So, the wonderful Ron Farina called me out of the blue to report that his book Sacrifice: The Final Chapter had just been chosen as a finalist in the “Military” category of the Next Generation Indie Book Awards. And apparently, Ron was kind enough to submit me as the editor.

First off, I should note that I was only one of the editors. Tremendous work on the manuscript was done by Gayle Statman, technical nonfiction and fiction editor extraordinaire, and I have written the Indie Book Award folks to have them correct the record and include Gayle. Hopefully they do so.

Working with Ron on his books has been one of the most satisfying and meaningful experiences of my career. I am grateful for the opportunity and very proud that we were able to bring his works to fruition. Thanks as well to all the many authors who sent in their stories to the fiction anthologies I edited over the years (primarily through my imprint Lagrange Books) and helped me hone my editing craft.

I am a self-taught editor, largely by reading lots and lots of excellent prose (and some that is not so excellent) and developing an ear for what works. To all those authors from Tolkien to Heinlein to Lloyd Alexander and many, many more, I thank you for the beauty and joy you brought into the world.

(Maybe I should start up another anthology. It’s been long enough!)

(Crossposted to my Substack.)