As noted in the summary for this story, this is a work of Alternate History. In the real world, Pliny the Elder died on the beach at Stabiae, never finishing his book, and never developing an early version of evolutionary theory. Pliny the Younger grew up to become a well-known author and statesman, and was never exiled anywhere - in fact, the most famous exile to grace Ilva (the modern Elba) would not show up on the island until the 19th century.

Many of the descriptions, particularly those of the eruption of Vesuvius, are paraphrased from Pliny the Younger's real letters to Tacitus (LXV and LXVI). The story of the execution of Cornelia, the chief vestal, is from letter XLIII, and the betrothal of a friend's niece to the handsome Minicius Acilianus is in letter XIV.

I am greatly indebted to the translations of William Melmoth (Havard Classics: The Letters of Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus, Collier and Sons, 1909), without which I could never have completed this in time for the contest deadline.

I took the cover photo last summer while on a tour of the abandoned 18th floor ballroom at the King Edward Hotel, in Toronto.

Finally, yes, the translator's name (Miss Carmen Etta Rur) is a pun. I'll be impressed if you guess it :)