|
|
Price: $19.98 Prices subject to change.Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Dewey Decimal Number: 808.38762 EAN: 9780898797060 ISBN: 0898797063 Label: Writer's Digest Books Manufacturer: Writer's Digest Books Number Of Items: 1 Number Of Pages: 226 Publication Date: 1996-01 Publisher: Writer's Digest Books Studio: Writer's Digest Books Editorial Review: Amazon.com: Whether you're a writer or a reader of science fiction, this how-to guide provides thought-provoking analyses of the ways in which aliens and alien societies can be portrayed convincingly. It's almost as fascinating as the many classic SF texts it analyses. Average Rating:
 Rating:  - Good reference bookThis is a good reference book. It explains what life might be like in certain star systems and what suns can support life. It has some science. It also tells you how to look at various cultures and develop your own through creative thinking and logic as well as looking at ecosystems on earth and how they could survive and develop as cultures. We really have everything here on earth that could be considered alien in one form of animal or another. This book helps you think about how and why your alien ... Read More Rating:  - Do you have to be a professor or PhD to write Science Fiction?The answer is no ... or yes, depending on what form and/or market your writing is goaled toward. If a science fiction novel was written to include every element presented in this manual, it would be as boring as reading a detailed summary of how to climb a step ladder. If you get too lost in the guidelines, you'll lose your creativity. A being with rubbery skin can live on a wet planet, but you don't have to detail that being's evolution from primordial ooze to rubber man down to the details of its ... Read More Rating:  - Light on useful informationI wanted this book in order to help me design alien races that would appear scientifically credible in a science-fiction universe. After having read its 220 pages what can I say? All the useful info could take a mere dozen pages. There is lot of advice that could really be summarized like this: 1) be logical and think about the environment before inventing your race's characteristics; 2) read all you can about ethology; 3) Humans are obviously a scientifically credible race, thus in creating ... Read More Rating: - What is Alien?I don't feel this is the strongest book in the Science Fiction Writing Series, but it is still a good resource. The book isn't a step-by-step "How to Create Aliens" guide, so you might be disappointed if you buy it for that reason. It is more a book to help you "rethink" what you consider alien and opens you up to ideas about what makes a being/society alien to us as humans. Rating: - A great book for fans and would be authors.The book is not just about aliens and alien societies. It also deals with making proper stars and planets and what alien science might be like. Could of used more details on the subject of planet building, but there are other works that get into the nuts-and-bolts of that subject. This book touches lightly on alien culture, view points and history, not just the science of building an alien creature. Also, some of it might be outdated with our increasing knowledge of other planets and solar systems. It looks ... Read More |
