Sea of Rust

Acknowledgments

This book was, hands down, the hardest thing I’ve ever had to write. It seemed easy at first, almost too easy. It’s about robots! This was going to be a cakewalk. Spoiler warning: it wasn’t. Fortunately, no artist truly ever has to go it alone, and once again this came about with the help and support of a number of incredible people to whom I owe debts I feel I can never truly repay. They are wonderful people, one and all, and I hope, over the years, to find some way to settle our balance.

Jason Murphy for the scotch, and helping to find the courage; Rod Paddock for all the breakfast and support; Peter Hall for the wisdom; Will Goss for the coffee, corrections, and keeping me in check; and Joe and Ryan Hill for their belief in the happy ending. Their early notes all proved invaluable.

Diana Gill, Simon Spanton, Rachel Winterbottom, and Jen Brehl for fighting for me and this book, and for helping shape it into what it has become. Peter McGuigan, a rock star of an agent who once showed me more swagger in two weeks than I’ve seen out of most people in a lifetime. David Macilvain, the man who brought me Peter, and whose advice always clears the static.

Scott Derrickson, my writing partner, my friend who held the door open for me and who took me on a series of strange adventures. We also make movies.

Jessica, who loves her writer, whose writer loves her more than breath, and who never, ever, lets me give up. You remain everything.

And for the tireless efforts of Deputy So-and-So of the local police department, without whose research this book wouldn’t be possible.