wheatpenny opened this issue on Oct 22, 2013 · 4 posts
gishzida posted Tue, 22 October 2013 at 6:19 PM
I have a packrat mind and my bookmarks show it. Below you will find a random mish-mash of links to various mythology, fantasy or SF resources which can be used for writing. Some of the things listed are to feed your mind with different ideas and some are ready to use utilities. Some may be more useful to you than others
Several of the items are physical books and some of the books are out of print. Check Ebay or Amazon... or if you live in a major metro area check out your local used book store.
If it is an on-line resource I have inserted the URL.
Starting with Fantasy and Mythology:
The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature - Sumerian Myths, Proverbs, and stories -- http://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/catalogue.htm
This is Oxforn University's online repository for Sumerian writings / stories / poetry / prayers / and proverbs. If you are interested in mythology, ancient poetic forms, or proof that William Shatner learned to act by reading Sumerian poetry [Sumerian poetry tends to be repetative and"overact" to get the important points of the poem across to the listener], this is one of the places to find Sumerian writings from 4000+ years ago.
"A Dictionary of Angels including the fallen angels" by Gustave Davidson, The Free Press [paperback edition] 1971
The Fairy Mythology (1898) by Thomas Knightley -- http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/celt/tfm/index.htm Sacred texts http://www.sacred-texts.com/ has some other interesting things on religion, magic and folklore...
Also consider looking at Andrew Lang's Fairy Books at Project Gutenburg.org
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/search/?query=Andrew+Lang+fairy+books
Science Fiction Reference Books:
Habitable Planets for Man
Written by Steven H. Dole http://www.rand.org/pubs/commercial_books/CB179-1.html for the US Air Force in the early 1960s-- Free Download from RAND Corp http://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/commercial_books/2007/RAND_CB179-1.pdf --- This book is a condensation of everything that had been learned [at the time of publication (1961)] about the parameters that man needs for a planet to live on...
The information in this book is used as the foundation of many Table Top Sci-Fi Role Playing Game Rules such as GURPS Space by Steve Jackson Games and the original Traveller by Games Designer''s Workshop.
There is also available the "second Edition" which was slightly 'dumbed down" co-suthoted by Isaac Asimov entitled "Planets for Man" http://www.rand.org/pubs/commercial_books/CB183-1.html
PDF Download: http://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/commercial_books/2007/RAND_CB183-1.pdf
"World Building"
by Steven L Gillet, Writers Digest Books 1996 I think it is out of print. Check eBay for Amazon.
A science book on planets and planetary systems written for writers to put the Science in their Science Fiction. Gillet is a geologist and a contributor to Analog SF Magazine.
"Aliens and Alien Societies"
by Stanley Schmidt, Writers Digest Books 1996 I think it is out of print. Check eBay for Amazon.
A science book on aliens written for writers to put the Science in their Science Fiction. Schmidt is a biologist and former editor of Analog SF Magazine.
SF Resources from Role Play Games
Building planets and their background the easy [and mostly scientific] way--
Game Designer's Workshop published in the early 1980's the first "Space" pencil and paper role playing game... and their rule books actually followed what was then known of planetary science. Drivethrurpg has low priced PDFs of the rule books which will halp you generate your own planets
"Traveller Book 3: Worlds and Adventures" http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product_info.php?products_id=80179
"Traveller Book 6: Scouts" http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product_info.php?products_id=80174
These books have the most straight forward of the world generation "rules" I have found and is pretty much scientifically accurate in its use of formulas [Scouts is a more in depth rules expansion of book 3]. It will save you time if you are looking to do "hard science fiction"
Traveller Book 7: Merchant Prince http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product_info.php?products_id=80175&src=s_pi is good for Interstellar commerce simulation
Drivethrugrpg has a number of low price world building resources in PDF format:
http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/index.php?keywords=world+building&x=0&y=0&author=&artist=&pfrom=&pto=
Astroid Impact Simulator [a flash application] from Purdue University: http://www.purdue.edu/impactearth/
3D Star Mapping and simulation software
THE reference page on making 3D Star Maps is Project Rho http://www.projectrho.com/starmap.html created along ago by WINCHELL CHUNG whose real name is "Nyrath the nearly wise" The sub page on mapping software is extremely helpful but be warned some of the links are out of date...
