Wednesday, November 23, 2011

F.A.Q.



Ordinarily, F.A.Q. Means ‘Frequently Asked Questions’, but since this list was compiled before Patriots was released, no questions have yet been asked about it.

So let’s call this section ‘Featured Anticipated Questions’, in which I guess at some issues Patriots might raise, and attempt to answer them. Check out the list below, and if you see a question you’d like answered, click the ‘Q’ to get the ‘A’.


Q: What makes this a ‘young adult’ book, and what ages is it intended for? (Maybe I’m past the age range that should be reading it?)


Q: Who's the author, and how do I contact him?


Q: Who (or what) is The Guide? What happened to the Mandarins? What becomes of Josh’s mother? Who will rule Mars? How can you end the book with Earth in, er, the state you leave it in?


Q: Why was Patriots written?


Q: Where do you get your ideas?


Q: Are the events in Patriots meant as predictions?


Q: Couldn’t you have written Patriots without the space elevator and all that? I mean, why not just stick to Warp Drives and the stuff we’re familiar with?


Q: Why isn't the space elevator atop a mountain, like Clarke's was?


Q: I think the idea of stopping a spaceship with a cable is absurd.


Q: I also think Nirvana is absurd. A fifth of the world’s population drugged into a stupor?


Q: Why are there so many dead links in this book?


Q: What’s with the old-school type and dingbats on the covers? And why two covers, anyway?


Q: Sir Arthur Clarke was a knight of the British Realm. Why are you picking on him?


Q: In one of the essays, you wrote about the Handwavium, MacGuffins, Unobtanium, and Technobabble that plague sci-fi. Doesn’t ‘Patriots’ also have its fair share of these?

from The Patriots of Mars [Postscripts & Essays]

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