War Stories: New Military Science Fiction

Acknowledgments

JAYM: A few years ago, an i09.com article said I was working on military SF from the perspective of female and LGBTQ characters. At the time, it was just a half–joking idea, but a few years later, the stars aligned. There are too many people to thank, but a few in particular made this possible.

War Stories is dedicated to soldiers, and their families and loved ones. More specifically, to the wonderful community of veterans and soldiers—especially Neil, Greg, Ana, Aaron, DJ, Terry, and the guys at RangerUp—who answered all sorts of questions. Thanks for all your help, and your patience with my questions.

Thank you to the Kickstarter backers, the authors, my co–editor, our slush readers (including my wonderful mother), and everyone who spread the word and believed in us. To Jason, too, who took a chance on a potentially divisive book.

And, last but not least, to Greyson, who proved that the biggest soldier can sometimes have the greatest heart.

You all made this possible. Thank you.

ANDREW: War Stories began with a conversation between myself and Jaym at the 2012 ReaderCon in Burlington, MA. It’s a project that grew with each conversation, and there are an enormous number of people that need to be thanked with any sort of project such as this. I can’t list everyone who deserves thanks, but know that your help, support and contributions are most appreciated.

Thanks to go to John Joseph Adams, for his guidance and for passing along several stories that ended up in the book, to Jason Sizemore for giving this project a home and believing in the project over its entire lifecycle. To each of our authors, who provided us with their incredible stories, to our dedicated slush readers, Megan, Matt, Blackwell and Carey.

Thank you to everyone who pledged to the original project on Kickstarter, and for everyone who talked, tweeted and posted about this, providing encouragement and support along the way.

Thanks to Galen Dara, who makes awesome art. Thanks to Annalee Newitz, Charlie Jane Anders and the entire crew at io9, who got me thinking about the state of Military SF (and in a roundabout way, got me started with this) and to Myke Cole and Kevin Beal for the advice and support over the last couple of years.

Finally, thank you to my parents, Alan and Ellen Liptak and to my wife, Megan Liptak (and Bram), for their unwavering support and encouragement while I spent long nights and weekends on this. This never would have happened without you.