For those who want to dig deeper into the story, first let me say how glad I am that something here sparked your curiosity. My hope is that these pages take those small embers and blow them into a full blaze that pushes you toward your own goals. Because this is a published book, I’m limited by word count, pacing, and whatever artistic choices made sense at the time. That means plenty of good material gets left on the cutting-room floor. If you’re interested, this is the place where I can break the fourth wall and expand the story without worrying about space—only the cost of bits.

A few rules before you follow Alice down the rabbit hole and dive into these footnotes:

1. I believe in giving credit where credit is due. Yes this is fiction, but I am attempting to blur the lines between fiction and non-fiction so you can question not only the world around you, but your beliefs. These references are giving that due credit as well as further challenging your belief system.

2. This is spoiler territory at the highest level. Proceed at your own risk. Honestly, why ruin a good story for yourself? Read the book first; these notes will make far more sense afterward. Some of you will ignore that, read the footnotes first, and then complain in the comments. And all I can say is: “Really? I warned you.” I will absolutely respond with that and link you right back here. So, for the love of all that is holy, if you haven’t read the book, DO NOT READ the corresponding footnotes first.

3. I am intentionally breaking the fourth wall. I’m talking directly to you because I’m hoping to spark some kind of internal conversation—maybe even a small conversion.  Why? Because we can all get better.  Better spouse, better parent, better boss or employee, better friend, better listener. We can all just plain be better!.

4. Come into these footnotes with an open mind. Please leave your biases at the door. That means reading in a time and place where you’re actually able to think through what I’m presenting and not be a slave your own emotions. Don’t dismiss something just because it challenges your personal, cultural, or religious background.

5. I believe there can only be one truth. You can be deeply passionate and still be completely wrong. If you’re confident your belief is correct, then let that belief stand on its own merits and out-argue all challengers. Present a logical case. Let’s debate it.

6. No one likes a prophet, and by that I mean no one enjoys being confronted with an uncomfortable truth—especially when that truth exposes a weakness. Being challenged is okay. Realizing you were wrong and then learning from it is even better, it is called growth. When you then can apply lessons learned from someone else’s mistakes, and avoid repeating said mistake, that is the pinnacle of wisdom. Either way, you come out better (See rule #2).

7. If something here hits a nerve, take a breath, don’t take it as Justin Lambert committing a personal attack on you. I guarantee I did not wake up this morning and look in the mirror and say to myself. “Today, I am going to attack….” Instead ask yourself, “Self, why did this trigger me? Why am I so upset.” You’ll learn far more about yourself and the topic when you can set your emotion aside long enough to think through the why clearly. For many of us that is a big ask, but once you can take this step, then we can have a debate about the topic to discover the truth.

8. The books come in pairs, which means the footnotes are organized according to those pairs. This is a Microsoft quirk: even when a footnote is hidden in the second book, the software still counts it in the first book. So the footnotes in the first book of each pair will appear in random sequence and not in numerical order. When you read the second book in the pair, every footnote becomes visible, they will be in numerical order. This is a minor Easter egg, foreshadowing, whatever, as I am disclosing the outline of the book in these footnotes.   For instance on Book 1 Footnotes page they are numbered  #25, #41, #42, #etc..  Therefore you can infer that book 2, will have the compliment to these footnotes #1 to #24, #26 to #40, #43, etc.