I wrote up the much more tightly focused pitch, reworked the character intros to fit the revamped setting, made Cyrus the main character instead of a side character, and then sent it to Orbit. Given you’re reading this book, their response should not be a surprise. Plenty of world-building followed, and I have lots to say about the newer additions, such as Soma and Keles or how reading Megan E. O’Keefe’s Velocity Weapon dramatically altered the initial outline, but that’s for another note in another book.

Which means it is time to give thanks to those who deserve all of it and more. Thank you, Brit, for still believing I have stories worth reading. Thank you, Angeline, for the much needed second pass. Thank you to Lauren and the entire Orbit Art deptartment for consistently giving me some of the best covers in the business. Thanks to Megan and Essa for being the earliest readers of this book, and for being there when I needed to ramble, question, or rant about writing nonsense (or just wanted to talk Final Fantasy XIV). Thank you, Michael, for being the best agent a guy like me could ask for. Thank you again, Sam, for being the perfect person to spend months locked down together with.

Last, and most important, thank you, dear reader, whether this is the first book of mine you’ve read, or your twenty-ninth. You allow me to live a dream I never imagined could become real. I get to tell stories for a living. Thank you. Truly.

David Dalglish

July 3, 2021

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meet the author

Photo Credit: Myrtle Beach Photography

DAVID DALGLISH currently lives in Myrtle Beach with his wife, Samantha, and daughters, Morgan, Katherine, and Alyssa. He graduated from Missouri Southern State University in 2006 with a degree in mathematics and currently spends his free time tanking dungeons for his wife and daughter in Final Fantasy XIV.

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