Science Fiction Brambles, Lindsay H.F.: Choices, v1 6 Sep 2008

[Madam Broshkina]

From CHRONICLES OF THE EARTH EMPIRE series.


[FONT=&quot]CHOICES by Lindsay Brambles[/FONT]



[FONT=&quot]Introduction[/FONT]:

Although the events of the following story take place after the novel In Darkness Bound and the novella Zero-Option, this story was actually written before either. At the time I was slowly constructing my “Earth Empire” universe; and though In Darkness Bound ( ISBN: 1-4241-6560-1) was very much on my mind at the time, the idea for this story was committed to paper first. Or perhaps it would be more appropriate to say “disk.”
As with Zero-Option, I wrote this on a Commodore 64 using Paperclip II. The Commodore was the first “real” computer I owned; and all things considered, it was a marvelous little machine. Before that I had cranked out stories on a Smith-Corona Electronic typewriter (including one humongous novel, which for some reason I still hold onto despite the fact that it’s an unpublishable monstrosity).
I can’t honestly recall the motivations that led to the writing of Choices. Sometimes ideas come spring from events you read in the newspaper or see on TV. Often it’ll be some little thing that will then trigger an avalanche of thought and speculation. I do know that a great many of my ideas are fleshed out while bicycling. On my regular two or three hour rides I do some of my best thinking, working out the kinks in a story or novel while wandering the country roads around Ottawa.
I have yet another short novel of the Earth Empire (somewhat longer than Zero-Option) that I hope to put on the Internet at a later date. That one takes place during the height of the war, sometime after Zero-Option but well before Choices.
For now, however, I offer you the following short story. Just under twenty thousand words, I hope you’ll find it a quick and stimulating read.
Happy reading!

Lindsay H.F. Brambles, Ottawa, 2007


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