ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I can hardly believe that this is my tenth book! And I must state for the record that I feel that this is my best offering to date. For those of you who loved The Ancient Future, I feel you will fall in love with this trilogy—just as I have. As always, I had much support in the writing of this epic.
On the home front: as the dedication states, my husband, David, and daughter, Sarah, have been wonderful. I could not have finished this book if they had not done everything they could to make me comfortable and keep me sane during the ten months it took to write—the last four months of which I was pregnant and irritable. So thanks to my little family for putting up with me.
As you can see, the jackets for this trilogy have a distinctly different look to my past trilogies. My thanks to the artistic team down at HarperCollins, especially Jenny Grigg. I must thank our very talented photographers, Gay Campbell and Dennis Montalbetti and their wonderful team. Thanks also to our makeup guys, Zenga and Matt, and to the three lovely ladies whose faces are the women of Mystique on the covers—Aysha, Katania and Maren.
On the research front—I must thank Chez and John for putting me onto the works of Laurence Gardner, whose books have proven to be a huge inspiration for this tale (see the Bibliography). Thanks to that wonderfully talented mistress of the Dark Fairytale, Kim Wilkins, for sharing references on nineteenth century England and Europe—I’ll get your book back to you one of these days! Also, many thanks to my clairvoyant, Michael, who made me aware that this story was much more extensive than I had originally imagined.
On the business front—this book, and all those that have been and will be, would not have been possible without the constant support and guidance of my wonderful agent, Selwa Anthony; my commissioning editor and publisher, Linda Funnell; my editor at HarperCollins, Stephanie Smith; and my personal editor, Susan Moran. Many, many thanks, ladies, for being my guiding light…a better support team I could not want.
On the publicity front—my gratitude to Fiona for maintaining my website and message board, and my admiration and thanks to all the members of the THC (Traci Harding Community) for truly making it a sanctuary, a fantastic support base, a hive of knowledge and new ideas for all who frequent our community. My congratulations and utmost appreciation to Chez for updating my newsletter, organising theme nights, and for maintaining and monitoring my 3D-Castle, Trazling, a site where many of my readers have become active citizens and regular contributors to our 3D fantasy world. Many thanks also to Shilyn and Lotus, the proprietors of Trazling’s inn, where residents gather to chat and party on a regular basis. And to all the moderators on the Trazling site my heartfelt thanks for giving your time and energy to make our realm the successful and peaceful abode that it is.
I would also like to send my love and appreciation to all those people who support me in little ways every day…my Mum and Dad, Gillybean, Mum and Dad Harding, Karen, Claire, Lisa, Mo and Ken, Shane and Wendy, my brothers, Steven and Kyle, and all my family and friends. Thanks for reminding me what I’m living and working for.