Undercurrents (35 page)

George R.R. Martin, who writes both science fiction and fantasy, says that “He engaged the hyperdrive, then…” and “She cast the spell, then…” are doorways into the same house, but with different furniture.

There are really only two speculative fiction subgenres: good and bad. The difference isn’t the furniture, it’s characters you care about, what they will do next, and why.

I tried to make
Undercurrents
, and the six books that precede it, the good kind. Hope you enjoy them.

—Robert Buettner

Acknowledgments

Thanks, first, to my publisher, Toni Weisskopf, for the opportunity and encouragement to create
Overkill
, as well as for insights and ideas that helped make it better. Thanks also to editors Jim Minz and Danielle Turner, for wisdom, to my copy editor, Paul Witcover, for perfection, and to Kurt Miller for dazzling cover art. Thanks also to Laura Haywood-Cory and to everyone at Baen Books for remarkable support and enthusiasm.

Thanks, as ever, to my superb agent, Winifred Golden.

Finally and forever, thanks to Mary Beth for everything that matters.

About the Author

Robert Buettner’s first novel,
Orphanage
, nominated for the Quill Award as best Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror novel of 2004, was compared favorably to Robert Heinlein’s
Starship Troopers
by the
Washington Post
,
Denver Post
, Sci-Fi Channel’s
Science Fiction Weekly
, and others. Now in its ninth English-language printing,
Orphanage
, and other books in his Jason Wander series, have been republished by Science Fiction Book Club and released by various publishers in Chinese, Czech, French, Russian, and Spanish.
Orphan’s Triumph
, the fifth and final book in the Jason Wander series, was named one of Fandomania’s best fifteen science fiction, fantasy, and horror books of 2009—one of only two science fiction books to make the list.

In March, 2011, Baen Books released
Overkill
, Robert’s sixth novel, and first in his Orphan’s Legacy series, to which the Jason Wander books are prequels.
Undercurrents
is the second Orphan’s Legacy book.

Born in 1947 on Manhattan Island, Robert graduated with Honors in Geology from the College of Wooster in 1969, and received his J.D. from the University of Cincinnati in 1973. He served as a U.S. Army intelligence officer, a director of the Southwestern Legal Foundation, and was a National Science Foundation Fellow in Paleontology. He is a member of the Heinlein Society and the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association.

As attorney of record in more than three thousand cases, he practiced in the U.S. federal courts, before courts and administrative tribunals in no fewer than thirteen states, and in five foreign countries. Six, if you count Louisiana.

Robert lives in the Blue Ridge foothills north of Atlanta, with his family and more bicycles than a grownup needs.

Visit him on the Web at www.RobertBuettner.com and follow his tweets @orphanscribe.