by Andrew Fox
The science fiction and fantasy community is truly an extended family, one I am especially proud to belong to. Fans and pros alike were breathtakingly generous to us. We were attending Bubonicon in Albuquerque, New Mexico, when the storm hit and we learned we wouldn’t be able to fly home anytime soon. Jane Lindskold, Pati Nagle, S. M. and Jan Stirling, Yvonne Coates, and the members of the Albuquerque Science Fiction Society fed us and did their best to keep our spirits up. Craig Chrissinger and Wendy Jay gathered clothes for all four of us, and books, videos, and toys for Levi and Asher. Nina and Ron Else from the dealers room took up a collection for us. Knowing that my computers and backup files might have been lost in the flood, Steve and Jan donated a Dell laptop which they weren’t using anymore. From Austin, Texas, Bradley Denton shipped me a copy of WordPerfect, my favorite word processor, and sent signed copies of all of his novels. Lucius Shepard, Adam-Troy Castro, and Gordon Van Gelder all mailed copies of books and magazines to fill up my hours (which ended up not being nearly so empty as I’d thought they would be, not with a toddler and an infant in tow, plus efforts to run a statewide food program in Louisiana from public library computers in Miami, Florida). Once we were down in Miami, Adam-Troy and Judi collected children’s clothes, toys, and even a Cozy Coupe car from their neighbors, then personally delivered them to our hotel. Deborah Layne, an editor I’d met only very briefly, wired us money, as did Lou and Xin Anders. Perhaps most impressively, an ad-hoc committee of Gulf South science fiction fans, many of them victims of the storm themselves, tracked me and my family down in Florida and mailed us two care packages, even including groceries.
I also owe great thanks to my agent, Denise Dumars, who stepped in for me when Dan Hooker passed away and who continued to believe in this book, despite many disappointments; and to Marty Halpern and Jacob Weisman, who shared Denise’s enthusiasm and faith.