Writing this story has been a learning experience for me. Any project is, but this is far and away the longest story I’ve written, so it can be assumed I learned the most. That was a joke.
As with all my writing, I challenged myself to do something this time, several things actually, and am pleased with what eventuated.
The purpose of this note, however, is not to pat myself on the back, but to do that to others. This story would not be nearly as readable as it is without the hard work of my editors. Work hard they did, and well, too. All of them found different problems, which they happily dropped in my lap to fix. I think I spent as much time fixing as writing. Maybe if I’d done the job right in the first place, things would have been better.
I had five editors helping me. I needed that many because there were enough mistakes to keep them all busy. Two of my editors are very shy and don’t want their names mentioned. It’s possible they simply don’t want them mentioned in association with my story, which is understandable and shows their good taste.
The three who have thrown caution to the winds and don’t mind taking some of the blame for this enterprise are WBMS, Colinian and Gordon Klopfenstein. The first two are well known to the AD audience. Gordon is an excellent writer whose stories can be found at his Story Quarry.
I thank them all for their efforts on behalf of this story. They all developed a passion for it and their skill and attention have made it better. They deserve an enormous amount of credit for the work they have done.
As is typical of my stories, this one mainly concerns the lives of boys who are not yet men. It does not contain much sex, and what is there is important to the story. It is not an erotic experience, but instead, an adventure in adolescence.
Cole Parker
October, 2007