Nexus (54 page)

Writing is thought of as a solitary craft. Yet for me, the production of this book has been an experience of tremendous support, encouragement, and constructive engagement from others. This novel was born as a purely recreational exercise in writing fiction, in a casual writing group including Kira Franz, Gabriel Williams, Leo Dirac, Corrie Watterson-Bryant, Dana Morningstar, and Scotto Moore. Those Sunday meetings and that first handful of readers gave me something to write for. Their encouragement and critique helped me tremendously.

  Eventually this work transformed from a lark to an actual attempt to write a novel. Through the subsequent process of writing a book, Molly Nixon provided me with invaluable assistance, going above and beyond what an author can ask of anyone, serving as first reader and often nightly reader of raw pages, as a keen mind to bounce ideas off of, and as a bottomless well of enthusiasm.

  A number of already established science fiction authors helped me turn this from a manuscript into a published book. Brenda Cooper took the time to read a huge second draft and gave me incredible encouragement. Greg Bear, David Brin, John Barnes, Alastair Reynolds, Dani Kollin, and Daniel H. Wilson also en couraged me at multiple steps along the way. Karl Schroeder gave me clear, no-nonsense advice on the steps I had to take to make the manuscript publishable.

  My agent, Lucienne Diver, took a chance on a submission from a first time novelist who approached her at a convention. My editor, Lee Harris, did the same. The book has reached you due to their willingness to give those sorts of chances to new authors.

  Anne Zanoni, ostensibly my copyeditor, went far beyond that job in checking fact, logic, style, and consistency of the novel throughout.

  Most of all, I owe a huge debt of gratitude to the tremendous number of people who read drafts of this novel along the way and took the time to give me their thoughts, on everything from neuroscience to geopolitics to dialogue.

  Those beta readers include those I've mentioned above, and also: Ajay Nair, Alexis Carlson, Alissa Mortenson, Allegra Searle-LeBel, Anna Black, Betsy Aoki, Beverly Sobelman, Brad Woodcock, Brady Forrest, Brian Retford, Brooks Talley, Cat Koehn, Coe Roberts, Dan Farmer, Dana Morningstar, Darci Morales, David Lockhart, David Perlman, Doug Mortenson, Elene Awad, Eric Schurman, Gabriel Williams, Grace Stahre, Ivan Medvedev, Jaime Waliczek, Jenna Udren, Jennifer Mead, Jessica Glein, Jim Jordan, Joe Pemberton, Kevin MacDonald, Lars Liden, Lesley Carmichael, Linda Mortenson, Llew Roberts, Lori Waltfield, Mason Bryant, Mellington Cartwright, Michael Chorost, Mike Tyka, Miller Sherling, Ming Holden, Nat Torkington, Oliver Lange, Paul Dale, Peter Tiemann, Rob Gruhl, Robert Fisher, Rose Hess, Sean Daily, Simon Cooke, Simon Winder, Stephanie Schutz, Stuart Updegrave, Suzanne Picard, and Thomas Park.

  The input and assistance of so many people has made this not just a better book, but one that was far more enjoyable to write. Thank you all.