El Borak and Other Desert Adventures (97 page)

Thanks to Thomas Jane, Con Schell, René P. Mousseux, and Tim Daley for donating their valuable time as models. Thanks also to Michael Hess and Brian McQuery for assisting. Big thanks to Tom Gilliland and Heath Hammond for the use of their pistols, rifles, and gear. To Patricia Arquette for letting me mess up your living room, and most of all to Missy B, for giving me the time to focus and create. Special thanks to Jim & Ruth Keegan, whose excellent support was invaluable.

Tim Bradstreet

This one is for Marcelo Anciano, who conceived it and kept advocating for it. Sure wish you had been able to work on it with us,
effendi
. Also for Bill Cavalier, the biggest El Borak fan I know. There are not enough words to express my gratitude to Rob Roehm, the hardest-working man in Howard fandom, for all his help with the texts for this book. Paul Herman once again provided copies of original magazine appearances and sage counsel, and Patrice Louinet had to put up with the usual barrage of pesky questions about the original typescripts. Thanks to Stuart Williams, as always, for his patience with our deadline-crowding ways, and for taking our texts and illustrations and turning them into beautiful books. Thanks to Jim & Ruth Keegan, and to Tim Bradstreet, for their superb visualization of the world of El Borak and Kirby O’Donnell, and to the Keegans for their outstanding art direction. And all my love to Shelly, who graciously lets me off the hook around the house while I work on these projects. Just after completing his introduction to this book, our esteemed friend and colleague Steve Tompkins passed away. We miss him more keenly with each passing day.

Rusty Burke

Our gratitude to Marcelo Anciano, Barry O’Neill, and Bill “Indy” Cavalier for artistic inspiration. We would also like to thank the architects of this book, Rusty Burke and Stuart Williams, for all of their continued brilliance. Thanks also to Jay Zetterberg, Tim Bradstreet, and Kaitlin Heller.

We would especially like to say that it has been an honor to have worked with the late Steve Tompkins. He was a giant talent and a gentleman. He will be missed.

Jim & Ruth Keegan

As ever, I’d like to thank Marcelo Anciano for getting me involved in this great game, Rusty Burke and Jim & Ruth Keegan for making our transatlantic working relationship such a pleasure year on year, and Tim Bradstreet for delivering illlustrations that literally took my breath away. Also thanks to Sam Older for taking an interest and making my day job bearable.

Stuart Williams