New Story: A Fragile Dream

[elfs]

This is what I get for being distracted! I've been neck-deep into The Temple for so long I forgot that yesterday I was supposed to release my newest story. I'm so sorry! So let me make it official:

Journal Enty 128 / 03264, A Fragile Dream, has been released and can be found at your favorite server. The ASSD/ASSTR codes for this story are "MF scifi rom slow". Misuko & Linia (and some of their crew) have supporting parts, but this is not a robot story. In terms of quality, I'm very pleased with this story, although it's structure contains only one straightforward thread and not the intertwining of the last one.

I've noticed that Drizzle is becoming more and more overloaded, to the point where the webserver's response times are very slow. On the other hand, you guys have been wonderfully generous, enough so that I think I can afford to move later this year. I'm researching those options right now, but I just want to say thank you so much for your willingness to support my efforts. And as always, if you enjoy a story, a buck or two in the tipjar never hurts. Enjoy!

Comments

Re: "A Fragile Dream"

[(Anonymous)]

You referred to Pendorians as "smug." Could you elaborate on that? It surprises me that you, of all people, would use that word.

I've also wondered about Pendorian psychology... do they lack the instinct towards social hierarchy (and the climbing of same) that appears to be prevalent in Terran primates?

Also, was there a particular reason you went with "Pendorian"? I ask because I could have sworn that, back in the early days, the term I saw in your stories was "Pendoran". I realize that that isn't the term you find when you examine the stories today, but, for some reason, it's what I remember. Heck, it could have been that the displays I was using back then didn't display the "i" very well, and my brain liked "Pendoran" better, so it went with that. Humans make lousy witnesses.

Re: "A Fragile Dream"

[elfs.livejournal.com]

Pendorians have a weakened sense of restlessness. Some deliberately edited out entirely, but it's still there for most people because, without it, people in general go nowhere. There's another group in a future story who decide to keep restlessness but edit out loneliness; the consequences for this result in a different kind of culture, but one that gets along with the Pendorians reasonably well.

As for Pendorians being "smug," I think it's probably the best word to use. They do think that they're on the top of the evolutionary heap and all of the people around them going for "otherness" are rather silly. Pendorians always struck me as young, evangelical buddhists: having discovered the secret to no-thing, they're now busily trying to show everyone else how well it works for them.