The first person I would like to mention is my wife\u2019s aunt, Margean Gladysz, for her gift of providing the inspiration to write. It was the publishing of her adventures (A Spy On The Bus: Memoir of a Company Rat) that prompted me to even attempt to write a novel.<\/p>\n
When I first came up with the idea for this book, being in the Science Fiction genre, I wanted the science to be as realistic as possible. So, the first person I contacted for technical assistance was Julie Edwards of the Mars Society. I asked if she could put me in touch with anyone that might be willing to answer questions as they arose. Julie proved to be a great contact, as she put me in touch with Brian Enke, the author of Shadows of Medusa. Brian\u2019s assistance in orbital mechanics proved to be invaluable. Later, Julie was instrumental in putting me in touch with Alan Chen, who contacted Steve Foss, who then contacted Darrel Robertson. The cover art is based on original artwork by my wife, Lou Ann, which also appears within the pages of the book, and porthole photos by Darrel Robertson at the Mars Desert Research Station in Utah. Lou Ann also drew the sketch of the bolo, as well as the one of Earth, Mars, and Luna. Ben Slack finalized construction of the cover by using his computer skills to combine the artwork and add graphics. Thanks, Ben. J. B. Markus generated technical drawings. I think you will find he converted my pencil on graph-paper sketches to a usable spacecraft design, quite well. Now, I just need to find someone to build the real thing.<\/p>\n
I would like to thank Dr. Geza Nagy of Infrastructure Composites International for answers to questions regarding the Mars Society\u2019s Flashline Arctic Research Station Habitat construction, as well as Michelle Webb, Technical Services Representative for the Charlotte Pipe Company, for coming up with the weights and measures for the water pipe-storage concept and helping to establish the feasibility of such a system. Also, Dr. John Lennoff assisted with a bit of material science, in the form of leaded acrylic in place of the leaded polycarbonate, I had envisioned.<\/p>\n
Another big thank you goes out to Dr. Robert Zubrin, founder of the Mars Society and author of The Case for Mars, Entering Space, Mars On Earth, How to Live on Mars, and several other books. Dr. Zubrin is a wonderfully powerful and inspirational public speaker. When posed with a question about the manufacture of fuel on Mars, he came up with an answer in less than twenty minutes. Thanks again.<\/p>\n
As the title implies, email communications are taking the place of postal letter writing. So, to gather inspiration through real-world communications for the book, I emailed a few friends in my social network, explained what I was about to attempt and asked them for input. The basis for one of the characters (Commander Tyler Cody) resulted from the input of Tom Smith. A great deal of input from my wife, Lou Ann Grover, went into the development of the characters of Emma Devlin and Penny Castle (and she promises me that someday she will give me a calendar like Emma sent to Brandon). In the character of Rich Devlin, there is more than a touch of the whimsical nature of my stepson, Jay Ball.<\/p>\n
Plot development also got an assist from Lou Ann as well as John Stitzel, one of my co-workers. John suggested the book could use some international intrigue.<\/p>\n
Once the base story was written, Lou Ann read through it and found typos and grammatical errors. Along the way, she began making suggestions for things like, \u2018Sally smiled at Tom.\u2019 Changing it to \u2018Sally smiled warmly at Tom, dimples appearing at the corners of her mouth.\u2019 Occasionally, she would pick up an entire paragraph, turn it inside out and shake it, just to get the bugs out. Then, she would highlight the changes she had made so I could view them and either accept or reject the suggested change. Being a man of at least average intelligence, I usually accepted her suggestions. Thus, I give credit and many thanks to her for proofreading and first-round editing. (Thanks bunches, sweetheart.)<\/p>\n
As this process went along, I began emailing out copies of chapters to friends, soliciting their opinion of the story. Unfortunately, as we all have real lives to lead, not everyone had time to read through it or just didn\u2019t find time to comment. For those that endured the rough draft (rough being the operative word) and provided commentary and constructive input, I wish to thank the following readers, in no particular order: Margean Gladysz, Jay Ball, Mike Coppens, Richard Salassi, Tom Smith, Mary Anne Anderson, Tracy Black Smith, Kerrisha Havens, Ilagene Moss, Andy Weller, and Michelle Jones. Thank you, one and all, for your valuable assistance.<\/p>\n
And last, but by no means least, I wish to thank you, the reader. Without your interest, this novel would just be collecting dust. I am sure you will find as much enjoyment in reading this book as I had in the creation and writing. Ad Astra (To the stars).<\/p>\n
Lon H. Grover<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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