This book has been a long, long time coming. It was probably over 20 years ago when I first came up with the idea and wrote a paragraph or two. Over the years, I’d routinely go through cycles of working on it, hating it, abandoning it, and then picking it back up later only to discard it once more.
Originally conceived as a retelling of The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, the story has changed quite a bit over the years. The characters I initial created to represent those present in the original morphed without my realization. Those I thought were the Pilot were actually the Little Prince—those I thought were the Little Prince were the Fox and so on. Elements of other stories crawled their way into the concept as well. Now there’s as much the Wizard of Oz or a Studio Ghibli movie as the Little Prince.
The story transformed as I approached it from different stages in my life. And while I would have loved to complete this book much earlier, I’m happy with how is turned out.
So whether or not it counts as a retelling is surely up for debate, but I am happy to have gone on this journey with these characters. They all have some of my dreams as well as some of my faults. Hopefully, their adventures and search for meaning will inspire others as well.
I must thank all my friends and family, and, most importantly, my lovely wife. They have read various pages and notes and versions of this text over the years, and helped me shepherd this story into what it is now. Without their support and feedback, I would never have kept with this over the years.
