I can’t say more, not now. Not in one page. At such intensity reflection, resolution, consolation, all need a whole book to not feel hollow, like a sketch. That book is coming. In the meantime, what I can do is thank those who helped us get this far:

Patrick Nielsen Hayden, who said yes

Teresa Nielsen Hayden, who taught me the process

Anita Okoye, who made the process miraculously smooth

Kay Strock, who helped me balance so many tasks

Liana Krissoff, whose careful edits made it better

Victor Mosquera, Irene Gallo, and Heather Saunders, who made it beautiful

Diana Griffin, who helped it reach so many people

Katie Shea Boutillier and Harry Illingworth, who carried it across the sea

Amy Boggs and Cameron McClure, who took such good care of it, and me

Doug and Laura Palmer, who gave me everything

Lauren Schiller, who helped a thousand million ways

Carl Engle-Laird, who helped me become the person who could write this

Jonathan Sneed, who named Terra Ignota

Irina Greenman, whose passionate Latin made it grander

Sarah Alys Lyndholm, whose artful Japanese made it subtler

Lila Garrott, whose shared projects made it richer

Alan Charles Kors, who opened the Enlightenment for me

James Hankins, who opened the Renaissance for me

Jo Walton, who told me it was good; no really good

Steve Brust, Cory Doctorow, and Ken Liu, who read so deeply

Max Gladstone and Fran Wilde, who welcomed me so warmly

Michael Mellas and Steph Neeley, who read with such excitement

Matt Granoff, Crystal Huff, and Ruth Wejksnora, who read with such care

HRSFA, Double Star, Balticon, Worldcon, filk, fandom, who gave me community

You, who trusted me enough to keep reading,

which really is the most important gift of all.