The Dark Tower Companion: A Guide to Stephen King’s Epic Fantasy (84 page)

Stephen King's personal assistant, Marsha DeFilippo, has also been a good friend and a valuable resource. She put me in touch with some of the people who agreed to be interviewed for this book and has been an enthusiastic supporter of my work over the years and a constant help.

Speaking of enthusiasm, Robin Furth has been one of this book's biggest cheerleaders. She regularly told me how much she was looking forward to seeing it, which is a boon to someone who, as I said, generally works in solitude. Robin not only agreed to be interviewed about her work on the Marvel series and Discordia, she introduced me to all of the other Marvel artists and contributors featured in this book and answered all my questions as they arose.

Thanks, too, to the other individuals who took time out of their busy schedules to respond to my interview questions. I spoke to Ron Howard on his way home from a busy day directing the movie
Rush
about Formula 1 racecar drivers, which filmed in England in 2012. I caught up with Akiva Goldsman between set visits and editing sessions on his current project. Richard Isanove spoke to me a day or two after an all-night session working on
The Way Station. Brian Stark and I spent an hour on the phone discussing Discordia. Brian was one of the people who suggested I write a follow-up to
The Road to the Dark Tower
.

I'd like to thank Peter David, Jae Lee, Michael Lark, Stefano Gaudiano and Laurence Campbell for agreeing to be interviewed for this project, and Bonnie Balamos and Louisa Velis for helping coordinate some of the other interviews.

Many thanks to my editor at NAL, Brent Howard, and all of the other great folks at Penguin who worked on this book. I am in awe of the work done by copy editors, especially on books with as many strange words and spellings as this one. The awesome cover art was created by Spanish artist Nekro. My ongoing appreciation goes to Michael Psaltis for all his work on my behalf.

Finally, all my thanks and my everlasting love to my wife, Mary Anne, who kept me sane when the project got crazy and for always being my number one fan, as I am hers. I love you most.