Trivia

Much of the groundwork for the plot of Virtual Shadows was originally conceived for Synthetic Illusions, including the story behind the tumultuous Fringe worlds Klistosi and Venovi and Ines's backstory.

In Artificial Absolutes, it's mentioned that the reason even office buildings have internal defense guns is because of a deadly attack on a high-profile building years before. In Virtual Shadows, the details of this attack are revealed, and its aftermath is the impetus for the villain's actions.

Virtual Shadows includes several references to "Takes a Hacker," a standalone prequel short story about Jane as a 16-year-old, which is part of the Brave New Girls anthology. These include Jane's rudimentary programming skills, a cameo by Vieve Hua (a primary character in "Takes a Hacker," and a mention of George Blumenthal (another important character in the short).

The second to last chapter of Virtual Shadows was the very first one conceived for the book, which was plotted backwards during the planning stages.

During the beta reading phase, the author wrote a false ending to the book to prank one of her friends. In this false ending, Jane's ship is shot down, and she crashes into a mountain and is buried in an avalanche. This was a reference to the joke "rocks fall, everyone dies."

Kozen Float is named for horror author Stephen Kozeniewski, as are Kozen monkey-rats. In the book's universe, Dr. Kozen was a famous biologist who discovered many new species of non-intelligent alien life, hence both a space habitat and an animal being named after him.

The planet Zabett is named after fantasy author Elizabeth Corrigan.

Artificial Absolutes and Synthetic Illusions each have eleven point-of-view characters, with four having perspectives in both. Virtual Shadows has ten, eight of which also have perspectives in Synthetic Illusions and four of which have perspectives in Artificial Absolutes.

1. Devin's first encounter with the wrong side of the law occurred when he was 12 years old, when one of his schoolmates offered him study drugs. Pressured by his parents to bring home better grades, he accepted. He hid his dependency from his parents, who never knew he had a problem. He kicked the habit at 15, after he was hospitalized for unrelated reasons.
2. As a teenager, Devin would often bribe the pilot meant to take him and Jane to school into taking the day off so he could skip class. The first time he did this, he was an hour late returning to pick up Jane, who was eight at the time. Furious at her brother, Jane hid when she saw him finally show up. She watched Devin search for her, panicking and cursing, for a good fifteen minutes. Eventually, her anger gave way to amusement, and her giggles gave away her hiding spot. Devin, who had been on the verge of calling the police, was both relieved and irritated. He was never late again.
3. Prior to meeting Sarah, Devin had never been in a serious relationship. He had plenty of casual girlfriends, but those relationships never lasted more than two or three months.
4. Devin was a sociology major at university, much to his father's chagrin. Though he was later willing to follow his father's footsteps into finance, by that time it was too late to switch his academic track.
5. Right after graduating from university, Devin spent a year working for his father at Quasar Bank Corporation. He then attended business school at his father's behest, but continued working almost full-time while taking his classes.
6. Devin first learned to shoot a gun when he was 15. He was planning on running away to the lawless Fringe and wanted to be prepared. Though he later abandoned those plans, he continued training to blow off steam. He also took up hand-to-hand combat for similar reasons. During the years he worked for Quasar, he engaged in almost daily combat training to remain sharp in case his past came back to haunt him. He kept this a secret, though, to prevent anyone--especially Jane--from asking about it. He stopped shortly after he met Sarah in order to spend more time with her, and because while he didn't want to tell her about his past, he also didn't want to lie to her.
7. Devin's mother bequeathed him her engagement ring, a Colt family heirloom. She meant for him to give it to his future bride, but after Sarah returned it, Devin felt that reusing it for another woman would have been wrong. He gave it to Jane, who declared she'd never wear it, but would keep it as a memento of their mother.
8. As a child, Devin wanted to be a stunt pilot when he grew up. As a teenager, all he wanted was to escape the pressures of his family and often fantasized about becoming an independent rogue--a smuggler or thief-for-hire. By the time he reached university, he'd become passionate about social justice, and he briefly considered following his mother into politics, but soon concluded that politics had too much bureaucracy and corruption. His ambitions then turned toward activism.
9. Devin has almost no preferences when it comes to clothing styles, as long as he blends into whatever role he's meant to play. The same is true for interior decor and furniture. He delegates all shopping decisions to computer programs.
10. Except for during the times when he was working for the Intelligence and Security Agency of the Republic of Kydera (ISARK), Devin never missed one of Jane's concerts.

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