The Quantum Effect By E. S. Strout

[TaoPhoenix]

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[Lester Curtis]

Gino is up to his typical stuff with this one, but I thought the characters behaved erratically, and the dialog was shrill, especially Alex's.

Strangely, the topic matter struck me as old news. The ending had no surprises, and the lead-up to it was just what I was expecting.

Gino, I think you're trying too hard. Let go of that Crichton-style timestamp; relax, and slow down. Let the readers catch their breath, and then you can whack 'em with a real surprise when they're off-guard.

Thanks, Lester, for the comments. I catalog critiques from you and Bill Wolfe under learning experiences. When Professor Hawking spoke of the possibility of parallel timelines within this universe, he gave us no clue as to how to visit one. This left me with some literary license. What if somebody stood in proximity to Brookhaven's Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider when gold ions were run together at nearly the speed of light. Would that person be absorbed into the plasma of quarks and other subatomic particles and transferred to the parallel timeline?

gino

[Lester Curtis]

What if somebody stood in proximity to Brookhaven's Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider when gold ions were run together at nearly the speed of light. Would that person be absorbed into the plasma of quarks and other subatomic particles and transferred to the parallel timeline?

gino

I rather think they'd have to be inside the reaction chamber to be affected -- not a friendly environment, I'm sure . . . and why gold ions? Do you mean nuclei of gold atoms? I'm not sure whether a whole nucleus of anything can be accelerated to relativistic speed; maybe too much mass -- that's Bill's bailiwick, and I hope he shows up to comment on it.

Lester, go to www.bnl.rhic/physics.asp, open Physics of the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider, scroll down to heavy ion collisions. It's gold ions.

gino

My error, Lester. Try www.bnl.gov/rhic/physics. asp

gino

[Lester Curtis]

Gino, none of those links got me anywhere, but since you did look up a reference, I'll take your word on it, I just didn't know.

Lester,
Yeah, I keep getting error messages when I try to type in the website. Just Google RHIC Physics of the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider and scroll down to heavy ion collisions.

Ancient history - I took a course on radiation safety at Brookhaven National Laboratories when I was in the Navy.

gino

[Lester Curtis]

Thanks, I checked it out, but -- to quote from their page:

But since the heavy ions in RHIC collisions are so small, the actual impact of the speeding ions on each other is about the same as the impact of a mosquito hitting a screen door on a summer evening. And, RHIC collisions last only a few billionths of a second.

RHIC collisions may be super-fast and super-hot, which makes them interesting to physicists, but they're too small and too brief to be dangerous.

So it would seem unlikely that any effect of any sort would be felt from the collision. It seems more likely to me that you'd feel more of an effect from the superconducting magnets that power the reaction.

Subatomic stuff seems to be extraordinarily robust; otherwise, we might all be transiting between parallel universes (or worse) several times a day. "Hmm . . . I could have sworn my car was a different color this morning . . . aw, damn, the sun just went out again. I hate when that happens . . . "

Gino,

I consider you one of the greats and I'm a big fan of your work. I'm impressed how you are able to create worlds and move situations by words alone. I see a lot of your stories visually when I read them and they stand out like movies in my mind.

I've learned a lot from reading your literature and I appreciate having your work within reach.

Mark

Thanks, Mark. I was 66 when I got serious about writing. My first published story was in Crossroads, a small horror print mag, circa 1996 .

gino

Thanks, Mark. I was 66 when I got serious about writing. My first published story was in Crossroads, a small horror print mag, circa 1996 .

gino

Wow, I'm just beginning to be serious about writing. I am encouraged by what you have said.

In addition to creating literature, your works (I've thought this for awhile) read like production scripts without production notes. It's the kind of material voice actors jump at to record, because it is visually written, leaving little to the audience imagination.

Valerie is a big fan of yours too and is planning on reading and commenting on your current story.

Thank you for the rich literature!

