Dicebox is a story to be told in four books for a total of 36 chapters that plays out an eventful year in the lives of Griffen and Molly, a couple of female itinerant factory workers in a space traveling future.

Wander is the first and current book and the name is descriptive of the path the story will take in this first part. In many ways, Wander is the back story the other three books will build upon.

The title Dicebox was inspired by the Nordic rune Peorth, which is the “dice cup” or the “womb.” Its significance in a casting is of something revealed that had been hidden, though it can also stand for a gamepiece or a pawn.

This in turn resonates with a long fascination of mine for dice and playing cards and their everyday commonness combined with rich symbolic meaning. (Not so much that they are used for gambling as well as fortune telling—though I got the humor of that before leaving grade school.)

I'm fascinated by the way one recognizes the fifth side of a die in less than an instant without counting the dots—it's an alternate symbol “5.” And how they are called “bones” in reference to the material they used to be made from. Well, by my grandfather anyway…

That said, the occasional appearance of dice in this story signifies nothing.