Dedication
This one's for three of my teachers:
Robert A. Heinlein
Donald Hamilton
David Drake.
Acknowledgments
Some Acknowledgments and
a Mercifully Short Hail and Farewell:
The truth is that the beginning of anything and its end are alike touching.
Yoshida Kenko
which is the quote with which the book begins, quite appropriately; but it bears repeating here.
As I write this, it's been a dozen years since I sold The Sleeping Dragon to Sheila Gilbert, then editor of what was then the Signet SF linethe line of books that's now the Roc imprint of Penguin USA.
I'm not sure, sometimes, if that feels like yesterday, or like a million years ago.
A bit of both, I guess. Long enough, certainly.
While it's time for both me and further books in and out of the series to move on (and, yes, the Guardians stories will continue), I wanted to take this last opportunity to express my gratitude to all the good people who have worked at this companyin management, in editorial, in production, and in marketing and saleswho have helped with the books over such a long, and largely rewarding, period of time.
Thanks, folks. It's been real.
As usual, I'm indebted to the Usual SuspectsBruce Bethke, Pat Wrede, Peg Kerr Ihingerand even more than usually to my agent, Eleanor Wood; and I'm always grateful to my wife, Felicia Herman, and my daughters Judy and Rachel, for things that have both little and much to do with the work at hand.