Roman: I'll keep this short because I don't actually have a story update to report. You're right that Vathara usually deals with complex themes. But...Embers, and also her recent Bleach stuff, explicitly presents a bibliography to readers. It positions the entire story differently from more 'casual' work. Regarding the subject material: it's probably a human tendency to latch onto a single point that you disagree with, letting that colour your opinion of the rest of the text. I find myself doing that a lot. So on reflection, I don't want to say if Vathara's interpretations are right or not. It's enough for me that she's writing a story pulling together all this stuff. That alone is commendable. But I can understand why folks take issue with it.
-- Acyl
-- Acyl