We are still sailing strong on the book and getting excited to be in the home stretch. As things will start to pick up more and more I wanted to take some time to introduce a few of our characters and give some behind-the-scenes insight into the inspiration for the characters and their part in the story.

I originally came up with this story while walking along the beach with my two sons. I have written a story for each of my four children and each has a prominent role in their own story.

This one I later designated for my youngest boy, Kaiyan, who to that point was the only of my four who did not have his own story.

The Boy in this story is a representation of Kaiyan as drawn by Zach Clough and based on some photos I sent his way for inspiration.

The character in the story, too, is much like Kaiyan; curious, brave, and always willing to try things others are not. Kaiyan is always looking for adventure, too, and was so engaged with this story when I told it the first time that it made us all laugh.

The Boy in our story is unnamed, and although he was inspired by my own son, I hope you can find a little of yourself in his character here.

Illustration by Zach Clough