Acknowledgements

I enjoyed writing Altered Reality because I got to delve into the characters a little more than Becoming Human. While Becoming Human introduces you to the dystopian Earth and “utopian” Exilon 5, Altered Reality brings my vision for the Indigenes and humans to life.

 

There are strong references to genetics in Book 2 and I must thank my cousin ‘P’ for her incredibly detailed account of how genetics and current gene therapies work. I now have a greater respect for the work she does as a clinical biologist. Readers should know that all my characters are fictitious, including the clinical biologist, Dr. Caroline Finnegan. Her character is based purely on my interpretation of what I believe are the moral struggles biologists must face when working with genetics.

 

When I wrote Becoming Human, I didn’t know what was in store for the Indigenes. It really only started to make sense as I wrote Altered Reality. The Indigenes would not be the perfect super-human race they were created to be but flawed, like humans. They are also a great deal more vulnerable than their predecessors are. Humans have nothing to lose and everything to gain by colonising Exilon 5. The Indigenes view things very differently.

 

I want to thank my beta readers, Kathryn, Guy and Alison for giving me solid pointers on how to improve the story. Thanks to Andrew Brown for designing an eye popping cover I can be proud of (pun intended), and to Averill, for editing and improving the flow of a story I could only ever take so far myself.