The Fourth Phase

Acknowledgements

When I set out to write these books, I never realised how many people help an author along the way. First, I have to thank Nicholas for encouraging me in the first place. You have helped and inspired me from day one. Frances, you have been there from the beginning, reading every single version of both of these books. I couldn’t have done this without you. I hope I can repay your kindness in some way. Rodger, like you say, it’s probably good that we live far away from each other, otherwise we might cause a bit of chaos. Thank you for your encouragement and for keeping my spirits up with your humour.

To the Guardians of the Apocalypse, you are all wonderful people. Thank you for all your support.

A special thank you to Geoff Toni for helping me with the Maori aspects of this novel. Sadly, Geoff passed away before we could finish. I hope I got everything correct. Rest in peace, brother.

To my Beta readers: Col (Ret) Russ Olson, Lisa Omstead, Shelli Rodenbaugh Shear, Nathan Yokoyama, Frances Liontakis and Cynthia Terrones. Thank you for all your valuable advice and input. If you find any mistakes they are of my doing.

Big thank you to Kathy Stevenson for a final proofread.

Edited and proofread by Laurel Kriegler. Thank you for all your support, encouragement and advice. I couldn’t have done it without you.

Cover design by Libby Cameron.