Red Gambit: Book One of the Harvesters Series
Page 24
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After studying engineering science at Penn State and neuroengineering at Drexel, Luke finally decided to throw in the towel on actually building a working Iron Man suit, opting instead to simply make things up and write them down. Boy, is he having more fun now.
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When he’s not holed up in his cave trying to string words together, he can often be found powerlifting, video-gaming, reading, and/or drinking the darkest, most roasty beers he can get his mitts on.
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Growing up, Luke always dreamed ab—
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Ahem. Sorry about that. Anyhow, as we were discussing, throughout his childhood, Luke was always—Oh. Oh dear. No, Mr. Mitchell, we have this under control. Please go back to your—
No. No, you most certainly do not need to—
“Oh, hey guys! Wow, fancy seeing you here. Suddenly I understand why they handed me a hoagie and told me keep my head down for a few minutes … Sneaky bastards.
Anyway, I just wanted to pop in and say my thanks. I truly appreciate your taking the time to read my work, and I hope you found it well worth your while. As an indie author, I’m completely dependent upon readers like you to—
No. Hold on, guys, I’ll just be another min—What? No! What does that even have to do with—Agh!”
Ahem. Right. Now that we have that particular … obstacle out of the way, let’s get back to—
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Oh, for the love of … He’s trying to get out of his cave again. Why did we ever take this job?
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Look, if you want to help that idiot, we’re supposed to tell you to leave this book a review on Amazon or Goodreads. He’s always rambling on about how your feedback is “crucial to his growth both as an artist and as an authorpreneur.” Or something like that. We don’t know. That one thing’s not even a real word, but he just keeps—
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Hold on. What?
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Oh god. He’s talking about that freaking mailing list of his again. We never should have taken this gig. Wait—what’s that he’s singing?
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“If you like piña coladas, and reading books on the train … If you want lots of my books, you should join my campaign!”
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You’ve got to be kidding us … We can’t do this anymore. We’re out. You should probably get out while you c—
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“IF YOU WANT FREEBIES AND EXCLUSIVE DEALS, in your inbox today … then mine’s the list that you’ve looked for, join the list and escape!”
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Oh god! He’s breaking the door down! He’s—he’s … He’s escaping!
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Run! Run while you can! Sweet Jesus, r—
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*No assistants were hurt in the making of this About the Author (if for no other reason than that Luke is far too poor to afford assistants). Promise.
Acknowledgments
Every time I’ve been asked what I was going to write for the dedication section of this book (and this has happened a surprising number of times), I’ve given what could arguably be considered a very selfish answer: I never intended on writing a dedication, because I didn’t write this book for someone else. I wrote it for me. I wrote it because I’ve found a great passion for writing, and I love it so much that I thought I just might try to make a career of it.
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So there you have it. This book is dedicated to me—selfish prick that I am!
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Joking (or maybe not joking?) aside, what I do have are acknowledgments, and those are quite plentiful!
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Firstly, I’d like to thank my steadfast love and light, Marina. She’s been described as many things. Genius. Doctor. Beautiful person, inside and out. To me, she is my Puffin, and with her wings at my back, all things are possible. Except maybe actual flight. We’re working on it.
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My mom, bless her yarn-filled heart, also gets her fair share of credit where dealing with my ever-brooding crap is concerned. And, I suppose, for birthing me at the start of all of this. Good on you, ma. Suffice it to say, you’re the best.
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To the friends who managed to contain their laughter when I told them I’d dropped out of my fully-funded PhD studies in neuroscience to write science fiction without an iota of certainty I could succeed, thank you as well. Your company on those rare occasions I venture out of my writing cave has been paramount to maintaining what sanity I have left.
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To my vigilant editor, Lisa, I thank you a million times for your good judgment and gentle yet unwavering guidance. Without you, this would have been a much different and almost certainly inferior story. On a similar note, a big thank you to the loyal members of my small but fierce ARC team, whose support has been crucial in polishing and launching this book (not to mention in assuring me that this story isn’t half bad).
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I’d be remiss if I didn’t say thanks to my good friend Simon, who kindly took my sad attempt at formatting a paperback and whipped it into lovely shape for those five readers who were insistent on holding a physical copy of this book in their very own hands.
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Lastly, I give my thanks to you, the reader who elected to pick my book up from the pile of millions. If I were to decide to follow conventions and actually dedicate this book to anyone, it would be to you. I’m not going to say this book wouldn’t have been possible without you. Strictly speaking, I probably would have written it either way. BUT, if not for you and readers like you, no one would have given a crap, and that’s a pretty monumental ‘but.’ Every time you read one of my books, you’re helping me to continue writing them, and boy does that make me happy. So thank you for that. Truly.
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May your favorite characters always live and your most fantastical adventures never tarnish.
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Happy reading,
-Luke