Dedication
This novel is dedicated to the memory of E. E. “Doc” Smith, the father of space opera and the author who showed me the most pure and undiluted sense of wonder I have ever known. In my “poor, limited, and thoroughly inadequate” way, I hope to give something of that same sweep of vision and thrill of adventure to a new generation of readers. There was, and will be, only one Doc Smith, but he lives through the memory of those he inspired.