The Book of Cthulhu

Acknowledgments

This book would not have been possible without the hard work, support, and encouragement of the entire Night Shade Books team: Jason Williams, Jeremy Lassen, Tomra Palmer, Dave Palumbo, Amy Popovich, Allison Stumpf, and Liz Upson. Thanks, I couldn’t have picked a better bunch of folks to work with.

To the editors and anthologists I’ve had the pleasure and privilege of working with over the last few years—John Joseph Adams, Scott Connors, Ellen Datlow, Marty Halpern, Ron Hilger, John Klima, Tim Pratt, Jonathan Strahan, and Ann and Jeff VanderMeer—Thanks, it’s been a Master Class. Thanks to all of those who helped out, made story suggestions, or offered advice while I was putting this anthology together, particularly John Betancourt, Matthew Carpenter, Stephanie Hartman, Jill Henderson, Michael Lee, Barbara Roden, Mike Roth, and Jerad Walters. Thanks as well to Obrotowy, for his outstanding cover art (Iä! Cthulhu!), Claudia Noble, for her breathtaking design, and Allan Kausch, for his copyediting prowess. Thanks also to all the authors whose work appears within these pages, and to Grandpa Theobald—Howard Phillips Lovecraft—for inspiring those authors.

Special thanks to my wife, Jennifer, for her patience as this anthology drove me to the brink of madness… and beyond! To my parents, for raising me in a house filled with books. And to Maddie the Shih-Tzu, the best listener an editor could have.