Mother of Storms

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Every book accumulates some debts, but this one accumulated some special and important ones:

Dr. Stephen Gillett, who taught me what a clathrate was and kept me poking at the science until he said, “Good enough to fool me, anyway.”

Daniel D. Worley and David Pan, for information about the Pacific and a window into an all-but-forgotten corner of the world.

Ashley Grayson, my agent, and Patrick Nielsen Hayden, my editor, for frequently telling me I really was going to finish. And then for making me go through it all one more time so that I was really finished.

Melissa Gibson, who not only typed, but read, and not only read, but occasionally pointed out places where it was turning into nonsense.

And, during the very last week of getting the book done, two people who restored my ability to concentrate. I expect to see them at the top of the do-it-yourself field someday soon—Anna Rosenstein, author of How to Bob for Cats Through Your Kitchen Floor, and David Wintersteen, author of Special Weapons and Tactics in Covert Home Repair.