The purpose of this page is to trace where various ideas come from that were blended together.
The entire book was inspired by a running joke I would tell my wife, "Once the financial collapse comes, everyone with a high balance on their credit card will be sold to slavery." Of course, this is wrong and mean-spirited, but it did inspire this book. It can be argued that the entire book is an expansion on that one nasty sentence.
I suppose I am trying to say that so many things we all take for granted in our society (a certain level of human rights, technological development, legal rights, and financial status) can disappear after traumatic national events.
I know that the Tintin (comic art) books are famous for drawing characters with little detail, and drawing the surroundings (buildings, cars, airplanes, boats, etc.) in great detail. I tried to do some of the same for the book: very little character description, but lots of plot. I am hoping to help the reader identify with the situations.
Jane's lack of focus after returning to her friends (Chapter 1); inspired by the experience of trying to get my mother to focus on her present situation just after she got out of jail one time. My mother has been arrested a few times for anti-nuclear protests.
The use of the leash and all of the logistical problems associated with it (Chapter 1); perhaps inspired by my personal life. I have been married to a blind person for decades. When we travel, we need to both focus on each other and work out many logistical difficulties. Transposing blindness into slavery is going to get me into trouble. I am better off denying that I ever suggested this.
The attitude of kids at summer school (Chapter 1); inspired by my visiting a local summer school. I noticed how bummed out the students and teachers were.
The enrichment program between freshman and sophomore years (Chapter 1); inspired by my actual experience. I had hand surgery at the beginning of the summer. My parents signed me up for a "math enrichment class." I missed the first week because of the surgery. I went with my high school friend, Ned Prothro. Other students hijacked the class, turning it into an intensive calculus course. The schedule was 9-12, and we spent the rest of the day trying to understand the material. Since I had just completed my freshman year of high school, this was a lot to take in at once. I did not get a free lunch; that would have been nice.
Sitting in back or front of the class (Chapter 2); inspired by my friend Ned Prothro's approach to sitting in the front of class. He said "You can imagine that the class is a conversation between you and the teacher."
The presence of forbidden books (Chapter 2); inspired by my life-long efforts to collect physical or pdf's of forbidden books.
Stephen Ratte cheating, caught by photograph of paper (Chapter 3); inspired by an episode involving my wife at Bucknell University who caught a student cheating (allegedly) in exactly the same way.
Rose Chang means of death (Chapter 3); clearly a reference to the way my sister died. I know that this may not be popular to my family, but it helped me think about what I was depicting in my book.
Changing the attitude to charity (Chapter 3); inspired by an essay of how the social attitude towards charity has shifted from Roman times, with special mention of the role of Charles Dickens and "A Christmas Carol."
Mixed sex use of school bathrooms and the use of body paint at a prom (Chapter 3); inspired by imagining the kind of changes of attitudes that can take place over several decades.
Using ignorance of something that should be known or knowledge of something that should not be known as a plot device (Chapter 4); inspired by several episodes, such as when I was called a "Traitor" by a defense specialist at a forum for my congressman (the man yelled the word at me) when I said "Google Tim Osman" when I wanted to suggest that things are not what they appear to be.
Rabbi Hillel is the author of "If I am not for myself, who will be for me? When I am only for myself, what am I?" This concept is a key to a Jewish perspective of the world. (Chapter 4)
Heavy stock market gains (Chapter 5); inspired by my experience investing in precious metals stocks in 2001-2003. I just wish they all had not crashed afterwards.
Clashes over the wording of a wedding invitation (Chapter 6); inspired by the fights my wife and I had with her parents over the wording of our wedding invitations.
Turning a wedding into a bit of a circus (Chapter 6); perhaps loosely based on my wedding and others with deliberate or accidental moments of hilarity.
The UNIX 2038 problem (Chapter 7); this is real, but not very important, as Peter points out in the book.
Setting up a bicycle factory (Chapter 7); perhaps inspired by my experience in setting up a software firm on a shoestring. We also used members of our household as the initial staff. It also shows the lack of focus on the new surroundings by someone who is just released from captivity.
The company name "Black Moth" (Chapter 8); this is actually close to the name of a specialist Vodka company. I hope they do not sue.
Lining up to microphone marked "for" or "against." This image in Chapter 8 is based on New England town meetings that I have attended.
The failure of Atari, which I describe as an expansion attempt after a period of stagnent technology (Chapter 8), is actually much more complex. Perhaps it was the failure to expand when the company had a virtual monopoly. Later Atari came out with a mixed 32/64 bit system when everyone else had 8 bit systems. However, Atari did not have much software to go with the advanced hardware. Eventually the console brand names we see today crushed Atari.
The phrase "the golden notebooks" as a very indirect reference to Doris Lessing (one of her books is called "The Golden Notebook") (Chapter 8); I used to live in a co-op house in Madison named for the main character in another Doris Lessing book
Looming economic crashes (Chapter 9); inspired by the current build up in derivatives and funny money which are used to prop up the economy.
The idea of billionaires fleeing to yachts and New Zealand farms (Chapter 9); this is actually happening. Google the words "boltholes with air strips" or "luxury bomb shelters." I just saw an article about how the very rich are also buying up large tracts of remote land in Texas. I will have to update the text.
The absence of access to air travel in the book (Chapter 9); inspired by my own experience of traveling a lot in my early years without air travel. It was on the fourth time that I crossed the Atlantic that I used an airplane.
The Heist (Chapter 10); based on several hours of Googling money laundering and various financial crimes. I have a fascination with financial crimes. The use of stolen goods as collateral is not recommended, since there are computer databases expressly to prevent this.
A blonde could be confused with Jane (Chapter 11); inspired by an experience when two different people were confused with each other, despite the fact that they (and their dogs) looked completely different. These two individuals were both blind and both used a guide dog and both lived in the same small town.
Use of spy tradecraft (Chapter 11); inspired by my lifelong obsession with espionage and tradecraft.
The use of the word "traps" for motorized hiding places (Chapter 11); see Wired Magazine, March 2013, article on Alfred Anaya.
The "oceans of blood" needed to end slavery in the Civil War (Chapter 13); Google the phrase "Could the Civil War have been avoided?" to see the argument that war might have been avoided.