Notes

v~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~v

¹Realistically, fiction at all lengths form a spectrum. Like the colors of the rainbow, boundaries among story categories are blurred—and again like colors of the rainbow, short, intermediate, and long stories are somehow distinct. If literary authorities differ on how the categories differ? C’est la vie.

If only for purposes of award eligibility, crisp boundaries—however arbitrary—must be established. The SF community has settled on these: short stories have fewer than 7,500 words. Novelettes run 7,500 to 17,499 words. Novellas run 17,500 to 39,999 words. Novels begin at 40,000 words—never mind that novels these days are seldom as short as twice that.

^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^

v~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~v

²The Goa’uld are alien and make for great storytelling—but they’re not necessarily believable. Stay tuned.

^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^

v~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~v

³This article, having been written explicitly for Analog, is replete with references to earlier articles and stories (not just mine) that had appeared in the magazine. In that context, the references made perfect sense.

Web links in this article date back to the original publication. If, when you read this, any of them has gone obsolete? The cited page can almost certainly be found within the Internet Archive Wayback Machine (https://archive.org/web/).

Oh, and maybe this is a good spot to say that outside this article, footnotes are few and very far between.

^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^

v~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~v

⁴“Say What? Ruminations About Language, Communications, and Science Fiction,” in the March 2011 issue. (More specifically, see the section “The cavalry trope to the rescue.”)

^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^

v~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~v

⁵http://exoplanet.eu/catalog.php

^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^

v~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~v

⁶The Eerie Silence: Renewing Our Search for Alien Intelligence, Paul Davies, includes an excellent discussion of the puzzle of biogenesis.

^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^

v~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~v

⁷Full disclosure: Larry and I coauthor the Fleet of World series, in which I’ve made contributions to the Puppeteers’ fictional sociology. Larry defined Puppeteer physiology before I came onto the scene.

^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^

v~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~v

⁸With apologies to William Blake.

^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^

v~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~v

⁹From my novel Moonstruck; it first appeared as an Analog serial, September through December 2003.

^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^

v~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~v

¹⁰Mission of Gravity first appeared in this magazine (in its Astounding incarnation), April through July, 1953.

^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^

v~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~v

¹¹Some earthly birds, including parrots, already use simple tools (trimming and grasping twigs and cactus spines to get at, even to spear, insects). See
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/episodes/parrots-in-the-land-of-oz/birds-that-use-tools/714/.

^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^

v~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~v

¹²The precursor novella, “Eifelheim,” appeared in Analog, November 1986.

^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^

v~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~v

¹³Horribly mixed metaphors, you’re thinking. But to an alien alien point of view....

^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^

v~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~v

¹⁴An observation new to this collection: the 2012 movie Prometheus retconned an explanation for this odd biological compatibility. Alien, you may recall, was a 1979 release.

^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^

v~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~v

¹⁵Perhaps when I get around to reading more of the series the inexplicable will have been explained.

^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^

v~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~v

¹⁶Before the novel, there was the story “Ender’s War,” in the August 1977 Analog.

^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^

v~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~v

¹⁷http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macguffin

^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^

v~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~v

¹⁸In “Survival Instinct,” serialized in Analog in October and November 2002. I later expanded that story into the novel Fools’ Experiments.

^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^

v~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~v

¹⁹A technological advance so profound that we can’t imagine the resulting makeover of civilization and/or humanity. AI, if it comes about, is only one possible singularity event.

Nothing, not even light, escapes from nature’s singularities: black holes. By analogy, we can know nothing about what life will be like after a technological singularity.

The term Singularity is attributed to SF author and technologist Vernor Vinge, from his 1993 paper, “The Coming Technological Singularity: How to Survive in the Post-Human Era.”

^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^

v~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~v

²⁰http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mind_uploading_in_fiction

^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^

v~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~v

²¹Serialized in Analog as Hobson’s Choice, mid-December 1994 through March 1995 issues.

^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^

v~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~v

²²Serialized in Analog, December 2007 through February 2008.

^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^

v~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~v

²³I invented the Gw’oth for Fleet of Worlds (coauthored with Larry Niven); the little guys returned in three sequels.

As often happens with species- and world-building, much background is merely hinted at in the final story or is omitted entirely. That’s okay. I needed to understand the Gw’oth before putting them through their many-tentacled paces. Hence: four novels after their debut, some details about the Gw’oth appear here for the first time.

^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^

v~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~v

²⁴I would appear to be fixated on radial symmetry. Not remarked upon in the Gw’oth’s adventures (but known to me), internal organs of, and markings upon, the central mass give the Gw’o left/right symmetry. A Gw’o has no need for a Krul-like out-of-body reference. That’s fortunate, because neither Jm’ho nor its primary has much of a magnetic field.

^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^

v~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~v

²⁵Gw’oth can eject gametes anywhere, and egg and sperm could manage to meet. But the sea is full of predators....

And the very few unsanctioned offspring that do survive? Newly mature Gw’oth return to their spawning ground, at which time they are taken into the social grouping. Unsanctioned spawn that survive are apt to become rogue and feral adults.

^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^

v~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~v

²⁶First serialized in Analog, March through May 2004.

^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^

v~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~v

²⁷Hence, to repeat, the Analog-centric flavor of so many of the article’s literary examples.

^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^

v~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~v

²⁸This story predates the 2015 Trump presidential candidacy. There’s no hidden message in the name; I merely left the text as-was.

^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^

v~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~v

²⁹InterstellarNet has come to illustrate the truism—I wish I could remember which author I first heard express this—that all SF sooner or later becomes alternate history. The gist of this story hasn’t (yet) been overcome by our present, but it does make passing references to several earlier episodes in the overall InterstellarNet adventure and “events” that would have transpired more than a decade in our past.

Thus making “The Matthews Conundrum” a future history unwinding, after the fact, from an alternate history.

^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^

v~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~v

³⁰“How Sherlock Holmes changed the world,” Jennifer Keishin Armstrong, 6th January 2016, BBC Culture,
https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20160106-how-sherlock-holmes-changed-the-world.

^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^

v~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~v

³¹Some readers will recognize Grantville from Eric Flint’s fabulous novel 1632, in which this fictitious West Virginia town is transported by mysterious forces into Germany amid the Thirty Years’ War. 1632 kicked off an extensive, and quickly multi-author, alternate-history publishing juggernaut. The Grantville Gazette offers stories set in that franchise—making it not the most intuitive venue for any Sherlock Holmes, much less for his AI avatar.

But wait. There’s logic to it.

The magazine Jim Baen’s Universe (to which, like Analog, I’d become a frequent contributor) closed in 2010, nor is Jim Baen still with us—but parent company Baen Books continues to offer The Grantville Gazette. Which is why—call it an homage—TGG has a nothing-to-do-with-1632 “Universe Annex” department.

The annex is where you’d have found my two “Sherlock” stories, and also where a couple upcoming stories in this collection first ran.

^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^

v~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~v

³²“Murder will out” can be traced back to Geoffrey Chaucer. That seems historical enough to befit my ongoing interest.

^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^

v~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~v

³³Publication of this story preceded by a few months the birth and christening of Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor, son of Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex. I suspect the name “Archie” will enjoy a new burst of popularity. Oh, well.

^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^