What do I need to watch out for when naming things like 'biosuit'? Aside from the fact that they need to make sense, what should I keep in mind?

In science fiction, do look out for things that can be misinterpreted. However, most readers of the genre will allow time for the writer to show the implications of the concept within the story - they will actually be disappointed if you don't. If you introduce something very new, or complex, make sure that it is a key technology of the story.

Got any recommendations? I've read the last five or six WOTF anthologies and Octavia Butler's Wild Seed. Oh, and Ender's Game. I like the books and stories I've read so far but I haven't really gone "exploring" in the genre yet. For the most part I'm scared I'll come up with stuff that's been used a million times, which will of course ruin anything else I write.

Consider the technology that you give your characters though; sci-fi is a genre where the readers want cool gadgets--stuff that is yet to be invented--and it is up to you to invent them, make the plausible and cool sounding and casually insert them into your story--IMO.

Why have a a bio-suit when you can have something a little cooler that works as a mild hook for the reader as well?

Of course you can stay with bio-suit yet make it more real by giving it details that surprise the reader (and therefore hook). This requires that you think through its use. The still-suit from Dune was a bio-suit that was well thought out and gave a certain verisimilitude to the story.

For 'just enough' accurate science fiction, nothing beats a 10 min research effort on Google. But if your reluctant to do that I use a general rule: I always incorporate the most important functionality of the gizmo into the name. If the suit is meant to decompress a person after a deep sea dive - then just call it a 'decompression suit'. If it's supposed to protect against fire then call it the normal 'flame retardant suit' or get technical with 'asbestos-lined suits' and so on.

Let's do an example:
Let's say your scifi concept is deep lava diving - yes, diving in molten lava (perhaps to recover an alien artifact?) - what would you call that suit? (and note I know nothing about lava other than it's hot liquid rock)

1. What it is associated with?: You could simply call it a 'lava suit' or a 'lava protection unit (LPU)' without discussing the sci-fi. Just describe it's physical experience on the character and your done.

2. What you are controlling?: With lava, you mainly want to control temperature (does pressure matter also?) If the suit's advanced tech is designed to keep an internal temperature 'no matter what' for the person inside, the the main idea is thermal control and you could call it an 'isothermal suit.' If you want constant pressure, look up constant pressure on the google, and you find the term 'isobaric' - so 'isobaric suit' might be

3. What are you using to control it?: If you really want to get nitty gritty then you accomplish it by a little research. Google says molten lava is about 2800 degC. Now you can look up material that have a higher melting point. Make the suit out of 'material X' and call it an "X suit".
In my research I came across the term 'heat capacity' of a material which means 'the amount of heat it absorbs to raise its temperature by 1 degrees-C'. This means you want a very high heat-capacity material so your MC wont get cooked - something that can absorb a lot of heat but not rise much in temeprature. Look for materials like that or have your scientist character make one up - the material might not exist but the scientific logic is there. So make your suit out of that and call it a 'high HCAP suit' or something and then have your scientist guy explain it.

4. Ask somebody for concrete ideas: You've already begun this - but ask for quick explanation of ideas specific to what you want your gizmo to do.

Speaking of inventing jargon: the word ansible was invented by Ursula le Guin. OSC used it in his Ender series. Would people consider this as stealing if it was done my an unknown author?

If the first effective lava suit was created by Theodore Handson, all lava suits might be called HANDSON SUITS.

Maybe the first company to popularize the suit was STITCHY, or that was the brand name they chose to name it. Then the man would climb into his STITCHY suit, even if this model was made by Umbria.

Then of course, the suit might resemble a clothing style that was popular at one time. That way, it might become a ZOOT SUIT.

of course how it is used in slang, like a Jump suit might the term.
Also of course some acronym such as ZENON UNDERLAVA TRAVERSING EXPLORER or ZUTE SUIT.

There is a lot of freedom once you get beyond the technical naming of any product.

There are doubtless people I've forgotten who should be on that list, and everyone would have their own additions (and possibly deletions) but for my money those are a good spread of people who have either exemplified certain types of SF thorugh its history, or have changed the playing field.

Some science fiction is more gadget-oriented, and the science is pretty crucial.

Some science fiction is more character-oriented (how the science affects the characters rather that what cool things the science can do), and the science is more "magical" (in the sense that OSC has said he doesn't write science fiction, he writes fantasy with science as the magic).

I would also study human conquests throughout history. I know there are examples like Alexander's conquests and Ceasar's conquest of Britian. Attempts at conquests. Probably sheer number of forces played a role more than technology. Sometimes morale and ideology become more important than advanced numbers and tech - Vietman is an example of that. Sometimes letting the conquered keep their culture and be benevolent helped maintain the order - I think Alexander allowed that. Other times destroying a major city of power and salting the earth so nothing would grow there again - I think that happened in many greek or roman wars.

