Next in line comes my dauntless writing group, more than twenty years old now! Mary Aldridge, Richard Bowker, Craig Gardner, Victoria Bolles. Three times—and more!—they read this book through, in all of its stages of semi-intelligibility. They helped me think through many a complex twist of plot and character, and circled the dumb parts so you wouldn’t have to. I am forever grateful. Whatever the flaws in this book, you can’t blame them.
Nor can you blame my friend and editor, Jim Frenkel, who waited patiently, patiently, while I wrote, and rewrote, and rewrote some more. Thanks, Jim—and not just for that, but for the hard editing, too. And while I’m at it, thanks to Tom Doherty and the rest of Tor Books, and my agent Richard Curtis, for letting me take the time I needed, not just to finish the book but to finish it right.
Thanks are also due to Freeman Deutsch and Noel Friedman, for their generous contributions to the Big Sisters auctions. I hope you enjoy your namesakes’ appearances.
And finally, there’s you the reader. Some of you are new; some of you have been waiting a lonnng time for the next book. Some of you, in the CompuServe and SFF Net forums, helped me search for a title. Well, here it is, and welcome aboard! Thanks for waiting, and for all the letters and emails that helped me persevere. You can’t imagine how much they meant to me.
Now, enjoy.
Arlington, MA
August, 1999