What is there left to say that I haven't already said in the acknowledgements for the first four books? I'm surrounded by an absolutely amazing community of friends and family. I've learned so much from writing this series: about myself, about the real world, about the craft of writing, about the business of writing and self-promotion. I'm deeply indebted to everyone who's taken a moment to help along the way. There really are far too many people to list here!
That being said, there are three new people I need to thank this time around: L. M. Kate JohnsTon, who reviewed a lengthy excerpt as a sensitivity reader and caught a handful of egregiously foolish mistakes. Malcolm Gin, who has also read some of my work with an eye to pointing out unseen bias. Kat Tanaka Okopnik, whose discussions proved excellent at making me rethink many underlying assumptions. They were not the only people to help, but made the greatest contribution overall. I'm not arrogant enough to think I got everything “right,” but any remaining missteps are entirely my own fault and not the result of poor teachers.
I will, as always, point out my wonderful husband, Earl Harris, without whom I absolutely would not have made it this far in so many respects. In addition, over the last two years of my frequent travels dealing with my mother's decline, Russell Schroeder and Patrick Winch have been equally sturdy supports (and excellent drinking buddies!).
This is the first book in the series that was not edited by Barbara Friend Ish; as much as we both would have loved that, circumstances intervened on multiple levels. Instead, the editor for Servants of the Sands was Edward Morris, a ferociously intelligent gent who beat me about the head and shoulders about adding details and yanking out passive wording alongside my overly beloved em-dashes and semicolons. The book is much, much better for his input.
Last but not least, I owe a deep bow of gratitude to my publisher, Andrew Burt of ReAnimus Press, who gave this series a new home when the original publisher folded. Andrew has been incredibly patient and understanding in spite of the manuscript delivery taking *cough years cough* a bit longer than expected.
Thank you, everyone. Thank you so very, very, very much, for so many, many moments. I hope the book proves worth the wait!