The Blacktongue Thief

Acknowledgments

Among the many to whom I owe some debt for this story, I want to start with its champion and midwife, editor Lindsey Hall; how she learned so much so young is beyond my ken, but no sharper knife than hers has cut a book’s baggage or defended its heart.

Likewise, this story would not exist without my steadfast, talented, and insightful agent, Michelle Brower, who asked me some years ago what genre I might like to write besides horror.

I want to thank Kyle and MaritaBeth Caruthers, whose Dice Cup Lounge provided a cool and welcoming haven on many a hot day at the Scarborough Faire in Texas, and who were always happy to listen to newly minted passages; thanks also to Marc, Maggie, Hunter and Teri, Sarah and Cyrus, John, Rhonda, Bob, Stefan, and any others who found themselves willingly or otherwise formed into an audience for said readings in said place.

I am grateful to the early readers who commented on the manuscript: Allison Williams, Ian MacDonald, Kate Polak, Skip Leeds, Kelly Cochrane, Jamie Haeuser, Andrew Pyper, and Kelly Robson; I owe you all a drink in the Quartered Sun whenever next we get to Edth.

And lest I forget, thanks to Michael and Stephanie, Byron and Aaron, Liam, Chris K., and the other eager players of Towers who helped me turn it from an author’s fancy into a brutal and addictive betting game. Most ardent among this group of test players is my wife, Jennifer; my playmate, my comfort, my strength.

I also wish to acknowledge those who blazed this trail; J. R. R. Tolkien, of course, who is every modern fantasy writer’s common ancestor; but also publisher Tom Doherty, who helped bring him to an American audience and who runs the company that brought this book to light. George R. R. Martin inherited not just Tolkien’s middle initials but his genius in world-building and set an astonishingly high bar for the rest of us—the audio books of A Song of Ice and Fire, brilliantly narrated by the late Roy Dotrice, have smoothed many a long mile on my road and remain, for me, the gold standard of storytelling excellence. The works of modern masters Joe Abercrombie and Patrick Rothfuss influenced this author, it is fair to say; in a world so full of good books and so short on time, theirs are among the stories I gladly revisit.

Lastly, to Luther. He showed up on my doorstep in the summer of 2015 and raoed to be let in. He was a handsome boy, but sickly, with only a few short years to give. Though his eyes didn’t work, I had been the blind one and had never loved a cat.

He taught me a few things about that.