Letter to the Reader:​

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"For a work of historical fiction to be effective and accurate, hundreds of hours of tireless research are required. Not only does the author need to research the place, time, and cultural atmosphere depicted in the novel itself, but the people and events that influenced it. 

My intent behind 1969: A Brief and Beautiful Trip Back was to construct an objective, comprehensive view of the countercultural youth Movement that existed during the late 1960s. I sought to shed light on the philosophies, ideals, customs, and events that led up to the formation of the Movement, the conditions that sustained it, and the factors that contributed to its eventual decline. Inherent in this exploration was the opportunity to delve deeper into the merits of this era and the Movement it spurned—along with the egregious faults that accompanied them—that may be missed at a cursory glance.

Our time and every single one us living in it are the latest products of millions of years of history. Each new day is carved under the shadow of yesterday in the light of our hope for tomorrow. Our environment, society, and culture are forged and shaped by memories, some more recent than others. In 1969, I lifted a single snapshot out of the photo album of time, one that depicts a critical juncture in the world’s recent past. In focusing my looking-glass upon different details within that picture, I sought to resurrect a thorough understanding of the time in which it was taken with both the wisdom of hindsight and the intensity of first-hand experience. 

Interwoven within the structure that history provides, I have fashioned a story narrated from the point of view of an objective observer. Each character is meant to represent another facet of the time and bring life to the diverse philosophies and ideas that comprised it. In a way, they’re not just characters in a book, they’re real. There were many Bobbys, many Marys, many Billys, and many Spaces. There were a few Fayes and even fewer Als, but their influence has persisted through time. Even today, there are many Descendants, many Georges, many Merediths, and yes, even many Rhiannons. Rhiannon is me. Rhiannon is you. Rhiannon is every reader and every person. The spirit of Rhiannon is within everyone. Rhiannon represents the acquisition of knowledge and understanding through the process of experience. In this way, she represents not only a quest for knowledge, but the inevitable gain of wisdom that goes along with living, the process of creating history, the source of all oneness, the collective past."

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Sea Gudinski

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