Ancestor (56 page)

From the Author

A VERY EARLY version of this novel was first released as a free, serialized audiobook podcast running from September 2005 to February 2006.
Ancestor
reared its head again as a small-press novel, published on April 1, 2007. With no marketing budget, no advertising and no media coverage, the print version of
Ancestor
hit #7 overall on Amazon.com, and it was the #2 fiction novel behind
Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows. Ancestor
wasn’t there for long, but it was
there
, and that made all the difference.

That success came via word of mouth from my fans, the people who dubbed themselves “Junkies.” Those were heady times in the land of Siglerism. That accomplishment directly led to my publishing deal with Crown, a deal that included the major rewrite and re-release of
Ancestor
that you now hold in your hands.

Ancestor
represents all phases of my path as an author: from free, online audiobooks to surprise small-press success to bestselling hardcover novelist. This novel is the living metaphor for my dream to become an author, my hard work to reach that goal, my final success in getting an honest shot at the big time—and most important, at entertaining you and proving my worth as a storyteller.

My very career as a writer exists because of the fans who downloaded that free online audiobook, then continued to enjoy my works and support my efforts. I owe all of this to my fans, to my “Junkies.” That’s why I dedicate this book to you, Junkies—you are all the stuff of dreams, and your FDO™ thanks you.

And to you, the person holding this book? I busted my fanny to make the best story I could. I hope you enjoy
Ancestor
, and I hope I keep you coming back for more.

THE LIST OF awesomeness below pertains specifically to this version of
Ancestor
. Other key contributors were thanked in previous versions.

Team Sigler

• A Kovacs, the Director of Døøm
  

• Julian “Tha Shiv” Pavia, Editor and Destroyer of Worlds
  

• Byrd Leavell, Super Agent and Family Man
  

• Crown Publishing, many thanks to all y’all
  

Fallen in Battle

• Mookie, in these pages you get to live forever.
  

The Three Amigos of Biology Research

• Joseph A. Albietz III, M.D., Pediatrics and Pediatric Critical Care Medicine
  

• Jeremy “Xenophanes” Ellis, Ph.D., Developmental and Cell Biology
  

• Tom Merrit, Ph.D., Virology, Gene Therapy and Human Molecular Genetics
  

Siglerism Military Attachés

• Major Kris Alexander, U.S. Army: WMD counter-proliferation
  

• Robert W. Gilliland, Major, USAF: C-5 Galaxy
  

• Chris Grall, Veteran, U.S. Army: Weapons expertise
  

• JP Harvey: Helicopters
  

• Renee Jordan: Weapons and CBRN expertise
  

Foreign Language Phrases

• Sacha Kerckhoffs, Yang Liu, Katharina Maimer, Daniel Morgan, David Perry, Christian Walther, Christian Weihs, Selganor Yoster (and if I missed any here, my apologies)
  

Design Stars

• Kyle “The Crusher” Kolker, for another kick-ass cover
  

• Andre Gilbert, sculptor of Baby McButter
  

• Donna Mugavero, for design reference
  

www.genada.com

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 2010 by Scott Sigler
www.scottsigler.com

All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Crown Publishers, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
www.crownpublishing.com

CROWN and the Crown colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Sigler, Scott.
Ancestor / Scott Sigler.—1st ed.
p. cm.
1. Geneticists—Fiction. 2. Transplantation of organs, tissues, etc.—Fiction. 3. Xenografts—Fiction. 4. Transgenic organisms—Fiction. I. Title.
PS3619.I4725A83 2009
813′.6—dc22 2009038911

eISBN: 978-0-30758935-4