No book writes itself, especially when it is a part of a seven-book series.
First, thanks to John Ordover, who helped me shape a vague idea into something strong enough to sustain this crossover. People wonder what an editor does and to some people it means a wordsmith, someone to polish the author’s prose. John is the big-picture kind of editor, spitballing ideas and drumming up enthusiasm from his authors. It was John, for example, who hit upon the Kalandan connection which allowed us to tie in The Original Series. The fun of it was, most of the event took shape through Instant Messages, and then e-mail, showing just how far technology has come. An appreciative nod goes to my cowriters, Susan Wright, Diane Carey, Keith R. A. DeCandido, Peter David, and Christie Golden for joining me on the journey. All credit to Susan for taking the name Petraw and bringing them to life.
If you liked this, then a large portion of the credit goes to editor Keith, who stepped in to edit the manuscript late in the process. However, having been there from the beginning, and helping make this richer by sending me IMs that started, “Could you work in . . .,” he is now here to make sure this stands tall. We go back way too long to cover here, and it’s neat to work together like this. Others at Pocket who provided help, encouragement, or just a smile include Marco Palmieri, Jessica McGivney, John Perrella, and Margaret Clark.
Thanks also to my old pal Paula Block, at Paramount Licensing, who makes sure these books are as good as possible. Additional Paramount people to thank include Mike and Denise Okuda for their exhaustive and incredibly useful reference tools, including the Star Trek Encyclopedia.
Coming from the world of comics, I find it appropriate that the Iconians were co-created by fellow comics denizen Steve Gerber. Along with Beth Woods, they added a layer to the galactic history that has allowed us to explore and have some fun along the way. We worked together a few years before he wrote the “ Contagion” episode and it’s nice to sort of be working with him again. I may even forgive him for the Dry Cleaners incident.
I was encouraged along the way by friends, colleagues, and coworkers, including Mike Friedman, Mike Buonfiglio, the usual Shore Leave contingent, and the gang at PsiPhi.org. Of course, I wouldn’t have gotten this far without the support from my family, including Mom, Neil, and Judy.
As always, my patient wife, Deb, and children, Katie and Robbie, understood the need to lock myself away in the basement nights and weekends, making sure I could hit this deadline. Robbie’s enthusiasm for the space battle kept me going while Katie signed off on the crew of the Marco Polo’ s dialogue. Every author should be as lucky to be surrounded by such a support group.