The Bitter Seed of Magic

Acknowledgements

Writing a book is part fun, part challenge, part tearing-out-of-hair and all hard work, and this book turned out to be harder work than most. But any book isn’t just hard work for the author, but for all those folk who encourage and support it on its way from shiny new idea, through pounding of keyboards, those bad hair days and on to publication. My deepest thanks and appreciation to everyone who have helped this book on that journey; any errors are all my own.

Thanks to John Jarrold, my intrepid agent, for his belief in me, to the Gollancz crew for their support and commitment, and especially to Jo Fletcher, editor extraordinaire, for her patience and excellent work in continuing to make my books so much better; and for buying three more of Genny’s adventures. Yay!

Thanks to David (Eagle Rising) Devereux for letting me bend his ear about ‘dead bodies’; to Gareth Wilson (Falcata Times) for kindly lending his name to one of my characters; and a special shout-out to the wonderful Mardel (Rabid Reader) for all her epic emails, and for loving Genny & Co.

Thanks to Jaye (the Sabina Kane vampire series) Wells for not only being a stellar crit partner, and a brilliant, funny writer (go buy her books!), but for letting me ‘steal’—an apple a day keeps the vampires away. Thanks to my superb, superfast beta readers: Hasna Saadani (The Book Pushers) and Amanda Rutter (Floor to Ceiling Books), you ladies rock! And to Karen Duvall, to whom I owe thanks to for her insightful help with The Cold Kiss of Death (mea culpa).

Thanks to the Thursday Writers, a truly inspiring bunch for all their help and encouragement: Malcolm Angel, Alison Aquilina, Judy Monckton, and Doreen Cory, who have travelled this amazing journey with me from the start. And massive thanks to BFF Fiona Mackenzie for her endless suffering through many drafts, her dedication to Genny & Co., and her masterful debunking of the paranoia goblins when the muse deserts me.

To Norman, my love, my best friend, and the light in my life, without you the dreams would not be possible, or mean as much—thank you, now and always.

And last, but not least, to all those readers who have read, enjoyed, and taken my books into their hearts—I hope you enjoy this one, and a huge, huge ‘thank you’ to you all.

Suzanne McLeod

Dorset

August 2010