Acknowledgements

I’D LIKE TO start by thanking Matt Hulls, editor of the Graveside Tales anthology that was the original short story that evolved into this novel was inspired from.

Thanks also to Sean Costello, a brilliant horror and thriller writer I have looked up to since first discovering his Pocket Books novel Eden’s Eyes, back in 1989. Sean, your friendship and mentorship has meant a lot to me from the very early days, to today, as we have collaborated together. But, ultimately, for the purpose of this book, I’m grateful for the time you first read the short story “This Time Around” and asked that wonderful fateful question: “So what happens next?” This book wouldn’t have happened without that.

I would also like to thank Paula B (Paula Berinstein) host of The Writing Show Podcast, who was there at the beginning of this novel’s journey, documenting the process of my very first attempts to get the novel written during the GETTING PUBLISHED WITH MARK LESLIE “reality show” episodes of The Writing Show Podcast. Thank you, Paula, for inspiring me and so many other writers over the years.

Thanks also to Mick Halpin, who, like me, was a fan of The Writing Show Podcast with Paula B, and became an active participant in the entire process, poking and prodding and encouraging me along the way as well as providing invaluable feedback on the story itself. Thank you, Mick, for being along for the ride from the beginning.

Thank you to Jan Ehrlich, who agreed to read an early and incomplete version in order to help ensure I got the feeling and essence of Manhattan correct, but then fell in love with the story about Michael and Gail and inspired me to finish the novel because she was sitting on the edge of her seat in anticipation. Jan, you have no idea how incredibly important knowing you needed to see more of the story was to me during this process.

Thank you to Dennis Hamill who took time out not only to respond to a fan email from me, but also responding to my request for some information about Battery Park in the early morning hours. The thoughtful and insightful note I received back included some extremely helpful suggestions about how to see a particular setting not through my own eyes, but through the eyes of my character. Dennis is the one who suggested that I take a walk with my character and listen to how they describe the things around them. This is a valuable exercise that I use all the time.

A tip of the hat and grateful appreciation to Joshua Essoe, editor, who did an absolutely amazing job of scouring through the manuscript, helping me tweak not only the words, but the depths of character and the finer moments. If this novel is at all better in its current format from the original version, it’s due to the calm and guiding hand of Joshua. If this version is worse, then that is due solely to the slip of my own hand in the post-edit work. I must also admit that, in his thorough and detailed notes back to me, Joshua made some excellent and insightful suggestions, some of which I purposely decided to abandon, not because they weren’t excellent, but because they conflicted with my own perspective. I spent many months belaboring the ideas he set forth, and, only after careful consideration did I abandon a few of them in favor of keeping the novel closer to my original vision. But I can tell you that Joshua’s notes did provide fruit for some potential scenarios that I will unroll in the continuing adventures of Michael Andrews.

And, last, by certainly not least, thank you to Liz Anderson, not only my first reader, but the first person who also hears the characters, the moments, the thoughts even before they are committed to paper or before I even know they will be part of a story. Being able to share my deepest thoughts with her has been and continues to be priceless, and is the favorite part of any day. The fact that, during the completion of the final version of this manuscript, Liz and I got to experience so many of the neighborhoods and areas of New York where Michael Andrews wandered through the course of this novel, is something I shall always hold dear. New York might be Michael and Gail’s city in this book, but in my heart it is our city, my Love.