Gasping For Air is a fictional story that references many real artworks, books, films and musical releases. I have sincere gratitude and respect for all these inspirational works’ creators, and I urge readers to seek them out if they’re not already familiar with them. One work that deserves special mention is Laura Miller’s The Magician’s Book, an insightful and thorough critique of The Chronicles of Narnia by CS Lewis. Though the central characters in this novel would have loved it, it was unfortunately published after the events described here.

In writing Gasping For Air, I have also been inspired by Paganism, including the practices and teachings of modern Druidry. Whilst I do not directly represent any one tradition in this story, I thank the Order of Bards Ovates and Druids specifically. More widely, I also value our modern liberal society, which upholds our freedom to explore and express our spirituality and our sexuality in our own our chosen way, “If it harm none…”

The cover photograph for the free-ebooks.net release is Sergey Gorshkov’s ‘Arctic Treasure’ - a Wildlife Photographer of the Year highly commended entry.