Among the Spires of East Fleet

Preface and Acknowledgments

Hello and good day,

For anyone who might be about to peer into this tale known simply as The Almaris Chronicles, I would like to give a proper preface before you embark upon your journey into the lives of these characters. This story, that will ultimately span three or more novels, was written with one goal in mind – to showcase what the process of reconciliation might look like for someone considered irredeemable.

At its core, this seemed like a simple idea. However, once the process began, I quickly discovered that telling this grand tale would be one of the most mentally and spiritually taxing endeavors I have ever had the nerve to embark upon. As I fleshed out these characters, their attributes, and their flaws, I soon found myself wandering further and further into the recesses of my own mind and opening doors that I swore to myself I would keep shut forever. However, despite my initial trepidation, it was in these dark corners of my thoughts that the idea for the first story, Among the Spires of East Fleet, was born. Serving as a launching point for the series as a whole, I aimed to answer one single question – how does a man learn to love again when all he knows is pain?

With this question serving as my north star, the story simply began to unfold before me, revealing itself like a diamond beneath the earth that desired nothing more than to be discovered. Within a month, the story was written, and over the course of nearly a year, it was edited and re-written into its current state.

At its center, the story I have composed is fairly simple, however as one might soon surmise, the truth about what's actually going on is as elusive as the peace that these characters seek to attain. Muddied and buried under layers of filth, the beauty hiding just beneath the surface is perhaps one of my greatest accomplishments as an author, and I hope that as a reader you can grow to appreciate the nuance of it all as this tale unfolds.

That said, I would like to acknowledge a few individuals, without whom I would have never been able to give this story the weight it deserves.

First, I would like to thank my wife and son. The two of you have inspired me in ways that I could never put into words. Both challenging and humbling me, you have given me a gift that I truly don't deserve, and it is a gift that I aim to repay every day of my life. I love you both, never forget that.

I would also like to give special recognition to two friends of mine who go by the online personas @BeautifulWatty and @Alamo. The two of you were some of the greatest individuals to pull inspiration from and I hope to be the first to say that the characters you helped me create will always hold a place in my heart. I adore you both and wish you the very best along your life's journeys.

So, dear reader, without any further rambling, I introduce to you the first installment of The Almaris Chronicles – Among the Spires of East Fleet. I hope that you find it as narratively pleasing to the soul to read as I have found it spiritually and mentally taxing to compose. Prepare yourself for a world of both pain and gratitude, a place of both loss and victory. Let faith be your guide through this world, and always remember that forgiveness is an ever-burning flame awaiting anyone who's willing to suffer for it.

Farewell and may God bless you.