ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Dan Breen continues as my first reader. Thank goodness.
Dan, Dorothy Day, and my webmaster, Karen Zimmerman, archive my texts. I copy them to three machines of my own, but given my track record with computers I feel a lot happier having the texts spread around.
Though for a wonder, I didn’t kill (or even badly bruise) any computers on this book. The last time that happened, I lost two computers and a separate keyboard in the course of writing the next one. I am prepared!
Dorothy, Karen, and Evan Ladouceur help with research and continuity problems. Basically, I say, “What was the name of…?” or “Where the dickens did X take place?” and an answer appears in my in-box. My focus is on story, not continuity, and I’m sure it shows; but the situation would be much worse without the help of my friends.
Indeed, life would be much worse without the help of my friends. That’s another matter, but it seems proper to make public acknowledgment of that too.
The reason the RCN series has great covers is that Toni Weisskopf, the publisher, hires Steve Hickman to do the art. Steve consistently paints a lovely and evocative image; whereupon Jennie Faries, Baen’s designer, does all the considerable range of things that turns the raw materials into a cover.
Sure, they’re all doing their jobs, but heaven knows that there are a lot of people doing those jobs professionally who aren’t any good. There are very few who are better than those working on my books, and I appreciate them.
My wife, Jo, continues to run the house and coddle me while I’m writing. Which I do most of my waking life, so it isn’t a small or an easy task.
I could not write as I do without the help of those named and of many others. Thank you all. I know how lucky I am.
Dave Drake