Lord John and the Hand of Devils by Diana Gabaldon
To Alex Krislov,
Janet McConnaughey, and
Margaret J. Campbell,
sysops of the Compuserve Books and Writers Community
(http://www.community.compuserve.com/Books),
the best perpetual electronic literary cocktail party in the world. Thanks!
Acknowledgments
The author would like to thank
…Maxim Jakubowski, for inadvertently launching Lord John on his solo career.
…Marte Brengle, whose mention of her infamous ancestor Sir Francis Dashwood supplied me and Lord John with the basis of his first adventure.
…Karen Watson, of Her Majesty’s Customs and Excise, for patient sleuthing through the byways of London in search of plausibly revolting locales and interesting historical trivia.
…Laura Bailey and Becky Morgan, for helpful suggestions regarding clothing and daily practicalities.
…Barbara Schnell, for making sure the German bits are accurate (well, they started out that way; we hope they still are).
…Steven Lopata, Piper Fahrney, Janet McConnaughey, and Larry Tuohy, for useful information on explosions, cannon-loading, fracturing metal, and other violent phenomena of the battlefield.
…Lauri Klobas, Eve Ackermann, John S. Kruszka, and the dozens of other kind, intelligent people from the Compuserve Books and Writers Community (whose names I have unfortunately misplaced or forgotten over the last ten years), who are always on hand with suggestions and information ranging from the mundane to the bizarre, and then some.
…Silvia Kuttny-Walser, for the title of this book.
…the excellent editors who have worked with me on this book, both piecemeal and entire: Max Jakubowski, Betsy Mitchell, Bill Massey, and John Flicker.
…Virginia Norey, aka the Book Goddess, for her wonderful design.
and
…the unsung genii of the Random House art department, who came up with the marvelous covers for the new Lord John books. Thank you!