I had an awesome childhood, growing up as an '80s kid. Playground tag and snowball fights. Lazy afternoons at the public swimming pool. Riding bikes with friends until the streetlights came on. Saturday morning cartoons featuring the original (and best!) Smurfs, Scooby Doo, Garfield and even Pac-Man. Collecting stickers, playing with Strawberry Shortcake dolls, and trading Garbage Pail Kids cards. Crazy board games, noisy arcades, even video games at home like Burgertime and Tunnels of Doom. (My very first video game experience was the text-only adventure Deadline that came with "feelies!")

I was lucky enough to be the youngest of nine kids, too. True, half my siblings were out of the house by the time I was old enough to form lasting memories, but they left behind two decades of abandoned toys to stimulate my imagination. (Dawn dolls, Creepy Crawlers, Rock Polishers, and more!) They left behind their childhood books, too. In those old stories, I learned that cookie was once spelled "cooky." I learned to make candy by pouring boiled molasses on fresh, clean snow. I learned that teens had much more active social lives than they did in my day (and today, too...) with sock hops, weenie roasts, malt shop dates, and rumpus room shindigs almost every weekend. 

The mountain of books left behind by my siblings (and collected by my grade school principal dad and my school librarian mom) let me explore the world... and worlds unknown. From Neverland to Wonderland to the Emerald City. Icy Kingdoms hidden in wardrobes. Elves and dwarves at war with evil. Ghosts in globes and eerie mirrors. And girls with metallic eyes and telekinetic powers.

The vivid characters, settings, and adventures crafted by these masters of the imagination let my mind play long after I was sent to bed. I pray that my own creations will inspire young imaginations to explore and dream and achieve as my predecessors' works continue to inspire me. 

Thanks for reading!

C.B. Arche 

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