It’s Book Release Day! Let there be ribbons and honeycakes and rioting in the street. In the mean time – well, I never got my act together enough to write a proper acknowledgement page in time to get it into the book. I told myself I’d save it for the final volume – much as I refused to go to my first two graduation ceremonies on the grounds that I’d be getting my PhD sooner or later and it’s the sort of thing you should only do once. Or some other excuse for being slack.

But Power and Majesty is the cumulative result of many years of work, and I have many people to thank for their contribution in making it happen:

My honey, Andrew, who has been supporting me in all senses of the word for nearly fourteen years, and still regards me as a good investment.

My daughters, Aurelia and Jemima, who have both had to come to terms at a very early age with the fact that Mummy has to be shared with books.

My agent, Anni Haig-Smith, for her hard work, her belief in me and her cheery phonecalls.

My editors at HarperVoyager: Stephanie Smith, Anne Reilly and Nicola O’Shea, who have worked tirelessly to get the book made, and to make the text as good as it can be.

My proofers, whose names I do not know, who coped very well with the complicated things I do to words, and made the final stage of “making book” so much easier than I had dreaded.

My fellow writers who read and critiqued the manuscript at various stages: Marianne De Pierres, Margo Lanagan, Maxine McArthur, Rowena Cory Lindquist, Trent Jamieson, Dirk Flinthart, Richard Harland and Kaia Landelius.

My friend and photographer, Frank Strk, who generously donated his time & skills to provide me with some kick-ass publicity pics.

My Mum, who does more than her fair share in the family business when I have deadlines on the horizon (which is um, pretty much all the time) and who took to mapmaking like a duck to water, with very little notice.

My Dad, who gives me half a day of extra writing time every single week by picking Raeli up and taking her on adventures.

So many friends across the world who support me in countless ways, by being there in person or on the other side of my laptop when I need them, by writing alongside me, by understanding when my books and babies come before everything else, and basically making it easier for me to keep on going.

Every book takes a village to raise, you know!

I dedicated Power and Majesty to the Friends of the John Elliott Classics Museum, which includes a community of people whom I met in and around my honours & doctoral studies at the University of Tasmania, and particularly a small core of friends who used the museum as a tearoom, gossiped about celebrities, lunched in decadent style, drank far too much wine, and basically made that a brilliant era for me. That’s where I was in my life when I started writing the bits and pieces that became the Creature Court, and I really wanted to honour that.

And finally I have to thank Emeritus Professor R.L. Dunbabin (1869-1949) who posthumously provided the travel scholarship that got me to Rome for one long, marvellous, chilly, educational, life-changing month. Aufleur would not exist without it.

Tags: aufleur, books, creature court, family, friends, power and majesty, rome, thanking people, writing