ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Thanks to all the Indiegogo backers, who helped to make this book what it is! They include Tammy Lynn Black, Jordan Breit, Andrew Hardaker, Doni Hogan, Al Mele, Melanie Cristau, Matthew Hinkle, Diana Zou, John Perry, Jason R Burns, Richard Craven, Sakura Yumura, Jennifer Greenlees, Mary Corrington, Donald Walter Beyer, Hobart C Newton, and Philippe Pinel.

Extra thanks to Diana Zou and John Perry, who were my first readers. Diana helped me get the Chinese culture as accurate as I could, and Uncle John read several drafts and helped with historical points and the proper gun use. Thanks to Philippe Pinel, who contributed the idea for Hiram Pinel.

Finally, thanks to K.H. Koehler, my editor, who did a magnificent job polishing my prose. The pace is all the more rip-roaring because of her fine work.