Welcome to the Space Cowboys. I was born just before man walked on the moon and my mom has a 8mm film of me crawling on the floor while in the background the television was tuned to that historical Moon landing. From a very early age I wanted to be an astronaut. It seemed fun, unfortunately for me you have to be really good at science and advanced math…something I’m not.

However, I am good a reading and researching and when a conversation with my editor about how ranching is a major industry in parts of Florida (the part where I grew up) turned to a what if…this series was born. I got to combine two things that I love a lot in this series, space and the vast universe as well as ranching. The series had to be set in Texas instead of Florida because all training at NASA takes place in Texas.

I really used a lot of my Florida upbringing in this book. My parents were friends in Hialeah where I grew up with a couple who were marine biologists and I think in my mind I romanticized that profession and used it in the second book.