Preface and Dedication

This story could not have happened without the initial encouragement of Strickland83, who read a post I made on Nick Scipio’s forum and urged me to consider writing.

Of course, that leads me to thank Nick, and also Frank Downey. Their Summer Camp and Dance of a Lifetime books, respectively, were truly inspirational. Cheers, guys.

Other authors who contributed, unknowingly, include everyone that I read between the ages of around 8 (When I discovered Arthur Ransome’s Swallows and Amazons in a local library), to today. To all of them, thank you so very much.

My Primary Editor, Bob Hebert, has been simply wonderful. The reality team have put in a lot of work in the readthroughs. Without these people the story would have been greatly reduced by the simply huge number of errors that they caught, in terms of grammar, sense and direction. Any errors that remain are, of course, my responsibility.

Finally, this is dedicated to my darling wife, Karen. I love you so very much.

Equal Shares came about as a result of a challenge set to me by Strickland83. It was worded as encouragement, but a challenge it was.

He read a post on Nick Scipio’s forum that I made. In it, I poured my heart out about the three occasions in which I’d fallen hopelessly in love with a fictional character. One was when I was only 13, the other two were Frank Downey’s Sophia and Nick’s own Gina. It was an emotional vent, in which I praised them for their ability to make a 50 year old man break down in tears over pain occurring to a character that was, in the end, no more than words on paper (or a screen).

He said, in part:
> I want to see others share their talents. Don't beg off by saying
> that your spelling or grammar are not good. That's what editors do > for you.
> Give it a try. Find an idea that you can be passionate about and
> work from there. Develop the story in your mind and then write 
> about it. Give it a try.
> 
> You have been touched by other stories. Now go out and touch 
> others.

So, I thought about it. I dismissed the idea, of course, as I hadn’t tried to write fiction since I was a schoolboy. But there remained this thing…

Then, I had an idea. I had a tale to tell. I wanted to tell a story, an erotic story, that didn’t feature kids of school or university age, that wasn’t a coming of age story, which actually featured people who were ‘grown up’. It would be a slow story, about a man who began as emotionally dead, but who had the support of just a few people who could help him, just enough support. It would also tell the story of those around him.

This tale is very definitely not autobiographical, but there is some of me in Stan. In some facets, quite a lot, actually. In the same way, some of the characters have real-life counterparts for some of their personalities. Anne is heavily based on the smartest person I have ever known, who sadly died of cancer a couple of years ago. Elizabeth is an amalgam of three people. There is, I’m afraid, no real life analogue to Denise.

Stan’s devotion to Caron is heavily modelled on my own love, of course. Like everything else, sweetheart, I offer this to you.

Steveh11, 12th May, 2006