This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to real people or incidents is purely coincidental.
Copyright Š 1999 by John Dalmas
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form.
A Baen Books Original
Baen Publishing Enterprises P.O. Box 1403 Riverdale, NY 10471
ISBN: 0-671-57824-3 Cover art by Larry Elmore First printing, August 1999
Distributed by Simon & Schuster 1230 Avenue of the Americas New York, NY 10020
Typeset by Brilliant Press
Printed in the United States of America
Dedicated to ELIZABETH MOON
Parts of the first draft were critiqued by members of the Spokane Word Weavers, a writers’ support and critique group. The second draft was critiqued by two science fiction and fantasy authors: Patricia Briggs and James Glass. And as always by my wife Gail. My thanks to all of you.
The Farside series grew out of an invitation by Jon Gustafson to write a short story for a WesterCon program book a few years ago. I rather quickly realized it was not a short story, but the opening chapter of a novel. Thank you too, Jon.