No matter what tech you use the modern way of the game is probably the same:
You start with sheer numbers of advanced military forces come in wave after wave, (air?)dropping in on major power and military centers of that world, disabling or disorienting all the armies (of course some will get away and retaliate), deposing of the existing power elite, perhaps killing or removing powerful leaders and their families off-world, establishing the new order or using the existing infrastructure to maintain order until waves of reinforcements arrive to quickly maintain order across the world, take command of all forms of communication, take control of energy sources and supplies, police the state, work with local law enforcers to protect the citizens, violently quash rebellions, work with the media to inform the masses, control religious leaders, redistribute wealth and power to new indigenous power-hungry allies and have them please their constituents. After a couple of generations of the conquered the new order becomes an institution especially if it has a positive effect on the indigenous (very rare).
And in this general way one can conquer a world like ours. Assuming you have the willing manpower, supplies, advanced weaponry and tech, excellent command structure and bureaucracy to handle something this large. But there can always be unforeseen problems.

Well, I've spouted off my thoughts too much again. I probably should cut it down some. Oh well.

Slavery as the "thermal exhaust port" huh? That is an egregious oversight then, isn't it? I guess "slave" may not be the best word. I think it's more of a situation where the natives are subjugated for the sake of quashing any resistance. They are collared (here is an issue of tech coming into play) so they cannot fight back.

The way they normally work: This tech is real. It's been demonstrated and has been around for atleast six to ten years. They involve chips with very thin electrode that are implanted on the surface of the motor cortex to detect the signals of neurons. These signals are sent to a computer where they are analyzed. It has been a huge success with monkeys who have learned to move objects just by *thinking* (yep, the first telekinetic beings on Earth - monkeys.)

The realistic medical plan is to offer it to quadriplegics to train robotic arms as surrogate limbs to help them with their daily life. There is a learning curve for the brain to learn how to move the robot arm. It's still in the early stages, lots of research going on.

Now for fiction:
The way to subjugate 'slaves' with a 'collar':
In your story the 'slaves' could have a special BMI chip implanted on their motor cortex to actually control body movement. If a rebellion acts up, punch a button, trigger the appropriate neurons, and they all go limp and fall where they stand. Here no learning curve is needed - all you need to know is how their brain motor cortex is mapped and trigger the appropriate neurons with a few milli-volts. (Look up homunculus + brain to see the human motor map and understand where the motor cortex is and how easily it can be controlled.)

So, for example, if you want to control their legs you connect a chip to the neurons where legs of the homunculus are, and then send a little voltage to the neurons, which will make the legs seize up or go limp, and the person can stay rooted to the spot or fall down, respectively.
Heck, you want to control their heart rate? Implant a chip near group of neurons in their medulla that modulate heart rate. It won't stop the heart (if you destroy these neurons the heart has it's own built in neuronal pacemaker to keep beating), but it can make it go really fast or really slow with a push of a button.

Maybe your invading army should include a large group of surgeons trained to do hundreds of these implants over months - better yet have robot surgeons do it. Caputre them, drug them, send 'em thru a conveyor belt - mass produce a 'slave' nation!

Well...that's one possibility of using new cutting edge tech for subjugation and control purposes (at the very least! Can you imagine the level of abuse of this tech at its full potential!?)

The main issue an enslaving entity is going to have to deal with, besides making sure every single individual gets one, is making sure newborns are identified and entered into the system. This is a pretty big task, involving a network of spies, bureaucrats, and soldiers to enforce it.

Additionally, as everyone and their brother is going to have one, everyone and their brother will have the opportunity to see how they work up close and personal, and so have an opportunity to figure out how to disarm them. Generally, this issue is commonly handled by having the people who institute such a system exhibit total confidence in their system, which is guaranteed to be shown not worthy of such confidence in the course of the story, and probably should have been picked up on in development.

Just for fun,

1. Here is an actual human using an implanted BMI to control a computer mouse. The tech is called Braingate:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJJPbpHoPWo&feature=fvst

2. Here is Honda's BMI interface that *doesn't* use implants, but uses noninvasive EEG technology to have a human control the movements of an ASIMO robot. Another thing they tried is to use an fMRI machine to create a real-time image of brain activity and use that to instruct a robot hand. The drawback is that the person has to lie in a giant magnetic doughnut of the fMRI, lol! Not practical but getting there.

Both are shown in the youtube video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-fE9QBy0FI&feature=fvst

And would you really want a slave army? Wouldn't you prefer an independent population you could tax, and just have a few people who serve you?

If it's electrical in nature, and the species it's attached to doesn't have a completely alien physiology, the zap! would overwhelm the subject's motor control as surely as a neural implant. It wouldn't have zx fine-control as a neural implant device could have, but I don't think Trisha is talking about something like that. Simply causing everyone to collapse in a pile of writhing agony might serve Trisha's purposes, without having to design an army of surgeons to get it done.

I dunno. I'm a big fan of keeping things as straight forward as possible in sci-fi. No need to write about a futuristic space hammer powered by Hawking radiation harvested from super massive blackholes across a dozen galaxies if you just need your character to replace a missing shingle.