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Acknowledgments

 

I'd like to thank the people whose assistance and encouragement helped me down the long road that this novel has taken. It began as a novelette, "Though All the Mountains Lie Between," written for the anthology Dragons of Darkness, edited by Orson Scott Card. I must thank Jane Yolen for nudging me into writing the story in the first place, and Scott for his enthusiastic reception of it—as well as the editors of The Science Fiction Times for showing it first print.

Once published, the story wouldn't let me go. It tugged at me, whispering that it was not yet finished; it was a novel that demanded to be written. Meanwhile, I was preoccupied with another very long novel that took five and a half years to write, followed by several other books. But my editor, Jim Frenkel, had read my dragon story, too—and when I presented him with an outline for a novel, he seized upon it at once. And so began a journey of writing and rewriting (woven chronologically around the writing of several other novels), editing and rewriting, and further polishing, that took five more years before the book was finished. But now you have it in your hands, and much gratitude is due Jim Frenkel for his endless probing of the foundations of the story and offering of suggestions. My agent Richard Curtis had his doubts, but he trusted me when I said it had to be done, and for that I thank him.

I also thank the cover artist, Jael (no relation to the protagonist), who, through a chance meeting at a convention, came to produce the painting that graces the front of this book. I offer, as well, a grateful tip of the hat to Janny Wurts, the illustrator of the original story.

As always, thanks are due to the writing group: Mary Aldridge, Victoria Bolles, Richard Bowker, and Craig Gardner, for encouragement and countless helpful criticisms. And finally, to my wife Allysen, best reader and best friend, who always believed I could do it, even when my own confidence failed. I love you guys, and I couldn't have done it without you.

 

—JAC

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Framed