Black Water Rising (37 page)

My thanks go first to my editor, Dawn Davis. Thank you for believing in this book and especially in me as a writer. A very big thank-you to my agent, Richard Abate. This book grew by leaps and bounds because of your candor and insight. Thanks also to Brian Lipson for reading an early draft and pointing me in so many right directions, and to Bob Myman for your friendship and advocacy. Special thanks go to Michelle Satter, Lynn Auerbach, Ken Brecher, and Bob Redford for my summer on the mountain, the lessons of which are with me still. To my father, Gene, thank you for accepting phone calls at all hours to answer my many questions about Houston and the civil rights movement. Thanks also to Argentina James for arranging my tour of the Port of Houston, and to Captain John T. Scardasis
for explaining the culture of the longshoremen's union. To my mother, Sherra, who always gets the first read, thank you for dreaming with me. And a heartfelt thank-you to Mrs. Odell C. Johnson, my earliest inspiration. I also wish to thank my sister, Tembi, for her sharp suggestions and her deep and abiding faith in me, and also my brother-in-law, Rosario, for finding the gentlest way to ask me some very tough questions. And I will always owe a debt of gratitude to Julie Ariola for teaching me to hold everything lightly. Likewise, this book would not have been possible without the unyielding support of Cheryl Arutt. Thank you for reminding me to trust myself. Special thanks also go to my daughter, Clara, for waiting until Mommy had at least a first draft before showing your beautiful face. And finally, to my husband, Karl, who has more patience than any man ought to, there simply aren't enough ways to say thank you. Your love has been a light in my life, helping me find my way.

A
TTICA
L
OCKE
is a screenwriter who has worked in both film and television. A former fellow at the Sundance Institute, she is currently at work on an HBO miniseries about the civil rights movement. A native of Houston, Texas, she lives in Los Angeles with her husband and daughter.

www.atticalocke.com

Visit www.AuthorTracker.com for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCollins author.

This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogue are drawn from the author's imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

BLACK WATER RISING
. Copyright © 2009 by Attica Locke. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

Adobe Digital Edition May 2009 ISBN 978-0-06-188626-3

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Australia

HarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty. Ltd.

25 Ryde Road (PO Box 321)

Pymble, NSW 2073, Australia

http://www.harpercollinsebooks.com.au

Canada

HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.

55 Avenue Road, Suite 2900

Toronto, ON, M5R, 3L2, Canada

http://www.harpercollinsebooks.ca

New Zealand

HarperCollinsPublishers (New Zealand) Limited

P.O. Box 1

Auckland, New Zealand

http://www.harpercollins.co.nz

United Kingdom

HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.

77-85 Fulham Palace Road

London, W6 8JB, UK

http://www.harpercollinsebooks.co.uk

United States

HarperCollins Publishers Inc.

10 East 53rd Street

New York, NY 10022

http://www.harpercollinsebooks.com