Andrew Kaitiff

I am doctor working in Cornwall. In May of 2015, I was involved in an accident that resulted in a trip to hospital, courtesy of The Devon Air Ambulance. To that point I had been a very keen sportsman and, in many ways, it defined me. As I lay in “Majors” in A&E, my world spinning from a dizzying mix of head injury and morphine, I saw a lot of my world and the pleasure that I took in it, disappear. Nihilistic I know: a little narrow minded yes, particularly considering that in all probability the very worst outcome was that might have lost an eye. It could have been much worse. But I was nonetheless, feeling quite sorry for myself.

Over the next few days, while trying to ignore overheard snippets of my wife’s phone calls to the local eye unit to the tune of, “I’m supposed to put drops into his eye, but I cannot find it, what shall I do?”, I decided to write a book, a trilogy in fact.

I had written cricket reports for the local newspaper and kept notes on my phone, were I ever to put finger to keyboard, but nothing more than that. I knew that there were characters and stories within me that had been chuntering away to get out for as long as I could remember and so I listened to them and let some of them escape onto the pages that lie before you now.

I didn’t specifically set out to write a fated adventure story, replete with folklore and magic, bound by medicine and psychology, but I did want it to reflect the enigmatic, rugged beauty of Cornwall and Devon, the area in which I am fortunate enough to live. The coasts of each are truly stunning…and I believe everyone should go surfing: it makes you feel so alive, so at one with the earth, firing all five senses at once…yes, a sport that you can taste!

I have had it professionally copyedited and proofread by Richard Sheehan, who has worked for numerous publishing houses and authors, and I am grateful to him for his patience exceptionally diligent help. I feel the need to say that he hasn’t touched this foreword, so any grammatical errors here are all mine.

The first part of the story has been 4 years in the making. I went back to work but continued to write it in my free time. Well I say “free”, technically I should have been looking after the children, or fitting a kitchen or tackling the garden or any other number of more mundane activities, but I had decided that I was writing a book. In all honesty I have probably spent more time on this book than I remember spending revising for my medical exams.

Anyway, I hope that you enjoy the ride and the story continues in "Science", the story for which has already been written.