Being suspended in space, floating unencumbered yet in control of one's flight, is as close to pure freedom as I can imagine. I knew I would enjoy reading Larry Niven's manuscript and attempting to visualize a credible alien environment based on that weightless feeling experienced by the people of his Smoke Ring world.

As an artist, I was also intrigued by the physics of the lighting created by 2 suns. There is a sharp cool light source orbiting a diffuse warm light source; a constantly shifting color balance and intensity when sometimes there are both kinds of light and other times one eclipses the other.