A Rambling Rant For A Rambling Chapter

Chapter 7 Author Commentary

There is a lot of building up to the next thing in this chapter. It makes it hard to talk about what I was trying to do other than setting up the dominos to knock down later.


We meet Joana for a start. When it came to a romantic interest for Cronus I didn't spend a lot of time putting it together, it just... happened. Joana emerged from my mind pretty fully formed; hella Zuse-style. She obviously had to be technologically proficient just to have that shared interest with Cronus. I couldn't see him paying attention otherwise. And though Cytherea has some pretty well-defined gender roles, they don't encourage women to be less-than.  On the contrary, the carrots and sticks of Cytherean society strikes me as one that would breed fierce competitiveness.  But, at the same time, I don't think those same carrots and sticks encourage a lot of introspection and free thought and those are the qualities that set Joana apart from the rest of her society.

Firefly was and continues to be a big inspiration for this series and it seemed only proper that Kaylee was a bit of an inspiration for Joana but, as we will see, Joana has an edge about her. Okay, yeah I know Kaylee could get a little feisty as well but Joana gets there a lot faster and it' quite a bit less adorable.

Adorable as fuck.

There is also a sadness or a longing about her that, I hope, comes out in time. It's clear right from the start that she doesn't quite fit into the grand scheme of Cytherean society and, in the great tradition of ill-placed dreamers and free-thinkers, feels a kind of restlessness. Which, I think, is another connection for her and Cronus.

I really did enjoy writing Cronus' and Joana's storyline if only because it's so infuriatingly awkward. But, again, it's hard to talk about now. Just strap in and wait. It's coming.

The conversation between Althea and Viekko feels stuck-in even as I read it now. Mostly because it is. There was probably a more elegant way of getting those thoughts between them out before what is about to happen... well, happens. But I didn't find it. So they have to have it out now because I need Viekko in a certain frame of mind for the next scene.

This is the novel equivalent of doing your homework on the bus, but there it is.

That's how it goes sometimes.