Microsoft News

Now that videogames are dead, can literature thrive again? Or is this the new age of genre radio? Here's the newest thing: A news podcast that presents news reports about a fictional universe all written by AI and lightly edited by someone who has a vague grasp of the continuity.

Addendum

Maybe they have such integrity that they refuse to find terrestrial substitutes for ingredients which will be discovered only in the distant future.

The Missing Element in Science Fiction

There must be one somewhere, but I've never read any science fiction that Redwall's it up with lengthy feast descriptions. Don't these authors want to sell cookbooks?

Province of the Muses

A hundred earthly kings and princes convened for the concert of the musician, a legend though alive, who had returned from the divine court after receiving superhuman instruction. His first chord caused all to shiver.
After hundreds more, the listeners suffered not shivers but rather impatience. One among them, a crowned head known far and wide for his unwillingness to feign affection for the arts, asked how long this first composition could possibly be.
"Eight years," the musician answered.
Because of that, the earthly kings and princes understood what before they had only been told, that the things of gods are not meant for man. In their piety, they slipped away.
Finis

Addendum

We used to go to game shrines for hints and tips, but now we watch a video. When will this diminution of the sacred end?

Oblivion's Vast Realms

Dragon Blaze and Schoolgirl Strikers 2 are shutting down, and I never knew they existed. How wide a world exists outside our comprehension. People are still streaming on Kick, too. For a short time the internet made the world seem small, back when we were all on the same webrings, but now it seems bigger and less knowable than ever.

Addendum

That aside, the future will almost certainly have either trains or the apocalypse. Possibly both.

Science Fiction Logistics Considerations

When considering whether your setting's transportation has developed to such a level that there are no longer surface trains, remember that people can grab on to the sides and shoot bandits or else have tense fights on the top.

Addendum

Were dozens of dog breeds developed so that dog-specialized shapeshifters could drive up their counts? Yes.

Competition in the Shapeshifting Community

Is it based on how many forms they have, how big they are, or how detailed their imitations are? Obviously all of those and more based on the argument the individual wishes to make at the time. Number is probably the usual criterion though.