• shalafi@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Been reading the Deathworlders book(s). Basically a FOSS series of novels. Sounds like it would devolve into bad fan fiction. 1,500 pages in and I’m still diggin’ it.

    Humans come from a “level 12” planet. Sapience isn’t thought able to evolve on a level 10, too dangerous. Too serious on every front; Gravity, weather, temperature extremes, microorganisms, parasites, predators, radiation exposure, all that.

    First chapter is a human on a space station trying to get processed through emigration when the baddest-ass aliens of all lock on and board. He beats one to death with its own arm. Basically like a chimp in a preschool of giant, soft children.

    Gets hilarious when the same guy is finally back home bartending and, as Earth watches in awe, those same aliens invade a Canadian hockey game.

    Epubs and such are readily available.

    https://deathworlders.com/

    • TheDoozer@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      That’s like The Damned series by Alan Dean Foster.

      Basically alien societies naturally formed without the type of infighting and barbarism humans started with, so the entire idea of war to them was extremely foreign and uncomfortable until they were attacked. They formed an alliance to push back the empire trying to conquer them, but they lacked the will or martial ingenuity to really hold the empire back. Then they come across humans, and the first (random) human they come across accidentally severely injures their ambassador. So they offer humans heaps of technology and resources for soldiers. They don’t offer membership (because we’re absolute nightmares) if I remember correctly, but Earth is fine with that. People volunteer in droves to see the galaxy and fight in wars where they are so overpowered it feels like they put in a cheat code.

      The series is about… well, what happens to our society when our main export is unstoppable death and destruction. Hence “The Damned.”

      • Pringles@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        The Undying Mercenaries series by B.V. Larson is kind pf similar. Humanity is basically given the choice to be useful to the galactic empire (forgot what it’s called in this series exactly) and the only useful export product we can offer are soldiers. The minds of the soldiers are backed up before going into battle and can be put in a cloned body, hence undying mercenaries.

    • Mesophar@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      This premise and the HumanityFuckYeah is what originally brought me to Reddit. There’s a lemmy for it, too, but it isnt as active

      https://lemmy.world/c/hfy

      Maybe if we get more interest we can build it up!

    • Neato@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      FOSS series of novels? Is that another term for a web serial? A free novel or story posted in chunks online?

      • Kalothar@lemmy.ca
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        1 year ago

        If this is a serious question it’s most likely a group writing collaboration of some kind, playing off the idea of the the way free and open source software is a collaborate effort.

      • Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de
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        1 year ago

        it means the story is published under a license that allows you to redistribute and modify the text, the only limitation is that you can’t make a profit.

        the specific license used is Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0

    • AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      I won’t spoil anything for you, but there are at least 3 other books that are not only set in the Jenkinsverse, they all took place mostly between chapters 2 and 3. Also they were written by three other authors, not Hambone

      Salvage is canon up to chapter 70 something. You’ll know you left canon when Adrian Saunders starts messing around with a black hole

      The Adventures of Xiu Chang. The entire story is canon

      Humans Don’t Make Good Pets. While this is canon, it’s a frustrating one as it’s not finished at all, and the character has a lot of potential.

      Also you neglected to mention that “Purveyor Kevin Jenkins” is a normal out of shape bartender.