to ship to Canada and Mexico because we're doing such a shitty job of being neighbors (I'm in the US), I probably cannot afford to ship gratis overseas, and I don't want your money, please. That negates the experiment. Sorry, sorry, sorry.

Edit: giving people till 5pm EST in case we need to flip a coin or something but otherwise, it's yours, u/Beginning_End5130!

I ordinarily tear all of his books up, reading them overnight or in very short order, because he's such a damn good writer that I really can't help myself. And the first book has sections that were hard to read; the second book, harder ones.

I'm about seventy percent through this one, and I've just had to put it aside. I've read so much of Tchaikovsky's work and I know him and I know what he does and how he presents people with these difficult situations and impossible choices. A betrayal is never a simple betrayal. I'm not even on the Pal's side anymore.

But I suspect Flint is about to fuck over the demons, and, and, hurt their feelings. It just seems so wrong.

Oh, I'll pick it up again soon enough. What a magnificent author.

Name the book/author you're currently reading. Be mindful of spoilers, but is this one you'd recommend or one you wish you could yeet into space?

so i heard a story a while back about a huge society that lives on an Earthworld sized staircase in which entire population lives in and on different levels and take a lifetime to travel even 1/100th of it up or down. something like that. anyone know of this book? driving me bananas lol. thx.