Story Details
Categories Science Fiction Time Travel
A tale of teenage angst and idealism in the face of a mathematical and multiverse reality that we are the sum of the decisions we have made over time. Indeed, it could be said that we are the integral of all of our choices. So, should we try to make good ones?
Author Details
Peter S. Drang builds his army of 3D printed hexapod robots by day (see VorpalRobotics.com) and writes sublimely unhinged fiction by night. Someday he hopes to combine and leverage these two activities to achieve his dream job: Philosopher-King of planet Earth. His stories have spontaneously materialized in fine publications such as Nature, Flash Fiction Online, Daily Science Fiction, the FlameTree Fiction Newsletter, The Arcanist and other places. This is his second appearance at Dreamforge, which is becoming one of his favorite markets. Check out his maniacal musings at DrangStories.com, and (at the risk of sounding needy) be sure to "like" him at Facebook.com/PeterSDrang. Story Notes for The Integral of My Life Over All My Choices I volunteer taught AP Physics and Robotics at a high school for ten years. I became fairly conversant in millennial slang, which is on full display in this story, though I had to simplify it lest I lose readers over 40. (The first version of this story used full-out slang, and some of my workshop reviewers misinterpreted important details.) I also became attuned to phenomena such as teenage angst over getting into the perfect college, and their idealism as well as their blind spots and sometimes cruelty. Teaching the calculus parts of AP Physics was always a challenge, and I loved watching the "light bulb moment" when students finally understood that an integral is just a fancy way of doing addition. I recall one discussion with a student and I said something like, "You are the sum of your choices, so try to make good ones." And she replied, "So I'm the integral over all my choices!" These experiences somehow combined to produce this story. To me it's about committing to use your current self's choices to lay the groundwork for becoming your best future self--something we can all strive for.
The Integral of My Life Over All My Choices, by Peter S. Drang
Author Details
Peter S. Drang builds his army of 3D printed hexapod robots by day (see VorpalRobotics.com) and writes sublimely unhinged fiction by night. Someday he hopes to combine and leverage these two activities to achieve his dream job: Philosopher-King of planet Earth. His stories have spontaneously materialized in fine publications such as Nature, Flash Fiction Online, Daily Science Fiction, the FlameTree Fiction Newsletter, The Arcanist and other places. This is his second appearance at Dreamforge, which is becoming one of his favorite markets. Check out his maniacal musings at DrangStories.com, and (at the risk of sounding needy) be sure to "like" him at Facebook.com/PeterSDrang. Story Notes for The Integral of My Life Over All My Choices I volunteer taught AP Physics and Robotics at a high school for ten years. I became fairly conversant in millennial slang, which is on full display in this story, though I had to simplify it lest I lose readers over 40. (The first version of this story used full-out slang, and some of my workshop reviewers misinterpreted important details.) I also became attuned to phenomena such as teenage angst over getting into the perfect college, and their idealism as well as their blind spots and sometimes cruelty. Teaching the calculus parts of AP Physics was always a challenge, and I loved watching the "light bulb moment" when students finally understood that an integral is just a fancy way of doing addition. I recall one discussion with a student and I said something like, "You are the sum of your choices, so try to make good ones." And she replied, "So I'm the integral over all my choices!" These experiences somehow combined to produce this story. To me it's about committing to use your current self's choices to lay the groundwork for becoming your best future self--something we can all strive for.
