[This was originally posted in the winter of 2020. Fortunately, the work is not about that time, so it may keep.] [Oh, and if you follow a story to its end, you now have access to the sequels.]

As a year grows darker in a time of pandemic, one might wish for a bit of escapist fiction with which to while away the hours. This gift full of witches, wizards, buried temples, magic rings, and mysterious decks of playing cards should be enough to while away most of a 24 hour day, although I would recommend spreading it out over a longer stretch of time if only for the sake of sleep.

But different people have different tastes, and this may not be your cup of tea. A friend with an unread novel can be a burden. Please do not see this gift that way. Feel free to ignore it. Feel free to regift it. In fact, I would appreciate that. If you know of someone who might find value in it, pass the link on to them even if you did not read it yourself. Just be aware that despite the presence of happy animals on the cover and children in chapter one, this is not a children's story. If you really want nothing to do with this, I don't blame you. In that case, treat it as you would any other homemade gift. Say, "Did you make this yourself? It's lovely."

Of course, I did not make it by myself. I must acknowledge the writings of Lewis Carroll, Jack Vance, William Shakespeare, Ursula K. Le Guin, Kurt Vonnegut, J. K. Rowling, T. S. Eliot, Albert Einstein, Brian Greene, Michael D. Coe, and Theodore Sider as particularly influential, along with other creators of books, magazines, Internet articles, videos, and virtual worlds, particularly Second Life. Philosophy Talk on NPR both colored my thinking and indirectly led me to Dr. Sider. There is a hint of the Firesign Theater. Walt Kelly is here as well, although this tale is not a comedy. And Jack Evans, a magician and dear friend of the family, has clearly left his stamp on me.

Scientific American magazine did me the kindness of printing one of my letters, so I must not neglect to mention that the thinking of a major character originated on their pages. I would properly cite all my sources if I had been enough of a scholar to keep track of them. Fortunately, that is not demanded of writers of fiction. Neither is accuracy, although you will find some here and there.

I must acknowledge my editors, Amorette Allison and Rita Rozier. Rita suggested an insightful multitude of large and small improvements to the story, some of which I resisted until I realized how right they were. Amorette bludgeoned away elements Rita never had to see. A sister can be blunt enough to tell you when an entire chapter is unreadable.

The writing took place in Google Documents. It was handy to be able to pull the story up and keep working on it whenever and wherever I had both time and Internet access. The recording was done in Audacity. The videos were made with iMovie. The easy integration of YouTube with Google Sites has been a joy while setting up these pages.

And a big shout out to the Canaanites for inventing the alphabet without which this story would have been much more difficult to write, and to the Egyptians whose glyphs inspired the Canaanites, and to the Mayans whose glyphs inspired me, as you will see if you get that far.

Bill Freese, Belgrade, Montana, December 2020