Tempted by Trouble (37 page)

Tyrone Fance, my favorite comedian in the whole world, big ups and high five for allowing me to borrow your book
The Myth of Male Power.
Much love to you, Delia, Taylor, and Devin.

Dana Wimberly, thanks for reading this as a WIP and in its roughest form.

Mrs. Charmont Young,
hola señora
!
¡Y gracias!

And my Facebook homies and fellow writers Robert Carraher and Amaleka McCall Brathwaite, thanks for getting back to me on the questions I posted at the last minute.

Thanks to all of the hardworking people back in New York at Dutton, the best publishing company from coast to coast. We’ve been rolling since ’96. Thanks for years of support. Brian Tart, thanks a zillion. Erika Imranyi, o ye magnificent editor, thanks for your patience and understanding. And thanks for bringing the scissors. You’re brilliant. I think we’ve cut close to 40K words from this baby. I loved the cuts! And while I’m shouting, shout-outs to Ava Kavyani and everyone in publicity and to copyeditor extraordinaire, Aja Pollock. Wait . . . uh . . . do people still say
shout-out
? LOL. I have no clue.

Sara Camilli and everyone working at the Sara Camilli Agency, thanks for over a decade of hard work and support on . . . how many novels? I’ve lost count. It’s been a while since Chiquita and Tyrel and Kimberly and Vince and Chante Marie Ellis were created. Seriously. I did an interview and they asked me how many books I’d written and I shrugged. LOL. And I couldn’t name them all in order. I guess all that matters is the next one. What’s done is done. (Joking.) But seriously, how many trees do I have to kill to make it to one hundred books? Gideon will have cataracts and be wearing Depends by then. . . .

 

Now, as usual, if I have omitted anyone, by accident or intentionally, here’s your chance to shine.

Saving the best for last, I want to thank _____________________ for all of their help while I was working on this novel. They brought me chicken soup when I had the flu. They gave me brilliant ideas when I had none and was sitting in my office staring at that demon Writer’s Block. Yessireee! They were better than spell-check, a dictionary, and a thesaurus. I’m sure that they will tell you all they did to make this novel pop. Feel free to believe all that they say. Just don’t buy the bridge in Brooklyn. It’s mine.

 

Sunday, April 25, 2010. 10:26 P.M.
33.43.22 North 84.28.15 West
70°F
Current: Cloudy with scattered showers
Wind: SW at 4 mph
Humidity: 56%

 

Gray sweats, black T-shirt from W Hotel in San Francisco, locks pulled back into a ponytail.

I’m on a horse. ☺

Feel free to stop by
www.ericjeromedickey.com
. From there you can link to other sites and see how to find me on Facebook and Twitter. Oh, yeah. Stop by and join the fan page on Facebook.

Originally from Memphis, Tennessee, Eric Jerome Dickey is the
New York Times
bestselling author of eighteen novels. He is also the author of a six-issue miniseries of graphic novels for Marvel Enterprises featuring Storm (
X-Men
) and the Black Panther. He lives on the road and rests in whatever hotel will have him.