Instead I found all sorts of errors in need of fixing, so it quickly became an extensive and pervasive editing project. The issues were manifold, from spelling errors to typos, to poorly worded segments needing reworking or complete elimination, to switching out children's names for better ones, to the inclusion of additional explanatory sentences or paragraphs to help the reader keep track of said children's names. I also reduced the number of times 'just' appeared in the text wherever possible. It just kept showing up way too often. :P
There was no end to the useful edits I could do, so I've been diligently reading and editing as I go along for weeks now. The one thing I didn't edit was the plot. So if people have already read through the entire book, it's probably not worth worrying about these edits. But if people haven't read the book yet, now's the perfect time to dive in. The book is far more polished than it was a month ago, much less how it appeared originally in February.
As I read along for a record tenth time (I've never read any book ten times before, making this far and away the best book ever written), I was amazed at the staying power of the story's impact. The sexy portions were as sexy as if I were reading them for the first time. The philosophical and political arguments were as persuasive as ever. (For instance, where I prove that the only evils in this world are necessary evils for the sake of even greater goods, which allows for the existence of an omnipotent, omniscient, omnibenevolent Creator, which indeed this story has.) The repartee between the characters was as witty and delightful as ever. The city planning was as thorough and engrossing as ever. The long lists of heroic names equally so. And the love confessions Christopher gave the girls, and the girls gave Christopher, still hit like a ton of bricks. Just take Lisanna's confession, for instance. I dare anyone to say they've ever been confessed to on level with this:
"Flattery will get you nowhere. I'm already head over heels for you. I'm already eternally grateful to you. I'll already do anything for you. The gap between what I thought my future had in store -- death on some distant battlefield a forgotten childless virgin -- and what you gave me here instead, is the widest gap in the universe. For that, I'm yours forever." Lisanna swore.
And that's just one of his 100 waifus. The book contains 100 times as much love as that. That's a lot of fuzzy feelings.
My desire to include Aries into my fictional character hall of fame featured in the book clued me in that subconsciously I had already determined Kanata no Astra was a great anime. By editing the book I also ended up editing my top anime rankings. Synergy!
No rational person could dislike this book on its literary merits. Every scene is poetic and evocative. After that comes the same problem Nietzsche, Socrates or Jesus had -- the world is too backwards and pathetic to understand morality even when it punches them in the face. There's nothing much I can do about that. No amount of editing can fix other people's brains. But for those ready to take the next step of moral human evolution, the book is available at the bottom of my permapost sidebar, start with part 1 and finish with part 5.
For the lazy I'll even helpfully provide the links right here:
https://diamed-the-road-less-traveled.blogspot.com/2019/02/in-another-world-with-100-waifus-part-1.html
https://diamed-the-road-less-traveled.blogspot.com/2019/02/in-another-world-with-100-waifus-part-2.html
https://diamed-the-road-less-traveled.blogspot.com/2019/02/in-another-world-with-100-waifus-part-3.html
https://diamed-the-road-less-traveled.blogspot.com/2019/03/in-another-world-with-100-waifus-part-4.html
https://diamed-the-road-less-traveled.blogspot.com/2019/05/in-another-world-with-100-waifus-part-7.html
Someday I might expand upon the book, for instance if I learn more about Lyria from season 2 of Granblue Fantasy that merits writing more about her in response. But for now the story is complete and fine as is. This 10th edit should be the last, which means next time, when I read it for an 11th time, I really can just sit back, relax, and enjoy the show. Hopefully. Surely. . .
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