Glory Season (89 page)

But to get there the path lies
forward
, not by diving into a dark, dank, miserable past. There is but one path to the gracious, ecologically sound, serene pastoralism sought by so many. That route passes, ironically, through successful consummation of this, our first and last chance, our scientific age.

Comments and criticism by many individuals helped eliminate even worse blunders than the purchaser finds in this published version. Among my insightful helpers: Bettyann Kevles, Carol Shetler, Jean Lee, Steven Mendel, Brian
Kjerulf, Trevor Placker, Dave Clements, Amanda Baker, Brian Stableford, Eric Nilsson, Dr. Peter Markiewicz, Dr. Christine Carmichael, Jonathan Post, Deanna Brigham, Joy Crisp, and Diane Clark were helpful during this phase.

Thanks also go out to members of Caltech Spectre, who surveyed an uncompleted draft and mailed many comments while my wife and I lived in France. Participating members included Marti DeMore, Kay Van Lepp, Ann Farny, Teresa Moore, Dustin Laurence, Eric C. Johnson, Gorm Nykreim, Erik de Schutter, M.D., Steve Bard, Greg Cardell, Steinn Sigurdsson, Alex Rosser, Gil Rivlis, Michael Coward, Michael Smith, David Coufal, Dustin Laurence, David Palmer, Andrew Volk, Mark Adler, Gregory Harry, D. J. Byrne, Gail Rohrbach, Carl Dersheim, and Vena Pontiac.

For technical advice on biology, as well as general criticism, I am grateful to Karen Anderson; Jack Cohen, D. Sc.; Professor William H. Calvin; Janice Willard, D.V.M.; Mickey Zucker, M.D.; and professors Jim Moore, Carole Sussman, and Gregory Benford.

Deserving special thanks, as always, are Ralph Vicinanza and Lou Aronica, as well as Jennifer Hershey, Betsy Mitchell, and Amy Stout, for their patience, Gavin Claypool for invaluable assistance, and, especially, Dr. Cheryl A. Brigham, without whom none of the good parts would have been possible. Blame me for the bad stuff.

David Brin is the author of twelve novels—
Sundiver
,
Startide Rising
,
The Practice Effect
,
The Postman
,
Heart of the Comet
(with Gregory Benford),
The Uplift War
,
Earth
,
Glory Season
,
Otherness
,
Brightness Reef
,
Infinity’s Shore
, and
Heaven’s Reach
—as well as a short-story collection,
The River of Time.
He has a doctorate in astrophysics and has been a NASA consultant and a physics professor. He lives in southern California.