The Fall of Moscow Station

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

My first acknowledgement, as always, must go to my dear wife, Janna, without whom it would be impossible to write the first page, much less an entire book. I love you.

Jason Yarn and Ken Freimann, my agents who keep things moving in a productive direction. Not all of my ideas are good ones, and these are the gentlemen who must occasionally prune the tree of my imagination so the good fruit can flourish.

Lauren Spiegel, Miya Kumangai, and Shida Carr, my editors and publicist at Simon & Schuster who are forever professional and encouraging. My work is always better for their having read, edited, and promoted it.

Steve S. for help with Russian language and culture and years of friendship and mentoring. The world is both a safer and more interesting place thanks to him.

My friends and family and those readers who are forever encouraging. I write for you as much as for myself.

The Agency managers and Publication Review Board members who have to read my manuscripts and call out the bits that need to be changed or redacted. Their unfailing politeness makes the review process far easier than it otherwise could be. Their persistent professionalism strongly suggests to me that ex-Agency authors who complain about “censorship” are trying to publish details they know darned well that they shouldn’t and are either just mad that they’re getting blocked, trying to gin up publicity and therefore sales, or both.