Lori needs a new story idea.

[Donegeal]

Oh, I read SftD, actually (one of the few SF books I have read); I was thinking of a totally different scenario, at a more primitive level of technology, where the colonists take seven years just to send a message back to Earth and no more starships are expected. So it's just a couple hundred of them staring uncomfortably at about twelve million aliens. I'd never write it myself, but since that's basically a kill-or-be-killed scenario it struck me as an interesting idea and I wondered if anybody else had handled the morally extremely queasy scenario.

God dammit Elok!

I started reading 'Footfall' by Nevin and Pournelle and it got me thinking in the same lines as you. What if we discover a planet in the habital zone and put forth a great effor to send a generational ship there to colonize the place. Since we didn't detect any signals coming from the planet, we assumed no intelligent being were there. However, in the intervenig time between launch of the generational ship and land fall, the cilization there discovers radio transmissions and picks up the signals Earth has been sending out for the past 70 years. Despite them being less advanced than us, they know about us before we know about them. How would humanity react if the situation is reversed? I'm pretty sure we would be very defensive or even outright hostile from fear. So are these aliens when they discover the generational ship. They get ready for the space invaders. The generational ship, on the otherhand, has very limited defensive capabilities as they expected to find nothing more than herd beasts or some carnivors. In my scenerio, the planet is some 50 light years away, so there is no chance of going back and no chance of getting help.

I have an outline started that includes what happens on Earth while the ship is in transit. The major economic collapse from the huge funding and effor the generation ship cost to make, the break down of the super powers and the eventual establishment of a feasable UN government that stemed from the fact that no one country held tremendous sway over any other.

[Donegeal]

I came up with a great idea for you, Lori, while watching the last Harry Potter movie. As disturbed as everyone else was by that 19 years later bit, I thought about what the wizarding world would be like a thousand years later. There, muggles have developed such technology to appear as magic to the wizards, who are still going through the same routine they were since at least Jack and Jill Potter with the odd dark wizard here and there. You could write from the perspective of a young wizard who gets accepted into Oxford, only to discover that all he learned at Hogwarts is not only useless, but grossly obsolete.

Nice. Poly needs a like button.

[Uncle Sparky]

I came up with a great idea for you, Lori, while watching the last Harry Potter movie. As disturbed as everyone else was by that 19 years later bit, I thought about what the wizarding world would be like a thousand years later. There, muggles have developed such technology to appear as magic to the wizards, who are still going through the same routine they were since at least Jack and Jill Potter with the odd dark wizard here and there. You could write from the perspective of a young wizard who gets accepted into Oxford, only to discover that all he learned at Hogwarts is not only useless, but grossly obsolete.

I think Hogwarts should be the name of a STD in you new story.

[Lorizael]

These are all very good suggestions but I've decided to give up writing and pursue something easier, like rocket science or brain surgery, or maybe rocket surgery.

[OneFootInTheGrave]

you could try a career in porn industry... they'd like ex writers in there

you can go in with the line "I was a writer, but I always wanted to be an actor"... it's bound to work

[Lorizael]

I once got a call at 3 in the morning from Chippendales telling me they had gotten my résumé and were interested.

[Uncle Sparky]

I once got a call at 3 in the morning from Chippendales telling me they had gotten my résumé and were interested.

Is Chippendales like Tiffany's?

[rah]

I once got a call at 3 in the morning from Chippendales telling me they had gotten my résumé and were interested.

I thought you were giving up writing.

[Lorizael]

Would that I could.

[Jon Miller]

I once got a call at 3 in the morning from Ewoks telling me they had gotten my résumé and that I was their only hope.

JM

[Uncle Sparky]

I once got a call at 3 in the morning from Ewoks telling me they had gotten my résumé and that I was their only hope.

JM

Back in your Wookie days.

[Felch]

So you doing NaNoWriMo this year, or what?

[Lorizael]

Yup. And it took until today for me to come up with a suitable story idea. Blarg.

[Felch]

I'm on that **** this year, like white on rice.

[Egbert]

How about 3,000 US marines teleported back to the Roman Empire. How would they do against the Legions? (Poly has a whole thread devoted to this already).

You could have Captain Alby leading the marines.

The Romans could have a large dog to even things up a bit.