To Ramsey and Jenny Campbell
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
How many times have I thanked Dan Breen for being my first reader? This is another time, and believe me, it’s heartfelt this time as well.
Dan, Dorothy Day, and my webmaster Karen Zimmerman archive my texts in widely separated locations. That way if the asteroid strikes while I’m still working, my publisher will nevertheless have the most nearly complete version of the manuscript. (Well, I suppose it depends on how big the asteroid is.)
Dorothy, Karen, and Evan Ladouceur provide help with continuity and in their various expertises. For this particular novel, Fred Kiesche and John Lambshead also provided bits of data which I needed. Silly as it may sound, I really will stop work while I search frantically for some point that not one reader in a thousand would notice if I got it wrong. The help I get from my friends is of much more importance than it might seem to a rational person.
Many people provide help for my writing. My wife Jo makes my comfortable life possible. I get very focused when I’m working, and I’m working just about all the time. That I’m healthy, well-fed, and live in a clean house is almost entirely due to Jo; we even have an active social life.
My sincere thanks to all those I’ve mentioned and to the many others who are part of my life and therefore of my work.
Dave Drake
AUTHOR’S NOTE
I’m going to try an abbreviated version of my usual boilerplate here: I translate the words my characters speak into modern English, and also I translate weights and measures into formats in current use.
It’s been a long time since anybody has complained about me using modern English instead of 19th century fustian as though I were a reincarnation of William Morris (heaven forefend!). I do get more or less polite queries about the weights and measures, though.
I generally use historical models in which to find plots for novels in the RCN series. In this case I formed the action on two incidents which occurred in the 5th century BC. One of these was the civil war on the island of Corcyra, a colony founded by Corinth. The other was the Egyptian revolt against Persia (during a period of Persian instability) and the Athenian expedition to support the Egyptians when Persia attempted to reassert control.
Neither of these things sounds very major, does it? Even if you know some classical history, it’s unlikely that you’ll remember either of them. But between them they led to the Peloponnesian War, which plunged the Greek world into a century of large-scale warfare; followed by Macedonian conquest (the Macedonians weren’t Greek by Greek law, any more than the Thracians or the Carians were Greek) and another century of war; and finally by Roman conquest and a peace of tourists and tax gatherers.
It’s very hard to predict where a present action is going to lead, but it’s a good bet that violent actions are going to lead to violent results; and those results may continue a long way down a very bad road. I suppose it’s fitting that the Roman general who completed the conquest of Greece did so by razing Corinth.
I used to think it would be nice if present-day leaders knew more ancient history. The reality is that Messrs Cheney and Rumsfeld didn’t seem to know anything about Viet Nam. Of course they hadn’t served in Nam, as I had.
Finally a note about the dedication. In 1977 Jo and I visited England—my first trip out of the country which didn’t involve me wearing a uniform. Friend and writer Ramsey Campbell and his wife Jenny put us up in Liverpool for two days. Jennie cooked us a full English breakfast (with kippers!) which was delicious, and Ramsey gave us a tour of Liverpool which included Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral (AKA Paddy’s Wigwam).
The cathedral is a modern structure and has had more than its share of detractors (note the nickname; Liverpool is heavily Irish). That said, the interior gave me a feeling of peace and happiness which I’ve never felt in another building.
I’m not religious (and was raised to be anti-Catholic), so I didn’t expect to have a positive reaction. That’s anecdotal evidence, but it was (and remains) my truth. I moved the cathedral into this novel, and I decided this was a good time to thank Ramsey and Jenny for their kindness.
Dave Drake
david-drake.com
And all around the organ there’s a sea without a shore
Of human joys and wonders and regrets;
To remember and to recompense the music evermore
For what the cold machinery forgets.…
The Barrel Organ
Alfred Noyes