When I first started writing this book, the concept had been winding through the passages in my mind for some time. It was spawned from a fanciful “what if” question, a playful ruse, which I relentlessly attempted to make realistic and plausible. To this end, I drew on my own experience, knowledge, and research. It should be noted that all of the technological, social, economic, and political activities and history are based in fact and manipulated only to help drive the narrative. Indeed, after having finished the first draft, the concepts covered in the book, which were predictive several years ago when I first started putting my thoughts to paper, seemed to be coming more and more fact than fiction. This was both unnerving and reassuring as it suggested a strong relevance of the material and also a driving urgency to get the book published as elements of the plot entered our everyday lives.
The concept that drives the storyline, which will be clear to the reader within the first paragraph of Chapter One, was to consider lore as history and what would the world look like had it been so. The fanciful and pleasing nature of the legend takes on a new and potentially sinister twist when forced to fit the mold of cold hard reality. What seems fun, exciting, precious, and endearing may not be so when you replace fantasy with fact, magic with practicality, omnipotence with resources, and knowledge with the technology of espionage. Then, with this adjustment made, consider how the world might react to the new reality. Keeping the story in this new context palpable led me into an environment which exploited the conundrum that comes when faced with power and knowledge, its practical application, the morality of doing so, and how to protect the populace from those who would seek to abuse it if they could.
Enter reality. If I may now consider the socioeconomic and political environment in which we all live and consider our own personal realities.
