Inheritance (4)

["At home: both my mom and my dad for their constant support, for their advice, and for taking a chance onEragon in the first place. My sister, Angela, for being a wonderful sounding board for ideas, helping with editing, once again allowing me to write her as a character, and providing invaluable support during the last quarter of the manuscript. I\u2019m in your debt, Sis, but then you knew that. Also, Immanuela Meijer for keeping me company when I was dealing with a particularly difficult section. At Writers House: Simon Lipskar, my agent, for his friendship and all he\u2019s done for the series over the years (I promise to start writing books a bit faster now!); and his assistant, Katie Zanecchia. At Knopf: my editor, Michelle Frey, for her continued trust and for making all of this possible. Seriously, without her, you wouldn\u2019t be holding this book. Her assistant, Kelly Delaney, for making Michelle\u2019s life easier and also for helping to pull together a synopsis of the first three books. Editor Michele Burke for her keen eye on the story and, again, helping to get this book published. Head of communications and marketing Judith Haut, without whom few people would have heard of this series. Also in publicity, Dominique Cimina and Noreen Herits, both of whom have been of great help before, during, and after my various tours. Art director Isabel Warren-Lynch and her team for their beautiful design on the cover and interior (and also their work on the paperbacks). Artist John Jude Palencar for providing such a wonderful series of covers; this last one is a great image to end on. Executive copy editor Artie Bennett for his expertise in punctuation and words small, hippopotomonstrosesquipedalian, abstruse, and coined. Chip Gibson, head of the children\u2019s division at Random House. Knopf publishing director Nancy Hinkel for her immense patience. Joan DeMayo, director of sales, and her team (huzzah and many thanks!). Head of marketing John Adamo, whose team has continually amazed me with their creativity. Linda Leonard and her team in new media; Linda Palladino and Tim Terhune, production; Shasta Jean-Mary, managing editorial; Pam White, Jocelyn Lange, and the rest of the subsidiary rights team, who helped the Inheritance cycle become a worldwide publishing phenomenon; Janet Frick, Janet Renard, and Jennifer Healey, copyediting; and everyone else at Knopf who has supported me. At Listening Library: Gerard Doyle, who does such a great job of giving voice to my story (I\u2019m afraid I gave him a bit of a challenge with F\u00edrnen); Taro Meyer for her subtle and moving direction of his performance; Orli Moscowitz for pulling all the threads together; and Amanda D\u2019Acierno, publisher of Listening Library. Also, thanks to fellow author Tad Williams (if you haven\u2019t, go read the trilogy Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn; you won\u2019t regret it) for giving me the inspiration to use a slate mine in the chapters on Aroughs. And to author Terry Brooks, who has been both a friend and a mentor to me. (I highly recommend his Magic Kingdom of Landover series.) And thanks to Mike Macauley, who has set up and run one of the best fan sites out there (shurtugal.com ) and who, with Mark Cotta Vaz, wroteThe Inheritance Almanac . Without Mike\u2019s efforts, the community of readers would be much smaller and poorer than it is now. Thanks, Mike! A special mention goes to Reina Sato, a fan whose reaction upon encountering escargot for the first time led me to create the snalgl\u00ed on Vroengard. Reina, the snalgl\u00ed are for you. As always, my final thanks go to you, the reader. Thank you for staying with me through this story; I hope the stars shine brightly over you through the rest of your life. And \u2026 that\u2019s it. I have no more words to add to this series. I have said what needed to be said. The rest is silence. Page 551","S\u00e9 onr sverdar sitja hvass. Christopher Paolini November 8, 2011 Page 552"]