Event

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

As any author will tell you, the process of listing all the kind and generous people who helped or assisted in some way to the actual foundation of any written story can be a daunting task. So it's always best to start at the top.

Heartfelt thanks go first and foremost to Thomas Dunne Books for taking a chance on a strange story from the desert. To Pete Wolverton (the best editor in the business), for guiding a novice novelist through the minefield of the written word. Pete's suggestions added heart to my soul and the end result was magical. To Katie, an assistant editor who patiently dealt with an out-of-control geek and answered every stupid question thrown her way (the publishing world will hear from Katie), and to every one of the editors at Thomas Dunne, who I'm sure thought about a career change right in the middle of editing Event. Now, for my agent, Bob Mecoy, the first believer in this little monster tale, here's to a long "E" Ticket ride, Bob!

I would like to thank a special man out in San Diego, Dr. Kenneth Vecchio of San Diego State University, for doing something for our boys overseas that not a lot of people think about; the special Abalone shell body armor mentioned in this book is real and on the wish list of this author to get it to the troops soonest! Along those same lines, kudos to Helicos BioSciences in Cambridge, Massachusetts, who are doing amazing things with their magical DNA sequencing machine, cutting precious time off a long and difficult process of sequencing.

With the exception of the M-2786 radio and the Cray Corporation's Europa XP series computer, all military hardware mentioned in this novel is real and either on the drawing board or in action. Also thanks go to the U.S. Department of Energy, who was very helpful in answering some very unnerving questions.

To the Mathies family of Babylon, New York, for treating a writer like a human being. It will never be forgotten.

For all those people in Roswell, New Mexico, who are tired of the notoriety. Someday it will all pay off, I promise.

And finally to all those people and friends I have failed (forgotten, let's be honest) to mention, thank you. Any mistakes or outright omissions are the author's responsibility.