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Category Archives: Wonderful, Awful Ideas
Alternatives to water?
Here’s an old old specbio question. We on Earth are made of fat suspended in sugary seawater. That is, phospholipids, with one pole salty and water-loving and the other pole oily and water-hating, surround blobs of water to form cells. … Continue reading
Axes of Assymetry
I read Your Inner Fish and got inspired for a new creature:) So we humans are bilaterally symmetrical, with a functional difference between front and back, and another between back and belly. But there’s no functional difference between left and … Continue reading
The Lands by the Waters – An Ucaptian Myth (4)
(start, previous) For the hunt, with his hair he (Ptahh) strung the bow of cedar. For the memory, with papyrus as the writing tablet he painted (words on) it. For the steering, with his hand as an oar he paddled the … Continue reading
Posted in Wonderful, Awful Ideas
Tagged Alternate History, Constructed Language, Saharan Seas
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The Homo sapiens Long Term Evolution Experiment
https://danbensen.tumblr.com/post/176617090275/so-i-am-into-my-third-white-russian-and-i-am
Bulgarian words for try
Sorry I don’t have much for this week’s Wonderful Awful ideas. Just four Bulgarian words that might all be translated as English “try.” Opitvam se (опитвам се) is related to pitam (I ask). As in opitah se da pobedya, “I … Continue reading
Save us from the Whale
“People need a way to stave off the constant possibility that common understanding may break down.” — N.J. Enfield, How We Talk Royal tangs wobbled serenely between the softly undulating tentacles of sea anemones. Bubbles rose in a shimmering curtain. The … Continue reading
Posted in Stories, Wonderful, Awful Ideas
Tagged Fellow Tetrapod, science fiction, speculative biology
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Rotifers (1)
Behold! The Trochate Rotifers! Like all rotifers, trochates have three body segments: head, trunk, and foot. The head and trunk are supported internally by a calcified skeleton evolved from the mastax (used in basal rotifers to process food). The mastax’s … Continue reading
Posted in Wonderful, Awful Ideas
Tagged Fellow Tetrapod, science fiction, speculative biology
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Tandem: a better story
Earlier this week, I asked for writing prompts, and the inimitable Emil Minchev responded: “Remember Solo? Do the opposite” Okay, so…IN THE DISTANT FUTURE, IN THIS VERY GALAXY… A wealthy, middle-aged woman named Foong Tandem stays on her comfortable, safe, … Continue reading
Shiftin’ shapes!
Yesterday I asked for writing prompts, and Lew Delport responded: “Shapeshifters with language that changes according to shape” and upon follow-up questioning: “No idea, you’re the writer! Seasonal, maybe?” So I got to thinking: V. nonhuman idea: alien sophonts go through … Continue reading
Five Factor Warriors: Wada Junko
(first)(previous) Make me a lawbender All equalized Saved from the chill and heat — Vienna Teng, “Landsailor” KoInu-chan reached out of the camera’s frame and grabbed the pillow shaped like the Earth. She smiled at the off-camera friend who had … Continue reading
Posted in Stories, Wonderful, Awful Ideas
Tagged Fantasy, five factor warriors, short story
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