Acknowledgements

This story was difficult to write for a lot of reasons—all of which are my fault! I fully realize it’s not Pulitzer quality and probably not even very original, but it’s from the heart and hopefully the beginning of many more (and better quality) works.

I’d like to first thank my family, but especially my wife, Renee, for her support and encouragement. Without her help, I would be in a huge mess!

I also want to thank the awesome faculty and staff of the UAB IEM program, particularly Dr. Dale Callahan who not only approved my final project topic, but discouraged me from pursuing anything I wasn’t truly passionate about.

Thanks to Amy Michelle Wiley, founder and director of Peculiar People Books, who has invited me to participate in several “PeP” projects, the latest of which is the work you just read (in my case, anyhow). E. mortal will be the final novelette in a collection of novelettes written by several PeP authors. Hopefully the collection will be published and available for purchase soon.

The incredible graphic work was done by artist and author Cory Clubb. Samples of his work can be viewed here.

Tammy Johnson provided invaluable critiques and suggestions which helped tremendously. Thanks for slugging through a really schizophrenic initial outline and first draft!

An unexpected source of inspiration came from Captain Jack E. Wright, USAF, who's excellent autobiography Crash and Burn I discovered while doing research. Captain Wright was kind enough to email me and proof portions of the story for accuracy. Thank you for your courage and service to America!

I also wish to thank my boss, Mark Schlosser and the great team of guys I work with—Cory Nabors and Michael Farren—for putting up with my crazy school schedule these last two years.

Last—but most importantly-- I want to thank God for giving me the talents I have. I am literally nothing without Him. I hope my efforts will somehow help lead others to a closer relationship with Christ. He has made all the difference in my life.