Hel-lo, readers!

If you have picked up this book and randomly flipped to the Table of Contents, you're probably wondering just what, exactly, is going on in my obviously rattled mind. Firstly, why does the Introduction have four parts, and why are they called measures? Why are the first and second parts called Strains, and the third called a Trio? It's simple! Or so a musician would say. …then again, perhaps a musician would wonder why in the world I would use the anatomy of a march in a fantasy novel- but that'd just be nit-picky.

Anthony Burgess, the amazingly patient fellow who wrote 'A Clockwork Orange', used symbolism in his format; three parts, each with seven chapters. For those of you with no mathematical motivation—and I assure you, I can sympathize—this amounts to twenty-one, which just so happens to be the age of manhood. Personally, I have set up my novels in the same format as a military march- with the four-measure introduction, the First Strain, the Second Strain, and the Trio. This is to symbolize the music variable in the stories—it isn't at all as complex as Burgess' format symbolism.

Keep in mind, not all Introductions are four measures- it's just what was easiest for me.

All the same, if you're still confused, think of it this way. A measure is—in common time—a section of a musical chart with four beats within it. Every musical piece is made up of these measures—just like how every story is made up of chapters. The Edaenus Aeris novels will follow this format, with measures instead of chapters and an Introduction with numerous 'measures'. It's like having an introduction with mini-chapters in it.

Easy enough to follow, isn't it? …well, even if not, the story is written like most every other story—granted, with its own original plot—and could be easily read, even if you just ignored all this 'strain' and 'measure' nonsense.

Happy reading! And I do hope this particular piece gets stuck in your head.

…

… That was terrible. Forgive me for that.

Noel M. Daniel