The Three (39 page)

Huge appreciation goes to Agent Extraordinaire Oli Munson of A.M Heath, who took one look at the synopsis, said ‘go for it’, and basically changed my life.

The novel would be far weaker without the outstanding editorial guidance of my super-hero editor Anne Perry who took a chance on me, made me a stronger writer, and taught me how to accessorise–all without losing her sense of humour. Many thanks are also due to Oliver Johnson, Jason Bartholomew and the fantastic team at Hodder; Reagan Arthur and her excellent team at Little, Brown; and Conrad Williams and all at Blake Friedmann.

The following folk kindly shared their expertise, personal experiences, dealt with my endless questions or opened their homes to me: Captain Chris Zurinskas, Eri Uri, Atsuko Takahashi, Hiroshi Hayakawa, Atsushi Hayakawa, Akira Yamaguchi, David France Mundo, Paige and Ahnika at the House of Collections, Darrell Zimmerman at Cape Medical Response, Eric Begala and Wongani Bandah. Thank you all for being so patient and generous. The responsibility for mistakes made and liberties taken (both geographical and factual) is mine and mine alone.

Christopher Hood’s superb academic text,
Dealing with Disaster in Japan: Responses to the Flight JL 123 Crash
was an invaluable resource and introduced me to the terms
isho
and
izoku
. I’m also indebted to the authors of the following non-fiction books, blogs, articles and novels which helped shed light on the issues I chose to deal with in the novel:
Welcome to Our Doomsday
by Nicholas Guyatt;
God’s Own Country
by Stephen Bates;
Shutting out the Sun
by Michael Zielenziger;
The Otaku Handbook
by Patrick W Galbraith;
Quantum: A Guide for the Perplexed
by Jim Al-Khalili;
Train Ma
n by Nakano Hitori;
Are we Living in the End Times?
by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B Jenkins;
Understanding End Times Prophecy
, by Paul Benware;
Below Luck Level
by Barbara Erasmus;
Alzheimer’s from the Inside Out
by Richard Taylor; sherizeee.blogspot.com; www.dannychoo.com; www.tofugu.com; ‘Apocalypse Now,’ Nancy Gibbs (time.com 2002). Many thanks go to the anonymous artists of asciiart.en.com for inspiring Ryu’s ascii.

The following generous people read the manuscript and gave insightful and honest feedback: Alan and Carol Walters, Andrew Solomon, Bronwyn Harris, Nick Wood, Michael Grant, Sam Wilson, Kerry Gordon, Tiah Beautement, Joe Vaz, Vienne Venter, Nechama Brodie, Si, and Sally Partridge. Eric Begala, Thembani Ndzandza, Siseko Sodela, Walter Ntsele, Lwando Sibinge and Thando Makubalo kindly weeded out the majority of my stupidity in the South African sections. Jared Shurin, Alex Smith, Karina Brink, ace photographer Pagan Wicks and Nomes helped keep me sane. You all rock.

Lauren Beukes, Alan Kelly (thank you for the naughty bits!), Nigel Walters, Louis Greenberg and my fellow porn elf Paige Nick went above and beyond with their support and feedback. I owe you guys big time. As usual, my friend and editor Helen Moffett pulled my arse out of the fire again and again (may your life be forever rich in artisanal baked goods).

And last but not least, my husband Charlie and daughter Savannah put up with hours of brain-storming, neuroses and plot-solving, and brought me coffee at 3 a.m. I couldn’t have written word one without you–thank you for always having my back.

S
ARAH
L
OTZ
is a screenwriter and pulp fiction novelist with a fondness for the macabre and fake names. Among other things, she writes urban horror novels under the name SL Grey with author Louis Greenberg and a Young Adult zombie series with her daughter, Savannah, under the name Lily Herne. She lives in Cape Town with her family and other animals.

Deadlands

The Ward

The Mall

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For more about this book and author, visit Bookish.com.

The characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

Copyright © 2014 by Sarah Lotz

Cover design by Julianna Lee; art © Michael Turek/Gallery Stock

Cover copyright © 2014 by Hachette Book Group, Inc.

All rights reserved. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the publisher constitute unlawful piracy and theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), prior written permission must be obtained by contacting the publisher at [email protected]. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.

Little, Brown and Company

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First ebook edition: May 2014

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ISBN 978-0-316-24292-9

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