Kids think being grown-up is amazing. Adults know the truth.

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Hey everyone! Andrew here.

Well, we really stirred up a hornets nest with the IQ question, didn’t we? It’s been super fun reading everyone’s comments. Some of them made me reflect on life, and some were just plain funny. You know who you are! The replies reminded me why I like sending these questions out, even when they occasionally make me wonder whether I should have thought them through a little more carefully. In a way you are all co-editing this newsletter with me. Shared responsibility and all that. It takes the pressure off! In any case, all of your comments are greatly appreciated. Thanks to everyone who wrote in. In other news, those of you who have been subscribed for a while may remember I had some issues with my left eye last year. Well… now I have issues with my right eye. I had to go in for a check up and ended up in emergency surgery again to get a hole in my retina fixed before it turns into a full retinal detachment. It’s unpleasant and painful and now I have blurry vision, but its better than losing my sight entirely so I am grateful for that.

Writing update: I thought I’d finished my short (not so short) story, “Card,” last night. Then I had a bit of a think, and a shower, and realised the story needs another scene. So it isn’t finished yet. Technically, I think I could have called it finished, but that would have been the sort of finished where I quietly hoped nobody noticed that it didn’t have a proper ending. So I’m not doing that.

This is one of those annoying parts of fiction writing. The extra scene isn’t there because I want to make the story longer. Its just needed or the story won’t work and you’ll hate it and that will make me sad. I will be working on the story tomorrow (the eye thing is making it hard to look at screens right now), then polishing the whole thing. After that I plan to send it to you all so you can read it and, hopefully, give me some thoughts on how to improve it too. When I send it through, can you tell me where it drags, where it confuses you, and where it feels like I am trying too hard? Compliments are welcome, obviously, if they are deserved, but they just aren’t as useful on their own.

That’s about it for this one. I will get back to “Card,” when my vision has stabilized further and add the scene I think it needs to land the ending. Can’t wait to show you this one.

All the best,

Andrew (ZZ)

Zero-Point Awakening – The Complete Series Books 1-8

The vignettes that started the box set seemed a little slow, but set a good grounding for the action ahead. Once the action started, look out! It never stopped. I binge read the box set in 7 days! Just, wow!

– Amazon 5 Star Review

Who, exactly, is the right person to greet humanity’s first visitor from the stars?

Joe Falcon has a problem. He’s bored. He needs a new purpose, and a new adventure.

Ex-soldier Evan wanted a quiet retirement on a remote colony world. Then his transport explodes, stranding him on a hostile planet where nothing about the disaster is an accident.

Jules Marquez wanted a quiet life aboard the battered freighter The Reverie. Instead, a distress call leads their crew of misfits to a dying colony—and a rescue they may not survive.

A fractured government. A rising war. A family trapped in a conspiracy that could bring humanity down.

When loyalty becomes a weapon, survival means choosing a side—before there’s none left.

What seemed absolutely amazing when you were a kid… but turned out to be pretty overrated as an adult? Staying up all night Having my own money Total freedom Unlimited candy or chocolate Being an adult Other (let us know your view by replying)

Survey Result

And now, let’s take a look at last week’s poll results. We asked, “You wake up tomorrow with an IQ of 140. What’s the first thing you do?“
Here are the results:

• Make coffee and keep my new IQ a secret –> 35%
• Other –> 28%
• Build a fortune before lunch –>20%
• Figure out what everyone else is missing–> 6%
• Learn five languages and disappear into the world –> 4%
• Try to solve a scientific mystery –> 4%

Andrew: The top answer was to make coffee and keep the new IQ a secret, which feels like a fairly sensible approach. There is no point announcing the change until you have worked out whether everyone else has changed too, and coffee seems like a good way to begin that investigation. It’s how I start my day. Best part of the day for me, actually. What’s yours?

I loved the 28% who chose “Other,” partly because that is a lot of people refusing to be boxed in by my carefully constructed menu. muhahaha!

The more thoughtful answers did also made me wonder whether intelligence on its own, alone, is as useful as we think it is. A bigger brain, or a higher number on a test, does not tell you what to care about, and history shows us it is also no guarantee of success in life or happiness in general. I explored some of this in “Stanley“, now that I think about it. The replies about using money and knowledge to help people were probably the most encouraging part of the whole exercise. Stanley would approve.

Your Thoughts

The IQ question produced some cracking replies, so here are a few of them:

SpottedTiger treated the question as a writing prompt, taking it apart into different “what if?” branches rather than choosing the obvious answer. I like that. It’s great to see the creativity.

zoomie72 went straight for the Revenge Protocol after deciding that somebody must have eaten part of their brain. This is the sort of calm, measured response I was hoping for when I wrote the question. haha This really cracked me up.

jaxdrac suspected that something had gone badly wrong overnight, but put a much more entertaining spin on it. I am beginning to think that “where did the rest of my brain go?” may be the most accurate answer of all.

meenazlodhi wanted to use the money and the scientific knowledge to help people, including finding cures and easing the pain of those dealing with serious illness. That reply carried a lot of feeling, and it was a good reminder that intelligence is not much use unless it is pointed at something beyond ourselves. Another point to the science fiction readership!

tpkglover would first make coffee, turn on the news, and work out whether the change was universal. If it was only happening to a few people, the plan was to keep it quiet, make some investments, and tackle one of the problems threatening the planet. Sensible, cautious, and only slightly ominous by the end.

Thank you to everyone who wrote in. Your answers are always so much more interesting than a row of buttons can possibly allow for. 

 I know I did not get to mention everyone, but as always, it’s hard to do it all justice in a single newsletter. Thanks all. See you in a fortnight!

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