A Big Part of the inspiration for this book was my Uncle Joe and my father, Vince.  My Uncle Joe was a marine, who was paralyzed from the neck down by a grenade, during his second tour of duty in Vietnam.  My dad, my brother and I would always be trying to find something new to help keep my uncle busy, as he ended up being bedridden when he finally made it home after hundreds of surgeries.

     We played every card game and board game probably available at the time.  But the day my brother, whose name is also Joe came home with the game of Dungeons and Dragons, we finally found what fascinated us the most and still does to this day.  It allowed our imaginations to run wild and it kept my uncle busy as he liked to be the one who ran the game.

     Some of the characters in my book where the original ones that we created over thirty years ago.  It easily became understandable why millions of people enjoy playing this game.  You were able to remove yourself from everyday life, and just for awhile, let your imagination take you to an amazing place with magic and monsters.

     My dad's first character that he created was a dwarf named Twiggy, who happens to be a major character in my book.  He based Twiggy off of himself.  The dwarf was a loyal friend, who had a massive beard and reveled in engaging in battle.  He would do anything for his family and friends.

My illustrator on this book is a man named John Manders, whom I can't say enough good things about.  I gave him creative freedom with just a few ideas of what i was looking for in Twiggy.  He read the book to understand the characters and could not have done a more amazing job on Twiggy than he did,  When I saw the final drawing of Twiggy, the only word I could think of was, Perfect!

Even though my uncle and dad have both passed on, they are still very much in my thoughts and have inspired me to become the man and author that I am today.