It's Research!

[Paul Whybrow]

We've previously commented, in old threads, about how incriminating a writer's computer search history could be.

I've been researching some strange subjects recently, as preparation for revisiting my American Civil War veteran in a second novella, and I wondered what other members of the Colony were finding out about.

Apart from looking into edifying things, like the flora and fauna of the Great Smoky Mountains in North Carolina, I've also examined depressing topics, such as lynchings, slavery on tobacco plantations and war atrocities, as well as intimidating details about horse mating and downright weird information about what happens to people when they're struck by lightning.

The antagonist in my story fought for the Confederate army and was electrocuted at the Battle of Ox Hill, which took place in a thunderstorm. He was already a nasty bastard, and being briefly boiled by a lightning bolt turned him into a sadistic psychopath, as well as leaving his skin scarred with what are known as Lichtenberg figures.

These resemble feathers, ferns or trees:

What have you been researching? Has anything given you nightmares?

 

[James Marinero]

I've been researching the collision between two nuclear submarines (one French, one British) underwater in the Bay of Biscay in February 2009. They were both carrying a full complement of nuclear armed ICBMs. It's the stuff of nightmares, but no, it doesn't give me any. Yet.

 

[Robinne Weiss]

Wildlife smuggling is my current research topic. No nightmares, but some pretty grim stuff. Some of it close to home--just a few weeks ago, someone found a metal lunchbox in the Christchurch Botanic Gardens stuffed with 58 endangered lizards (most of which were dead by the time the box was found). We have beautiful geckoes here, regularly smuggled out for the pet trade.