Dedication
For Barraki and Tweezaa.
You know who you are.
Acknowledgements
Thanks first of all to my many friends and colleagues who read the work and offered both insightful criticism and generous encouragement, but particularly to Jake and Beth Strangeway, Don Perrin, and Bart Palamaro, one of the best editors I’ve ever worked with. Thanks also to everyone at the Greater Lehigh Valley Writer’s Group, especially my critique group pals, for making an inescapably lonely occupation a little less so.
Finally, thanks to the whole gang at Baen Books, but especially to Gray Rinehart, Toni Weisskopf, and Edith Maor—who gives great line-by-line.