I feel like I'm swimming upstream in polluted water when I read other works out there for purposes of trying to see how something I would want to write might fit in.
It's bad.
A lot of what I skimmed over were Mass Effect clones, but somehow further right wing than Mass Effect already was, with the names changed and the numbers filed off.
A lot of what's left involves "humanity fuck yeah" space imperialism, grizzled tough guys with cold piercing stares and powerlifter physiques well into old age and their adventures with brilliant and hot scientist women that are defined more about who their father is/was and less by their actual job, that try to prove they are Independent Strong Willed Women but of course swoon for the timeless grizzled ego insert's blandly stoic charms. Also, a space bureaucracy usually interferes with the grizzled tough guy's very important imperialistic mission and his only chance to save humanity is to go rogue with a ragtag bunch of renegades and kill those filthy aliens before they threaten colonial interests. Or something.
I got some pretty harsh negative feedback for my inclusion of ideas in my own work. The idea that billionaires wanting to colonize Mars aren't actually going to save humanity by doing that and it would be an insatiable resource sink that would further accelerate Earth's decay was especially incendiary. Maybe I should have already become a rich and influential writer first before trying something like that, but that seems like it might have involved writing one of the above reactionary works instead and hoping another off-brand Mass Effect got more traction instead.
I'm demoralized, but I'm also nearly done with the third book in my self-published trilogy. It's a weird place to be.
EDIT: I may as well post a link to the website my wife and my friend helped set up. It has the first five chapters available for free and some other stuff.
https://www.tulpatrilogy.com/
Offtopic but i liked how in God Emperor of Dune some guy defeats homophobia with facts and logic (in a weird way but hey, it was the 60s) and then it turns out that the author was a massive homophobe so maybe i read that part of the book in the opposite way it was supposed to, lmao.
It's surprisingly common for reactionary sci-fi authors to write speculation about how an imagined society should be, and come to good conclusions... and then seem completely oblivious about what the implication are for the society they actually currently live in.
Here's looking at you Orson Scott Card. Maybe just fuck your sister and stop trying to make everyone else as miserable as you are.
This is hardly fair to Orson Scott Card's sister!
Consensually, of course!
Less unfair, but still unfair!
"Haha, don't you see Mr idaho, is perfectly normal for men in the army to experiment with their sexuality and fuck each other. Also women soldiers are ok."
"(angry homophobic noises, then character 1 defeats him easily in a fight)"
Giant Worm DESTROYS homophobes with FACTS and LOGIC
how'd he do that
"actkually it's ok for men soldiers to engage in homosexuality and stuff. Also women soldiers are good due to the nurturing disposition of the female"
Then he humiliates the main character in a fight.
we stan💅
which book was that?
I could be wrong but that sounds like Orson Scott Card stuff.
naw, no naked 6 year old duels to the death in dune
at least not that i recall
God Emperor of Dune
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