The Maelstrom

Many thanks to Random House and Schuyler Hooke for tightening the manuscript and bringing The Maelstrom to fruition. Nicole de las Heras has designed a beautiful book, Cory Godbey has provided another spellbinding cover, and Jocelyn Lange continues to ensure that readers around the world can enjoy Max’s adventures. As always, I’m grateful to Josh Adams and Adams Literary for their professional guidance and support.

Every author is indebted to his predecessors and contemporaries. J. R. R. Tolkien showed me the beauty of building a world. Frank Herbert’s Dune demonstrated the appeal of blending science fiction and fantasy. Ursula K. Le Guin’s words fairly crackle with magic, while Patrick O’Brian is unparalleled at using history and humor to explore the human condition. When it comes to concocting primal, nameless horrors, no one tops H. P. Lovecraft. Bill Bryson’s excellent A Short History of Nearly Everything provided Astaroth’s anecdote regarding the dodo’s extinction and Sir Isaac Newton’s Principia. In addition, William Shakespeare’s plays Much Ado About Nothing and A Midsummer Night’s Dream provided quotations for Toby and Astaroth, while the smee also recited a stanza from William Cullen Bryant’s lovely poem “The Gladness of Nature.” James Joyce’s brilliant Finnegans Wake provided Ghöllah’s creative twist on the days of the week. And, of course, there are the overlooked magicians—the creators of the many myths and the folklore that provide the Tapestry’s foundation. Without them, we’d have no Sidh, Olympus, or Asgard to populate this tale and countless others.

Ultimately, it is my friends and family who empower me to write and illustrate these books. My mother, Terry Zimmerman, continues to read each chapter as it is completed, while my wife, Danielle, helps me through the creative howls and hiccups with Hannah’s love, Bob’s patience, and Toby’s humor. She even endures well-intended comparisons to geese, ogres, and smees. Every writer should be so lucky.

And finally, I’d like to thank my son, Charlie. I wrote The Maelstrom while anticipating his arrival, and the two were delivered within weeks of one another. This book is for Charlie and all the wild, wonderful possibilities his young life represents. A Potential, indeed.