One of life’s awful regrets is missed opportunities to do right by someone who deserved it. I was slow in doing my side of this collaboration with Jeff Carlson, the bright and vivid author of The Frozen Sky (about colonization under the ice roof of Europa) and his action-packed Plague Year series (about a nano-machine swarm that kills all vertebrates below 10,000 feet in altitude). Wow, such vivid material! And hence, together we embarked on Book Two of the High Horizon series…
Though too slowly. I always thought there’d be time! Jeff seemed so young, so vigorous and unstoppable, and I was out of the loop when he fell ill, with terrible speed. So, when I finally sent a bounce-back of my own iteration on this book, and learned he had passed away … oh, my.
While this novel bears Jeff’s own dedication to his two wonderful sons, it also carries my own, to Jeff and his beloved Diana.
Life is not fair! It wasn’t for our ancestors and not for most of our fictional characters … nor - at some level - for anyone. But this was a particularly poignant blow. Alas, all we can do is aim our attention forward. And seek to help little islands and moments of fairness—and love—to grow.
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I’d like to thank my new young collaborator, Steve Ruskin, for helping put volume #2 in order, writing several fill-in chapters, to help us reach the word count desired by Ring of Fire Press. I look forward to working with him on volume three! Also, of course, Eric Flint and his RoF team, for all their help bringing these books—and more to come—into the light of day and into your hands. And the brilliantly creative cover artist Patrick Farley, and Laura Givens for her fine interiors and Mike Knopp for converting sketches into a fine map of “the Rock” and environs.
Others who helped with criticism, catching flaws and helping refine your reading experience, include Eleanore Miller, Robert Qualkinbush, Joy and Dave Crisp, William Taylor, Susan Chang, Jenna Claver, Robert Prior, Jonathan Armstrong, Bonnie Hartmeyer, Doug MacElwain, David Ivory, Steve Jackson, Darrell Ernst, Duncan Cairncross, Matt Crawfor and several others I may have missed. And as always Cheryl Brin and Ari, Terren and Ben, our own emissaries into the future. Also high school teacher Matt Haupert, who exposed his classes at High Tech High: North San Diego County to various drafts, and to those students for refining our portrayal of how real teens might think and talk in the 2020s, if faced with such challenges.
Face your own with ingenuity and perseverance and courage.