Alien: Phalanx by Scott Sigler

Started by Corporal Hicks, Jul 10, 2019, 12:59:28 PM

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Alien: Phalanx by Scott Sigler (Read 88,788 times)

Monster Man

I love concepts like this, certainly a breathe of fresh air. Now we gotta see how it's executed. Hopefully the Alien doesn't job too hard.

RakaiThwei

Someone jokingly said to me that the big twist for this story would be is if this entire story is a DnD campaign played by a bunch of kids who decided to have their characters go into a Xenomorph Hive as part of their in-game story... Admittedly, that would be a good twist. Ha ha ha ha!!

But yeah, the synopsis kind of does sound like it would make for a good DnD campaign.

Quote from: scottsigler on Aug 21, 2019, 12:15:49 AM
• It's not a wooden planet.
• It's doesn't involved PROMETHEUS.
• No black goo.

Now the book has my attention... Seriously, the whole medieval world thing being infested with Xenomorphs... That is something done only once and that was more of a story inside of a story. I'm talking about Aliens: Stalker of course, but yeah... I gotta say, I am more curious on the setting than anything else. Is it too soon to ask questions about the world it's set in?

Resident4ever

There was a short comic (Aliens: Tourist Season), where a whole planet converted to a western world (Franchise Planet 1889). The tourist dressed in authentic clothes, the only sign of modern technology was some robot horses.

Also, in the Aliens: Cauldron book there were pirates dressed as vikings (if I am remember correctly) + the short story in the Bug Hunt anthology (the one, where the marines sent to Fury-161), in the first pages we read about some neo viking cult, who owned a planet and a space station (again, if I remember correctly).

However, I think we get an Aliens: Alchemy caliber story, where a colony ship crash landed in some planet, humanity is unaware about them.

SpaceKase

SpaceKase

#123
Wicked Imagery.

It brings to mind those old epic Marine recruitment ads from the 90's/2000's.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LyYTK_hYeEo


...which, I suppose is highly appropriate given the universe in question.

   Which, smh, could just be a sign of that fangy devil, Ol' Georgie hisself, my Unreliable Narrator, like what they did with that old comic Stalker from '98. I kinda hope that won't be the case, but in general, I loved to be surprised. So I won't knock it, 'til I've tried it. Personally though, I reeeaaally want the story to take place during those dark anarchistic times of that century of darkness following the Great Deletion.

If the virus swept across the sphere of humanity, like an intelligent living digital plague, akin to Silver Smile, it would have reduced every colony across the Network into lawless chaos. One could only imagine, some ordinary day, people everywhere going about their business, moving at their gravity driven hypervelocities, surfing through their superluminal layers of spacetime, secure in the knowledge of their mastery of the heavens. But on this auspicious day, every single human ship and orbital station across the full span of our exceeding reach, some 500 or more light years in every direction from Old Mother Sol, simultaneously opening. Each and every hatch and linked-in coupling; Beep. Click. Swooosh. And then there was no more dominion of man. Imagine the aftermath of something like that. Some 200 or more colonies of humanity, each descending into its own particular and nuanced flavor of technologically catalyzed hell.

Sure, there'd be outliers, pockets of luddites, space bound preppers, their paranoia finally vindicated, and they may very well be just fine for a while, that is until the vacuums of power start filling in once more. From there on out it's all Mad Max and Necromonger cults, space-faring gigachurches sailing in on massive conversion arks, just waiting to bring the light of the TrueTrue to every still living world full of the great unwashed sinners. Not to mention the actual plagues cutting swathes through those last vestiges of survivors, hope you've got some hardcopy med texts lying around, and close at hand.  And what rough beast, its hour come round at last, Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born? All the while, our old chitinous fams down there, oozing and clicking away in the basement, just waiting for that one right stone to be lifted up by just that one right person. Sigh... one can dream.

But I been tricked before, and lurking ever in the shadows is that Ol' Georgie just waitin' once again, to unreliably narrate our precious could-be hours into old wooden coulda-beens ones.

But we shall see. In truth, every one of these authors are rad for doing what they do, and regardless of one's destination it's always fun seeing the path one takes to get there. Over the years some incredible stories have come from the most unlikely of places. So yes, regardless; I'm really looking forward to this one.

Give 'em hell, Scott!


Quote from: RakaiThwei on Aug 22, 2019, 05:18:07 AM
Someone jokingly said to me that the big twist for this story would be is if this entire story is a DnD campaign played by a bunch of kids who decided to have their characters go into a Xenomorph Hive as part of their in-game story... Admittedly, that would be a good twist. Ha ha ha ha!!


Yasssss! As long as the climactic scene has an homage to Tom Hanks from Mazes and Monsters.


felix


The Old One

The Old One

#125
Hardback or die.

SpaceKase

SpaceKase

#126
Quote from: Fiendishly Inventive on Sep 05, 2019, 03:38:41 PM
Hardback or die.

Supported. When the skinjobs bring about the global information Blackout a couple years from now, you'll be glad to have those on hand.

felix

felix

#127
Nah. Hardbacks are too expensive and bulky. I like my books mass paperback sized.

SM

SM

#128
I'm going more and more ebook these days.

Kradan

Kradan

#129
Quote from: HuDaFuK on Aug 19, 2019, 07:49:20 AM
Definite Vincent Ward wooden planet vibes.

Indeed, I wish it'll have something in common .

The Old One

The Old One

#130
As I, something conceptually I'm a big fan of.

Xenomorphine

"Gentlemen! Let us construct our wooden planet..."

"Wouldn't that be a bit of a fire hazard?"

"Young fool..."

"No, seriously. It's a major fire hazard. Won't you be in major breach of every single health and safety violation in-"

"Silence! We shall now-"

"And where are you even going to get that much wood from?"

"Well, it... Uh... We shall... Create giant forests on many planets already in our nefarious possession!"

"Why don't you just put your base on one of them?"

">:("

SM

SM

#132
I think the only way it would've worked is if they found it and it wasn't man made.

An early abandoned Engineer experiment.  'Forget it Frank. All the air keeps coming out.'

Still Collating...

That'd actually be kinda cool, especially knowing how traditional their culture was in Covenant.

Quote from: Xenomorphine on Oct 16, 2019, 09:12:30 PM
"Gentlemen! Let us construct our wooden planet..."

"Wouldn't that be a bit of a fire hazard?"

"Young fool..."

"No, seriously. It's a major fire hazard. Won't you be in major breach of every single health and safety violation in-"

"Silence! We shall now-"

"And where are you even going to get that much wood from?"

"Well, it... Uh... We shall... Create giant forests on many planets already in our nefarious possession!"

"Why don't you just put your base on one of them?"

">:("

The best response I've heard regarding the concept!  :laugh:

The Old One

The Old One

#134
The idea of it being an abandoned Engineer concept though, I really think is appropriate.

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