Mark

Agree with Lester's first comments. Some of the dialog just didn't work. And I recall the moment when the Alex character "screamed" -- that seemed to come out of nowhere. I understand she was upset, but I was unprepared for the word "screamed".

Nevertheless, a fine work that reminded me of the Christopher Anvil stories that appeared in Analog long ago (and which I enjoyed immensely).

Thanks for the comments. Recall that the Alexandra/Alexis character's background is in art and poetry and has a much more sensitive persona than those of her scientist cohorts. The scream fits in her overreactions.

gino

Gino,

My wife wants me to print up your story for her to read and comment on so...more comments are coming!

Mark

Thanks, Mark.

I hope your wife enjoys The Quantum Effect. Perhaps she will comment.

gino

Gino,

I am so looking forward to reading your story. I now have a printed copy of it. Your work reminds me of Robin Cook, who is my favorite author. I love the way he sets up and details his stories. I am drawn in and immersed in the fiction I'm reading.

The hardest thing for me is waiting for the printer to finish printing your story, because I want to pick up each page and read it independent of the story itself.

I'm a fan of your work and I'm looking forward to pulling up all of your preexisting fiction titles. I'll be commenting afterwards.

Valerie

Thanks, Valerie. Mark has several of my earlier stories on his Creator and the Catalyst website as well as a few he hasn't published yet. I'm a relative newcomer, having had my first story published in a small horror print zine in 1996. I was 65 at the time. My earliest influences were Ray Bradbury, J.G. Ballard (British sf writer) and Rod Serling of Twilight Zone fame. A lot of credit goes to Robert Moriyama, short story editor for Aphelion, and also to Mark for his constant encouragement.

gino

Thanks, Valerie. Mark has several of my earlier stories on his Creator and the Catalyst website as well as a few he hasn't published yet. I'm a relative newcomer, having had my first story published in a small horror print zine in 1996. I was 65 at the time. My earliest influences were Ray Bradbury, J.G. Ballard (British sf writer) and Rod Serling of Twilight Zone fame. A lot of credit goes to Robert Moriyama, short story editor for Aphelion, and also to Mark for his constant encouragement.

gino

Gino,

Author James Herriot started at that age and his works are timeless. It's gracious of you to give people recognition for their input, but you need to also acknowledge the gift that already lies within you. The best way for me to sum it up is that if you were a commercially published author, your books would line my shelves.

Valerie

P.S. I am extremely particular about what I read.

Gino,

I'm not offering up critiques this time, I'm just letting you know how your story affected me.

Great story! Loved it! It was a well written piece and you took a subject that I know nothing about and made it one of interest to me. In my book, if an author can take a subject totally unfamiliar to me and capture my imagination or fascination with that subject, they've greatly succeeded. If there is anything within that work that remains a mystery to me, I just let it wash over me.

As someone once said, "Don't let the seeds spoil the taste of the watermelon." If a person reads for the enjoyment of reading itself, it's not necessary to understand "EVERYTHING".

Can't wait to read your next piece,

Valerie

Thanks, Valerie. I research subjects which fascinate me, but which I know very little about. Alternate timelines and subatomic particles to name a couple. I scraped by with a C- in a terminal physics course in premed. I thank Lester Curtis, Bill Wolfe and others for helping me stay on track with their concise and constructive critiques.

gino

[TaoPhoenix]

Lester,
Yeah, I keep getting error messages when I try to type in the website. Just Google RHIC Physics of the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider and scroll down to heavy ion collisions.

Ancient history - I took a course on radiation safety at Brookhaven National Laboratories when I was in the Navy.

gino

At least in Firefox and maybe other browsers, you can usually right click a link or the address and copy it.

Then if you just paste, it usually works because you're not trying to guess gobbledygook.

http://www.bnl.gov/rhic/physics.asp

Thanks Tao. As I also said to Lester, I am still pretty much of a cyberdummy. I bought my first Mac when I was 55.

gino