Preface of Anthology I

During 2019 and 2020, I wrote and released seven short stories as part of an earlier version of this anthology. I wrote them canonically detached from one another — they did not share the same fictional universe. In 2021, I decided to rewrite and reincorporate them as part of a single science fantasy universe. I would create many (largely unreleased) iterations of this universe, with each one getting closer to my desired vision. Eventually, I settled on Absurd Realms. This anthology is the first entry to the series.

To make it easier for myself and my readers, I divide each short story into scenes of 300–900 words, with paragraphs of 50–150. For short stories, I like to keep them within 1800–5400 words — and for the anthology, 10,800–32,400. I may, of course, at times, go over or under these word counts, whatever feels right.