Writers, it’s time to brag! Let’s hear about your success

Adding brag week to my blog! This writer’s blog is one of my favorite reads each week–it keeps me going through all the noise of life to write, write, write, Right?

What Inspires Your Writing?

Photo credit: Jill Wellington It’s Monday morning, so let’s go ahead and dive right into Brag Week, shall we?

Anyone can participate in Brag Week. Whether you published a book?or just published a blog post that got you some extra traffic?or anything in between, no success is too small!

[If nothing springs to mind, check out some of last month’s brags for some inspiration]

Bragging has many benefits. It helps you see the progress you’ve made, and realize that even the smallest accomplishments can move you forward. It encourages you to set new goals, while holding you accountable for the ones you’ve already set (even if they’re just micro-goals).

Bragging also fosters a sense of community, because when you brag here, we all get it! We’re all in this together, and we’re inspired to do more when we see others succeeding. Even more powerful is…

View original post 31 more words

Science Fiction Instagram Starter Kit

Hey, Everyone,

Here is a starter kit for those who love science fiction and Instagram:

 

24 Scifi Instagram Accounts

This is MUCH better than the Cat Lady Starter Kit!

Imagine the plot ideas with this picture?

1. The kittens are all aliens.
2. The lady is a sentient robot and trying to become human.
3. The lady is a druid and rescuing the animals.

Catching up on social media

Signed up for Instagram to add a cross-platform to promote Scifanfiction and my writing.

 

My handle is very basic:  aaronfuller7777

Here’s an interesting article:  Science Fiction Characters with Numbers in their Names

I’m not sure how accurate the idea that the main anarchist from V for Vendetta was called V because he was in Resettlement Camp Five, so he used the Roman number V for 5 as opposed for the V for Victory.  You always here that Latin is eternal, so there you go!

 

Reddit Fantasy Writing Contest for January

Hi, Everyone,

It’s time for the January reddit fantasy writing contest.

Here is my submission for this month’s theme:  Talking Animals

My thread is a link to my story titled, “An Oyster is Your World.”  This was quite a challenge to write a traditional fantasy story with talking animals.   Please consider upvoting my story on the contest thread!

 

Pepper Picking Robot

Here is an interesting article which turns several science fiction items into science fact:  Who needs farmers?

To summarize, the robot has a combination of optical sensor suited for detecting color, a prehensile grip, and a self-contained environment for operating.  The robotic pepper picker might not look that sexy as far as science fiction ideas portend, but let’s cross reference a few movies.

In the movie series which started with Predator (from 1987 no less), Arnold Schwarzenegger realizes that the  aliens detect infrared heat signatures.  The simple counter is to cover one’s body with cool, dark mud.  In the same way, if you cover one of the red peppers with mud, the robot becomes confused and skips the pepper.

In the movie, Minority Report (from 2002), greenhouse scene, Tom cruise comes face to face with one of the top scientists of the age. Genetically engineered plants attack him in his quest for answers about the house-crushing robot which almost killed him.

 

Like with most transitions from science fiction to science fact, the road is usually filled with baby steps.  Currently, the holy grail of fruit picking robots is a machine which can pick coffee beans.  Coffee cherries ripen irregularly and are hard to manipulate, not to mention the tropical climate of the growing region.  The robotic pepper picker is the next step toward that goal, and how long before some billionaire creates a greenhouse the size of a small city filled with nothing more than robots who can see red and harvest the coffee crop 24/7.

So this farmer’s job seems fairly safe for another generation!

In my latest novel, Vampires of Niagara, I have a futuristic greenhouse in which the plants and worms are infected with a strain of the vampiric virus. My amazon author page  Later on in the novel, I used an iconic plant as an idea for a genetically mutant tree:  here the facsimile–Seymore from A Little Shop of Horrors (movie 1986, Broadway 2003-2016).

 

Where were the robots in Passengers?

Passengers was an excellent science fiction movie.  I hate spoilers, so I won’t rehash the plot or many of the details.  However, when you finish watching, ask yourself two questions.  First, where were the robots?  Even today we have untethered, semi-autonomous bots such as “big dog,” not to mention flying drones, both of which were absent in Passengers.

 

 

Next, did the mothership, Avalon, wake Chris Pratt’s character up on purpose? This questions leads to all sorts of possibilities about the ship’s AI, both strengths and weaknesses.

Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence furthered their science fiction street creds, especially if you consider the Hunger Games and Jurassic World series more fantasy or contemporary in genre. Chris Pratt’s gravitas in Passengers balanced his cavalier, silly role in Guardians of the Galaxy.   Expect to see more of these two actors in science fiction.

 

Princess Leia, Eternal Princess

With the sad passing of Carrie Fisher, there is an undercurrent of articles which suggest she will be some sort of what I am calling an “eternal princess.”  Much of the press focuses on two things.  First, she had already finished filming for the next Star Wars movie due out in 2017, so we will definitely see her again.

However, the deeper undercurrent is the marriage of CGI, voice synthesis, and computer graphics which hint that enough footage (and sound bites) of Princess Leia survive that she could be recombined infinitely to create an infinite series of cameos in future movies.

What does this do for science fiction become science fact, one of our blog themes at scifanfiction.com?  What generally comes to Hollywood will eventually find itself at either the Apple Store, Walmart, or Target.

Theoretically, with the Carrie Fisher/Princess Leia technology, we could all start filming ourselves in 3d with high resolution video, store said video, then wait for the emergent technology to marry our video, voice files, and recombine them.

Amazon.com and Microsoft will provide the hosting services, and once hologram emitters are common, the next step is to program your eternal self so you can be a permanent fixture after passing.

Laws and lawyers will also have a field day, a renaissance of sort to catch up to the Carrie Fisher technology.  Here is another science fiction prediction I am making.  Imagine a multi-millionaire who sets aside $10, 000, 000 to maintain his house of residence forever.  Then with the new hologram technology and endless recombinations of video/speech, the hologram person can “live” in their house forever.  The hologram can call 911 or any emergency repair service when needed; the law firm maintains the bank account and general maintenance like yard work, etc.

So in a way, each and every one of us might be the Eternal Prince or Eternal Princess.  When you see Princess Leia in 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020, make sure to come back and upvote this blog post!

Happy early New Year too from scifanfiction!

 

 

Reddit Writers Contest

Here’s the link from the fantasy writer subreddit.  December Challenge

This month writers have to create a short story in the fantasy genre.  The challenge is that the people in the story are limited to Stone Age technology.

Enjoy!

December 2016 Challenge Submissions Thread – Stone Age Fantasy
by infantasywriters

 

Thoughts on Rogue One

My first reflection on Rogue One is how the script-writers (or plot mechanics) completely destroy the battlefields.  First, the city of Jedha is destroyed after the rebels rescue some hi-jacked crystals which are being collected to fuel the Death Star.

 

Second, the Imperial Archives are destroyed on planet Scarif in a vain attempt to wipe out the plans for the Death Star.

As a plot mechanic, the movie should be called, “No Loose Ends” one as the obliteration of the battlefields and the main characters pigeon-holes the movie.  If you look at Earth military history, never has a battlefield been obliterated; instead we build monuments, museums, and memorials,  over old battlefields, until such a time passes that the land is reclaimed.

Published Vampires of Niagara

I haven’t been active on my blog for months, but have been busy writing.  My latest novel, Vampires of Niagara, is now on amazon.com.  It will take a few days for Vampires to link to my author page, but here is the link.

 

https://www.amazon.com/Vampires-Niagara-Aaron-Fuller-ebook/dp/B01LMCEQUY/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1473289273&sr=1-1&keywords=vampires+of+niagara