Thanks, Marco

Robert Greenberger reported earlier today that Marco Palmieri was one of 35 Simon and Schuster employees laid off today. That sucks. In many ways. I've been living with the dubious joys of being laid off for most of the year myself, and, no, it doesn't feel better to know that other people are in the same situation. So I hope Marco lands on his feet and gets something good soon.

Obviously I've really enjoyed the books that Marco's been involved with, and I think he'll be missed, but I'd like to thank him for a couple of other things.

I want to thank Marco (and John Ordover) for inviting me to drop by the Pocket Star Trek books offices when I was in New York for a conference a few years ago, for showing Laura and me around, for giving me some neat freebies, and for taking us to lunch along with Keith DeCandido. I was having so much fun it never even occurred to me to get autographs or take pictures, much less try to pitch book or story ideas.

And thanks again to Marco for giving me the occasional advance peek at forthcoming Star Trek novels, in exchange for nothing more than my thoughts on them. A few of the reviews on this blog are revised versions of the comments I sent him, with the Destiny trilogy being the most recent examples.

So... thanks and good luck.