The Iron Throne

And for Brian Thomsen and Rob King, who expressed an incredible vote of confidence and demonstrated sheer lunacy by asking me to do this book under an impossible deadline and managed to maintain their cool under pressure when I came down with pneumonia in the middle of the project, then recovered only to suffer a gunshot wound to my hand, which necessitated typing this entire book with only four fingers. (Don’t ask, I don’t want to talk about it.) I pulled it off, guys. That’s one for the books. Thanks for hanging in there.

Thanks also to Dr. Arnie Arem, who took care of my injured hand, and Heather Bowman, who came and helped enormously while I was recovering, despite being seven months pregnant and missing her husband, Shawn, who’s in the navy.

And special thanks and acknowledgments are due to Margie and James Kosky, Paul Cupal, Robert M. Powers, Sandra West, Bruce and Peggy Wiley, David Foster, Daniel Arthur, Debbie Delisle, and Gypsy Bentz, and all my friends who provided support and encouragement through all this madness. You know who you are, I love you all.

For some peculiar reason, one of the questions I’m most often asked is if I write to music and, if so, what is it? Okay, I’m only gonna do it once, so pay attention. The answer is, not always. Sometimes I listen to music just before I write, to get charged up, sometimes while I write, to keep it flowing. Here are the talented musicians who have provided energy and inspiration during the demented hours:

Sisters of Mercy (Britain’s coolest export since the Triumph Bonneville), Tangerine Dream, Henry Rollins (poet laureate of the new “Lost Generation”), Bauhaus, Rush, Danny Elfman and Oingo Boingo, AC/DC, Bela Fleck, Eric Clapton, Pearl Jam (Eddie Vedder is the best male vocalist since Morrison), Stevie Ray Vaughan (who will be sorely missed), Ozzy Osbourne, Andreas Vollenweider, Blues Traveler, Yngwie Malmsteen, Billy Idol, Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Jon Bon Jovi, the Doors, Aerosmith, Melissa Etheridge (the best and most soulful female vocalist since Janis), Roy Orbison, Lita Ford, and the one and only “Hammer of the Gods”—Led Zeppelin, played loud enough to crack the sky. I listen to lots of other stuff, but those are the people who do it for me when I write.

(Sorry, Mom, I guess the Mozart didn’t take.)