## How the Saga came to be... When I was in third or fourth grade I discovered a paperback book on my parents bookshelf. The title was _Patriot Games_ by Tom Clancy. By the time I was in middle school I had read it at least three times along with a slew of other Clancy titles such as _Hunt for Red October_, _Cardinal in the Kremlin_, and _Sum of All Fears_. I was enthralled with his ability to "spin a yarn". Simultaneously I was obsessed with all sorts of survival handbooks and survival fiction. I read every one that my local library had at least a hundred times. Titles such as _My Side of the Mountain_, _Hatchet_, or _Ishi: The Last of His Tribe_ were a few of my favorites. Sci-fi and supernatural thriller tales by Robert A. Heinlein, CS Lewis, and Frank E. Peretti were also authors I was enamored with. As I grew older I became interested in history, particularly military history. I had a voracious appetite and in a few months I had read dozen books on the subject. All of those authors, genres, and the tales they told had a profound impact on me as a writer. They also shaped me into the person I am today. Then in 2010 my unit was deployed to Afghanistan. --- During my deployment to Afghanistan the time I spent on watch in the turret of my Light Armored Vehicle was my place for deep thinking. As I scanned the horizon before me lay the seemingly endless expanse of brown and gray of the desert. The way the sun or the starlight would dance over the landscape was nothing short of magical. Over time that landscape became deeply therapeutic - a salve for my soul that ached within me as I witnessed atrocities and injustices. When I first arrived in country I hated the desert. It was inhospitable, it was violent, and it intimidated me. However, as time ticked slowly by the starkness of the landscape seeped into my soul. It was as if the dust of a thousand previous warriors who came before me, and met their demise in this place, had entered my bloodstream. Thoughts and dreams began to permeate my sleep until I was sure I would explode if I did not write them down. As the days turned into weeks and the weeks into months I filled page after page of my journal with the thoughts in my head. The journal offered waypoints, if you will, so that later back _"in the rear with the gear"_ on my buddies laptop (thank you Nathan Chotikul) I could reconnect the dots, _"spin the yarn"_, and begin creating _Wormwood Saga_ (at the time it was simply titled - _My Darkest Hour_). While my time in the desert was oddly peaceful it was also pockmarked with intense violence and sadness. Through this collage of peace and fear the story that had overtaken my dreams and waking thoughts was finally coming out in the pages of this saga. I found myself craving the desert that I had once feared - and little by little I felt the pressure within me subside. --- For many years after those days, which are never to far from my memory, the saga sat on my hard drive collecting _"dust"_. I did not know how to share it, nor even if I wanted to. There were still many holes in the plot and the storyline was a mess. I had a million good excuses not to share it. Over the years though as I watched our nation plunge into a pit of strife, greed, anger, discontentment, and hatred I began to think that maybe now was the time to share _Wormwood Saga_ with the _"world"_. I took the plunge and began the journey of becoming an indie author. Using my [skills as a web developer](https://mountaintopcoding.dev/?ref=wormwoodsaga.com) I built my own website for Wormwood Saga. [Obsidian's Publish](https://obsidian.md/publish) ecosystem was instrumental in successfully publishing this novel. [Scrivener](https://www.literatureandlatte.com/scrivener/overview?ref=wormwoodsaga.com) was my local medium for the creation process; while my good friends at the [Queer and Affirming Writers Collective](https://www.mikemaeshiro.com/writers-group) helped me to fill in the plot, correct the storyline, and dust off the memories, ideas, and thoughts. I hope you enjoy reading it half as much as I have enjoyed writing it. #### Support the saga The entire saga is available to all at no charge. If you feel inclined to you can [buy me a cup of coffee](https://www.buymeacoffee.com/Isaactait) but Wormwood Saga is and always will be free to all. If you do decide to buy me a cup of coffee know that it makes this indie novel possible, and will help offset the costs needed to keep _Wormwood Saga_ in existence. So, thank you for your support - it really means a lot. If you have any questions, feedback, or just want to chat I can be reached via [SubStack](https://substack.com/@biit)or [Bluesky](https://bsky.app/profile/enlightenednomad.bsky.social) Namaste 🙏 --- [[Wormwood Saga 🌳]] [[Support the Saga 💸]]