In a Suspect Universe

In a Suspect Universe Albert Wendland In a Suspect Universe © 2018 by Albert Wendland Published by Dog Star Books Bowie, MD First Edition Cover Image: Bradley Sharp Book Design: Jennifer Barnes Printed in the United States of America Library of Congress Control Number: 2018942307 www.DogStarBooks.org Acknowledgements I want to thank the following people who have all helped in their special way to bring this story into existence: Paul Goat Allen, Michael Arnzen, Michelle Babich, Timons Esaias, J. L. Gribble, Heidi Ruby Miller, James Morrow, Stacey Rubin, Bethany Vargo, a helpful guide at Mystic Seaport, several members of the Gallagher family, and all the wonderful faculty and students in the Writing Popular Fiction Program at Seton Hill University, whose community and shared talent are a continuing inspiration. Plus a special thanks to Jennifer Barnes and John Edward Lawson, the fine people (“writer’s angels”) at Dog Star Books, and to Bradley Sharp, visionary. Finally, and always, a deep love and appreciation for Carol, without whose generosity, support, and understanding these imaginary realms would never come about. I get to dream because of her. At the end of The Man Who Loved Alien Landscapes, Mykol Ranglen was asked by Pia Folinari if he’d ever tell the “big story” she suspected he kept hidden in his past. He never said he would. But this is that story. It’s annoying, alarming, Sad, and perverse, To learn one lives In a suspect universe. —from Temporary Planets for Transitory Days, by Mykol Ranglen