The References for the Tales of the Future
When Jennifer was very young, she asked the local librarian if she could check out Rocket Ship Galileo, one of the Robert Heinlein juvenile novels. Jennifer, in elementary school, was considered too young for that section of the library. Jennifer's mother convinced the librarian Jennifer could read and understand it. Jennifer returned to the library within a very short time, and explained the book in great deal. Access granted!
It didn't take long for Jennifer to read every science fiction book in that section, which led to carefully controlled (at first) forays into the adult section. Asimov's The Foundation Trilogy, Arthur C. Clarke, Larry Niven's Tales of Known Space, Robert Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land, Edgar Rice Burroughs' Barsoom novels, and more, were devoured. Jennifer's parents also spent a lot of money on books. Besides Ursula K. LeGuin, C.L. Moore, Poul Anderson, and classic Pulp SF, they had no idea that she was also reading Harlan Ellison's Dangerous Visions, Samuel Delaney, or many other authors pushing every possible boundary they could — they would have freaked out entirely. By the time Jennifer left high school, she owned hundreds of books and had read well over a thousand. More than 200 books a year, over decades, adds up!
All of that serves as a backdrop to the Tales of the Future. There are many references and Easter Eggs in these Tales. A few specific shout outs:
- Across the Sea of Stars
- Isaac Asimov, for the robots, names, and so much joy
- Alfred Bester's Fondly Fahrenheit
- Karl Bunker's They Have All One Breath
- John Carpenter and Dan O'Bannon's Dark Star
- Gary Larson's Farside
- Meat Loaf
- Elizabeth Moon's Serrano novels
- Larry Niven's Ringworld series
- r/showerthoughts
- Robert Reed's The Hormone Jungle
- Carl Sagan
- E.E. "Doc" Smith, for every Arisia pun and so much more
- Charles Stross' Accelerando
- Adrian Tchaikovsky's Children of Time, which tweaked some material already written
- James White's Sector General novels
It's also important to note that some things may seem like obvious references, but were merely brilliant ideas being invented independently. For example, Jennifer hadn't read any of Iain Banks' amazing Culture novels until she had written entire huge LARPs about the Coterie. Jennifer feels right at home in the Culture Universe, and is sad that there won't be more. Jennifer didn't see Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind until long after she had written about editing memories — there are many other sources that served as precursors, as well as just keeping pace with modern scientific developments.
Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the authors' imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Some of our favorite LARPers may find some familiarity in some names, but that's where it ends. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events, is purely coincidental.