INSIDE, PART 2

IN-BOOK MENTIONED CONNECTIONS

INSIDE-SPECIFIC LORE

MANUSCRIPT SECRETS (DEEP LORE)

OFF-PAGE GOODIES

• Washington's Commission: In Chapter 37, Mr. McDermott explains that the Washington System originally created the Commission of the People to go after corporate crime and then the institution was adopted and bastardized into the Commission of the People shown in The Coalition and Inside. The Washington System Commission was created as a direct result to Andrew Donovan's actions abusing V's power in the final books of Roadside Paradise. This was how Bryant Morris was so easily able to take over the Commission since he had been close to Andrew Donovan.
• Ankell & Morris' Deaths: Also in Chapter 37, Mr. McDermott states that Leader Johnson VI was the Leader of America when both Ankell and Morris died. Between the end of The Coalition Trilogy and the time of Dana taking over the Commission (approximately 5-6 years), Hank Fannen was assassinated by Bryant Morris' order. In retaliation, Thomas Ankell threatened Bryant Morris to stop interfering and that he would put a hit out on Morris if he continued to overstep. In response to the threat, Bryant Morris sent Dana to kill Thomas Ankell, though the official cause of death was listed as a heart attack. Morris died a very short time later when his favorite experiment killed him.
• Mark's Slip-Up(1): Also in Chapter 37, when Lily goes to spy on her mother with Dana, Mark catches her arm and gives her a pleading look. He is silently asking her not to cause herself more pain by seeing the affair take place. This is one of two instances in the book where Mark's mask of noncomprehension slips.
• Mark's Slip-Up(2): In Chapter 39, when Lily is looking for snacks to distract herself in the Markus household, she is in the kitchen with Mark when she tries to find a knife. Mark offers it to her without thinking and then hesitates when she reaches for it. She interprets his wide eyes and worried expression as trauma from his abuse at the Commission, but it is actually him terrified she's going to realize he can understand English, since he just responded to her musings without thought.
• Author Fun Fact: For the breakout in Chapter 50, the author spent 2.5 weeks animating dozens of different colored dots on the map of the Commission of the People to see which cells Lily would stop at to free prisoners, since the lens of the story was strictly on Lily, it was important to know only what Lily saw while the rest of the breakout occurred to keep all the information consistent with the plan already established up to that point.
• Mark's Aversion to PDA: At the beginning of Chapter 51 when Lily affectionately greets Mykail and makes Mark extremely uncomfortable, Lily finds it endearing that PDA is the thing that makes Mark uncomfortable. Mark's sexuality is sex-repulsed asexual, but his dislike of touch also stems from his own testing where his skin became extremely sensitive and now he has severe tactile sensitivity that is amplified when he is touched.
• Sharing Stories: When the experiments and prisoners use the tennis ball to count to a certain number to decide who shares their story in Chapter 54; that is based on the Korean drinking game "Baskin Robbins 31," which the author played with her friends while living in Japan (when she was also writing this novel).
• 13 Original Colonies: As Lily's revolution ramps up, there are thirteen events that lead to Lily leaving her house for good. These events take place on streets, with institutions, or around areas where there are mentions of the original thirteen states of the United States in the order they joined the union, starting with the Liberation Day Parade on Delaware Avenue and ending with the Rhodes of America Parade.