Steven Kent - The Clone Elite

They all said the same thing—the first pages of the book were choppy, the middle seemed to fly by, then the book fell apart in the last lap. They all disagreed about the source of the problem. John Thorpe, the first one to read the book, wanted Harris to find true love with Marianne, Ray Freeman’s sister. I thought that sounded good until Rachel Johnson pointed out that at the end of Rogue Clone Harris says he never speaks to Marianne again.

I originally killed Freeman at the end of this book. Rachel liked that a lot because, as she said, you cannot save humanity without sacrifices. Mark Adams and John (Thorpe) said absolutely not—not if I ever planned to write another Harris book. As of this moment, I have signed a contract for a new three-book series of Harris books. Book one is due out in 2009.

In the end, the repairs were done during rewrite; I hope you enjoyed the final results.

Thank you, Rachel Johnson, for spending so much time helping me get this book in shape.

As always, I turned to Lew Herrington when I needed advice about life in the Marines. And, as always, I did not turn to him nearly enough. I wish to apologize to the Marines for everything I have gotten wrong about their tactics and their culture.

I thank my agent, Richard Curtis, for help placing this book and for the sage professional advice he often gives.

Above all, though, as I close this series of adventures, I wish to thank those of you who have read these novels. Thank you for coming along for the ride.