Omake – Q&A Part I

Q: In the introductory blurb of this story you mention someone named “Sureia”. Would you mind sharing their story with us?

She was an incredible person—kind, funny, and immensely talented. She had a gift for writing but struggled with confidence in her work. Most of what she wrote were adult stories, often under the pen name Khaizard, though she might have used others, like Poseygirl. 

She loved MMORPGs even more than I did, which gave us a strong connection.

She grew up in Connecticut in a well-off family. Her parents worked in education; her mother held a doctorate—though not in medicine, but in English or a related field. She had a bachelors in English herself and tried teaching but found that, despite being a kind, thoughtful person with so much to offer, the kids tormented her. The experience left her deeply depressed, and that darkness nearly consumed her—she attempted suicide at least once.

We met online, and she always told me that meeting me changed her life. I only wish she had believed in herself enough to get published.

Tragically, she died of a malignant brain tumor. But I can't shake the feeling that the hospital's biopsy might have sealed her fate. Before the procedure, she was lucid and communicative. Afterward, she seemed lobotomized—completely changed—and passed away a week later.

Q: That’s truly unfortunate. My condolences. What caused you two to come up with the story together? What role did Sureia play in that phase? 

Suchan was the primary creative force behind SuperLuminal. We crafted a lot of rough story ideas together, but SuperLuminal was always the standout. I’ve thought about converting some of our other stories, but honestly, none hold a candle to it. That said, I’ve been holding onto another one that I wrote up to a certain point and released exclusively on my Discord server. If you’re ever curious, there’s a Google Docs link available there. It’s called Kuji-In-N-Out!

This story follows an American boy who finally gets the chance to visit his childhood penpal in Japan—someone he’s been in love with for years through their correspondence. But when he arrives, he finds that she’s mysteriously gone missing. Things take a turn for the bizarre when, through a series of shenanigans, he loses his life... only to be resurrected by a wonky ninja technique as a girl, now with the potential to become a ninja herself.

As for why we wrote SuperLuminal, that’s easy—Suchan was the real comics expert between us. She was a huge fan. She had aspirations to write for DC or Marvel if she had the opportunity, but sadly she didn’t.

I, on the other hand, am more of a movie and show dabbler who’s read a fair share of comics, but nowhere near as many as her. I love superheroes too, particularly paragons, like Superman was meant to be. Ever since he got converted to an edgy superhero, I lost interest.

Leo was originally created by Suchan, but that character was heavily influenced by me.

Q: If you had to pick, what parts were all Sureia and which parts were all yours? How and when did you two blend your visions together?

As I mentioned, SuperLuminal was largely crafted by Suchan. That said, the original story was much simpler and wasn’t written in a book format. When I was releasing the remake of The Dream, I uploaded some examples of the early versions. A fan pointed out that, given the amount of changes I’ve made—adding new chapters, refining the narrative to such an extent—this is less of a remaster and more of a full-fledged remake. Honestly, even the version I first released on ScribbleHub could be considered a remake, considering all the additional content I introduced, particularly in book one, The Dream. And now, we’re going through that process again—expanding, refining, and elevating it even further.

So at this stage, a significant portion of SuperLuminal comes from my mind. If you’re asking about the original blueprints, those were about 70% Suchan’s work. But with all the new material I’ve added, I’ve likely evened the balance—and far exceeded the original word count. 

You could say she created the wireframe that eventually became SuperLuminal and SuperLuminal: Resurgence.