“The Lorentz Contraction” by John Q McDonald originally appeared in Issue 30 and can be read here.
We’d love to hear more about this story.
The piece is essentially about loneliness and dreams. We aspire to romantic fulfillment in this universe, but also to adventure and achievement in great endeavors or in creative explorations. These things often come into conflict and they engender sacrifice from one another. Thus we are often lonely in our aspirations. Sometimes it takes a long time (even a year) to come to terms with our decisions and sacrifices.
What was the most difficult part of writing this story?
The Lorentz Contraction is a mathematical expression of the distortions of space and time with respect to velocity. It is a simple enough equation, but loaded with challenges to one’s intuitions about space and time. Managing to convey that in the story without getting too wonky about it was the largest challenge I experienced in writing this tale.
Recommend a book for us?
“The Last Stargazers” by Emily Levesque is a remarkably engaging book of stories about the work and adventure of observational astronomy as it is practiced today and in the recent past. Even as a professional astronomer, I found the book entertaining, accessible and engaging to a wide audience. A fascinating look at looking at the stars.
If you could have a drink with any living author, who would it be? Why?
Rabih Alameddine is a brilliant (and prize-winning) author who writes beautifully of his experience and that of others, addressing identity and personal history in his stories and novels. Besides that, his social media persona suggests he is a genuinely nice and fun loving person with a connection to art and poetry. He’d be a great person to have over to tea or to meet for drinks in some fun bar in San Francisco.
What are you working on now? What’s next?
I have a handful of short stories and personal essays I am working on, most recently a memoir about traveling to Bhutan. I have also been working for a long time on edits to a novel about being a teenager on a commune in the 1970s. Hopefully, I will one day have some luck publishing these works. A second novel, a literary science fiction story, sits awaiting further edits.
Our thanks to John for taking the time to answer a few questions and share “The Lorentz Contraction.” Read John’s story here: https://www.sequestrum.org/fiction-the-lorentz-contraction.
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John Q McDonald has published several essays and stories and is an astronomer at the University of California, where he has also assisted in teaching a writing seminar at the university’s department of architecture. McDonald lives in the San Francisco Bay Area, working on yet another draft of a novel and where he paints in oils when he has the opportunity.