4 ms·

Nick Farmer knows dozens of languages, so he invented one for the Expanse

70 points by curtis 11y ago

maxerickson 11y ago
The Expanse is pretty good so far. I hope they don't fall into the traps of keeping it going long after their ideas have run out and abandoning ongoing story lines to deal with 'notes' and casting. Donkey Balls!
- scrumper 11y ago
  There's a huge story arc in the novels, so I think we're safe for a while. I highly recommend the books. I've thoroughly enjoyed it. It's a wonderfully constructed world and they're doing justice to the complex characters too.
  - vvanders 11y ago
    Yeah, it just feels like a show that's firing well on all cylinders. Sets, atmosphere, acting all solid. Can't wait to see where they take it.
  - jhallenworld 11y ago
    The show inspired me to buy the books- I've just finished the first. Hopefully the ratings will be high enough for it to remain funded. I like the general lack of magic (hyperspace, etc), for example spinning Ceres for gravity. But see: https://www.reddit.com/r/TheExpanse/comments/40rv49/could_we_colonize_ceres_like_in_syfys_the_expanse/ https://www.reddit.com/r/TheExpanse/comments/40rv49/could_we...
    - scrumper 11y ago
      That was interesting, and a surprising result. Thanks for sharing. There is a bit of magic: the Epstein Drive, allowing for 1G continuous acceleration 'torch ships'. IIRC if they're gone I don't think it breaks the plot much, but without them it's hard to imagine that there'd be quite such a thriving solar system society; it'd be much less interconnected and a much smaller economy without the ability to support large-scale stations by shipping large volumes of necessary supplies (e.g. ice) around easily.
mark_l_watson 11y ago
Glad to see Nick doing this. He and his Mom (who is a friend from my contracting job at Google) visited my wife and me a few years ago and the number of languages he speaks and how quickly he earns them is impressive. I bought the first year of the Expanse series on Google Play and have been enjoying it.
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
panglott 11y ago
"Well walla" and "kaka felota" are just quality conlanging.
rcavezza 11y ago
Funny seeing this pop up on HN. I'm good friends with Nick Farmer. We met at Rutgers. He's my little brother in our fraternity. Small world.
- mattdotc 11y ago
  Another Nick Farmer associate here from RU; not a fraternity brother, although he did try unsuccessfully to recruit me. He's a very inquisitive guy, wide range of interests, very hard-working. He deserves this success, for sure. I've been watching the media fanfare unfold since he started promoting the show earlier in 2015 and it's been very exciting for me to see the show explode in popularity after its release.
- dawnbreez 11y ago
  Not friends with Nick, but two degrees of separation from the author.
sp332 11y ago
Since it wasn't actually linked in the article, here's the word-of-the-day twitter account: https://twitter.com/nfarmerlinguist https://twitter.com/nfarmerlinguist

70 points by curtis 11y ago

The Expanse is pretty good so far. I hope they don't fall into the traps of keeping it going long after their ideas have run out and abandoning ongoing story lines to deal with 'notes' and casting. Donkey Balls!

scrumper 11y ago
There's a huge story arc in the novels, so I think we're safe for a while. I highly recommend the books. I've thoroughly enjoyed it. It's a wonderfully constructed world and they're doing justice to the complex characters too.
- vvanders 11y ago
  Yeah, it just feels like a show that's firing well on all cylinders. Sets, atmosphere, acting all solid. Can't wait to see where they take it.
- jhallenworld 11y ago
  The show inspired me to buy the books- I've just finished the first. Hopefully the ratings will be high enough for it to remain funded. I like the general lack of magic (hyperspace, etc), for example spinning Ceres for gravity. But see: https://www.reddit.com/r/TheExpanse/comments/40rv49/could_we_colonize_ceres_like_in_syfys_the_expanse/ https://www.reddit.com/r/TheExpanse/comments/40rv49/could_we...
  - scrumper 11y ago
    That was interesting, and a surprising result. Thanks for sharing. There is a bit of magic: the Epstein Drive, allowing for 1G continuous acceleration 'torch ships'. IIRC if they're gone I don't think it breaks the plot much, but without them it's hard to imagine that there'd be quite such a thriving solar system society; it'd be much less interconnected and a much smaller economy without the ability to support large-scale stations by shipping large volumes of necessary supplies (e.g. ice) around easily.

mark_l_watson 11y ago

Glad to see Nick doing this. He and his Mom (who is a friend from my contracting job at Google) visited my wife and me a few years ago and the number of languages he speaks and how quickly he earns them is impressive. I bought the first year of the Expanse series on Google Play and have been enjoying it.

deleted 11y ago

[deleted]

panglott 11y ago

"Well walla" and "kaka felota" are just quality conlanging.

rcavezza 11y ago

Funny seeing this pop up on HN. I'm good friends with Nick Farmer. We met at Rutgers. He's my little brother in our fraternity. Small world.

mattdotc 11y ago
Another Nick Farmer associate here from RU; not a fraternity brother, although he did try unsuccessfully to recruit me. He's a very inquisitive guy, wide range of interests, very hard-working. He deserves this success, for sure. I've been watching the media fanfare unfold since he started promoting the show earlier in 2015 and it's been very exciting for me to see the show explode in popularity after its release.
dawnbreez 11y ago
Not friends with Nick, but two degrees of separation from the author.

sp332 11y ago

Since it wasn't actually linked in the article, here's the word-of-the-day twitter account: https://twitter.com/nfarmerlinguist https://twitter.com/nfarmerlinguist