This book took me five years to write - a personal record - and would
not exist without the support and encouragement of a host of friends,
and several friendly editors. Among the many people who read and
commented on the early drafts are: Andrew J. Wilson, Stef Pearson, Gav
Inglis, Andrew Ferguson, Jack Deighton, Jane McKie, Hannu Rajaniemi,
Martin Page, Stephen Christian, Simon Bisson, Paul Fraser, Dave
Clements, Ken MacLeod, Damien Broderick, Damon Sicore, Cory Doctorow,
Emmet O’Brien, Andrew Ducker, Warren Ellis, and Peter Hollo. (If your
name isn’t on this list, blame my memory - my neural prostheses are
off-line.)
I mentioned several friendly editors earlier: I relied on the talented
midwifery of Gardner Dozois, who edited Asimov’s Science Fiction
Magazine at the time, and Sheila Williams, who quietly and diligently
kept the wheels rolling. My agent Caitlin Blasdell had a hand in it
too, and I’d like to thank my editors Ginjer Buchanan at Ace and Tim
Holman at Orbit for their helpful comments and advice.
Finally, I’d like to thank everyone who emailed me to ask when the
book was coming, or who voted for the stories that were shortlisted
for awards. You did a great job of keeping me focused, even during the
periods when the whole project was too daunting to contemplate.