by Terry Fallis
We had actually moved the “launch or lunch” needle. Amanda thrust her hands in the air and looked on the verge of starting a conga line. No one else still left in the restaurant was prepared to join her, except me, of course.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
In writing this book, I have been blessed with the encouragement and support of so many. As always, I thank Beverley Slopen for her wise counsel and experienced hand. I’m honoured that Doug Gibson is my editor and my friend, and I’m grateful for both. I owe a great deal to superstar publicist, Frances Bedford, who has kept my dance card full of literary festivals and other authorial gigs from coast to coast. I look forward to hitting the road again, for this novel. As well, copy editor extraordinaire, Wendy Thomas, has made this a better book. My thanks also to Doug Pepper, Bhavna Chauhan, and the rest of the McClelland & Stewart team for all of their efforts.
I must also thank CNN’s Ali Velshi and everyone on the CBC Canada Reads team for all they did for me in 2011. Ali’s passion and eloquence in the Canada Reads debates yielded a year I’ll never forget and a debt I can never repay. I feel the same way about the wonderful people who lead the Stephen Leacock Association, and how they changed my life in the spring of 2008. It all started in Orillia.
Canada’s first astronaut, Marc Garneau, has been so helpful to me in writing this novel. While the part of this story that unfolds beyond our earthly bounds is clearly fiction, it could be fact, thanks, in no small measure, to Marc. I’m grateful for his time, expertise, and kind words about the book.
Dr. James Fallis and Dr. Martha Bushore-Fallis very kindly helped me capture in words the required technique for removing an inflamed appendix. I am thankful for their medical advice, and for so much more.
Beyond connecting with readers, one aspect of the literary life I’ve treasured in the last four years has been spending time with some amazing writers. International bestsellers Cathy Marie Buchanan and Andrew Pyper, friends both, are two of them. They were very kind to read this manuscript and offer up such wonderful words about it. They have my gratitude and whatever else I have to give.
Joe Thornley, my friend, and technically my boss in my day job, continues to turn a blind eye as I gallivant from one book event to another. I know I’m very lucky and I very much appreciate his indulgence, and that of my work colleagues.
To my wife, Nancy, and our two sons, Calder and Ben, merely saying thank you is wholly inadequate. Simply put, you have made this little odyssey of mine possible. That thought is never far from my mind.
T.F.
Toronto, 2012