Phoenix Island (43 page)

Authors: John Dixon

BOOK: Phoenix Island

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Thanks to rock-star publicist Marcy Engelman for helping an unproven writer get his career up and running.

Thanks to my earliest readers, who cheered me on and whose suggestions made this a better book: Adam Browne, Aaron Biscoe, Elaine Prizzi, Chris Von Halle, and the first teen to ever read
Phoenix Island
, the brilliant Makenzie Briglia.

Thanks to the smart, experienced experts who patiently helped me to better understand science, technology, physical trauma, and all things military: Dr. Gary Della Zanna of the National Institutes of Health, Dr. John Dougherty, and combat vets Horace Jonson, Bill Fay, and Don Bentley.

Thanks to the smartest guy I know, Matt Schwartz, without whom this book wouldn’t even exist. You guided me every step of the way, and I would have been utterly lost without you. Our next trip to Characters is on me, bud.

Thanks to my writing friends and unofficial mentors, Melissa Marr, Lissa Price, and Doug Clegg, who were never too busy to take my calls, texts, and emails—even when they
were
too busy.

Thanks to all my friends at Seton Hill University, where
Phoenix Island
was to have been my MFA thesis until I ran out of time and money. Thanks to my mentors, Tim Waggoner, David Shifren, and Victoria Thompson; to my critique partners, Swea Nightingale and Don Bentley; the Troublemakers; Chris Shearer; and the amazing community that is SHU’s Writing Popular Fiction program.

Thanks to Kimberley Howe and everyone at the ITW, an incredible organization committed to fostering aspiring writers, and all my Thriller-Fest buddies, especially Pete Aragno.

Thanks to the OneFours, the Inkbots, and the Brandywine Valley Writers Group.

Thanks to my brother, Jeff, who taught me to fight
and
encouraged me to write.

Thanks to the world’s best mother-in-law, Carole McLean, for all those rides to the train station.

Thanks to all the kids I taught, counseled, or coached over the years, for sharing your lives with me. Many of you, including Tony Delsordo, Reed Shanaman, and Aaron and Michael Faulk, left us way too soon. I’m hoping those who knew you recognize your influence on this story. Another place, another time, you’d have been kings. . . .

Thanks to my third-grade teacher, Mrs. Wolfe. By encouraging me to write, you made me feel like more than a throwaway kid, and by typing up my first story and telling my parents I’d be an author someday, you won my undying gratitude. It took me a long time to deliver on your faith in me, but if there’s any justice in the world, you’re sitting somewhere comfortable, reading this with a smile on your face.

Thanks to Mrs. Ayers, who also showed me kindness and encouraged me to keep writing.

Finally, thanks to my best friend, first reader, and most honest critic: my beautiful wife, Christina, who has never let me down—not even once—and who has always believed in and encouraged me, even when I lost faith in myself or this book. You’re the best, L.O., and I’ll love you forever.

JOHN DIXON
is a former Golden Gloves boxer, youth services caseworker, prison tutor, and middle school English teacher. Visit him at
JohnDixonBooks.com
and
@JohnDixonBooks
.

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Gallery Books

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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information address Gallery Books Subsidiary Rights Department, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.

First Gallery Books hardcover edition January 2014

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Interior design by Davina Mock-Maniscalco

Jacket design by John Vairo Jr.

Photo of fist © Photographyer’s Choice/Getty Images

Photo of vine © Suzana Profeta/E+/Getty Images

Author photograph by Andrew McLean

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Dixon, John

Phoenix Island / John Dixon

pages cm

1. Mercenary troops—Fiction. 2. Boxing—Fiction. 3. Orphans—Fiction. 4. Science fiction. I. Title.

PZ7.D6445Ph 2014

[Fic]—dc232013033616