A joke among writers these days is "I hope nobody looks at my search history". This is an excerpt of my Internet search history for this novel:
Sindarin language
Tengwar alphabet
Gold bullion
Pickle Lake ON
Grand Marais MN
Duluth MN
rat finish automobile
petroleum fractionator
biodiesel
jatropha biodiesel
castor oil biodiesel
sewage biodiesel
transesterification biodiesel
Pickle Lake, ON to Chicago
Milwaukee Avenue subway station Chicago
Adair, IA I-80 rest stop
Bull Mastiff
How dogs kill
Wagonhound, WY rest stop
Pine Bluffs WY
smallpox
underground desert housing
Owyhee Desert
desert sheep breeds
Navajo Churro sheep
Mammoth Jacks
desert goat breeds
guanacos
Great Pyrenees
off-road motorcycle
Nubian goats
goat milk
mare's milk
dry land farming
water reclamation
how to build a generator
borax mine Nevada
working knife wood handle
natural black dyes
pumice mine Nevada
flora Elko County Nevada
mines Elko County Nevada
ricin poisoning symptoms
how easy is it to synthesize ricin
(Note: I did not search "HOW to synthesize ricin", because I really don't want to know.)
This is only a partial search. When I write, I envision subject matter experts leaning over my shoulder saying, "No way can you put straight castor oil in that car!" and the like. Remember also that I'm not great at visualizing things, even if I've seen them before like the Milwaukee Avenue subway station in Chicago or the Adair, IA rest stop.
I could use a "fantasy version" of my post-United States, I guess, but I want people to feel the discomfort of seeing familiar places turned to rubble. So I need to work with earth rules -- except for the Archetypes, of course ...
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