As for help w/ your story, i do not have any personal experience with those places.
No problem. I’m finally off political probation here, so that’s over at least.
Also, I’m totally absorbed in trying to get my story done, so I haven’t had time to get into debates. Though I will say this. The story has it’s genesis in the FR religion forum debates. By a scientifically feasible means (in theory), a 2nd Century Roman arrives in modern times. As I originally imagined it, after some exciting but lightweight introductions, our time traveler has a number of conversations with modern scholars, giving a first-person perspective on several topics we have debated here.
Then one evening I tried using the story to entertain my 6 year old granddaughter. Of course, she’s not interested at all in heady conversations about advanced theological topics. She wanted fun and adventure. So I started to wrap some of that into the telling and boom, it took off into this high concept story that has fun, adventure, romance, drama, a dash of quantum physics, and an occasional 2nd Century Roman perspective on a wide range of topics, not just theology.
So you see, even though I haven’t been ‘here’ in the usual sense, I never really left. I just changed the ‘where’ and the ‘how’ of my posts. Sort of.
Where am I at right now? About 80,000 words. Still choreographing the grand finale, the wind-up and execution of an old-school gladiatorial duel upon which the fate of the modern world hangs. When the first draft is done, there’s another couple of months of 2nd & 3rd draft edits, then on to hunting down an agent. I have some wispy leads, but I’m not putting it out there till I’m really happy with it. My granddaughter wants to see the movie. I’d hate to disappoint her. :)
Anyway, good to hear from you.
Peace,
SR