The City of the Hand

Dedicated to Mom, Gran, and Bo -
All I can say is sine qua non
(without which none). It was from
you that I heard all the best
stories and grew confident enough
to tell my own.

First off, let me thank all the awesome people who gave me critiques and read over this during the various drafts of this novel: queenoftheskies, meloukhia, dungeonwriter, claws_n_stripes. Your comments, insights, and ideas in how to improve this novel were invaluable. Any mistakes left over and any imperfections are wholly my own. If there are others who gave me help and I forgotten, please let me know. I want to make sure I thank you for the gift of your input, and it is a gift.

Also, a shout out of smw, who's own posting of a novel inspired me and gave me the courage to do what I'm doing now.

Also a giant thank you to my husband, who's been there since this story was a scribbled outline of a hand that didn't turn into a turkey in my notebook and who has read everything I've written and put up with my incessant questions about every little detail. I eggplant you with all my eggplant.