Thank you for your responses.

>>Allusions in SotS:WR imply something *bad* happened at Ohtori Academy
>>(will we ever find out *what*?)
>No, I figured I'd just leave that unresolved forever and ever.
>Of course we'll find out what happened!

Oh nonsense, it's not as if anyone expects a plot point to vanish between chapters under mysterious circumstances; why, that would be unprecedented in EPU's history. [1]

>> -- are the images and lyrics of the opening sequence prophetic? [...]
>Can't tell you exactly... some of it is, some of it isn't.

Actually, I was referring to the climax of RGU itself -- but nevermind; if I really want to know, I'll go find an epguide.

>[...] worked out from context - after all, you don't see Anthy anywhere, do you?

That could mean many things. Since Saionji is looking for the Rose Bride, either (a) she's not dead, (b) he doesn't *know* she's dead, or (c) the office has passed to a new holder. [2] Maybe she's stuck under the giant castle and is drinking tea with her blue mouse-monkey. Maybe she vanished into whatever pocket dimension the sword hides in, in a freak accident during its, err, reinsertion. (How is *that* accomplished, I wonder? No sniggers, please.)

>>Re 2: Azalynn the Dantrovian [...] a species with precedent in UF?
>Nope, I made them up for Az.

Hmmm... wasn't it the Dantovasku who Redneck created in his UF section? Great, now I have to hash xenoc species names on more than the first three phonemes. :)

>>[...] Seems awfully *egalitarian*...
>Amanda's a bit odd. We'll be learning more about her later.

As opposed to learning about her a bit sooner, the next time you write a (Phil gestures hands vaguely) sidestory - prequel - thingy.

>>Re 5: [...] True, such declarations up front would be
>>spoilers; but they could instead appear in the *end* credits.
>Mm, I suppose. I don't like giving that kind of thing away ahead of
>time, and the end credits didn't have room.

If the end-credits don't have room, then it's time for some fan to produce the _EPU Concordance_. _UF: The Cliffs Notes Edition_. Or _Enlist in the WDF! - For Dummies_. Characters! Species! Ships! The many loves of Gryphon! Extraneous universes neglected with the dustbunnies under the couch!

(But it probably won't be me. I'm a bit busy with my own weekly SF-etc. newsletter and contributing data-and-maybe-code to the TV Tome episodes DB.)

>>Re 6: the shape of UF's future.
>>It's just like *today*, with the occasional alien, spaceship or niftier computer. [...]
>No increases in longevity?
>John Gill is pitching in the major leagues and batting .339 at the age of fifty-eight.

(Phil tilts his, clears his throat, and displays his vast, vast - vast - knowledge of professional sports.) That's somehow unusual?

>As for cybernetics, [...] people don't walk around going "ph33r my l33t cyb4rj3x!"

I suppose Zoner-the-assassin was a bit of an extreme case, then. Otherwise, I sit corrected on both points. Though I reserve the right to object to *other* points. :)

>>[...] (as a reader of serious SF) it doesn't ring true to me
>UF isn't serious SF. Its world is a future that I would
>like to live in - and that means it's just like today [...]

(Phil grinds his eyebrows, gnashes his forehead, and thinks ambivalent thoughts about his preferences in authorial style.) I'm just going to go off and construct a convoluted conspiracy of epicyles to explain the apparent cultural stagnation of the WDF-dominated galaxy, then. Don't mind me -- merely resolving some cognitive dissonance.

[1] See: G'kar, B5:"Soul Mates".
[2] Cue Piers Anthony and _Incarnations of Immortality_.