To begin, these acknowledgments are actually a sequel, of sorts, to the acknowledgments in A Time to Kill, the volume that precedes this one. I had managed to thank just about everyone under the sun in that go-around, but, inevitably, some folks got missed. Mea culpa.

First up on the “thanks” roster this time is my agent, Lucienne, who handles the business end of all these labors of mine, so that I don’t need to worry about the economics of what I’m writing, while I’m actually writing it.

Next, a big tip o’ the hat to John Van Citters from Paramount Licensing. Although his coworker Paula was the one with whom I worked during the story-development phase of these two books, J.V.C. was the person I dealt with after the manuscripts were written. His insights and encyclopedic knowledge of the Star Trek universe, both cinematic and literary, were invaluable in guiding these two manuscripts through their final stages.

Pocket Books editor Marco Palmieri also provided valuable information that helped me keep the events of A Time to Kill and A Time to Heal in synch with the rest of the Star Trek literary universe, particularly the acclaimed Deep Space Nine post-finale tomes. And Ed Schlesinger deserves my thanks simply for his patience.

Some people I simply cannot thank enough, so I’ll mention them once again. My beautiful wife, Kara, has, with varying degrees of sangfroid, tolerated my closed-door nights apart from her, as I tapped at my Macintosh and drove her insane by playing the same five or six movie soundtracks, over and over and over.…John Ordover showed faith in my ability by entrusting me with this double-volume debut. My parents, David and Yvonne, have always been close by—in spirit if not in body—with encouraging words. And I genuflect before the Malibu tribe, for not clubbing me with herrings as my complaining about “the books” and my “deadlines” stretched to its twentieth week—and beyond….

On a different note, I feel that I owe a great debt to the composers whose brilliant film scores provide me with inspiration and help my mind’s eye choreograph countless key moments in my narratives: Howard Shore (all three Lord of the Rings movies); Hans Zimmer (Gladiator, Black Hawk Down); Brian Tyler (Frank Herbert’s Children of Dune); Danny Elfman (his Planet of the Apes score is riveting); John Williams (the entire original Star Wars trilogy, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Jurassic Park…the list goes on and on); James Horner (Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and Aliens); David Arnold (Stargate and Independence Day); Jerry Goldsmith (Star Trek: The Motion Picture and The Ghost and The Darkness); Vangelis (Blade Runner); Alan Silvestri (The Abyss); Brad Fiedel (Terminator 2: Judgment Day and True Lies); Basil Poledouris (Conan the Barbarian and Starship Troopers—belittle the movies if you must, the music is wonderful); and Cliff Eidelman (Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country). Honestly, I would be lost sometimes without the music to guide me.

Speaking of being lost, let me express my gratitude to Geoffrey Mandel for his invaluable reference work of Star Trek astrocartography, Star Charts.

Finally, one item of note I’d like to point out for folks who might not be familiar with quality jazz: In a few scenes of this book and A Time to Kill, Will Riker listens to music by a “Chicago master” named Junior Mance. For the record, Junior Mance is a real person, and a bona fide Chicago master of jazz and blues. He is one of the most gifted pianists I have ever heard, and one of the nicest people I’ve ever met. Treat yourself—go buy and listen to some Junior Mance CDs (particularly Happy Time and Blue Mance) before you read this book.

That’s it, I’ll stop now. Read, enjoy. See you next time.