Thanks for taking the time to visit my website. I hope that you find this novelette thought-provoking and entertaining. I originally was going to write this as science fiction using a complicated “artificial womb technology” similar to “decanting” in Brave New World. But, then I realized the technology already exists for the type of family arrangement I was envisioning, so I took out the science fiction element and left this novelette as pure dramatic fiction.
I set this novelette in Texas because it is the state I know best. Although I’m not a native, I’ve spent more of my life here than anywhere. The intersection of traditionalism and technology is also probably better illustrated in Texas than anywhere else. East Texas is firmly in the “Bible Belt”, but Dallas and Houston are large metropolitan areas. Furthermore, Austin seems to have a certain “mystique” outside of Texas, and is a hub of high-technology.
This work is about 16,000 words, putting it in what is commonly known as the “novelette” category. I enjoy writing in this range because it allows me to write a fairly complicated plot with a good number of characters, but I can write it in a reasonable period of time. (Important given the fact that I have a “day job”.) I also suspect that I enjoy writing in this range because I enjoy reading it. I am a regular and long-time reader of such publications as “Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine” and “Analog Science Fiction and Fact”, which both carry novellas and novelettes.
