Jerry Pournelle is the author of the popular Janissaries and CoDominium series and the coauthor of several bestselling science fiction novels, including Lucifer's Hammer, The Mote in God's Eye, and the New York Times bestseller Footfall. He has advanced degrees in engineering, political science, statistics, and psychology and, in addition to his career as a fiction writer, has for many years written columns on both politics and technology.