Line #43 Website/ThingsOfInterest


1	->''Ed seems to have been stamped directly from the comic-book mad scientist mould - last week he raised an Amiga 500 to sentience (although it took us a while to notice; it thinks darned slowly).''
2	-->--''Sam (the character), on the protagonist of the Ed Stories''
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4	A website, created and maintained by sam512, or Sam Hughes. He has a particular affinity for science fiction, which has led him to write many science fiction short stories - and occasionally long series of such - and publish them on his [[http://qntm.org/ website]]. His best known works are the novel-length ''Literature/FineStructure'' and ''Literature/{{Ra}}'', which have their own pages.
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6	Hughes is also an active contributor to the Website/SCPFoundation under the handle "[[http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/qntm-s-author-page qntm]]", and is best known for focusing on [[PerceptionFilter antimemetics]] and developing the [[http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/antimemetics-division-hub Antimemetics Division]] hub, portions of which have been consolidated and lightly edited into a novel-length work, ''Literature/ThereIsNoAntimemeticsDivision''.
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8	Other short stories and series have tropes listed below. Also of note is [[http://www.qntm.org/destroy How To Destroy The Earth]], an exhaustive examination of the EarthShatteringKaboom trope, and several examinations of the TimeyWimeyBall that is ''{{WesternAnimation/Futurama}}''. There's also an examination of TimeTravelTenseTrouble [[http://qntm.org/streetmentioner here]].
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10	----
11	!!These works provides examples of:
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13	[[foldercontrol]]
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15	[[folder: General Tropes]]
16	%%* AuthorVocabularyCalendar: "fractionally"
17	* ContinuityNod: All of his works might as well be set in the same continuity. Well, in alternate universes. For example, in "Gorge", [[spoiler:a space cartographer accidentally introduces the concept of space travel to a planet consumed entirely by nanobots, which then proceed to expand throughout the universe (at least, [[InferredHolocaust it is implied]]). Another story of his deals with flying over post-nanoapocalyptic environments in freefall and photographing them. The passage goes on to state that objects above a certain technology level are not allowed near such environments, ''lest the nanobots learn of space travel''.]]
18	%%* GainaxEnding: Used quite a lot. Usually a form of a TwistEnding.
19	%%* MindScrew: Practically all of the stories involving time travel.
20	[[/folder]]
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22	[[folder: Tropes In Short Stories]]
23	* AffectionateParody: "The Last-But-One Question" is one to Creator/IsaacAsimov's Literature/TheLastQuestion, in which the question is asked to a planet[[spoiler:-sized Magic8Ball]].
24	* AGodAmI: http://qntm.org/responsibility. When the physicists who discovered infinite computing power discover they can control a replica of our universe inside their computer. [[spoiler: It turns out that they are also in a simulated universe, which is most likely also a simulated universe, ad infinitum et absurdum.]]
25	* {{Anticlimax}}: The whole point of "First Contact: a retrospective" -- after decoding an alien message, there's nothing to follow up on, and nothing has really changed.
26	* LightspeedLeapfrog: The basis of "Forgotten things in space", in which an arkship is sent out in the lead-up to TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt, only for FTL to be invented and all of humanity moving to the target planet [[spoiler:and then the same set of events playing out much later on said planet, only for them to find the original ship still travelling to the now-doomed planet.]]
27	%%* MadScientist: Most of the scientists portrayed.
28	* GreatBigLibraryOfEverything: "I have always imagined that Paradise will be a kind of library" has of course, the library, which is confusingly called "The Book". It chronicles every single thing that has ever occurred in the universe, from all perspectives, in every language. [[spoiler: It's implied to be the afterlife.]]
29	%%* StableTimeLoop: Many of his stories deal with something like this, most notably [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Time Loop]], although nothing interesting is done during the course of the loop.
30	[[/folder]]
31	[[folder: Ed Stories]]
32	* ApocalypseHow:
33	** When Ed tampering with the universe's config file (really- it has values for different universal constants, complete with comments), [[spoiler: he accidentally deletes the entire Andromeda galaxy. Needless to say, its surviving inhabitants were not thrilled.]]
34	** [[spoiler:The Eridanians accidentally cause an X+ by destroying the entire universe, starting with themselves.]]
35	* ArtificialGravity: Declared impossible by Ed, though a number of work-arounds are used to simulate gravity.
36	* AuthorAvatar: Sam Hughes the narrator serves as an avatar for Sam Hughes the author.
37	* BittersweetEnding: Ed is killed, but the two Earths are reformed into a utopia thanks to the Andromedans. Although WordOfGod states that he was rescued at the last instant and went on to have various adventures in the Andromeda galaxy, one of which is mentioned in the epilogue.
38	%%* ClarkesThirdLaw: [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] when Ed decides to call his FTL tech "magic", and continues to cite the law itself.
39	%%* FasterThanLightTravel: See ClarkesThirdLaw above.
40	* HumansAreFlawed: Most alien species are far morally superior to humanity.
41	%%* HumongousMecha: Most notably in the first three stories, but they show up again later.
42	* LivingShip: [[spoiler:Hotel Infinity is an Iisius, an Andromedan species of living starship, although only around five percent of their body is organic, the other 95% is built up over time.]]
43	* MayanDoomsday: [[spoiler:When the Eridanian energy virus is discovered, Ed estimates it will reach earth on exactly December 21st, 2012.]]
44	%%* MikeNelsonDestroyerOfWorlds: More like Eduardo [=McPherson=] destroyer of ''galaxies'' (see ApocalypseHow above).
45	%%* MoralityChip: The Andromedan "riders".
46	%%* MundaneUtility: [[http://qntm.org/bread the best thing since sliced bread]].
47	* PortalCut: Ed uses wormholes to invent the world's most ludicrously advanced bread-slicer.
48	* PunyEarthlings: [[spoiler:According to the Andromedans, the fact that humans don't have telephathy makes them below average, since they aren't able to coordinate or work together properly. Indeed, it was quite embarrassing when the Mantissa arrived and saw there was still poverty in the world.]]
49	%%* StarfishAliens: The Zeta Reticulaens.
50	%%* SufficientlyAdvancedTechnology: Asked how his FTL drive works, Ed claims "magic" and cites Clarke's Third Law.
51	%%* TimeTravel: Alternate universe model. Philosophical implications thereof are explored.
52	[[/folder]]
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54	[[folder:Tyro]]
55	%%* AIIsACrapshoot: [[spoiler:{{Subverted}}.]]
56	[[/folder]]
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58	[[folder:The Four-And-A-Halfth Planet]]
59	%%* EarthShatteringKaboom
60	%%* StableTimeLoop: With a catch that the reader has to puzzle out.
61	[[/folder]]

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