title: Lost in MultiSpace
author: Allan, William
description: This is the story of a man's impossible journey back home. His name is Odis, or Ottis, or some variation of Odysseus, as a nod to another impossible journey, although the similarity ends with his name. It is also the story of humans' impossible journey to leave the nest, with infinite choices leading to disaster and infinite more leading to stagnation. If one man can find his way home to teach the one way off the planet Earth, humanity may survive the galactic collision with Andromeda. As an author, I see that the current climate is publishers clamoring for LGBTQ characters. It is tempting to pander to that demand. Instead I chose as my main character's relationship one based on domination and submission. Having the privilege of knowing some extraordinarily loving couples in the D/S community, I observe they are still often treated as politically incorrect in a world supposedly now open to diversity. My main character needed an extraordinary relationship to continue to face impossible odds against getting back home, which for him was wherever his other half was. If you are unfamiliar with the D/S community, you may get a look at a relationship where, like real-world D/S relationships, the sexually submissive half is often the dominant decision maker. The protagonist comes from a world far more medically advanced than our own, where disease is a historical artifact, pregnancy a choice, and even genetic defects have simple cures. In such a world, there is no biological backlash from the sex act, so most of the world has left monogamy behind. Our protagonists choose monogamy in a world that now considers it quaint, but their torrid relationship leaves them forever satisfied.