The Plight of the Darcy Brothers (44 page)

Once again, all of the loyal readers at Fanfiction.net and the various sites where I also posted this story were the people who got the story written, as this was all long before I had any dream of publishing it.

The following people deserve many thanks for helping me with research: Diana Bryant, Rene Garen, Sharon Lathan, and Michele Young.

Many people offered their help with the translations into French, even without being asked. Thanks go to Copperstring, nienie, and some other people who responded via email and that I've not been able to track down. User Story 215 provided some invaluable medical wisdom.

To my parents, who went far beyond what I would expect to make sure everyone we knew not only knew about my first book,
The Darcys & the Bingleys
, but also purchased or received a copy from them. I don't think a reference to Jane Austen characters ever appeared before in a synagogue bulletin.

To my grandmother, Helga Franklin. When I was very young and still played on the carpet with toys, she sat with me one day while I told her all of the stories I'd made up for the various action figures. She said to me, “Where do you come up with these stories? You have so much creativity.” It was not the only time she said that, but it's been the most meaningful to me.

For all the publishing and legal questions I have thrown at her, I would like to thank my boss, Diana Finch.

To the good people at the New York Public Library, thank
you for never noticing when I seemed to be photocopying an entire history book that cost too much to buy. I would say the same of the library staff at The City College of New York, as I can remember copying a number of ancient and massive out-of-print books there.

I'd like to put my brother Jason in here. I want to say something about “love” and “support” but that's too clichéd, even for a brother. We all know he loves and supports me. I heard he actually talks about my book to girls at parties.
My
book. It makes my heart melt.

Thanks to Shir Lerman for moral support. Current roommates get a freebie on this one.

And finally, all praise goes to the Holy One, Blessed be He, for creating 613 commandments to follow and not making a single one of them mention whether I could crib off Jane Austen or not. I checked.

Marsha Altman is an author and historian specializing in Rabbinic literature in late antiquity. She has a degree in history from Brown University and an MFA in creative writing from the City College of New York. She works in the publishing industry and is writing a series continuing the story of the Darcys and the Bingleys. She lives in New York.