Acknowledgments

First novels tend to have long acknowledgments; and I’m afraid this one isn’t going to be an exception to the rule…

Acatl’s adventures started with the novelette “Obsidian Shards”, which was published in Writers of the Future XXIII.

The first readers and critiquers of those adventures were a great help in encouraging me to dig deeper into Acatl’s past: Pat Esden and the gang at Hatrack, Chris Kastensmidt and the other critiquers at the Online Writing Workshop; my Writers of the Future class, and in particular Joseph Jordan, who first gave me the idea to turn “Obsidian Shards” into a novel. Pat Esden also read my revised first chapters and offered excellent advice on how to improve them.

The plot of this novel would not have been what it is now without those who attended the very first Villa Diodati workshop: John Olsen, Deanna Carlyle, Nancy Fulda, Ruth Nestvold, and Sara Genge brainstormed the novel with me, and offered me my very first batch of suspects. Sara, in particular, made the excellent suggestion I make Acatl a High Priest and embroil him in the court intrigues of the period.

Members of Codex offered to read my egregious first draft, and helped me fix the beginning: thanks to Michael Livingston, Ian Creasey and Meg Stout. Extra thanks to David W. Goldman, whose speed and encouragement were wonderful.

My most excellent critique group, Written in Blood, took on the task of correcting my revised version: Keyan Bowes, Dario Ciriello, Janice Hardy, Traci Morganfield, Doug Sharp, and Juliette Wade all offered me awesome feedback and line-edits. Traci, as always, helped me out with my Aztec research, and her enthusiasm for both “Obsidian Shards” and this project helped me out of a number of dark places.

Several people also helped me at the agent-search stage, by explaining the basics to me and offering me advice: Jeff Carlson, Stephanie Burgis, Patrick Samphire, Martin Owton, Gaie Sebold, and the rest of the T-Party workshop.

I never thought I’d write this one day, but I owe a debt to British Airways for cancelling my flight home from Canada after the 2008 World Fantasy.

It wasn’t a pleasant experience to be stuck in a shabby hotel for one extra night – but it did allow me to meet agent John Berlyne and Angry Robot founder Marc Gascoigne, and to be cajoled into pitching the book to the pair of them. Amazingly, we found ourselves reunited again several months later, this time around a book deal for that very same novel.

Thanks to John and his agency partner, John Parker, for the lightning-fast communications, the negotiation, and the stupendous advice; and to Marc for the offer, his editorial work and helpfulness – and to all three of them for doing their best to dissipate my woeful ignorance of publishing matters. Thanks go as well to Angry Robot’s Lee Harris for his tireless work on promotion, publicity, and the myriad other things I’m not always aware of.

To Linda Steele, Marshall Payne, Rochita LoenenRuiz, and Ken Scholes: you were around from the beginning. You offered me advice, comfort, and space to unwind. You guys are awesome.

My fiancé Matthieu not only read the first draft, but spent endless evenings with me brainstorming fixes, possible directions the plot could take, and sundry other things – not to mention bolstering my morale when it faltered. My deepest thanks for that.

I would not be where I am now without the endless support of both my parents and my sister. I’m grateful they bore with the bad quality of the very first stories and novels I foisted on them, and I’m overjoyed they get to brag about this one.

Aliette de Bodard, Paris