#58
March 23, 2004
From: Ide Cyan

I found this via Alas, A Blog:

The Girl Who Feels No Pain, an article about a real-life "Alien Jane", the three-year-old Gabby Gingras.

Oh my. Life will always have to be so conscious, so hyper-vigilant for these people. They'll have to develop systems to watch Gabby, to check the environment, anticipate the hazards that are invisible to her because she can't process the warning language of pain. They will have to read the mind of the whole world.

Nicola and I talked a lot about this over beer tonight. I believe that humans are potentially limitless in spirit, in toughness, and in the capacity for joy in the face of adversity, but I wouldn't wish this on anyone. I felt particularly sorry that there are no resources for these folks, that they have to do all the work of discovery as well as implementation. I hope they have loving and imaginative people around them to help: it's the sort of thing that takes imagination, not treacly pity or platitudes. One thing that astonished both of us about this report is the sentence, "There is no cure, nor will she outgrow it." If I told someone my child had a condition for which there was no cure, and they said, stupidly, "Well, maybe she'll outgrow it," I think I would put their head through a wall.

The world is often stranger than fiction, and harder too.

#57
March 23, 2004
from: anonymous

I really liked solitare and I want to read another one of your novels. I don't know if you have another one in the works or not but if you do please release it soon, and if not get to work :). I would like to read a second novel to solitare. I think it would work because I want to know how she turned out. Did she get over anti-social behavior? Did she make a lot of money? How did KO turn out? Does she still live in the NNA? What happened to snow? I think it would be good and you could put new problems maybe KO double crossed her, their is a problem with the online thing and she gets stuck in VC longer than supposed to, or any thing else you can think of as a new problem or a new plot. I know you could make a great new book and it would be a shame not to write more about Snow or Jackel.

I have a question though. Who killed the security guard and where did the other go?

And I hope you make a second book to solitare or wrote another novel because your first novel was really good.

I am sorry to disappoint you, but no sequel. I'm glad the characters came alive for you, even if does mean they are still rattling around in your brain, demanding to be continued. They do that in my head sometimes too. Of course I have my notions of what happens to everyone, but I expect you have ideas about that too, as will other people who read the book and liked it. We will all have to be content with our notions for now.

I'd be interested to know how you define anti-social behavior. I think Jackal's probably the most well-adjusted person in the bar most nights (unless Snow is there). I'll bet all those tourists feel just a little safer when she's around, which may or may not be what they were hoping for.

One security guard was in the pay of Steel Breeze, and set up the initial situation with the elevators being stuck. I'll bet he was really confused when Jackal did his job for him. He killed the other guard, and Jackal herself was fortunate not to end up at the bottom of the access stairs with a broken neck.

If you are interested, you can learn more about my next novels from this previous virtual pint.