Read the reference work page: http://www.projectrho.com/smap10.html
take a look at the on-line version of accrete -- a solar system maker that was developed based upon Stephen Dole's work [he used a similar generator in the mid 1960s] http://www.znark.com/create/accrete.html Some of Dole's simulations appeared in Carl Sagan's Cosmos
if you know BASIC [programming language] here's a world creation program [i assume its qbasic compatible] http://www.projectrho.com/world.bas
NBOS has a program named Astrosyntesis V3 that can generate stars, planets, and solars ystems as well as other things http://www.nbos.com/products/astro/astro.htm
Cosmography of the Local Universe -- http://irfu.cea.fr/cosmography [this is an actual cosmology project]
Online and Off Line Information Generators
Generators are a way to randomly create names, places, planets, words, and even plots [tho' the plots tend to be rather stilted].
On-line Generators
Chaotic Shiny --Generators are the links on the left -- http://chaoticshiny.com/index.php
Seventh Sanctum -- One of the oldest online "generator" sites http://www.seventhsanctum.com/
donjon -- lots of fun stuff here including a planet generator http://donjon.bin.sh/
A list of links to various name generators / lists: http://www.rikkidonovan.com/?p=109
Name Lists
Ships, boats and planes and other things - http://www.lowchensaustralia.com/names/boats.htm
Millions of Names [yes, millions.] at Name-List -- http://www.name-list.net/
Ramdom Information Generator Programs
TableSmith - I've used this since probably version 2 [around 1998] and I personally have written a number to tables for it like a Sumerian word generator, A pulp title generator, a story starter, a plot generator. This is a low cost shareware application for PC. An iPad compatible version has been released. http://www.mythosa.net/Main/TableSmith
InspirationPad Pro - A free generator from NBOS software http://www.nbos.com/products/ipad/ipad.htm not as much support as TableSmith but its a lot newer.
Namegame http://gamename.plasticwarriors.org/
A book about the Theory of Games
Remember the Cold War deterrant called "Mutually Assured Destruction"? "MAD" [as it was called] was the result of the application of "Game Theory".
The Compleat Strategyst
Being a Primer on the Theory of Games of Strategy - http://www.rand.org/pubs/commercial_books/CB113-1.html - "When The Compleat Strategyst was originally published in 1954, game theory was an esoteric and mysterious subject, familiar only to specialized researchers, particularly in the military. Its popularity today can be traced at least in part to this book, which popularized the subject for amateurs, professionals, and students throughout the world. It has been reprinted numerous times and has been translated into at least five languages, including Russian and Japanese. Now, more than fifty years after its first publication as a RAND research study, and to celebrate RAND’s 60th Anniversary, RAND is proud to bring this classic work back into print in paperback and digital formats."
--- and you can get it from free from the Publisher:
PDF DownLoad: http://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/commercial_books/2007/RAND_CB113-1.pdf
A summary of Simulism [The Matrix is real]
"The Matrix" was not the first story which proposed that the world / universe is a simulation. For more on the idea wander through http://simulism.org/Simulism_Home
See the links page here: http://simulism.org/Links for more on the background. Nick Bostrom's site http://www.simulation-argument.com/ has some interesting non-fiction articles on the subject
More Frebies from the RAND corporation
The RAND Corp Classics
The RAND Corporation has been advancing human knowledge for over 60 years. Certain RAND books and reports that stand out as classics are now available online in their entirety. The RAND corporation is a quasi-governmental think tank founded in the 1950s by Douglas Aircraft. It is headquartered in Santa Monica, CA Wikipedia history http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAND_Corporation Available free "classic" publications http://www.rand.org/pubs/classics.html
Plots
Propp's Morphology of the Folk Tale
Vladimir Propp studied the "architecture" of Russian Folk Tales.
http://changingminds.org/disciplines/storytelling/plots/propp/propp.htm
Some general summaries of plots / plot types etc.
http://changingminds.org/disciplines/storytelling/plots/plots.htm
"20 Master Plots (and how to build them)" by Ronals B. Tobias, Writer's Digest Books 1993 - There is a summary of this book on tvtropes.org
"Power Screenwriting, The 12 Stages of StoryDevelopment" by Michael CVhase Walker, iFilm Publishing, 2002 - There is a summary of this book on tvtropes.org
This is a bit long so I'm going to stop here for the moment.
If there is interest or questions I'll dig in my bookmarks some more.