Chapters (76)
- Title Page
- Copyright Notice
- Dedication
- PROLOGUE
- PART I
- ONE
- TWO
- THREE
- FOUR
- FIVE
- SIX
- SEVEN
- EIGHT
- NINE
- PART II
- TEN
- ELEVEN
- TWELVE
- THIRTEEN
- FOURTEEN
- FIFTEEN
- SIXTEEN
- SEVENTEEN
- EIGHTEEN
- NINETEEN
- PART III
- TWENTY
- TWENTY-ONE
- TWENTY-TWO
- TWENTY-THREE
- TWENTY-FOUR
- TWENTY-FIVE
- TWENTY-SIX
- INTERLUDE
- PART IV
- TWENTY-SEVEN
- TWENTY-EIGHT
- TWENTY-NINE
- THIRTY
- THIRTY-ONE
- THIRTY-TWO
- THIRTY-THREE
- THIRTY-FOUR
- INTERLUDE
- PART V
- THIRTY-FIVE
- THIRTY-SIX
- THIRTY-SEVEN
- THIRTY-EIGHT
- PART VI
- THIRTY-NINE
- FORTY
- FORTY-ONE
- FORTY-TWO
- FORTY-THREE
- FORTY-FOUR
- FORTY-FIVE
- INTERLUDE
- PART VII
- FORTY-SIX
- FORTY-SEVEN
- FORTY-EIGHT
- FORTY-NINE
- FIFTY
- FIFTY-ONE
- FIFTY-TWO
- PART VIII
- FIFTY-THREE
- FIFTY-FOUR
- FIFTY-FIVE
- FIFTY-SIX
- EPILOGUE
- AUTHOR’S NOTE
- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
- ABOUT THE AUTHOR
- Newsletter Sign-up
Unquantifiable thanks …
To my wife, Cassie, (who also belongs in several of the categories below) who kept believing this book would be published, even after years and years of that seeming painfully unlikely. For every hour I spent working on this, she sacrificed her own time to take on the lion’s share of keeping the baby alive, so that I could focus on writing. She’s the unsung hero that made every word in this book possible.
To my agent, the incomparable Jim McCarthy, who first took the chance on this book and never gave up. His patience and tenacity are solely responsible for its existence as anything other than an abandoned dream.
To my editor and tireless champion, Bess Cozby, whose passion and excitement made the editing process one of the best parts of this journey. She’s an expert at asking the perfect questions that pushed the book to grow in the right directions, and I couldn’t possibly hope for a more insightful or enthusiastic ambassador to represent the book.
To every member of the Tor/Forge publishing team who had a hand along the way, some whose names I’ll never know, but am nonetheless indebted to.
To those wonderful humans who gave me valuable feedback on the early drafts: Melanie Boudreau, Megan Heyn, Veronica Tioicha, Alexandra Wesevich
To those other humans who said they’d give me feedback and never did: You know who you are
To the esteemed authors who gave great advice on the world of publishing to a novice who had no idea what he was getting into: James Blaylock, Victor Koman, Kathryn Rose
To those unfortunate few with whom I could openly chat about the process: Amy Teegan Hann, Patrick Heyn, Scott Keister
The first version of this story was a stage play I wrote, produced, and directed in 2012. Many thanks go to its spectacular cast and crew: Frank Tryon, Michael Keeney, Andrea Dennison-Laufer, Elisa Richter, Scott Keister, Sabrina Ianacone, Larry Creagan, Jaycob Hunter, Glenn Freeze, Jeremy Krasovic, Gabriel Robins, David Chorley, Bryce Wieth, Ryan Young, Evan Green, Kyle Hawkins, Rob Downs, Lauren Shoemaker, Brian Newell, Heidi Newell, Sara Haase, Amber Robins, Amanda Zukle, and anyone else who I forgot
I know most people won’t read that previous list, which is why I inserted one random character from Game of Thrones into the mix, just to see if anyone noticed.
Actually, I didn’t do that. But hopefully you went back to look more carefully, and now you’ve acknowledged all the fantastic people who first brought this story to life. It’s been my privilege to carry their performances forward every day I’ve worked on this.
And finally to my high school creative writing teacher, Mr. Ty Devoe, who first taught me twenty-plus years ago the value of working all night on something you’re passionate about.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
