Hell's Faire

by John Ringo

  The Barflies have been out there rooting and pushing for me from my very first book, A Hymn Before Battle. I was a Barfly before it was accepted for publication and the rest of the gang got out there and promoted it without even being asked. It was like having two thousand sales reps and I'm personally certain that the Barflies, more than any other single factor, have led to the notable success that I've enjoyed with my books.

  I'd like to thank a few of them in particular and in no particular order, dangit:

  Morgen, for being one of the first friendly faces. Deann, despite DaGiN Ball. Genghis Kratman, newest author Barfly, who's like a brother. Katie/Inga for always being up for a round of groupieness. Wyman for always being out there helping. skippy (sic) for not always being around.

  I'd like to thank the technical crew, Conrad, Phil, Doug and Ken Burnside for making some vague sense of my technical inanities.

  I'd like to thank Russ Isler and Darius Garsys for turning my descriptions into real, breathing, living objects.

  Most especially I'd like to thank Joe Buckley and Glennis LeBlanc for being two of the best First Readers in the business and putting up with my various pranks.

  Oh, and I'd like to thank Karin my wife for, once again, putting up with me when I was under deadline.

  Naturally, I'm going to forget some people, some of whom have made important contributions. To anyone who was left out, I'm sorry I missed you and I'll try to make it up in some other books.

  Maps

  Sluggy Freelance

  Back in July of 2001, when I was slavishly at work on When the Devil Dances, one of my acquaintances sent me an innocuous e-mail. Like shaking the hand of a person with smallpox or juggling rats that have bubonic plague, it's always the small things that get you.

  The first Sluggy Freelance that anyone sent me was of Bun-Bun preparing for Santa's arrival. Without background it was puzzling rather than amusing. Then, later, I got another. That one intrigued me enough to look at some of the early comics. When I got to "Say the N word again and I'll do it to you with a spoon!" I was well and truly hooked. On a rather slow dial-up I lost solid weeks of production time, repeatedly hitting "next comic" like a rat tapping the bar for its cocaine fix. And then...it was over. I was trapped in the fixation of waiting for my daily Sluggy! Wah!

  But...not quite. The insidiousness of Sluggy had entered my brain. I needed a big tank, I had created the big tank. But it had no life, no fire, no spirit. No...evil... And so, BUN-BUN THE SHEVA was born! "I am created Bun-Bun! Destroyer of Worlds!"

  So I found myself a Sluggite (the term for serious Sluggy Freelance fans) in the almost unique position to take Sluggy into a new world. And, along the way, infect some of my own readers.

  I took the opportunity to go to DragonCon and meet Pete Abrams, Sluggy's creator, and get his permission to use the terms in my works. He seemed somewhat confused, I admit that I probably came across as an obsessed fan-boy, but nodded his willingness despite his bemusement. But when the book came out, the level of correspondence about the cross-over took both of us by surprise. Neither of us saw huge market jumps, but we both received fairly massive commentary on the crossover. It seemed to be successful.

  Since the next year I was, once again, working on a Posleen book, I met Pete at DragonCon for the second time. In the meantime I had infected my publisher with the Sluggite disease and he had stated that he wanted Sluggy artwork in the next book. From there, Pete created the concept of "What would happen if Sluggy Freelance was in the Posleen universe?"

  For those of you who are simply bemused by this cross-over, I hope that the

  books stand on their own. And to those of you who have, like myself, my publisher, his office, various friends and relations and apparently dozens, hundreds, of readers, been drawn off your normal day to day routine to slavishly hit "next comic" until they run out:

  Sucks to be us, huh?

  Better to juggle bubonic rats.

  Thanks Pete. And I hope you all enjoy.

  THE END

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