Hello beloved Little Fruits,

If you are reading this, you probably know a little about me already but I am here to explain myself. This group of stories is the product of a long commute for a job that drained me dry for many years. As I drove back and forth through the countryside, if I was capable of not mulling on my job and what needed to be done next, I asked myself a lot of “what if” questions. These questions should have been a clue to the then clueless me that I might have ADHD! The questions that bloomed into “The 6 Worlds” were informed by a long-standing fascination with anthropology and zoology.

“What if a community had no shame relating to sex and nudity?”,

“What if the only way to a more compassionate and ecological society is through a dark age?”,

“What would society be like if, like an octopus, your emotions were worn on your skin? What would they make of acting? Or wrestling?”,

“What if humans were given the choice of functional immortality or reproduction?”,

“What if you found empirical evidence a deity existed but simply as an ancient form of life?”

“What if a prey species became the most "developed" on a planet? What would they have needed to happen to allow that?”.

Questions swirled round each other, I had several little bursts of creative thought but it didn’t really come together until I thought of The Overseers. One slightly morose drive, I thought would humans (for humans read white, Western, imperialism) stop being cruel to “lesser” beings if they got to experience being on the other side. I created The Overseers out of spite, on an Earth I felt incapable of influencing. If one person reads a single chapter and feels anything – I have achieved all I need to.

So, thank you to my Skoda for being the first home of these stories, to my dog for starting me writing, to every single person who has listened to me rant about this as the nexus of so many special interests, to every creative who has contributed in any way (especially Steve Foster for the path image - check him out), to every beta and gamma reader (particularly those who read impossible orders – such buy in) to my partner (the first official Fruit) and to my spouse - my Generous, my Obedient First Eyes, my Soil and World - for listening to literal days of rambling, honing, reading, problem-solving and tears, to my daddy for making the website real and supporting this deranged project and of course to any Little Fruit whether you read one chapter or every single one.

I would love this to continue to be an increasingly collaborative project. I am interested in all kinds of genuine feedback about the stories or website. If you double click anywhere on the website, you can give feedback on that page or email me and I will see it when I see it and make changes if I think I should.