Dayton Ward served for eleven years in the U.S. Marine Corps before discovering the private sector and the piles of cash to be made there as a software engineer. He got his start in professional writing by placing stories in each of Pocket Books? first three"Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" anthologies. He is the author of dozens of "Star Trek" novels, many written in collaboration with coauthor Kevin Dilmore. He recently penned a tie-in to the cult classic television series "The 4400", and is currently at work on a new "Star Trek "novel to be released in Fall 2010.