This is the tenth book my wife Linda has seen me write. Her courage should not be underestimated, nor her patience neglected.
Finally, a box of Milk Bones and some fresh tennis balls for the guys who kept me sane and happy during this journey: Zack, Jake, and Leclede. Please support your local humane society.
—St. Louis, Missouri
November 1995-October 1996
ALLEN STEELE established himself as a popular and innovative SF writer with his first novel, Orbital Decay, which focused on the blue-collar workers who built the first space station. He has gone on to publish a number of additions to the “Near Space” near-future sequence, the latest of which is A King of Infinite Space, as well as completely independent stories such as The Tranquillity Alternative and The Jericho Iteration. Steele has also published a number of well-received shorter works including “The Death of Captain Future,” which won the Hugo Award and was a Nebula finalist.