←back to thread

There Is No Antimemetics Division (2018)

(qntm.org)
728 points squircle | 3 comments | 12 Aug 24 13:37 UTC | HN request time: 0.419s | source
Show context
epiccoleman ◴[12 Aug 24 23:18 UTC] No.41230463[source]▶
If you like this kind of thing, the rest of qntm's work is definitely worth checking out - as evidenced already in several comments. Another good pointer to follow is to Unsong and Scott Alexander's other fiction (all shorts, spread through his old blog Slate Star Codex and new blog Astral Codex Ten).

Both of those were already mentioned, so let me drop a recommendation for something new - Worm, the first (and absolutely massive) book in Wildbow's Parahumans series. Iirc it's longer than all 5 published ASOIAF novels combined, so it's a big commitment, but that length moves through a ton of different arcs. It's centered around a "superheroes" kind of scenario with a level of analysis and thought that'll tickle the fancy of certain kinds of nerds. The main character's power is to control bugs - and it's a lot of fun to see the author make that seemingly lame power into something incredibly useful and lethal. It's just a fun read overall, lots of room to nerd out about it. I haven't read the sequel yet, but I've read good things.

Also, though they're more mainstream, Greg Egan and Ted Chiang are some of the best spec-fic / sci-fi authors I know of, and do a similarly great job of breaking down interesting concepts into compelling stories.

replies(10): >>41230799 #>>41231078 #>>41231474 #>>41232294 #>>41232379 #>>41233146 #>>41233418 #>>41234151 #>>41237148 #>>41340658 #
arkh ◴[13 Aug 24 07:27 UTC] No.41233146[source]▶
The main problem with Worm is it can make you a lot less receptive to other super heroes stories.

"Oh another universe where powers have a random source". "And again, powers appeared 50 years ago but society and countries in '24 are the same we have currently".

replies(1): >>41234163 #
1. sph ◴[13 Aug 24 10:46 UTC] No.41234163[source]▶
As someone that never got into the whole superhero fad of the past decade, I can't wait to read a good one that's (hopefully) not aimed at teenagers or milked endlessly
replies(2): >>41235073 #>>41238302 #
2. zeekaran ◴[13 Aug 24 13:05 UTC] No.41235073[source]▶
Worm is absolutely not aimed at teens, and it's not milked. If anything I think it could have been longer.

It does absolutely ruin the believability of any other superhero world. Invincible, for example, is ruined for me. That's how good Worm is. It just takes a loooong time to get there fully.

3. sundarurfriend ◴[13 Aug 24 18:45 UTC] No.41238302[source]▶
From someone who didn't finish it (ref. my other comment in this thread), the reason I dropped it was that it felt aimed at teenagers BUT not in the way (I presume) you mean: it didn't feel like a immature power fantasy trying to impress teenagers with flashy fights. More that it switched between "managing superhero powers" and "diving into teenage insecurity and typical American teen romance narratives" from time to time - and IMO not in a way that felt well-stitched together.