The Ivory and the Horn

Acknowledgements

As anyone involved knows, contrary to the belief that artists create in the isolation of their workspaces, the act of creation is not a solitary endeavor. Without the inspiration and support I've received over the years, these stories wouldn't exist, so this time out I'd like to thank:

My wife; MaryAnn, for her help in the genesis of many of these stories and in their fine-tuning, always knowing when and where to say the right thing;

My editors at Tor, Terri Windling, Patrick Nielsen Hayden, Donald G. Keller and Greg Cox, for having enough faith in these stories to request a second volume sight unseen, and for making the publishing process so painless;

My agent, Richard Curtis, for finding me the spaces between novels when I could write these stories;

Altan, Tori Amos, Sarah Bauhan, Lisa Germano, Kiya Heartwood, Maria Kalaniemi, Peter Kater, Jon Mark, R. Carlos Nakai, Johnette Napolitano, Happy Rhodes and Ian Tamblyn, whose music keeps me sane;

All those editors who first asked for the stories collected herein: Kurt Busiak, Richard Chizmar, Pete Crowther, Bob Garcia, Marty Greenberg, David Hartwell, Kit Kerr, Greg Ketter, Andre Norton, John and George O' Nale, Kris Rusch, Darrell Schweitzer, Erik Secker, Carol Serling and Dean Smith.

A few notes concerning individual stories:

In "The Bone Woman," the idea of La Huesera comes from the folklore of the American Southwest. My thanks to Clarissa Pinkola Estés for making me aware of the tale.

In "Where Desert Spirits Crowd the Night" the story of Coyote and the Buzzard is based upon traditional Kickapoo folk lore.

"The Wishing Well" was written for MaryAnn, who wanted to know what was in the well, and for Jane Siberry, for her own "strange well" of songs. Special thanks to Dr. Sean Costello (a fine author in his own right) for technical advice.

— Charles de Lint

Ottawa, Canada