The list of people who have usefully influenced my return to Osten Ard is long, and I apologize in advance if I have forgotten anyone.
Ylva von Löhneysen, Ron Hyde, Angela Welchel, Jeremy Erman, Cindy Squires, and Linda van der Pal all offered indispensable suggestions, corrections, and the occasional smack in the snoot (when I got something really wrong) about the early drafts of the book.
Angela Welchel and Cindy Yan put in a huge amount of creativity and work helping us with other, Osten-Ard-related projects.
Ylva and Ron wrote the synopsis of The Witchwood Crown. I edited it a little. Also, Ylva, Ron, and Angela Welchel worked together make the appendix at the end of the book, which is full of chewy informational goodness.
And of course, Ylva and Ron have been godparents to these books since the beginning, because in many ways they (and the other fine humans mentioned above) know Osten Ard better than I do. Hey, I took thirty years off before returning, what do you expect?
In fact, oh, so many people deserve my thanks again this time, because makin’ books ain’t easy!
Lisa Tveit is the social media warrior making sure that tadwilliams.com remains a bastion of silliness and Tadalia on the internet. And my many friends on the TW Message Board keep my courage up during dark nights of the soul where I wonder if anyone cares about what I’m doing.
Olaf Keith contributes a great deal to the website and also helps me and my work in a number of other ways, and I’m always grateful for his kindness.
Marylou Capes-Platt did her usual excellent job of copyediting on Empire of Grass, as well as slipping in the occasional and very welcome note of encouragement.
Michael Whelan painted another fantastic cover. Don’t mean to make it sound like it’s something I take for granted, no matter how often it has happened. I never do.
Isaac Stewart (with a lot of feedback from ace cryptogeographer Ron Hyde) has again drawn brilliant maps and contributed in many other ways.
Joshua Starr, as always, handled the assembly side of things with his usual skill and good nature.
My agent Matt Bialer takes care of me and my work, and reminds me about things like not biting careless reviewers, no matter how much they might deserve it.
My overseas publishers, especially Stephan Askani of Klett-Cotta in Germany and Oliver Johnson of Hodder and Stoughton in the UK, have been hugely supportive, as always.
And, as mentioned at length in the dedications, none of this would have turned out anywhere near as well without my editor/publishers, Sheila Gilbert and Betsy Wollheim, and my writer/collaborator/partner in crime and life, Deborah Beale.
Thank you, all you heroes.