I kinda like it. It makes for a better city background with all those trees instead of metal or concrete towers holding up the lines, and plus there's the added benefit of Carbon Dioxide and Oxygen exchange. I wonder...? Could the "Solar Power Trees" actually produce enough electricity to "Feed Back" into the grid?

thanks for reminding me. i had actually meant to build a tree-like structure of solar power collectors. these trees are just genetically designed to provide the shape that they are (ordinary trees can be trained into any shape over time, but these are genetically designed to grow that way)

Yes! I have seen some pretty amazing photographic examples of grafting art, mostly done in the Orient, or from the days when the Citrus Industry predominated Southern California. One fellow even grafted up two saplings into a "Ladder" and the trees got strong enough to bear his weight. Now another question I have for you concerns the "Trolleys" which bear the weight of the car. I understand that the Gourd would be mostly "Dead" like dried wood, so would the trolleys have wooden or metal wheels? I had forgotten that you mentioned a "Grip" drive similar to the cable which pulls the trolleys in San Francisco, so I was delighted to see the rollers and supports for the cables.

all wood. unlike my own world that makes free use metal and silicate polymers, this design is for a world that makes everything by growing it, or from parts grown. with very little cutting or milling. everything is grown to exact shape and material properties and simply assembled, where it cant be grown all in one piece. (or is simply easier to assemble from multiple pieces where moving parts are involved)

Fascinating. I was kind of mulling over how "Organic" or living wheels might work out, but I figured circular sections of tree trunks would do as well as metal wheels. After all, there's some species of Ironwood that have been known to quickly dull steel sawblades with their density. I must admit that my fascination lay with the giant gourd making up the body of the cable car though. I get the impression that such a thing would have to be carefully grown, ripened, then harvested to create a sound vessel for the transportation system. I also got an idea that your creations might be able to use these giant gourds for small boats, and perhaps cargo barges by lashing such together.

there is a world of aquatic people, iggi's mirromy, that i must admit being partially inspired by. though there was also one, many years before, invented by a mysterious sudonimous author, (virge foray/myers myers) in the story 'and comfort to the enimy' that appeared in analog in the 70s, in which everything was done by bioengineering. at any rate, i'm sure much smaller gourds were first used as very small boats, much as we would use a back pack, pulled behind them by wearing some sort of harness attached to them, when swimming, when they wanted to bring along more then the could easily carry and swim at the same time.

Out of the Deep. Not what you are talking about, but real imagination on the part of the author. And I think we are headed for something like that. Quant suff!

In the "Cody Starbuck" comic printed in Heavy Metal oh so many years ago, one of the major companies running the galaxy, Dax or Prometheus, is producing organic spaceships grown in tanks. Awesome concept, and illustrated by Howard Chaykin. He may have written it as far as I know. I have seen very little of this sort of thing in sci/fi. There is also the book, The Integral Trees, by Larry Niven. I have spoken.

i remember reading integral trees when it was serialized in analog-sf, back whenever that was. late 80s early 90s i think.
i also remember heavy metal magazene back in the 80s. i sort of remember cody starbuck.

i mostly remember lalu's (i know i'm spelling it wrong) stuff, john d'fool and the airtight garage
some of which have since found their way into movies and animations

John D' fool was probably my lest fave Mobius story. I do remember the anthro dog with a bullet through his ear. The air tight garage was a Jerry Cornelius shared universe, that , in this one's opinion, went nowhere. Let me recommend Spontoon Island for an example of how this can be done very well indeed. It should be obvious that I am a hard corps golden age sci/fi freak, and for that I apologize for my lack of staying current. However- I sure am looking forward to-

https://youtu.be/NNrK7xVG3PM

if you look really closely, i don't know if its still there, but a long time ago there was something of mine on spontoon island.
most of the stories in metal hurlant went nowhere as stories, but the guy with the iron leg did become a movie.
john d'fool what i mostly remember was in-call. and of course that made that compilation movie.

well i was in PorSFiS in the 80s. i think i started not keeping track along about the time it started being all about wars and soap operas instead of fiction about science, engineering, and how they interacted with culture. although i've always liked leguinne's work too. i actually came to furry by way of sf. pride of channur, empror swords and penticles, little fuzzy, and so on.

i couldn't write my way out of wet paper bag, so i make the pictures i like to see, of the world i'd like to be.

I will find it. I have decided to admire and love Spontoon, and not the least because Heywulf was so courteous to me when I first joined up here. I know you two are aware of each other, just as anyone talking with steamfox has it together. It is taking me a long time to travel and follow all the threads of acquaintance and creativity, and that suits me just fine. I wish to add that I do not expect or desire acceptance. I have my books and my poetry to protect me!

No. This is now for something completely different, and very well done at that. I cannot remember the book, but "Barlow's Guide to Extraterrestrials" does mention a race of organic wheels. (I think). After all, we do have rotifers here. (see- Surface Tension, James Blish).