One story soon turned into three, with the hope of someday writing the fourth and final chapter of this braided tale. The list of friends and editors who helped me along the way numbers close to infinite. My thanks go out to Greg Feeley for his thorough and uncompromising critique of the first story. To Lois Tilton, for her comments on matters of prose and alternate history. To Mark Hünken, for feedback on the German as well as the story, and to Liz Bourke and Jenn Vhrin, for their patient help with the Irish. And to all my friends on Livejournal and Absolutewrite, for the critiques and suggestions and epiphanies over the years, a huge round of thanks and appreciation. Your encouragement has been invaluable. I also owe a great debt to Sheila Williams and Nick Gevers for publishing the first three installments about my alternate Éire; to my agent, Vaughne Hansen, for her tireless work on my behalf; and to Claire Eddy for giving me the opportunity to bring all four stories together into the single book I envisioned all those years ago.
