Sometimes, when we experience a good story, it lingers in our minds for a long time. A few of them stick around in there forever. When I was growing up during my school years, I was much more interested in the stories that were told through life itself, not in required reading. Oftentimes, it seemed as though life was too busy and hectic for me to sit down and divulge all of my attention into a book. There were a few books I read in elementary school that really caught my attention, though. I remember one called Fever that was about an outbreak of Yellow Fever in Philadelphia in the 1700s. It's classified as historical fiction but it felt so real to me; one of those books I just couldn't put down.

Besides R.L. Stine's work with the Goosebumps series, it was basically my first introduction to the horror genre in literature. But it wasn't the typical horror one would expect - no monsters, no aliens, no ghosts haunting a mansion. It was a deep, personal fear of a young girl in an unfortunate, terrible circumstance. It was her fight for survival while everything and everyone she knew changed for the worst. It resonated with me but I don't think I knew why until much later in life. Change is constant for everyone but sometimes it's how we perceive and package those changes in our brain that produce how we deal with it. Not to mention, it depends on the change itself. Was it good? Bad? Indifferent?

There was a video game I played when I was younger as well called Hotel Dusk on the Nintendo DS. It was another fictional story but grounded in reality with a very unique art style. I must have played it for days just to experience the murder mystery story that made up most of its runtime. The game was played by holding the two-screen handheld like you would hold a book, which added to the noir aesthetic and mystery novel feel of the experience. I guess it was one of the many steps I unwittingly took towards my fascination with grounded fiction, mystery, and horror stories.

I say this because sometimes I try to stop and take a look back at what led me to pursue a certain project in my life. What compelled me to do one thing and sacrifice the infinitesimal array of other choices I could have made? I believe it starts with the stories that stick in our minds. Those choices we make stem from the impressions made on us when we were the most impressionable. The hardest part is deciding to go for one thing instead of all of them.

It wasn't until my late teens that I was exposed to Stephen King's work. I had seen the movies yet I'd never taken the daunting leap into reading one of his many, often very long, books. But once I began to read them, I had a sensation come over me that was so strong, it was hard to set aside.

"Write a novel of your own."

English class was always one of my favorite classes in school. Not the parts where I had to complete essay-style documents or learn the reason and meaning behind every facet of the process. It was the creative writing projects where I excelled, both in the actual work and with my engagement in the idea of creating my own stories. I wrote one such story for a final project my senior year.

The premise was that of a man who was stuck in the home of abusive parents who wouldn't let him leave. But, one night, he was finally able to sneak out of the house through his window that was left unlocked and he ran for his life into the forest, hoping for a better life ahead of him. In short, my teacher loved it - and so did I. She asked me if she could keep the story to share with future classmates and I happily said yes. It made me proud to think that it was such an interesting tale that people who I may never know might actually read it. Would it stick with them? Would it leave an impression or linger in their minds as a story they loved?

That's one of the greatest feelings for me as a writer. Sure, writing a book was on my bucket list in life, but as I grew up and took the time to reflect, I realized that it means much more to me than checking off a box on a list. So, in 2018, I decided to sit down and write. The story I had written in high school lingered in my head and begged to be written with a new perspective. After all, I had become a new person by that point. More life, more loss, and more courage had been gathered since my days of moving school to school, not knowing what my future held, and being terrified of the fact.

The story you will read now is almost nothing, as far as I can tell, like the story I had written so long ago now. I assume that it's much better and quite a bit more fleshed out over the last four years than when I wrote it before in a single night. I wanted the story to be grounded but with the unknown tension that comes from the style of fiction. We all drive inspiration from somewhere and I always encourage people to find out what they are. Don't be afraid to lean into what inspires you. Once you start writing, let the real you begin to type the words. Unless you're copying and pasting the words from Pet Semetary, you will find that your mind has its way of doing things.

It will categorize and structure parts of your story in its own way. The wording will become unique to you and everything else will follow. It doesn't always work right away and that's when people tend to give up. But I think that working through that roadblock will be the most growth you can obtain. At the very least, your creative muscles will begin to work out the kinks and the knots. You'll discover parts of yourself that you didn't know existed, or that you buried years before. In any case, I am happy that my novel, The Maple Leaf, is complete and available for you to read. It was a pleasure to live in the unsettling world I had created, as odd as that sentiment may sound. I hope my story lingers, inspires, and entertains you. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for giving it a chance.

Sincerely,

Kevin D. Phillips