The bucolic world of Mountebank Beaverlee is a sanctuary from the hectic pace of urban life. I go there from time to time seeking inner peace, and my more memorable encounters become the Byron on Wells stories I share with the world.

As you might guess from that statement, there is a lot more to Byron than you read in these pages. Much of it is missing because it does not translate well into prose. It is like two old friends fishing on a lazy Saturday, neither of them saying a word, and neither of them having to. Some of life's greatest moments do not involve the utterance of sound and cannot be captured by stroking keys. That some of my stories imply such moments lurking just out of view is one of my proudest accomplishments as an author.

Enough about me. There are some other special individuals that helped me bring Byron more fully to the public. Roger Thomas submitted the wonderful story "The Brave Storm" which I gladly accept as canon, and gave me the original impetus to write about naiads. Andy Filpowich taught me the intricacies of recording sound at the computer and once voiced Buckthorn Badger on disk. Lynne Riday did the voice of Starlight Foxworth and looked over my work. Talented artist Rich LaPierre did me a few evocative pen and ink drawings of the characters which I treasure and he and his wife Jules were Buckthorn and Sophie Badger. These people took Byron on Wells and made it home.

Lastly I want to thank all the people, living and dead, who inspired bits and pieces of these works, mainly C. S. Lewis for writing The Chronicles of Narnia, and my maternal grandmother Annie Mae Beaty who never lived to see herself as Crystal Beaverlee.

John Burkitt - May 26, 2008

Nashville, Tennessee, USA