Acknowledgements

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Acknowledgements and dedications in Brandon's books.

Elantris

Dedication

Dedicated to my mother,

    Who wanted a doctor,
            Ended up with a writer,
    But loved him enough not to complain
            (Very much).

Acknowledgements

First and foremost, I would like to thank my agent, Joshua Bilmes, and my editor, Moshe Feder, for helping me squeeze the fullest potential out of this manuscript. Without their masterful editorial vision, you'd be holding a very different book right now.

Next, high praise and thanks must be offered to the members of my various writing groups. Alan Layton, Janette Layton, Kaylynn ZoBell, and Ethan Skarstedt. Daniel Wells, Benjamin R. Olsen, Nathan Goodrich, and Peter Ahlstrom. Ryan Dreher, Micah Demoux, Annie Gorringe, and Tom Conrad. (You guys were a writing group, even if you didn’t know it!) Thank you all so much for your work and suggestions.

In addition, there are dozens of people who read this book and others during my years struggling to get published, and I am inexpressibly grateful for their enthusiasm, criticism, and praise. Kristina Kugler, Megan Kauffman, Izzy Whiting, Eric Ehlers, Greg Creer, Ethan Sproat, Robert ZoBell, Deborah Anderson, Laura Bellamy, Mr. M, Kraig Hausmann, Nate Hatfield, Steve Frandson, Robison E. Wells, and Krista Olsen. If I forgot anyone, I'll get you in the next book!

I'd also like to give special thanks to those teachers who have helped me in my university career. Professors Sally Taylor, Dennis Perry, and John Bennion (who worked on my master's thesis committee). Professor Jacqueline Thursby for her faith in me. Dave Wolverton, who sent me out into the world, and Professor Douglas Thayer, whom I'll someday convince to read a fantasy book. (He's getting a copy of this one, whether he wants it or not!)

Finally, I'd like to thank my family. My father for buying me books when I was a kid, my mother for turning me into a scholar, my sisters for their smiles, and Jordan for putting up with a domineering older brother. You can check out his programming skills—along with Jeff Creer's amazing artistic design—on my Web site, www.brandonsanderson.com.

Thank you so much, everyone, for believing in me.

The Emperor's Soul

Dedication

For Lucie Tuan and Sherry Wang,
who provided inspiration.

Acknowledgements

A book like this goes out with one name on the cover, yet artwork is not created in a vacuum. What I create can only exist because of the numerous shoulders I rely upon.

I've mentioned elsewhere that this book came to be because of a trip I took to Taiwan. Many thanks go to Lucie Tuan and Sherry Wang, to whom the book is dedicated, for showing me around the city. Also, I'd like to thank Evanna Hsu and everyone else at Fantasy Foundation for making that trip such a powerful experience. Many thanks to Gray Tan (my Taiwan agent) who facilitated the trip, and to my U.S. agent Joshua Bilmes and everyone else at JABberwocky.

Jacob Weisman and Jill Roberts at Tachyon have been absolutely wonderful to work with, and I thank them for giving this work a home in print. Also, thank you to Marty Halpern for the copyedit and proofread. The great cover illustration comes from Alexander Nanitchkov, and I couldn't have asked for better. Isaac Stewart used that illustration for the ebook's cover design, and he also provided a great seal illustration. Thanks!

Mary Robinette Kowal is responsible for the current structure of the novella; she helped me realize my original prologue wasn't the best for the integrity of the work. Moshe Feder went above and beyond his job description (at a different publisher) to offer me fantastic line edits, without which this book would have been much the poorer. I also got important feedback from Brian Hill, Isaac Stewart, and Karen Ahlstrom.

As always, I give loving thanks to my family, particularly my wife Emily. In addition, special thanks go out to the interpolated Peter Ahlstrom, who worked long hours on this project. (Even so far as to nudge me to get this acknowledgments page written after I'd forgotten to do so about a dozen times.)

You have my deepest gratitude, all of you.

Brandon