The Star to Every Wandering

Until next time…

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

In each of my last five novels, including the other two in the Crucible trilogy, I have commenced my acknowledgments by thanking my editor, Marco Palmieri. Well, nothing’s changed. As a writer, I could not be more fortunate than I have been in working with Marco. He is so very good at his craft, and it is always a pleasure to have him toiling by my side. I consider him both an ally and an asset in my professional life, and a friend in my personal life. In so many ways, for so many reasons, Marco is simply the best.

I would also like to thank John Picacio, the talented artist who produced the beautiful triptych comprising the three covers for the Crucible books, Provenance of Shadows, The Fire and the Rose, and The Star to Every Wandering. His art speaks for itself, and if you’d like to see more, check out John’s website, johnpicacio.com, or his new book, Cover Story: The Art of John Picacio. I had the good fortune of meeting John and spending some time with him at and after a recent convention, and he could not have been nicer or more friendly.

I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the contributions of two men without whom this trilogy would not have been possible. During the tumultuous 1960s, Gene Roddenberry created Star Trek, and with it, a stage on which to tell stories of alien civilizations in the future, stories that actually addressed important societal issues on present-day Earth. On that stage, Harlan Ellison crafted his serious and poignant “The City on the Edge of Forever,” an episode that, even when I watch it today, causes me to experience chills during its heartrending climax. I am privileged to be allowed to write within Mr. Roddenberry’s now-vast universe, and doubly so to coax my own tales out of Mr. Ellison’s masterful story. At the same time, I wish to acknowledge all of the people who have contributed to the considerable creation that is Star Trek-from the production assistants, to the costumers, to the camera operators, to the writers and producers and directors, to each and every behind-the-scenes or onscreen individual who added to this wonderful mythos. I salute you.

Thanks also to Alex Rosenzweig, who once more came through for me with some critical Star Trek research. In this case, I am particularly grateful to him because he did so on such short notice. While some might think that details of the Trek universe are easy to find, that’s not always the case, and especially not with respect to the subtle or complex pieces of information that I often seek. For The Star to Every Wandering, Alex graciously saved me a great deal of time and effort when I faced an impending deadline.

On a very personal note, I want to thank Mary and Bill Dunlap for their love and support through the years. We’ve shared many adventures together-from taking a tour of the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, to attending Jeanette and Rich Thomas’s blowouts on their vineyard in Lodi, California, from embarking on a manic cab ride through London, England, to experiencing a wild game on a soccer field that had been converted into a baseball diamond on a military base in the middle of the woods in Balashikha, Russia-and I certainly hope that we have many more. Mary and Bill are among my very favorite people in the world, and I always look forward to our time together.

Thanks too to Victoria and John Ratnaswamy for their friendship. John and I have also had our fair share of escapades over the years-from meeting a ship’s captain somewhere in the Caribbean Sea, to making astronaut Jim Lovell’s acquaintance at his son’s restaurant in Lake Forest, Illinois, from visiting a mock-up of space station Freedom in Southern California, to participating in a pair of space shuttle mission simulations at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama-and I trust that we have more to come. I adore Victoria and John, and I feel privileged to have them and their three wonderful children, Alec, Julia, and Lily, in my life.

I also wish to thank Kathy Golec for her long comradeship. We did time in the trenches together, and I managed to make it through relatively unscathed, at least in part due to her presence there with me. Kathy is a bright, vibrant woman whom I am lucky to count as a friend.

I also want to thank the United States Submarine Veterans, and in particular the men of Tang Base. Only a small percentage of the U.S. Navy serve as submariners, and they are indeed a unique breed. I am honored to be an associate member of Tang Base, and I have Walter Ragan to thank for inviting me aboard. Walter himself “rode the vents,” and I love listening to his stories about that time. He is a man of honor and integrity whom I treasure.

Thanks to Anita Smith for her constant love and support. Quick to smile and laugh, always willing to lend her assistance with anything, she is a pleasure to be around. Anita is a very special woman, somebody who improves my life simply by being in it.

I want to express my appreciation to Jennifer George as well. Her love and support never waver, and she makes my life not only easier and better in so many ways, but more fun too. I think the world of Jen, and I respect and admire her more than words can say.

Thank you to Patricia Walenista too. A touchstone for me, she is a woman of great character-not to mention being something of a character as well. Energetic and fun, supportive and loving, she is one of the most important people in my life.

Finally, I want to thank the universe at large for Karen Ragan-George. As many times as I have sung Karen’s praises, both in the pages of my books and in my personal life, there are simply not enough melodies, not enough refrains, to do so sufficiently. Still, I can say that since Karen and I met, everything is different. All she asks of me is that wherever she goes, I go too, and I know that she’ll always stand by me, come what may. Oh, and hers are the sweetest eyes I’ve ever seen.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

The three volumes of the Crucible trilogy-Provenance of Shadows, The Fire and the Rose, and The Star to Every Wandering-mark the first ventures by David R. George III into Star Trek’s Original Series. He has previously contributed a television story, four novels, and a novella to the Trek universe. He cowrote the story for the first-season Voyager episode “Prime Factors,” which deals with the consequences of the crew having to face the noninterference directive of an alien race, and which was nominated for a Sci-Fi Universe Award in the category “Best Writing in a Genre Television Show or Telefilm.” With Armin Shimerman, he wrote the Deep Space Nine novel The 34th Rule, a serious tale of Ferengi machinations, racism, and war between the Alliance and Bajor. He also penned two other DSN novels, Twilight and Olympus Descending, both set after the final episode of the series (the latter work appears in the book Worlds of Deep Space Nine, Volume Three). Additionally, he wrote a Lost Era novel, Serpents Among the Ruins, featuring Captain John Harriman and First Officer Demora Sulu of the Enterprise-B, which tells the story of the Tomed Incident. Finally, he authored the novella Iron and Sacrifice, another Demora Sulu yarn, this one contained in the Tales from the Captain’s Table anthology. David’s books have appeared on both the USA Today and New York Times bestseller lists.

A native of New York City, David presently makes his home in Southern California, where he lives with his delectable wife Karen. They are both aficionados of the arts-books, theater, museums, film, music, dance-and they can often be found partaking in one or another of them. They also love to travel, and are particularly fond of Paris, Venezia, Roma, Hawai’i, New York City, and the Pacific Northwest. They also enjoy sailing on cruises.

David has not yet been approved for nonprescription use by the FDA.