ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Writing a book, like raising a child, takes a village.

 
In mine, I am privileged to have the most supportive of editors in Sharon Turner Mulvihill, who blends intuitive insight with good, old-fashioned book sense and a continued willingness to push at the margins. For all her faith, great good humor and diligence, I am supremely grateful.

 
My deepest thanks also go to:

 
Kelly Bonilla, for answering more than one panicky e-mail about design specs;

 
Øystein Tvedten, for always managing to turn over rocks to find answers;

 
Randall Bills, for combing out all those nits and patiently replying to every inane question;

 
Ben Rome, who not only suffered through my Starbucks withdrawals but was instrumental in hashing out historical particulars for some of the major characters—and who, after a mind-numbing marathon game at GenCon, also coined the following definition for ‘‘pulling an Ilsa’’ and thus ensured my place in GenCon apocrypha:

 
ilsa (il-SA) v 1: to consistently roll one under the minimum required to-hit number, followed by selective curse words 2: to curse every die touched with poor rolls [countered by a phaedra]; i.e., ‘‘To pull an ilsa.’’ Ex: The Cygnus ilsaed every attack against the Jupiter, allowing the enemy forces to approach unmolested.