Anwei's Origins
Once upon a time, a magician grew so strong and so arrogant that he challenged God to a contest. God obliged the magician by appearing to answer his challenge. God took up a handful of dirt, and turned it into a swarm of butterflies that fluttered away.
The magician complimented God on this display of power, and reached down to take up some dirt and equal - or better - God's miracle. But God raised a hand to stop him.
"No, no," God told the magician. "Make your own dirt."
No writer is an island; all stories show reflections of other works. I thought it might be nice to gather together some of the influences that went into creating Anwei Ayles of the Living People, and her AI companion Horanckk.
First and foremost, the webcomic The Adventures of Dr. McNinja by Chris Hastings was the germination for both characters; the fanfic High Five is Anwei and Horanckk's source-point.
Both Anwei and Horanckk might have come from the pages of The Player of Games by Iain M. Banks; while that is an excellent novel, I actually had not read it before creating the characters!
The empire of the Living People is strongly influenced by the Fifth Millennium series of novels by S.M. Stirling, Shirley Meier and Karen Wehrstein; what I consider to be the two outstanding novels in the series (which can be read as stand-alone books) are Lion's Heart and Lion's Soul, both by Wehrstein.
Other novels that helped me think up the Living People were The Men in the Jungle by Norman Spinrad, The Mote in God's Eye by Jeffrey Pournelle and Larry Niven, and Courtship Rite by Donald Kingsbury.
Anwei's briefly mentioned boyfriend Ilhilihis has been lifted from The Big Time by Fritz Leiber.
The magician complimented God on this display of power, and reached down to take up some dirt and equal - or better - God's miracle. But God raised a hand to stop him.
"No, no," God told the magician. "Make your own dirt."
No writer is an island; all stories show reflections of other works. I thought it might be nice to gather together some of the influences that went into creating Anwei Ayles of the Living People, and her AI companion Horanckk.
First and foremost, the webcomic The Adventures of Dr. McNinja by Chris Hastings was the germination for both characters; the fanfic High Five is Anwei and Horanckk's source-point.
Both Anwei and Horanckk might have come from the pages of The Player of Games by Iain M. Banks; while that is an excellent novel, I actually had not read it before creating the characters!
The empire of the Living People is strongly influenced by the Fifth Millennium series of novels by S.M. Stirling, Shirley Meier and Karen Wehrstein; what I consider to be the two outstanding novels in the series (which can be read as stand-alone books) are Lion's Heart and Lion's Soul, both by Wehrstein.
Other novels that helped me think up the Living People were The Men in the Jungle by Norman Spinrad, The Mote in God's Eye by Jeffrey Pournelle and Larry Niven, and Courtship Rite by Donald Kingsbury.
Anwei's briefly mentioned boyfriend Ilhilihis has been lifted from The Big Time by Fritz Leiber.