Question for Greg Cox about Assignment: Eternity

[Smitty]

Hi Greg,
I was going to ask this via a private message but thought others might find it interesting.

I found the above mentioned book at my local half priced books today. I have heard good about the book and grabbed while I can even though I am not sure when I will read it.
Anyway, in the Acknowledgements there were a couple of items I was curious about. First concerning the thanks to Patrick Nielson Hayden for installing a "balky ditto drive"; what is that and why the special mention about it?

Second, the part about Tor books, for allowing a graceful exit. Would you shed some light on that?

Thanks!

 

[Greg Cox]

Hi Greg,
I was going to ask this via a private message but thought others might find it interesting.

I found the above mentioned book at my local half priced books today. I have heard good about the book and grabbed while I can even though I am not sure when I will read it.
Anyway, in the Acknowledgements there were a couple of items I was curious about. First concerning the thanks to Patrick Nielson Hayden for installing a "balky ditto drive"; what is that and why the special mention about it?

Second, the part about Tor books, for allowing a graceful exit. Would you shed some light on that?

Thanks!

Wow! You actually read the acknowledgements? I'm impressed. Anyway . . . .

1) The "ditto drive" was some sort of gadget intended to back up my files in case something happened to my computer. At that point, I routinely had a couple works-in-progress on my old Compaq computer and, for some reason I can't recall, didn't want to rely entirely on backup floppy disks. I am by no means computer-saavy, so Patrick graciously offered to help get the ditto drive up and running, which turned out to be a bigger chore than either of us anticipated!

2) When I started writing Trek books, I was still working full-time, nine to five, as an editor at Tor. Eventually, something had to give, so I worked out a deal with Tor where I would become a part-time consulting editor instead.

Basically, I segued from being a full-time editor who did a little writing on the side to being a full-time writer who still edits on the side.

(I actually have to put together a sales conference presentation for Tor this afternoon.)

Hope that answers your questions!

 

[Smitty]

Interesting, thanks a bunch. As for acknowledgements, I actually read them.

 

[Enterprise is Great]

I read them as well. i find them interesting for some reason.

 

[Captaindemotion]

^ Same here

 

[Sci]

Indeed, the acknowledgments and dedications have sometimes been known to cause a little bit of controversy around here.

 

[Greg Cox]

Acknowledgments are like Oscar acceptance speeches. They can be a tremendous opportunity to accidentally forget somebody important, but when, say, a noted forensic sculptor lets you pick her brain for a new CSI novel, how do you not thank her in the acknowledgments?

On a personal level, they also end up being time capsules of your life at the time you wrote the book. "Right, that was back when I was still working at the blood bank . . . "

 

[BrotherBenny]

I always read the acknowledgments and the author bios. I especially like Dayton's since he tells us he was tired of people telling him what to do and joined the Marine Corps. That always gets a chuckle out of me. Christopher's have also become more humorous of late.