Thanks to the following artists:

Gabriel Garcia Marquez for his masterpiece, One Hundred Years of Solitude, a perennial source of amazement and inspiration.

Leona Gaetano, my fiery high school creative writing teacher who encouraged all of us to love language and mine it for hidden wealth, and poked fun at our insistent non-sequiturs, overwriting, and forced rhyme so charmingly that we learned to laugh at ourselves in the bargain.

Sloan Wilson for passing along to me Dick Simon's cogent advice to aspiring authors: "Write with fire, cut with ice," and so much more in seven years of The Writers Room at his home in Winter Park, Florida. And Betty Wilson, Sloan's wife, a dancer who always kept the house warm with coffee, passionate intelligence, and hospitality.

Philip F. Deaver, longtime literary brother and friend with as good an ear for dialogue as you're likely to find. For more on Philip and his books, short stories, and nonfiction work, visit his web site.

Finally, thanks to Catherine Jamieson, in Canada, for the striking bird icon that appears at the bottom of each page of this site.