Call to Juno (A Tale of Ancient Rome #3) (47 page)

A
CKNOWLEDGMENTS

Much love and appreciation to my husband, David, for supporting me in my writing and sharing my life for over thirty years, and to my wonderful sons, Andrew and Lucas, who have grown from boys into men over the duration of this series. Thanks also to their grandma, Jacqui. And I wish my mum and dad were still alive to read the series.

Enormous thanks to Jodi Warshaw at Lake Union, who has such faith in my books as well as patience with an author who can be reluctant to “murder her darlings.” I also enjoyed the enthusiasm, critical eye, and wicked sense of humor of Tegan Tigani, who made the editing process fun. My appreciation also to my copy editor, Michelle Hope Anderson. And many thanks to all the wonderful Lake Union team who are always so generous, encouraging, and supportive—in particular the lovely Gabe Dumpit, as well as Tyler Stoops and Christy Caldwell. Danielle Fiorella also did a great job designing my cover. My proofreader, Elisabeth Rinaldi, should also be thanked.

Special thanks to the members of my writing group of many years—Cecilia Rice, Marilyn Harris, Katherine Delaney, and Judith Crosbie—for their positivity. Also to my caring beta readers, Mary Lou Locke, Rebecca Lochlann, and Greg Johnston, for their valuable input.

My research was greatly assisted by esteemed Etruscologist Iefke van Kampen, who is always so generous with her time and hunted down sources on Dionysism in Etruria for me. I’m excited that I’m collaborating with her in merging fiction with fact in an exhibition curated by her at the Palazzo Chigi at Formello, in which my characters will voice the exquisite votive statues unearthed by her team at Veii in an audio-visual display. Thanks also to Larissa Bonfante, who responded to my obscure call across social media and helped me find her essay “Fufluns Pacha: The Etruscan Dionysus,” which I could not access from Australia. And thanks to Filippo Gemmellaro, who so ably translated various essays from Italian. Love to Kate Duigan for updating the map and to Marcella Wilkinson for modeling the cover.

Last but not least, my love and gratitude to Natalie Scott and Joyce Kornblatt, to whom this book is dedicated. Both were mentors at the very beginning of my literary journey. Their words of wisdom remain with me always.

A complete bibliography is available on my website,
http://elisabethstorrs.com
, but sources of particular value for this book include the following: Eva Cantarella’s
Bisexuality in the Ancient World
(New Haven: Yale University Press, 1992);
Etruscans: Eminent Women, Powerful Men
, edited by Patricia S. Lulof and Iefke van Kampen (Amsterdam: W Books, 2012); Larissa Bonfante’s
Etruscan Dress
(Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2003);
The Religion of the Etruscans
, edited by Nancy Thomson de Grummond and Erika Simon (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2006); Georges Dumézil’s
Camillus
(Berkeley: University of California Press, 1980); Livy’s
The Early History of Rome
, translated by Audrey de Sélincourt (London: Penguin Books, 1971); and Plutarch’s
The Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans
(Chicago: Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1952).

A
BOUT THE
A
UTHOR

Photo © 2010 Vicki Skarratt Photography

Elisabeth Storrs has long held an interest in the history, myths, and legends of the ancient world. She studied classics at the University of Sydney, and she is a director of the NSW Writers’ Centre and one of the founders of the Historical Novel Society Australasia. Over the years she has worked as a solicitor, a corporate lawyer, and a governance consultant. She lives with her
husband and two sons in Sydney. Visit her at
www.elisabethstorrs.com
.