Enemy Papers

INTRODUCTION

Beginning with "Enemy Mine" and The Tomorrow Testament, and continuing with The Last Enemy the Enemy series spans almost the entirety of my writing career to date. There have been a lot of changes in me and in publishing since "Enemy" first appeared in 1979, but there is a strange continuity in the universe that saw three hundred worlds at war as Dracs and humans worked out the steps of their deadly dance.

I am very excited at the prospect of presenting the entire series, this time with "Enemy Mine" greatly expanded, in addition to the portions of the Drac bible, The Talman, that I was able to retrieve with my far-future fax machine.

Incidentally, the stories of The Talman have never before been published. It is a bible by aliens, set on an alien planet, about aliens and for alien readers. For the first time for readers, there is a unique choice. If you read the selections from The Talman first, you will get to read "Enemy Mine" from the perspective of a Drac. If you read "Enemy" first, you can read it from the perspective of a human.

I have included the Drac vocabulary in this volume, in addition to two very different essays. "On Alien Languages" tells some of the funny business of making up alien languages, and "Run Drac Run" tells about the origins and continuation of the Enemy series.

Three persons who deserve historical mention and grateful thanks for their suggestions and support concerning the Enemy series are George Scithers, Isaac Asimov, and Victoria Shochet. The one who deserves the most thanks for her suggestions, support, encouragement, no-nonsense discouragement when needed, not to mention putting up with the author, is Regina B. Longyear, wife, advisor, critic, and defender of the taxpayer.