Introduction

Some stories are written with a particular audience in mind. You have something you want to say to your kids, your church, or your friends. And so when you write the story you focus directly on them, and 'tell' them the story.

Other stories exist as a story, long before you have any audience to tell them too. You wake up at two in the morning, grab your notebook, and quickly write down the idea that has just occurred to you... that bit of plot from which the whole book will spring, or the new world. Then, over the next few days, weeks, months or even years, the story grows a life of its own.

Such a story is Dwarves etc. It began on a drowsy afternoon at work. It began with a 'what if'... and grew to a story with characters that have taken on a life of their own. Each day I would bring home a chapter and read it to my family... and woe to the day where I failed in my alloted quota.

As a result, there is no specific audience. It is a book about children, and my children love it. But it includes themes and ideas that pass over their heads... often themes not clearly spelled out, where even adults have to reread the passage several times to have a glimpse at what the story hides within itself.

It is an overtly religious story; a coming of age/transformation story in the style of 'Sugar Creek Gang'. It is an overtly allegorical story, reminiscent of 'The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe' or 'Pilgrims Progress'. And it is an unfinished story, as all stories outside of fairy tales must be. There is no 'and they lived happily after', but instead a mere, 'and next...' which trails off into, well, into the next books :)

I hope that you enjoy reading 'Dwarves Etc.' half as much as I enjoyed writing it. And may you all, having sworn eternal service to The King, walk in His path.

In Him,