Jade War

Acknowledgments

This isn’t the first time I’ve written a sequel, but nothing quite prepares you for the seemingly impossible task of following up the biggest, most ambitious novel you’ve ever written with an even bigger and more ambitious novel, the second in a trilogy, no less. My great pleasure in delivering this finished book to you, dear reader, is eclipsed by sheer relief that it all worked out.

My appreciation once again to the team at Orbit, and most of all to my editor, Sarah Guan, who never fails to push my writing in ways that add nuance, deepen the layers of the story, and make things worse for the characters. If you have suffered distress on account of the traumatic ordeals borne by the Kaul family, it is in no small part thanks to Sarah’s encouragement.

Thanks once again to the marketing and publicity team of Alex Lencicki, Ellen Wright, Laura Fitzgerald, and Paola Crespo, design wizards Lauren Panepinto and Lisa Marie Pompilio, editor Jenni Hill and publicist Nazia Khatun in the UK, production overseer Andy Ball, ever-observant copyeditor Kelley Frodel, mapmaker Tim Paul, and everyone else who had a hand in putting my book on physical and virtual shelves.

I shared an early, messy draft of Jade War with my agent, Jim McCarthy, before I allowed any other soul to set eyes on it, and his excellent suggestions and continued optimism convinced me that not all hope was lost. (He’s good at doing that.)

Thank you to beta readers Curtis Chen, Simone Cooper, Vanessa MacLellan, Carolyn O’Doherty, and Sonja Thomas for the feedback and brainstorming sessions. Tina Connolly spent a car ride with me to Seattle helping to solve a section of the story that resulted in the best fight scene in the book.

My husband, Nathan, has acted as reader, proofreader, sounding board, and regular emotional support provider. I couldn’t do it without him. Our two children are a continual reminder that there’s much more to life than how well the writing is going on any one given day.

The marvelous reader enthusiasm to the Green Bone Saga has motivated me through every day of working on this novel. I’m grateful for every appreciative and encouraging email, tweet, review, and in-person interaction I’ve received from new clan loyalists, and I hope you all keep coming back because there’s more where this came from.