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Acknowledgements

Every author works alone, usually in a closed room and often at night. Sometimes it feels as if we’re sending messages to Mars by the dark of the Moon. If we have the opportunity to work in collaboration with another writer, then we can bounce ideas around, test them out before they become fixed on the page, and feel the reassuring pressure of another mind to keep us sane. On a solo book, a writer gets some of this contact and comfort from the efforts of a competent editor: at least the book goes off into the darkness after some other mind has first given it a thoughtful run-through. In the new world of ebooks, however, where the self-published author may be working without the safety net of a professional editor, we have to rely on the generosity of others.

With the supposedly finished manuscript of The Children of Possibility in hand, I was able to call on a circle of long-time friends and family members—all of whom have a professional oar in the writing and publishing business and who have taken an interest in my work. They agreed to read the manuscript and give detailed feedback. Their critical review, insights, and suggestions make this story the finished work it hopes to be. My heartfelt thanks to:

• Patrick Larkin (http://www.patricklarkin.net/)—former colleague from PG&E and my mentor in wargaming. Pat specializes in historical, military, and espionage thrillers. His novel The Tribune is the first of a series set in imperial Rome at the time of Christ, with a sequel now under way. He wrote two novels in Robert Ludlum’s bestselling Covert-One series, The Lazarus Vendetta and The Moscow Vector. And earlier he coauthored with Larry Bond five novels of military fiction, including Red Phoenix, Vortex, Cauldron, The Enemy Within, and Day of Wrath.
• Elizabeth Kern (http://elizabethkern.com)—another former colleague who also writes fiction. Her debut novel is Wanting to Be Jackie Kennedy.
• Kate Campbell (blogging at Kate Campbell’s Word Garden, http://kate-campbell.blogspot.com)—another former PG&Eer. Kate’s debut novel is Adrift in the Sound, and I had the privilege of seeing it in draft and helping her with editing. Our email exchanges during the process will soon be published as “Between the Sheets: An Intimate Exchange About Writing, Editing, and Publishing.”
• George Calmenson—another gaming friend who has a long career as a textbook editor and printer.
• Robert Thomas—my brother and a professional technical writer and editor, who has enthusiastically followed my books from the beginning.
• Jessica Neasbitt—my daughter-in-law, a published photographer, and a fair writer herself. Most recently, she has published original scholarly work on gender and cosmetic surgery.

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Framed