History: The House That Ivy Built: Book 0 was begun after Book 4 was finished, because I wanted to lay some groundwork for Ivy's past and write about her from outside her own mind. So far I think it is more for me and fans of the later series than it is a stand-alone book. This might change in the future if I decide to start the series around this time when I rebuild the whole thing. I may have to go back as far as the webcomic's storyline in order to really build it the way I want, but so far I am undecided as to where this series truly begins. This is a back-burner project and remains unfinished.

About THTIB 0: This is third person! It's my only third person novel so far, and it's limited omniscient with the point of view bouncing between the characters. It opens with Alix (a character webcomic readers will be unfamiliar with), shifts to Weaver and Dax, and later covers Adele. The girl who was born in Negative One is the four-year-old in the last of these excerpts, and you get to watch a new group of people try to deal with a young child with fantastic powers. She is later called Ivy by this group, but in these excerpts she hasn't gotten her name yet. This is mostly about the history and interaction of these characters and how the group, each with their different talents and strengths, contributes to raising this weird telekinetic kid.

• Excerpt 1 begins soon after Alix has joined Dax and Weaver in a three-man kinda-sorta commune. When Alix questions Dax about their spiritual beliefs and Dax reveals the beliefs he and Weaver share, Weaver feels betrayed and briefly runs away. Weaver's adventures—and his companions' concern for him—make up this excerpt.

• Excerpt 2 is Adele's introduction to the group. Being that it was a men's group always before, the arrival of a female is a bit of an upheaval, and the guys have to discuss whether they'll let her join them in this scene.

• Excerpt 3 combines two chapters in which young Ivy is introduced to the group by Adele. (She has not been named yet in these clips, though.) The group is shocked and a little scared when it is revealed that this four-year-old girl has nearly unlimited telekinetic powers. Even with Adele's ability to find answers in unusual ways, can they really handle raising this child? The issues involved in doing so—and all the characters' reactions to both a new (youthful!) face and such a dangerous and intriguing concept—are the main focus of these chapters.