Dreams of Shreds and Tatters (30 page)

This novel has been a labor of love, despair, and grim determination, more than any other I’ve written to date. So many people have suffered with me through the drafts. I’m indebted to Steven Downum, Elizabeth Bear, Jaime Lee Moyer, Leah Bobet, Jodi Meadows, Kathryn Allen, Marissa Lingen, Ian Tregillis, Cathy Freeze, Siobhan Carroll, Cory Skerry, Jamie Rosen, Lisa Deguchi, Deva Fagan, and everyone in the Online Writing Workshop and the Bat City Novelocracy. And of course, my indefatigable agent Jennifer Jackson, Michael Curry, David Moore, Jonathan Oliver, and Jeffrey Alan Love.

I’m also grateful to Matt Andrews for his help with the Bete Noire recipe. I have consumed many of them.