The Child Thief (56 page)

BOOK: The Child Thief
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T
his book has been a long time coming. I’ve had a lot of encouragement, input, and help along the way and owe a lot of people booze and chocolate.

Foremost, Diana Gill, an extraordinarily gifted editor. I am in awe of her insight and intuitiveness for story and character. Time and time again she steered this novel out of the muck and took it much further than I ever thought possible. Thanks, Diana, for your voodoo.

To my manager, Julie Kane-Ritsch, for her friendship, enthusiasm, and diligence. There is no better feeling than knowing you’re in good hands. Thank you, Julie.

To Emily Krump, Katherine Nintzel, Michael Barrs, and Olga Gardner Galvin for their invaluable input.

And a special thanks to the poor souls who read through my early drafts—a selfless act worthy of sainthood. There is a little of each of you in this novel: Luke Peterschmidt, Robert, Ivy, Killian, Devin, and Laurie Brom. And to Ben Reh for posing as Peter.

About the Author

BROM
first won acclaim illustrating for TSR’s Dark Sun role-playing world. He has since lent his distinctive vision to all facets of the creative industries, working on such notable titles as World of Warcraft, Magic the Gathering,
Diablo, Doom, Batman
comics,
Galaxy Quest
, and Tim Burton’s
Sleepy Hollow
. He is the author of two award-winning illustrated horror novels,
The Plucker
and
The Devil’s Rose
. Brom is currently kept in a dank cellar somewhere just outside of Seattle.

Visit him online at www.bromart.com

Visit www.AuthorTracker.com for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCollins author.

ALSO BY BROM

The Plucker

The Devil’s Rose

Jacket design and illustrations by Brom

This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogue are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

THE CHILD THIEF
. Copyright © 2009 by Brom. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

Adobe Digital Edition July 2009 ISBN 978-0-06-190317-5

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

About the Publisher

Australia

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http://www.harpercollins.co.nz

United Kingdom

HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.

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http://www.harpercollinsebooks.co.uk

United States

HarperCollins Publishers Inc.

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New York, NY 10022

http://www.harpercollinsebooks.com

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