OT: Strange Kwinkydink.
 

I was in London this weekend, and on Saturday I found one of those eclectic little second hand comic/ bookshops that I love so much. I went in, bought a book and went down the pub to read it.

The book was Isaac Asimov's "The Naked Sun", and I came across something wierd.

When I read The Naked Sun this weekend it was for the first time, but it has a character named Thool. I invented a character called Thool (and killed him off=-) for Othaglot and Cane, before ever reading this book.

Now even though Thool isn't exactly a common name, you are probably thinking this is unlikely but not too wierd. However, there's more:

The prequel to "The Naked Sun" is called "The Caves of Steel". I bought that a few years ago, read it and enjoyed it thoroughly. It's a sci-fi detective novel, and I suppose you could say that it was something of an inspiration when I started writing Othaglot & Cane.

And no, Thool is not mentioned in the Caves of Steel.

Anyway, sooner or later I shall be renaming the Thool character in my story, because I want my reference to Asimov to be more obvious. I have been struggling for months to come up with a first name for Cane, but now I have it: He will be Daneel Cane, after R. Daneel Olivaw in the two books I mention here. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

Thoroughly recommend the books, by the way. Go to your local eclectic second hand books/ comic emporium and you can probably pick them both up for the price of a cup of coffee: "The Caves of Steel" and "The Naked Sun" by Isaac Asimov. I also think R. Daneel Olivaw is a prototype for Star Trek's Mr Data.