One of my oldest and dearest friends, Phillip Rosen, has always been my most stalwart ally, and for more years than I care to count, he has looked out for my well-being with grace, generosity, and a well-honed sense of humor.
It is often said that success has many parents, but in the case of this modest volume it is essentially true. And as far as this work is concerned, the generous godparents are Simon and Diana Raab. Again there was an empathy born of mutual interests. Simon is an outstanding, and intellectually courageous, painter and sculptor whose work enjoys an international audience. His wife, Diana Raab, is one of the few modern poets that I look forward to reading with loyal regularity. Simon and Diana are both, by any standard, extraordinary talents, and I feel quite honored that they count me as a loyal friend and worthy colleague.
Lastly, I wish to thank my father’s granddaughter, Blake Smyle, her husband Jim, and their children, Nicholas and Hannah, for their love and filial concern. It took years of searching, but we have at last successfully managed to reunite our wandering brood. It is every artist’s private glory to feel that he can leave something of intrinsic value to generations of his own family yet to come. Thanks to my audacious and talented niece, after years of believing I was the last of a lost clan, I now have a whole family once again, and I sincerely hope my modest efforts finds favor in their eyes, and perhaps provide a tickle of pride.
Copyright © 2011 by Thomas Steinbeck
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Steinbeck, Thomas.
The silver lotus : a novel / Thomas Steinbeck ; introduction by This Person.
p. cm.
eISBN : 978-1-582-43837-5
1. Merchants--Fiction. 2. Trading companies--Fiction. 3. Pacific Area--Fiction. I. Title.
PS3619.T47615S55 2011
813’.6--dc23
2011026511
COUNTERPOINT
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