This past year was a strange, difficult, and unexpected one. The first volume in this series launched into deeply uncertain waters, and I’m grateful beyond words to my wonderful editor and good friend at Saga Press, Joe Monti, for getting that book and this one out into the world. I plan to be doing this for years to come, and look forward to doing it with Joe and the team. My sincere thanks also to Madison Penico, Lauren Jackson, and everyone at Saga who had anything to do with the book. My agent, Howard Morhaim, continues to be the best person I could be working with in this business, and I want to thank him and everyone at HMLA for their work on this and on all my projects. And then there’s everyone else, the people who gave time, suggested stories, and helped in so many ways with this particular book. Thanks as always to Liza Trombi and the entire team at Locus, who helped keep me focused on the year at hand when my mind drifted and I couldn’t seem to get any work done at all; to my dear friend and podcast co-host, Gary K. Wolfe; Ian Mond; James Bradley; Rachel C. Cordasco; Ian Whates; Bill Shafer; Sheila Williams, who was exceptionally helpful; to Steven H. Silver, who provided invaluable information for the obituary section of my introduction; and to all the authors and their agents who let their work appear here.
Finally, as always, a special thank-you to my wife, Marianne, and two daughters, who were the best people in the world to be locked in with, even if it wasn’t for too long.