Except for the literary celebrities who walk in and out of this story in cameo roles, the characters in the book are all fictitious and should not be confused with any real people, living or dead. And although the American Booksellers Association convention was held in Las Vegas in 1990, I have invented all of the events described in this story.
I wish to thank Pete Reynolds of the American Booksellers Association for confirming the dates of the Las Vegas ABA trade show, Saturday, June 2 through Tuesday, June 5, 1990. I also want to thank the Rock Bottom Remainders for allowing me to have them perform at that convention, even though the band didn’t yet exist at that time. (As far as I’m concerned, no ABA or BEA convention is complete without the Remainders.)
I want to gratefully acknowledge the help and encouragement I received from many people, including participants in my pirate workshop at the Santa Barbara Writers’ Conference; members of Santa Barbara’s Community of Voices; the Great Intenders of Arcata, California; and Robert Rosenwald, Barbara Peters, and the Poisoned Pen Press Posse.
Finally, I gratefully dedicate this novel to two of the best friends a writer could hope to have: Meredith Phillips, my partner in crime, and Susan Daniel, my partner in everything else.
—John M. Daniel