Afterthoughts:
I started this story last March. Wrote for a week and then shelved it until January of this year. I went from completely stumped to flying through it when I took a break on Smith.
Biomancer is a 50k word novel. That was stated pretty clearly in the story's description of a 'Baby novel'. Novels being 50k words plus, by most everyone's definitions. I didn't artificially end the book at any certain spot. I concluded the story where I felt it was right to do so.
The alternative in my mind was for Nathan and Anna to sneak out to the waiting car which was driven by two women to the coast to catch the boat which would pass off the pair to Irene's yacht, then fade from there. I felt it would be too watered down and passed on that option.
Biomancer was actually longer than I expected it to be. I half expected a twenty five K or so story and ended up with a surprising 48 k.
One of the things I tried my best to keep in mind while writing, was that Nathan is 16, poor, living on the bare minimum and not worldly.
Ronnie's overbearing attention would have been too much for the attention starved young man.
A few other items of note that I tried to keep in mind were:
1. Nathan really had no true parental figure, ever since three years ago.
2. Nathan has unmentioned powers. I have him down for three. Life control, life awareness and one other not brought up in this story.
3. Keeping the story from mostly the Nathan's point of view, I left things out that the audience would want to know. Nate would not think of those items which did not directly impact him BEFORE he became a super. To Nate, all the anti Super laws were against he and his father. As a sheltered 16 year old, those laws would all 'suck'.
4. Ronnie was 50% on Nate's side and 50% on the Army's side. She always wanted what was best for him, but truly believed that the Army was the solution.
5. Executive order xxxxxx was responsible for the creation of the PRA Congress affirmed it and added funding while further adding to the anti-Powers laws.
6. The PRA was allowed to act similar to that of the McCarthy area Communist witch hunt and hearings, where there was no oversight until everyone had enough, which the American public had not reached that point as of this story.
7. The laws enacted against supers, should have been illegal, but the overwhelming majority of voters wanted them. I used 69% approval rating as of the last November. That could easily be extrapolated as being even higher in the previous years.
8. The courts both overturned those anti super laws and supported them, depending on the state, leaving the Supreme Court to make the final ruling on their constitutionality. The appellate courts mostly followed congress' wishes.
9. The Supreme court did not make a determination. The laws are in limbo. Why they didn't, was never stated. That was intentional.
10. Irene is a diplomat and a business woman. That she was nice to Nathan was both in her and her country's best interest. She was also truthful and helpful. Similar to Veronica, Irene wants to be Nathan's friend and supporter.
11. That does not mean that Irene will not leave things out, such as the 'slight' destabilization of the region she wants Nathan to move to. She handed them a tourist brochure of the city and area. Who wouldn't in her situation?
12. In my mind, Irene would spend extra time with Nate that first year touring Europe as a guide, even when he was working for other countries. His guards and her guards would keep them safe and out of conflict areas. Even in other countries, show him the good.
13. Using Nathan as a deterrent against the rebels or terrorists would not be in Irene's plans for at least the first few years while Nate gets accustomed to his new home. Maybe not even then.
14. Constitutional amendments, never crossed my mind, until it was brought up in the comments section. I don't know. But I could easily imagine a strong push for a restrictive change with and equally strong balking at adding a new amendment for any reason.
15. Listening to cell phones is done by anyone with the right equipment. It is not prosecutable in the US, to my knowledge. Not that the real agencies can use the information in court without a warrant before they listen. But they can use it for other purposes as 'leads'. I am not a lawyer. I am not positive on how it works, just that it does.
Quite a few of my readers wanted a better conclusion or at least a few chapters longer one. I didn't see how. The escape to Irene's yacht was uneventful for the most part, then they would spend a couple weeks motoring to his new home.
I could have and probably should have written, why the moving trucks which arrived in his neighborhood caused him to react so strongly. To Nathan, the moving trucks was a sign that negotiations were ended on the Fed side. That they planned on waiting him out and didn't care about anyone. The final straw, so to speak.
More to learn.
As for Nathan's new life in Europe. To me that would be an entirely new story. Not an ending. A new beginning.
As for more stories in this universe, that will not be soon, as I have two stories, one short, one very long (to me) out to different cleaners. I am also working on three different stories concurrently drifting to where my Sledgehammer to the brain takes me.
In one way, I am confused by the harsh response to the ending of Biomancer, yet in another I am kinda glad for it. Without feedback, especially negative feedback, how can I improve?
I will take a step back for a few weeks or so and look over everything I have done so far and reevaluate.
I am very open to comments, critiques and criticisms. Feel free to Email me directly.
Shad.