I conceived of this book when, gazing at the finely painted images gracing the covers of my large collection of Western paperbacks, I imagined one that didn’t feature a white man first and foremost. Instead, in my mind’s eye, I pictured my own partner, author doungjai gam, a Thai-American woman, astride her horse on the frontier. The picture was just too tantalizing to leave at that, so I wrote the novel, and as the dedication tells you, I did it for her. Accordingly, my first and biggest thanks goes to her, for inspiring me every day as an author and a human. She isn’t exactly all that similar to Boon, but there would never have been a Boon without doungjai gam.
Huge thanks are due to David Dodd and Chris Bennett for their sharp eyes, deeps wells of cultural and historical knowledge, and willingness to beat me over the head with cold, hard facts when I got things absurdly wrong. (Those things that continue to be absurdly wrong are entirely my fault for refusing to back down from my wrongness.) Boon is a substantially better book for their efforts, and I couldn’t be happier to have been granted the opportunity to work with them.
My gratitude as always to David Wilson for adding Boon to the Crossroad roster, alongside my previous books with them, Angel of the Abyss, Nausea, and Sawbones. Boon is a spiritual sibling to Sawbones (there is indeed some crossover between them), so it is only fitting that Boon should find its home with Crossroad Press.
Thanks to Allison Dickson, Errick Nunnally, John Foster, Brian Lindenmuth, and Brice McVicar for taking the time to read my early drafts and offer their insight, not to mention a few blurbs. Y’all are the best.
Last but far, far from least, my thanks to Terrence McCauley, author of the fabulous Aaron Mackey Western series, for lighting the fire beneath my posterior that took me from wanting to someday write a full-length Western novel to actually getting it done. Terry has been such a tremendous cheerleader and inspiration for my ambitions in and love for this genre, and I’m pleased as hell that he struck that match. Thanks, my friend, and long may you ride.