Every day I am haunted by the fact that Jupiter Ascending was not based off of a million word space opera fantasy book series and that I cannot go to the library and take out like six door-stopper sized volumes of sheer unhinged gendervibes-y space werewolf bee queen batshittery where every new freudian space eugenicist villain talks like he's trying to eat the scenery's pussy out harder than the last guy. 😔
Write the story you want to see in the world, my friend. I’ll be(e) there to read it.
I can't offer you Jupiter Ascending but if you want scenery chewing drama recent options include:
-August Kitko and the Mechas from Space by Alex White, in which the power of jazz enables you to pilot mechas, get into giant space battles, and win the nonbinary pop star of your dreams. (I'm hoping for tabla gender shenanigans in the sequel(s).)
-Sky on Fire by Jenn Lyons, in which the stakes ratchet up multiple times a chapter. By the end of the prologue we have had a feast interrupted by an untouchably powerful individual, a bounty hunt, a child doomed to execution, another child secretly listening in on the plans of adults... By the end of the fourth chapter - 36 pages in - we have escaped the terrifying jungle and set the terrifying swamp in fire in order to escape into the terrifying caverns and there are Forbidden Lesbians brewing. I cannot read three random paragraphs without encountering drama to make Brian Herbert seethe.
