The Kraken Gate - Acknowledgements

 Acknowledgements

Firstly, I’d like to thank you for reading this story. As a writer, it’s a privilege and an honour to have readers. It’s what makes the whole thing worthwhile. Whether you loved ‘The Kraken Gate’ or loathed it, please would you take a few minutes to write a review on Goodreads or Amazon, or wherever you think best. If you’re too busy, and I know what that feels like, maybe you could take just five seconds to click on a rating, and assign it however many stars you believe it’s worth. As a self-published author, I depend on people like you to spread the word, so thank you once again.

This story has been four years in the making. During that time, many people have lent me their support and assistance. A very early, partial draft was read by my son, Rufus, who helped me with the geography, and produced a working map of Emberly that helped to inspire me. Among the heroes that helped me along the way, Mark Crowther deserves special mention. Mark also read the early draft and encouraged me to keep going. His positivity and extensive feedback continued to flow over two further drafts. I cannot thank him enough. I also received lots of helpful notes and ideas on the penultimate draft from my sister, Melanie Latham, my good friend, Andrew Gillespie, and from a long-serving critic and friend of mine, Jean Norton. The story hangs together much better as a result of their guidance and ideas. When proceeds from the book allow me to buy a small island in the Caribbean, they will be the first people I invite to stay.

I’d also like to thank Graeme Forbes, Uzair Niazi,  and my father. Edward, for their proof-reading contributions.

The beautiful cover art was done by Daniel Oldenburg whose amazing catalogue can be found at https://kampona.artstation.com/. Daniel managed to capture the spirit and mood of The Kraken Gate perfectly, with only a limited set of notes to work from and the handful of emails that we exchanged. His collaboration with me throughout the creative process was professional and also served to inspire me.

My wife, Diana, has been incredibly supportive, as usual. She and the rest of my family have kept up the pretence that I’m an author, kindly pandering to my delusion.

Richard Bowes and Andrea Palmer, who I used to work with, have consistently been encouraging. It may not be the third book in the ‘Aztec Elements’ trilogy that they expected, but it may be good enough that they forgive me for this detour.

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