Painted Horses (52 page)

Authors: Malcolm Brooks

Tim Sandlin allowed me to sign on late to the Jackson Hole Writers Conference. By lucky chance or shrewd design he foisted my pages on Tina Welling, writer and probable angel, who took me literally by the hand and introduced me to Kirby Kim, who would become both my agent and my friend.

Amy Hundley, my editor, has a holographic view and laser vision. Within five minutes of meeting her I knew she could make the book better than I could on my own. The end result is as much hers as mine.

Many, many thanks to Morgan Entrekin, Deb Seager, John Mark Boling, and Judy Hottensen for making Grove Atlantic feel less like a house than a home.

Eternal gratitude to Stan and Erin Nyberg, for kinship, literal shelter, and more, and to Jennifer Waltz for an expert ear and flawless advice.

Thanks as well to Paula Cooper Hughes, whose editing suggestions on a micro level allowed me to see parts of the whole in surprising new ways.

And to ACW, who made the line into a circle.