About Terry Cassis

I spent most of my adult life being part of the kind of stories that happen when ordinary people reach for unprecedented achievement in pursuit of a noble cause. What does that mean? Well, I am a chief systems architect who has worked to build systems that keep dystopian nuclear holocaust stories out of the realm of historical non-fiction and firmly in the realm of science fiction. I think that's pretty cool, and frankly, some days I wonder how it happened, but it did, and it taught me something about stories.

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You see, the world is filled with stories. We see in them, we think in them, we communicate in them, we remember in them, and we act in them. And it isn't just us - it's the entire cosmos. Stories are everywhere. My ability to see stories in data and craft stories that speak effectively to people and organizations has been pivotal in my success as an engineer.

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Aden’s story is a different kind of story than the ones I am used to telling, but I've needed to tell it for a while. It is a story that asks questions about who we are. It asks if we can stop talking long enough to listen and see the world through another’s eyes, if we can change when it is necessary, if we can recover from soul killing pain and grief, or expand our concept of “my people”. It asks if we will make sacrifices when they are needed, even when we never wanted to be a hero. 

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I hope you enjoy it.