FURTHER ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Thank you for visiting the website that celebrates Cleopatra’s Tomb and the Regit Tigers of Egypt. In the book there is an ACKNOWLEDGMENTS page, but there are many more people to thank.
First, I’d like to thank my wife, Cindy, who put up with me sitting around our small apartment writing this book. She was the first to read the chapters as they were being written and her encouragement never stopped.
Naturally, I have to thank my nieces, Harlowe and Addison who provided inspiration for the story itself, as this book started as a small play, developed into a short story, morphed into a novella and grew up to be a novel.
Not many writers get by without beta readers. Beta readers are the people who are kind enough to read your book and give you feedback, good or bad, to let you know what they thought of your work. They can also help you catch grammatical, spelling and structural errors as well; and when it comes to beta readers, I got lucky.
The following people were kind enough to give me feedback, encouragement, and some levels of editing. I thank them all deeply: Joanne Baldwin, Tim Dineen, Gracie Finley Stickings, Glenna Sims, Mina Hodder, Karen Suzuki, Elaine Phipps, Rachelle Woodison, Joan Ferguson and Andrea Davis.
I would especially like to thank Vanessa Labate, the only young reader in the group—thanks Vanessa!
Then there are beta readers who go above and beyond for after they already read the book, offered feedback and thought they were done; I contacted them, begging them to re-read certain chapters for a final, final edit, hoping to catch any last mistakes … when they were done that, I asked them to do some more chapters, and I could only pay them in thanks. So, some very special thanks to: Joan Willems, Denise Figueira, George Georgantas, Patricia Figueira and Micheal Querin.
A very deep thank you and acknowledgement must go to Scott White. Not only was Scott one of my beta readers, he was the first to finish the book and his feedback was fantastic and helpful. Then Scott offered to do a full edit of the book. I gladly accepted his generous offer and Scott provided invaluable feedback. He, along with his husband, Peter who is a professional author, were also very helpful and kind by giving me advice on the publishing world and what strategies to have for promoting the book.
I would also like to thank Veronica Gross who offered helpful advice on the publishing process.
Another beta reader and good friend, Vince Corazza, must be thanked. Not only did Vince provide feedback, his notes were beyond encouraging, they were inspiring—thanks so much for the kind words, Vince. But Vince did much more than just offer feedback, he introduced my work to the award-winning author of the Emerson Page young adult series, Christa Avampato. So, not only do I thank Vince, I gratefully thank Christa for taking the time to read my book, offer valuable insight and feedback and give me a wonderful quote that you see on the back cover of this book. Thank you, Vince and Christa!
I must thank my editor at Tellwell, Kim, who did a wonderful job; providing fantastic feedback and suggestions.
I very much want to thank Bill Phipps who told me all about the Fibonacci Sequence, which helped a young archaeologist to further discoveries.
Thank you to all who helped make this book come to be; it is much more than a one-man job. Any mistakes that remain are entirely my own; and if you’re reading this book for the first time, a very special thanks to you. A book is nothing until it is read.
Thank you.