City Center, The (20 page)
BOOKS BY SIMONE POND
VOICES OF THE APOCALYPSE: SHORT STORIES
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About The Author
Simone Pond
Though Simone loves writing about the future, she lives in current-day Los Angeles with her husband and their Boston Terrier.
The City Center
is her first speculative fiction novel. The next book in the series,
The New Agenda,
will be available in 2014. For more information, visit simonepond.com.
Acknowledgments
I couldn’t have done this without Peter Stier Jr.—thank you for the idea and reading my pages over and over (and over), then giving me more ideas.
Scott Tipton my editor who wasn’t afraid to call me out. Damonza.com for the kick-ass cover design. Christine Haws for the killer photo.
Thanks to Nadine, Champ, A & Fredo for believing in me—even when I didn’t give you a reason to. And Winnie, who slept by my feet for countless hours and reminded me when it was time to go outside for fresh air.
Thanks to my amazing focus group who helped with the tough decisions: Amy Abrams, Sivan Adato, Cari Busch, Adrienne DeBlasio, Hillary DeBlasio, Kat Ditty, Cathy Emmett, Laura Forman, Kara Fromhart, Brian Krawczyk, Ami Lewis, Amanda McCauley, Sibyl Gardner, Nan Hochberger, Erick Mangali, Clare McCaffrey, Trisha McDonough, Sarah Milos, Maryellen Owens, Rick Phillips, Amanda Prince, Christel Roldan, Sean Roldan, Lindsay Sklar, Katie Staveley, Manya Tighe, Stefanie Timpke and Jenny Treadwell.
A very special thanks to family, friends and readers for your continuous support and encouragement—and your emails, comments, calls and texts.
The biggest shout-out goes to God for giving me the gift of writing and holding my hand the entire way—but especially for giving me the “big idea” that one morning in church.
Table of Contents
