David Baldacci - The Keeper

Stacks \′staks\

A large brick building in Wormwood where items for trade and consumption are produced.

Steeples \′stē-p∂ls\

A place the majority of Wugmorts go every seventh light to listen to a sermonizer.

unicorn \′yoo-n∂-kȯrn\

A noble and gentle beast characterized by a brilliantly white coat and mane of gold, with shiny black eyes and a regal horn the color of silver. The soft horn of the unicorn is known to defeat all poisons, but can only be obtained by convincing the unicorn to surrender it freely or by killing the beast outright.

Valhall \′val-hal\

The prison of Wormwood, set in public in the center of the village.

wendigo \′wen-d∂-gō\

A malevolent spirit that can possess whatever it devours. This ghastly, quasi-transparent creature lives throughout the Quag but is predominant in the Mycanmoor. Signs that a wendigo is nearby are a vague feeling of terror and a sense that the facts stored in your head are being replaced by residual memories of the prey the wendigo has devoured.

whist \′wist\

A large, domesticated hound of Wormwood known for its impressive speed.

Wugmort (Wug for short) \′w∂g-mort\ (\′w∂g\)

A citizen of Wormwood.

A novel does not come into being solely by the hand (and imagination) of the novelist. The Keeper , and before it The Finisher , are no exceptions to this rule. Many talented folks were involved in making the Vega Jane journey available to a global audience. And here is where I have the welcome pleasure of thanking them.

To Rachel Griffiths, David Levithan, Kelly Ashton, Julie Amitie, Charisse Meloto, Dick Robinson, Ellie Berger, Lori Benton, Dave Ascher, Lauren Festa, Emily Morrow, Elizabeth Parisi, Rachael Hicks, Emily Cullings, Sue Flynn, Nikki Mutch and the whole sales team at Scholastic for believing that a thriller writer could move to another genre and tell a good story.

To Venetia Gosling, Kat McKenna, Catherine Alport, Sarah Clarke, Rachel Vale, Alyx Price, Tracey Ridgewell, Helen Bray, Trisha Jackson, Jeremy Trevathan, Katie James, Lee Dibble, Sarah McLean, Charlotte Williams, Stacey Hamilton, Geoff Duffield, Leanne Williams, Stuart Dwyer, Anna Bond, Jonathan Atkins, Sara Lloyd and Natasha Harding at Pan Macmillan for following me with unbridled enthusiasm wherever I go in my literary pursuits.

To Steven Maat and the entire Bruna team for being with me step-by-step as we released a brand-new character on an unsuspecting world.

To Aaron Priest for listening to my cryptic mumbles at a London book party about this “book” I was writing and for calling me on Sunday after he read it, as opposed to Monday!

To Arleen Priest, Lucy Childs Baker, Lisa Erbach Vance, Frances Jalet-Miller, John Richmond and Melissa Edwards for being so wildly enthusiastic about this series.

To Mark and Nicole James for all you did for me. Here’s to attending the premiere together one day!

To Caspian Dennis and Sandy Violette for crowing to the heavens about the book on the other side of the pond.

To all my other publishers who took a chance on this and trusted me to get it right.

To Hannah Minghella, Lauren Abrahams, Matt Tolmach and Kate Checchi at Sony/Columbia Pictures who have shown so much enthusiasm in building a movie franchise around Vega Jane and her world.

To Emma Frost for sitting in a restaurant in New York with me for several hours in preparation of your crafting a terrific script.

To all the libraries where I discovered books that introduced me to the world of fantasy, and to all the librarians who guided a little boy in finding ever-new stories and original voices on the shelves.

To all my friends and family, who have supported me over thirty novels.

To Kristen and Natasha for performing your own magic in keeping Columbus Rose and me running smoothly.

And last, but clearly not least, to Spencer and Collin, who, though you’re now adults, help me always to retain the childlike wonder in life that allows me to do what I love.