Demosthenes: Blog

I've included this supplementary material for Longshot to provide spoiler-free extras for interested readers. What follows is optional liner notes with insights, explanations, and references for Chapter 2. As always, reader questions and feedback are welcomed in comments or eMail.

8 YAL

YAL: Years After Launch. While days and seasons are very different inside Longshot, Earth-based time is still used inside the vessel, with years calculated from the assumed date of the vessel's launch.

"They're called engrams, pictures in your mind."

In modern neuropsychology engrams are the brain's physical modifications in response to stimuli, creating memories. In the culture of Longshot the term refers to a language of mental visualisations that enable physical and mental changes to alter the body's biochemistry.

"They're called takamakura,"

Takamakura were originally wooden sleeping blocks in Japan used to preserve the elaborate hairstyles of geisha. Today, they're prized by collectors. In Longshot, devices that look very similar to the traditional blocks communicate directly with the brain for enhanced education, communication and entertainment.

As is my habit for all my stories, I've included supplementary material as spoiler-free extras for interested readers of Longshot. An updated Chapter 1 was posted today, as was a fresh Chapter 2; you can expect relevant notes for each chapter to follow the day of or the day after posting.

Think of what follows as author liner notes with insights, explanations, and references for Chapter 1. Reader questions and feedback are always welcomed in comments or eMail.

My sister and I first experienced the Cupola…

Italian cupola ("small cup"), used to describe a small dome-like structure at the top of a building designed for the purpose of admitting light, air and/or to function as a viewing platform. For reference,
rel="nofollow">the International Space Station's cupola.

Day to day we lived on the banks of the ringriver in the midsection of the hollowed-out asteroid…

Longshot is a deep-space variation of an
rel="nofollow">O'Neill cylinder, built inside an asteroid.

"That aspect of you comes from a place in Old Sol"

Old Sol is the Longshot's cultural reference for the Sun. By extension, it also functions as a shorthand reference for Earth and solar system.

By that then I knew what haplogroups and phenotypes were…

A haplogroup is a related group of genes inherited from a common ancestor; a phenotype is the expression of these genes as unique physical characteristics. In the context of Longshot, haplogroup refers to the
rel="nofollow">Old Sol anthropological type that each person is derived from, after random selection and modification by Ship.

"It was called Hallstatt."


rel="nofollow">Hallstatt phenotype, named for the original Iron Age
rel="nofollow">Austrian village of the same name.

"She is Dinkaid. From the continent of Africa."


rel="nofollow">Dinkaid phenotype.

"Gracile Mediterranid. From Palestine."


rel="nofollow">Gracile Mediterranid phenotype.

The interior of that cylinder, spinning 25 times every hour to create artificial gravity, was our home.

See
rel="nofollow">spincalc as a way to visualize the rotational speed needed to simulate gravity inside objects of different radii.

"I walked into the polis."

The linga franca of Longshot is hybridized from many human languages, but tends to use Greek-derived words for place names: polis is Greek for "city".

"Sailing to 82 G Eridani."

82 G Eridani is a star in the Eridani constellation, currently known to have several exoplanets.

Trying to keep to my schedule of submitting one story to SOL every year, I've posted the first chapter of my erotic SF novel Longshot today. It's somewhat different from my previous stories, being both far greater in scope (approx. 120,000 words) and 75% complete at this stage. (In the past, I've only posted stories when they were finished, or very nearly so). As is my habit, I intended to post a chapter each day, although this is likely to stutter and slow when I return to work and/or reach story chapters as yet unfinished.

I'll be using my SOL blog to add author notes for each chapter, with further information, themes, and resources starting tomorrow. As always, your comments and feedback are very welcome!

Sooo I've started on another story, tentatively titled If You Weren't Married, including the outline of a sequel. Cuckolding tales aren't my usual thing, but I feel that I've come up with compelling characters and scenes that obligate me to at least start sketching them on the screen. Other stories are continuing, at a slower pace.

I don't believe the suggestion of "write what you know" has ever been entirely true. Very few people have experienced being in space, for example, or know what it's like to be in a consensual incestual relationship (at least I assume so), which would rule out a lot of stories on SOL. The adage might better be phrased as "write what you know about." And in the age of Google, there's no limitation to what you can learn about a subject.

My preference when writing about a place is to be in that place, to soak in the atmosphere and translate it into prose. It's one of the reasons why so many of my stories are set in Canada. But for obvious reasons, that's not always possible. I've found Google Maps Street View to be an excellent way to get a feel for "life on the ground", while I also have open tabs in DuckDuckGo researching brassiere cup styles, industrial lofts in Toronto, lens optics and fur coats.

Writing on Longshot and other works continues. Reading my previous stories on SOL a few days ago revealed a few tiny spelling mistakes and incorrect word usage in some chapters. In response, I've corrected and reposted Resonance, Substitute, and A Mutual Understanding. If you haven't read my work previously - or even if you have - I hope that you will enjoy the updated stories.