A bit of what went into Alien Clay. - ThreadSky | a Reddit-style client for Bluesky

aptshadow.bsky.social • 40 days ago

A bit of what went into Alien Clay.

Great to see @aptshadow.bsky.social explain the science behind his brilliant Alien Clay, which we're reading as part of the New Scientist Book Club www.newscientist.com/article/2464...

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davidclyne.bsky.social•40 days ago

I really enjoyed reading Alien Clay 👍

drbeaubeaumont.bsky.social•40 days ago

Excellent quality writing.

Low quality PPE.

aptshadow.bsky.social•40 days ago

It was so bad I'm amazed it wasn't being bought by a conservative government from one of their donors at a 2000% markup.

drbeaubeaumont.bsky.social•40 days ago

That thought had occurred!

A great book, thoroughly enjoyed it.

mikeydemonsamurai.bsky.social•40 days ago

Brought my copy to start while at #grogmeet2025

suburbandad.bsky.social•40 days ago

I wonder if you were inspired by Isaac Asimov's Green Patches, too?

aptshadow.bsky.social•40 days ago

Not read it!

aptshadow.bsky.social•40 days ago

Other than the Robot stories I’ve not read much Asimov.

suburbandad.bsky.social•40 days ago

Got it. Thank you for your fantastic book and thank you for replying!

doubting-salmon.bsky.social•40 days ago

10 yr old me went from Sherlock Holmes detective stories to sci-fi detective stories (Robot) to space operas (Foundation). Then a friend’s dad said, if you like epics, here read this and gave me The Eye of the World, which led to possibly falsifying multiple book club enrollments.

suburbandad.bsky.social•40 days ago

Hey Salmon, have you read Hyperion?

doubting-salmon.bsky.social•40 days ago

Yes! I didn’t have much expectation going into it other than it knowing others recommended it, so I was very pleasantly surprised.

raven092419.bsky.social•40 days ago

I loved Alien Clay, it was definitely my favorite book of 2024! I hope you don't mind but I'm curious, I've been re-reading Children of Memory, and I was wondering if the two types of Corvids are mated pairs? And if so, how and when do they select the right phenotype to mate with?

aptshadow.bsky.social•40 days ago

I didn’t envisage them that way (I don’t think Gothli and Gethli are) - I think the population just has two intellectual phenotypes independent of biological sex.

raven092419.bsky.social•40 days ago

Thanks! That's good to know, it's something I've been wondering about.

ninagallety.bsky.social•40 days ago

It’s a great read. Your alien worlds are so believable!

olgawerby.bsky.social•40 days ago

https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/17/science/giant-sea-bug-darth-vader-vietnam/index.html

nickpheas.bsky.social•40 days ago

Am I mad to be thinking of the planet of the Portuguese Man'o'wars?

aptshadow.bsky.social•40 days ago

That's definitely one inspiration.

druidcat.bsky.social•40 days ago

This is one of the oddest and most wonderful books that I really could not put down. https://catsbooks.substack.com/p/alien-clay-by-adrian-tchaikovsky?utm_source=publication-search

viviennetuffnell.bsky.social•40 days ago

My husband read it over Christmas, so it's on the to be read pile for me.

idiothuman.bsky.social•39 days ago

While brilliantly interesting, what really got me about that book was how well you wrote the internal monologues about inter-social relations in a Stalinist-esque state.

It was just so bluntly honest and real. Really connected back to the latter part of "1984" and later, as I read "Nexus" by Yuval

catmadgal.bsky.social•40 days ago

"Evolution by Lego" 😂 actually the perfect three word description of it

grainneog.bsky.social•40 days ago

Oh man. Straight to the TBR.

Loved “Children of Time”. Best thing I read in 2020.

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