Icarus (Interstellar Cargo Book 1) (34 page)

First and foremost, I must thank my beautiful wife, Stefanie. My muse. My everything. Her very presence is an inspiration, and she championed my little writing project. Her insight and sometimes brutal honesty helped to shape
Icarus
into the novel it needed to be. I can’t thank you enough, Babe. I love you.

Dad. Your love of all things science instilled within me the curiosity to explore the universe and all the wonderful knowledge it contains. I deeply respect your passion for robotics and early computers. You have no idea just how proud I am of you for building the one and only working paperclip computer that has since been placed into a museum for the world to see.

I’d like to thank Patrick, my social media buddy. We challenged each other to “Race to 75K” in order to achieve our goal of writing a novel. I might’ve won the “challenge,” but what I really gained was a better understanding of how I write. I can’t wait to race again.

To Cari and Richard, for reading ARC copies of my book and giving me honest opinions. We may be close friends, but both of you have never been shy about telling me what I need to hear. Thank you for always taking time out of your busy lives for Stef and me.

The Shire
. No, not the one in Middle Earth—the one on Facebook. It’s a secret group of independent authors, and I’ll refrain from revealing the names of its members. Thank you all for your expert advice, wisdom, and endless laughs. I learned so much from you guys.

And to Tom and Shawn. Tom created the spectacular cover, and Shawn designed the professional interior for the paperback. Both of you made
Icarus
capable of standing beside any Big Six publisher novel that comes out today.

Finally, to all the readers I hope to reach. Thank you for taking this journey into the stars. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did writing it.

M
att Verish is a speculative fiction author who has been writing stories since the fourth grade. He realized his desire to become an author when he met his wife, Stefanie, in the autumn of 1997. They kept in constant contact while Stefanie was away at college, and it was through email that they planted the seeds of their epic fantasy world,
Secramore
. Eventually they became M.S. Verish, and they have been writing books as married co-authors ever since. Matt is a John Carpenter film buff, lover of all things nature, hopelessly behind on his reading, collector of his wife’s artwork, and a thrash metal music connoisseur.
Icarus
is his first full-length solo project.