Among others who pre-read or critiqued along the way… either offering fresh puns and crackups, or else helping me to notice things best omitted… were Beth Meachem, William Taylor, Wil McCarthy, Robert Qualkinbush, David Pomerico, Pat Scannell, Alex Tosheff, Max Thiemens, Mike Halbrook, Alan Beatts, Cheryl Brin, Bing Chen, Bill Schafer, Betsy Wilcox, Dave Schroeder, Daniel I. Radakovich…

…plus (I am sure) others who were kind enough to read drafts without moidering me, but whose names didn’t make it into notes. It happens every time, sorry.

Oh, the following folks did something to earn “tuckerization” or naming rights for a story character, perhaps by doing some charitable act: Dr. Floyd Katske, William Leininger, Dr. G. Morell, and the Golden Palace Casino. There. Ob completed.

Unused Horrors from the Daveyard shift

All right, you think the puns that I used were bad? How about another fine Gilgamesh? Zap that guy with a namastazer. Put your shudder to the wail. Stroll out the tarpit. Taint the town dead. And Ohm is where the heart is…

These are among a myriad that were even more horrible, offered by some of those folks I just thanked… so go hunt them down, instead of me, hm?

And on that happy note… do fight for our right to be happy. Persevere!

About the Author

David Brin is a scientist, tech speaker/consultant, and author. A film by Kevin Costner was based on Brin’s novel, The Postman. Brin’s 16 novels, including NY Times Bestsellers and Hugo Award winners, have been translated into more than twenty languages. In 1989 one of them, Earth, foreshadowed global warming, cyberwarfare and the world wide web. Existence is about our survival in the near future. Kiln People contained deadly puns.

Dr. Brin serves on the external advisory council of NASA’s Innovative and Advanced Concepts program (NIAC). David appears frequently on shows such as Nova and The Universe and Life After People, speaking about science and future trends. He has keynoted scores of major events hosted by the likes of IBM, GE, Google, Boeing and the Institute for Ethics in Emerging Technologies.

His non-fiction book – The Transparent Society: Will Technology Make Us Choose Between Freedom and Privacy? – won the Freedom of Speech Award of the American Library Association. (Website: www.davidbrin.com )