Acknowledgments
This novel would not exist but for the talent and vision of Brendan Deneen and Vince Mitchell. They took my original short story and—with my blessing—created a powerful screenplay based on that story. This novel is certainly indebted to the creativity, ideas, and writing talent they put into that screenplay. Thanks too to the original publisher of the story, Richard Chizmar, publisher of Cemetery Dance Magazine, and the subsequent anthology that contained the tale. It was inside that anthology that Brendan and Vince first discovered “Vacation,” and then would just never let me forget about it. And as far as Brendan editing this book, every writer should be so lucky. Lastly, it was my wife, Ann, who told me about these guys who called one day and loved this story of mine. I think that somehow she always believed that there was more to come from the tale, and thus—so did I. When she believes, you’d be a fool not to …
