Читать книгу Real Hauntings 5-Book Bundle - Mark Leslie - Страница 47

Shayna

To begin with I have to thank Mark for being all-in when I casually suggested that we write a book about Montreal ghost stories. Your confidence in my writing and your support mean so much to me, and I’m so glad we were able to do this project together.

Thank you so much to all the folks at Dundurn who made this book come together. As a novice to the process of getting a book published in print, I feel so lucky to have the opportunity to work with such engaged and delightful people, who want this book to succeed as much as I do.

Thanks to my buddy Terri, who happily took on a Montreal ghost walk in my stead and told me all about the creepy tales she heard. More than one chapter in this book would never have come to be without your help.

To Eyal, you are my husband, my partner in crime, my best friend. Thank you for listening to my every worry as I worked through this first non-fiction book, first co-write, first book to come out IN PRINT. You never let me forget what a big deal this is, even if I did, and you took care of our little guy while I struggled to meet my deadlines. You make me feel all the schmees.

To anyone who picks up this book and enjoys our collection of spooky tales, just know how much it means to me that you’re spending your hard-earned dollars on our work. A ghost story only exists if it is told, and the telling means nothing without a listener. So, thanks for listening.

Mark

I have had the distinct pleasure of working with Shayna at my day job from 2011 until 2017. Apart from talking about work things, Shayna and I often bonded over our passion for writing and elements of our ongoing dances with the muse. But when she first suggested the idea of a collaboration on a book of ghost stories about Montreal, I was intrigued. Oh, who am I kidding, she had me at the first word in her pitch.

Little did I know that this writing collaboration would allow me to continue to have the pleasure of working with Shayna well after I moved on to pursue different writing and publishing pursuits. I’m thankful for the continued teamwork and collaboration we got to experience together, in particular those much needed “kick-in-the-pants” texts from Shayna whenever I was required to pick up the pace on my half of the book. In all seriousness, Shayna made this project fun, intriguing, and another pleasurable way to explore and get to love a city that I thought I knew.

The folks behind the scenes at Dundurn deserve a huge nod of thanks for all that they do to support and care for their authors, mostly out of sight of the public eye. Thank you, Dominic, for your guidance and patience during the editing process, for helping tweak my words and thoughts to make them shine, and especially for your patience with my “but” and “let me explain my perspective on this” ramblings through the editing process. Thanks also to Jenny McWha for continued polishing and tweaks and edits to help improve my words. Thanks to Kathryn Lane and Rachel Spence, and the creative team for the work and support with such a beautiful cover and great-looking book. Thank you to Michelle Melski and Heather McLeod for the promotional support. And thank you (and happy retirement) to Sheila Douglas for being on top of keeping us authors feeling listened to and cared for throughout the entire process.

And, of course, there are also those folks whose work on my previous books, even while this one was in process, is still appreciated. Though they are now on new journeys, I bid thanks to Jaclyn Hodson and Margaret Bryant for their support on my previous titles. And I would like to wish a very happy and enjoyable retirement to Beth Bruder, whose stray comment in an industry meeting led to the genesis of my first Dundurn title, Haunted Hamilton, all those years ago.

Thank you to Liz, my beautiful partner, for patiently listening to me going on about the historical and eerie research that I was conducting. Thank you, also for joining (and protecting) this big chicken when the chilling tales left me jumping at my own shadow.

And last, thanks to the readers, especially those who take the time to reach out, wanting to share their own eerie stories and tales, for posting reviews, for the comments and support. Your response and enthusiasm related to a book like this help fuel that passion to keep writing and to keep sharing macabre and eerie tales with those who, like me, revel in the dark and spooky.