ABOUT THE AUTHOR: J. E. "Max" Maxwell was born in the small community of Princeton, Illinois shortly after his father entered the Marine Corps in WWII. His mother lived with her parents on their dairy farm for the duration of the war. Despite his rural beginnings, Max grew up as a city kid in St. Louis and then Dallas. After college, his career carried him to Colorado Springs, Boston, Houston, and Fort Worth where he now lives with his wife, Cindy. They raised five children who have long since flown the nest. Max became a big fan of Science Fiction in his early teens and regularly rode a bus to a downtown Dallas newsstand where he could buy the latest SF pulp magazines. While Max was still in high school, he wrote a science fiction short story and submitted it to one of the publishers. Soon he received the ubiquitous "your story does not meet our current publishing needs" form letter. The lack of any useful specifics was disappointing, but not a major setback. The show-stopper came when his story appeared in the magazine a few months later under someone else's name. Smarting from the deep sense of betrayal that only a teenager can feel, Max pursued his original career choice, engineering. He worked as a technician while attending Southern Methodist University in Dallas. After earning Bachelors and Masters Degrees in Electrical Engineering, Max pursued a career in Defense Electronics that ranged from bullpen engineer to the president's suite. Now, an older-but-wiser Max has returned to his earlier passion for writing Science Fiction.