Substrate Constraints

Stories that add colour and connectivity to the worlds of Mark W White
A short story collection

You may wonder what the family SF drama In Memory of Chris Parsons, the more traditional SF fare of The Tamboli Sequence and Scouring Juventas, plus the light fantasy series The Mufflers, could possibly have in common. They're all set in the same extended universe, naturally.

If after reading some of these, you've no idea how that could possibly be, then this is the collection for you. You'll discover:

How the experience of Chris Parsons links Erica Shaw with Raj Tamboli
What Raj Tamboli was doing before, during, and after Flood day
What happened on Juno after A Division of Order
How Nevin and Amy are involved with the colonisation of Juventas
What Bekomdef discovered when he arrived on Earth
How Brenda became a Muffler
How Ashley was adopted into the Ministry
What happened to Dave, Wynn, Lance, Gwen, and the Oracle immediately after The Muffler's Mission
How Safira, Bekomdef, and the Oracle are connected

Plus many more tales adding colour and connectivity to the novels.

Buy

To download a free copy of Substrate Constraints and access to other bonus content, subscribe to the newsletter.

To read individual stories online, see below. Just click on the links.

Introduction

In order of internal chronology, the novels to which these short stories relate are:

In Memory of Chris Parsons
The Tamboli Sequence (A Vision of Unity, A Division of Order, A Revision of Reality)
Scouring Juventas
The Mufflers (The Muffler's Ministry, The Muffler's Mission, The Muffler's Misery)

Warning: these short stories require prior knowledge of at least one of these novels, preferably most. The first can be enjoyed standalone, but little else. Also, if you plan on reading one of the other books later, then skip the associated stories.

* Spoilers abound below this point *

You're wondering what this motley collection of novels, spanning family SF drama, overtly political SF tales, and light fantasy, have in common? The answer is the substrate, but that probably leaves you with even more questions.

The concept has had different names in different contexts. For example, in The Tamboli Sequence, it is called the bulk, as it emerged from an explanation based on the (real) theories of Brane Cosmology. It's analogous to the concept of hyperspace used in many SF tales to avoid the travel limitations imposed by the space police insisting on a light-based speed limit.

Extreme liberties – even metaphysical ones – have been taken with the concepts of Brane Cosmology, from which rules that impact all these novels are derived. These rules – AKA the Substrate Constraints – can very loosely be described as follows:

Our universe is one of many in higher-dimensional space called the substrate (or the bulk)
The complexity of the substrate is the basis of all consciousness
For the substrate to grow, kernels of this complexity must enter a dimensionally restricted, life-bearing universe – like ours
Once a kernel of complexity is within a universe, the consciousness it creates is indivisible
The first intelligent life to evolve was within the substrate itself
The sole overriding purpose of this species is to protect and nurture the substrate's complexity

The impact of these has unexpected effects on the world of each novel, from subtle to explicit.

Chris Parsons

In Memory of Chris Parsons takes place before all the other substrate novels. On the surface, the only link with subsequent books is the indivisibility of consciousness. However, a hint of a connection to The Tamboli Sequence is hidden therein: the company Psykhe is being taken over by an Indian conglomerate.

There are two short stories here, the latter of which makes this connection explicit. Just don't expect to see Chris Parsons.

In Memory of Universal Truth: How the movie in the novel came to be

In Memory of Chris Parsons

In Memory of Erica's Career: How Erica's career progressed at Psykhe after the novel

The Tamboli Sequence

The three novels of The Tamboli Sequence are an unusual trilogy in that the first two are largely independent stories, with the third acting as a sequel to both of these. There are hints in A Vision of Unity of the existence of the world of Juno that features in A Division of Order, but you're only likely to spot that in retrospect.

That leaves a natural place for stories to bridge the gap between the first two novels and A Revision of Reality, and also to complete the linkage to In Memory of Chris Parsons.

Finally, there's a connection to be made with the novel Scouring Juventas, which is firmer than you might realise.

A Misdivision of Consciousness: The events around the Flood from Raj Tamboli's perspective

A Vision of Unity

A Provision of Succession: How Katinka Farkas ended up where she did

A Division of Order

A Redivision of Community: A story towards the end of Indra's life with her daughter, Sandra

A Revision of Reality

A Supervision of Society: Nevin and Amy's life after the novel

Juventas

Although Scouring Juventas is a standalone novel, the last Tamboli short story, A Supervision of Society, should have firmly established it as set in the same timeline as The Tamboli Sequence. There's still more to tell of the journey to Juventas, as there is of both the colony and Bekomdef after the novel.

Approaching Juventas: A sequel to A Supervision of Society, preparing the ground for the colony's foundation

Scouring Juventas

Expanding Juventas: Set eighteen months after the novel as the colony expands.

Leaving Juventas: What happens to Bekomdef after the novel

The Mufflers

If you've reached this point via the last Juventas story, then Bekomdef arrived at the Earth of the Mufflers, with humanity transformed by the events of a conflict that is revealed during the novel The Muffler's Ministry. That's not the last you'll hear from Bekomdef either.

As you can see below, many short stories exist in the world of the Mufflers. That's partly because of the wealth of characters built up over the trilogy and partly because they were used to develop ideas for the novels themselves, especially The Muffler's Misery. After completing the trilogy, there was still more to tell. A couple of prequels were created specifically for this collection.

A Muffler Rebellion: Brenda's and Bristow's early days in the Ministry

A Muffler's Adoption: Ashley's parents at work

A Muffler's Recruitment: How Colin joined the Ministry

The Muffler's Ministry

A Muffler's Vigil: Rowan keeps watch – when his father lets him

The Muffler's Mission

An Officer's Disaffection: Morena rides to Dave's rescue

A Commander's Duty: Wynn Ridgard sets Merlin a task

A Muffler's Marriage: Lance has a confession to make to his king

A Muffler's Assignment: Gwen Scott goes on her first assignment for Portsea

The Muffler's Retrospective: The Oracle takes stock

The Muffler's Misery

Two Mufflers Chatting: An extra epilogue

The Substrate

This is the culmination of the grand unification project. A single short story gets its own section as it doesn't quite fit anywhere else, being the sequel to three separate pieces of work: The Tamboli Sequence, Scouring Juventas, and The Mufflers trilogy. More specifically, it's the sequel to the novels A Revision of Reality and The Muffler's Misery, plus the short story Leaving Juventas.

This small vignette begins as The Muffler's Misery ends.

A Substrate Reunion: Putting it together, bit by bit