This book was given to me in its entirety by a stranger with grey eyes and an unusually pale face one day in summer 2010 CE. He was agitated, nervous and, it should be noted, was wearing a battered overcoat despite the midday heat. I took him for a madman and made a promise to publish his book if he would leave me alone. I cannot pretend to know anything of the characters depicted within, nor of the descriptions of coming wars and conflicts, of developments in cloning and genetic research, of the voyages of deep space craft or mining on asteroids or crazed leaders exiled on Mars. Thus published, I consider my part of my deal with the stranger complete.