Prefix to Reason Season And Lifetime

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This novel, "Invalid Item" , was inspired by “National Novel Writing Month” (www.nanowrimo.org) an organization out of northern California that challenges as many people as possible to write an entire 50,000-word novel during the month of November (breaks down to about two thousand words a day). They're pretty good at it too (they got me hooked); last year, November 2001, they had over 5,000 people attempt the challenge, and 1,500 of those people actually succeeded by finishing their novels by December 1. The beautiful thing about it is that it doesn’t have to be a good novel; it’s not about quality, only quantity. I guess if the idea is any good you can always go back and edit it later -- and that's exactly what I did with this piece of work.

Now the important part: In order to get to 50,000 word minimum in 30 days, parts of this novel needs to have a certain amount of filler. What better way to add filler that people will actually read and some may even find entertaining than to spice it up with some good old fashion smut. If you stumble across this novel and you find yourself compelled to read it, please beware that the prose between the “*******” have content that more sensitive readers might want to skip over (do you hear this Mom). In doing this you will not loose much of the story line but will save yourself exposure to the more graphic content.

Of course I would be remiss if I didn’t include the following disclosure: This is a story; it is fiction. It was all dreamt up in my head, each chapter at a time, and I did make a conscious effort to make it as outrageous as I could (just short of having Martians taking over the world). Although I did try to maintain some sense of accuracy with the story’s geography and public events, please keep in mind that this is a work of fiction. All characters in this story are purely invented and any resemblance they have to anyone in real life is solely coincidental.

And finally, in keeping with the tradition of dedications, I would like add that the following tale is dedicated to:

My wife, Jessica, who seems to understand my need to constantly try new challenges and didn’t whine or complain while I took the time to write this.

My parents who always encouraged me to stretch my imagination.

All the Ray Reiders and Robin Andersons of the world. If you find just a little of yourself in this work of fiction, then make no mistake about it, this story is dedicated to you.

I hope you enjoy my novel. -- Chip