And that her mother was alive.
I love you, Mom. I’ll see you when I’m whatever age I am when I finally track you down.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Primary thanks to the two Mighty Steves of Doom: Steve Saffel at Titan, who brought me onto the project and whose editorial insights have been invaluable, and Steve Tzirlin at 20th Century Fox, who didn’t just supply reference material and approvals, but also guided the story in many brilliant and canny ways.
Additional thanks to my stellar agent Lucienne Diver, who kept the paperwork gerbils running; Scott Middlebrook, whose input into the timeline was essential; Jonathan Maberry, who bought my first story in this fantastic universe, “Deep Background” in the Aliens: Bug Hunt anthology in 2017; Dan O’Bannon, Ronald Shusett, Ridley Scott, David Giler, Walter Hill, and James Cameron, the people responsible for writing and directing Alien and Aliens, the source of the universe and several of the characters herein; Dan Abnett, Dion Lay, Will Porter, and the rest of the gang at Creative Assembly, who created the Isolation video game, as well as the prequel comic book, and several more of the characters; Tim Lebbon, author of the novel Alien: Out of the Shadows; Jeff Juhasz, scripter of the Isolation digital film series for IGN; and Brian Wood, writer of the Aliens: Defiance and Aliens: Resistance comic book series and creator of Zula Hendricks.
Yet still more thanks to all the actors who gave face and voice to some of the folks populating this book: George Anton (Axel), Kezia Burrows (likeness of Amanda Ripley), Richie Campbell (voice of Ricardo), Lachele Carl (Lingard), Andrea Deck (voice of Amanda Ripley), Sean Gilder (Marlow), Melanie Gutteridge (Foster), William Hope (Waits), Anthony Howell (Samuels), Syrus Lowe (likeness of Ricardo), Emerald O’Hanrahan (Taylor), Jane Perry (Verlaine), Tom Skerritt (Dallas), and, of course, the great Sigourney Weaver (Ellen Ripley).
Final thanks to my family: all the parents, all the loved ones, and all the kitty-cats, for love, encouragement, and myriad wonderfulness.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
KEITH R.A. DeCANDIDO’S previous fiction in the world of Alien and its sequels and prequels was “Deep Background” in the 2017 anthology Aliens: Bug Hunt. His fiction writing career has spanned twenty-five years, ranging from licensed fiction in more than thirty different universes including TV shows (Star Trek, Supernatural), games (Dungeons & Dragons, World of Warcraft), movies (Cars, Serenity), and comic books (Spider-Man, Thor); to original fiction taking place in the fictional cities of Cliff’s End and Super City as well as the somewhat real locales of New York City and Key West. In 2009, the International Association of Media Tie-in Writers presented him with a Lifetime Achievement Award, which means he never needs to achieve anything ever again.
His recent and forthcoming work includes Mermaid Precinct, the latest in his fantasy police procedural series; A Furnace Sealed, the first book in his new urban fantasy series; serialized fiction in the world of the game Summoners War; and short fiction in the anthologies Thrilling Adventure Yarns, Unearthed, Baker Street Irregulars, Nights of the Living Dead, Brave New Girls: Adventures of Gals & Gizmos, They Keep Killing Glenn, and Release the Virgins! Keith also writes about pop culture for Tor.com, is a third-degree black belt in karate (he both teaches and trains), plays music (currently percussionist for the parody band Boogie Knights), and avidly follows his beloved New York Yankees. Find out less about Keith at his cheerfully retro website at DeCandido.net.
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