Proviso
The vodoun described here is by no means orthodox. Goldsmith’s Country of the Mind distorts the vodoun pantheon considerably, as might be expected; but I’ve also taken liberties with vodoun in an objective context, especially in John D’Arqueville’s church. Vodoun is a fascinating, and fascinatingly changeable religion. I’ve tried to suggest some pathways it might take in the future.
None of the characters in this book should be taken to represent, symbolically or otherwise, their respective races, conditions or creeds. I’ve tried to portray them as people, not exemplars.
References
The nanotechnology described here is highly speculative. For a visionary but reasonably solid and complete portrayal, I refer you to K. Eric Drexler’s The Engines of Creation (Doubleday/Anchor). The AXIS starship design was suggested in part by passages in Bound for the Stars by Saul J. Adelman and Benjamin Adelman (Prentice-Hall/Spectrum), particularly where the authors discuss designs by Drs. Gregory Matloff and Alphonsus Fennelly. A very good discussion of matter-antimatter (or mirror matter) propulsion can be found in Mirror Matter by Robert L. Forward and Joel Davis (Wiley).