Part 1 – Plot questions
Part 2 – Character questions
Part 3 – Gotham questions
Part 4 – Pelletier questions
Part 5 – World questions
Part 6 – Gripes
Miscellaneous world questions
How does the economy of Altamerica differ from ours?
I’d say it’s more on a par with the U.S. of the 1970s. A lower cost of living. A much larger middle-class. Corporate greed isn’t as rampant, mostly because the nation still believes in its image as a shining utopia.
But as in any large country, there are still huge swaths of poverty, as you saw in The Song of the Orphans. Jonathan and Heath lived in one of the worst districts of Manhattan when Hannah found them. The docks of Seattle have been completely converted into a shanty town for the poor.
Wouldn’t temporal technology affect the economy in a mostly positive way?
It certainly did in the beginning. The 1950s and 1960s were a veritable golden age, thanks to the temporal revolution. But as with all big game-changers, the bubble pops and the market adjusts. See: the Internet.
How would temporal technology affect the world’s space programs?
For the better, I’d imagine. Tempis is the perfect lightweight coating for spacecraft. Aeric propulsion would work just fine in zero-G. I’d wager the first moon landing happened ten years earlier in this timeline, though I doubt America got there first. England and China were the big superpowers of the 20th century. Assume the first flag planted on the moon was a Union Jack.
We know there’s a big tempic wall along America’s southern border (a.k.a. Donald Trump’s dream). Is there a similar wall that separates the U.S. from Canada?
Absolutely, and it’s guarded by at least thousand gruff men in winter coats. If I wasn’t afraid of getting sued, I’d call them the Night’s Watch.
Okay, so in your world, Seattle is the gambling capital of Altamerica.
Yes, and it still cracks me up.
How does it thrive when international tourism is all but nonexistent?
America’s borders are surprisingly thin when it comes to wealthy foreigners. There’s also enough domestic demand for sin to keep Seattle running just fine.
Surpdog is described as an immigrant from the Hawaiian Republic. Does that mean Hawaii’s not a state in this timeline?
Nope. And neither is Alaska.
So does the country only have 48 states?
No. The 50 is rounded out by North California and Cuba.
If viveries are so common in the United States, why doesn’t everyone just reverse away their injuries? Why is there sickness at all?
Because chronoregression is still far from perfect. The longer a person is reversed, the greater a chance of side effect issues: brain damage, heart problems, blood clots, you name it.
Anyone who uses a vivery has to sign a shitload of waivers. Even then, they can’t get reversed more than 24 hours.
In The Song of the Orphans, you introduce a deadly black form of tempis called “mortis.” Are there any other versions of tempis out there?
Nope. But I’ll be introducing another form of temporal energy that plays a major role in Book 3.
Are you ever going to tell us what caused the Great New York Cataclysm of 1912?
That’s the very first thing you’ll learn in The War of the Givens. The prologue is all about the culprit.
And does her name just happen to rhyme with Schmioni?
That’s enough out of you, wisenheimer.
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Plot questions | Character questions | Gotham questions | Pelletier questions | World questions | Gripes
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