Bonnie Brunish

I have kept a dream journal since 1961, and much of the Mindsea Empire's history and technology has emerged in my dreams, one brief glimpse at a time, to be pieced together over the years.

The term "mindsea" for the empire's elite with their altered perceptions of space, time, and identity first came to me in a 1984 dream. In the dream, a man peeked into a cabin marked with a warning sign and saw Emperor Quintillion asleep. After waking, I had to figure out what the danger could be.

If a character from my novels didn't first appear in a dream, then it's likely that he or she emerged from the computer programs I've written to trace imperial bloodlines. The files generated by these programs contain thousands of names along with dates and brief descriptions. Sometimes I spend days searching the files for interesting characters to include in the next novel.

When not dreaming or writing or programming, I try to capture the empire in artwork or song.